cartagena prostitution scandal have either been forced to retire or resigned and a third who is fired is planning a lawsuit. moments ago, nbc news confirmed from a congressional source with direct knowledge of the situation that more resignations are expected and are most likely happen this afternoon. eight others are on administrative leave and polygraph tests are under way. darrell issa wrote this. the facts as you describe them raise questions about the agency's culture. senator grassley had this to say. >> even as bad as this is, it's difficult to change those basic cultures. but one thing that does help is that if heads don't roll in a bureaucracy, that has something wrong, nothing's going to change. and i think you'll find that these people, their heads are going to roll. >> heads will roll. >> and they should. >> let's talk about that. also of course it's worth mentioning that it's coming on

the heels of the investigation into the general services administration. which i think for many americans it's corroboration perhaps that government is poorly run or corrupt or, you know, not -- >> this happened under every administration, these moments, but they've been so close together and kind of juicy and scandalous story, when the biggest party or the row manszing the secret service stoeg, but the problem with this one isn't what actually happened as bad as that is, it's what could have happened. and that's i think why everyone is rightly very concerned about it this. when susan collins comes out and says i'm worried that this is not an isolated incident and they talk about a culture of misbehavior, i think they're right to want to shine a light on this. >> and my experience, these guys that we dealt with were fan takes tech. but then we have questions of this, their motto was worthy of trust and confidence. well, they're not in this case,

the confidence is called in to can question. but the ones that we dealt with, each and every one of them carried with them loadses of equipment, guns and weapons and information, they all carried it on their person at all times. and you can't tell me they didn't have suv in their room that could have been compromised what they were doing. >> and the question as to whether there were documents or plans. we don't have any evidence that there were. the concern and i think representatives issa and cummings said there's a question of blackmail here, that they're compromised and can therefore put our national security at risk. but beyond that, i'm not saying this to you because i think you -- anyway, i'll stop myself in terms of the line of questioning. but it's bad taste. the guys acted in -- they had agreed on some sort of price for the escort services and then the next morning had gone from i think it was something like several hundreds of dollars to trying to give this woman $25. >> from $800 to $30.

>> every level of it has been very bad. and if you talk about what this does to american's standing abroad, i don't know if this is geopolitical conflict, but it certainly reinforces a lot of negative stereotypes. >> it reinforces negative stereotypes and the secret service are selected to be the best of the very best. and so you expect an especially high levels of standards here. i've been around and worked in sort of a very vague way, secret service when i was traveling as a writer with the obama campaign, so we would be in the air with them and land with them. and in a more formal wear when i was on the kerry campaign, every secret service member i've dealt with has been professional and exceptional. so this is like anything. like a military scandal. you want to put that out there and i think people will say that. to echo alice's point, this is awful. and the blackmail issue and security questions are very real. >> i touched on this at the beginning. the issue i think as we have

this big argument about the american social compact, this would seem to gird the argument that republicans are making that government needs to be shrunk, that it's some kind of monster that needs to be advantage gelled. >> sure that eat picture t's th republicans are trying to paint. they're saying obama is a bad manager of the federal government chshs playses in to romney's argument to be the government's ceo. if the. >> i would argue the president has absolutely nothing to do with this. but they'll make political hay out of it. and now is an on that tunpportu

pivot to ted nugent. let's listen to what nugent said on glenn beck yesterday. >> every reference i made, it always ended the sentence with in november at the voter booth. >> yes, so again, i ask -- >> it always ended the sentence with in november at the voting booth. now, i don't remember that from ted nugent, so we went back and listened to what he said. this is one of the comments he made a few days ago. >> we are patriots, we are brave hearts. we need to ride in to that battlefield and chop their heads off in november. any questions? >> chop their heads off in november. nothing about the voting booth. here is another choice ted nugent piece of sound. let's listen to it. >> if barack obama becomes the president in november again, i

will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. why are you laughing? you think that's funny? that's not funny at all. i'm serious as a heart attack. >> we talked yesterday about the decline of moderates in this country and the heated rhetoric that's happening both in politics and in the national dialogue. this kind of stuff, i don't know in a ted nugent was literally inciting sort of violence directed at the president, but certainly is there really a place for this kind of language directed at the commander in chief? >> first off, in that particular sound bite, what he was referring to, he was on huckabee's radio show and he was referring to he himself would have a heart attack if we had four more years of the obama administration, big government policies. or he would be in jail because he had be fighting strongly for his aesecond and first amendmen

rights. that's what he was referring to. >> when he said he would chop their heads off -- >> and you don't go for jail for abdicating your second amendment rights. so the jail part remains fairly unflan unexplain unexplained. not that it's your obligation. >> his concerns about government overreach, does he have concerns there, yes. could he have found a more artful way to say it, absolutely. and now we're having will discussion. but the point being lost is what he was concerned with is four more years of big government policies with the obama administration. he needs to find a more eloquent ways to transfer his views. >> i don't like what he said, but in 2000 when president bush was then just the republican nominee, craig killborn on cbs came out with a picture about of bush on the screen with snipers wanted underneath it. cbs had to apologize and nothing happened to him. the rapper common has a rap song in which he star gets the

president. and nothing happened. in fact he was invited to the white house. so the drought rage over this i think is -- there's a bit of a double standard on this issue. >> i'm not excusing comments or actions made by craig killborn and i won't get into common. but i think if you actually are fair and you look at the amount of rhetoric, the tviolent natur being tossed about by -- >> you think obama has it worse than bush did? revisit some of those protest posters. >> i feel like you want to say something here and i don't want to stop you. >> well, i always like not being stopped. is that a double neglect i have? look, i think one of the bigger problems here that we haven't touched on but needs to be said is he was speaking at a national rifle association -- >> what are you implying? >> i'm not done. he was speaking at a gathering of people oriented towards exercising their second amendment rights and carrying we weapons.

so i think the context can be different than stand up comedy. all of this is generally appreciated speech. whether we're talking about is doing it in a responsible way. and i think his comments were legally justifiable, that is, can he say them and he should be able to say that, that's the country we live in. but what he was saying is in very poor taste and choosing to say it there was especially -- >> and a seriousness at the end of that, he says i'm serious as a heart attack, why are you laughing. i would argue that some of those other comments were perhaps made about president bush were more in a light hearted na eed fashi. and the rhetoric and this kind of stuff is tantamount to if not inciting violence, i think it's incredibly irresponsible. >> so is amnesia about how bad bush had it. >> we'll be back with more on ted nugent and his comments.

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we're a trusting people. we're a hopeful people. but we're not dumb. and we're not going to fall from the same lines, from the same person just because it's in a different place. >> right now we have two competing visions of our future. and the choice could not be clearer. >> he's over his head and he's swimming in the wrong direction. >> those folks on the other side, i'm sure they are patriots, i'm sure they're sincere. in terms of what they say. but their theory i believe is

wrong. >> that was mitt romney and president obama dueling out shots in round one of the general election. the fight continued today as romney responded to a comment the president made about his wealth. >> i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. michelle wasn't. but somebody gave us a chance. >> i'm certainly not going to apologize if my dad and his success in life. but i know the president likes to attack fellow americans. he's always looking for a scapegoat particularly those that have been successful like my dad. >> casey, we've got months of this. the strategy right now seems to be like, hey, he's a nice guy, but he's a total jerk. >> sort of. i don't know if we'll go straight to total jerk, but certainly someone who is out of touch. it's turning into a fight of who is going to out of touch the other one. that's the romney campaign's argument for obama. s he doesn't understand what regular folks go through.

exactly why romney's advisers think that will work for someone who has the background that he has, they haven't been able to sman to me. but we'll see how far they get with that. you've seen this in the opening rounds in this back and forth. the silver spoon comment really hits -- romney is very expensive of his father as you saw. >> clearly. and his legacy sort of hangs over and his photo is hanging up on the campaign bus and he's sort of in everything that romney does. so obama clearly touched a nerve. >> he invokes his father to humanize him and give a little bit of fabric to his family story, but we talked about this a lot and i'm sure well continue. he is still actually very uncomfortable about his own wealth. and certainly when it's mentioned by other folks, he is very sensitive and provokes the reaction that you saw where he says the president likes attacking fellow americans, which on the meaheels of the discussion seems hypocriip hypo. >> it's in the about whether his

dad was successful. obama will talk about class warfare and the romney campaign will talk about jobs and the economy and the overreach of obamacare and the growing debt and deficit. that's what people care about. no one cares about how much money their nominee makes. they want to know who will turn the economy around and polls indicate there's more confidence in romney than president obama to do that. >> first of all, the president has said he doesn't be grudge people for being wealthy. >> he just did. >> i think he was making a point about the american dream and the fact that he has pulled himself up from certain circumstances to the highest office in the land. and i don't think that's anything he should apologize for. and i think it's in fact something he should celebrate. but when you talk about mitt romney and his wealth, i think the thing that the white house is trying to do, and i don't know if it will work, is as to parse the like ability thing and the trustworthy thing. because ultimately that's what

it will come down to. we know the president is off the charts in terms of leading romney on like ability, but you look at these new number on the economy and who you can better trust to handle your economy and the overall match-up, it's obama 46%, romney 42%. on gas prices, obama 31%, romney 44%. those are problems for the white house. >> and i think you're right about the likeability and romney knows this. yesterday he said he's a nice guy, the president. he said even if you like barack obama, we can't afford barack obama. he's acknowledging the likeability while still saying he's not the right guy for us now. so that's romney's tack. for president obama, he can't really run on his record only because unemployment is still high, so he'll run on what he can do, what he's going to do. we're going to improve education, we'll spend money here and here. we'll take care of this and this. it's a future, a forelooking campaign of promises.

whereas romney is going to be looking back, not at his character, not at his personality, because that's solid, but at his record. >> i call to everybody's attention an op-ed where he says barack obama is asking people to cast a less than hopeful vote in november. resentment is not something that most people carry around in the front of hair hetheir heads. he's asking people to vote out of something resembling depression. incidentally of the final four republican primary candidates, three were about as personally grim and earnest as the incumbent. i read that and i was like who, which one? but that apparently is mitt romney. >> romney has a type of optimism. at times it strikes people as a little off, they're not so sure what he's so happy about. maybe he missed the fight over the bonuses, the wars that we've

had boiling with people feeling that the burdens are not equallies can tributed. there's a lot of areas that people are resentful about. it doesn't mean they're not hopeful. the other point i wanted it make is i do think that one thing romney has been able to do is basically come out here and say i don't a have to tell you a lo about my economic plan because i'm the business guy. that's not a vote for his tax plan which is not popular. it's a vote for or an interest in the idea that he's simply been in the private secretary do sector. >> it is interesting, i don't know that fdr is such a bad dude to be compared to. but what do i know. we're following breaking news here of a plane that just went down off the gulf coast of florida. we will have the latest details with a live report for you. that's coming up next. no veget?

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we're following breaking news happening right now in the gulf of mexico, a private plane just went down off the florida coast. nbc's pete williams is tracking this story. pete, you can give us the latest? >> yes, a federal official now tells us that the plane did splash down into the gulf about 170 miles off the coast of florida. this is a single -- or twin begin plane with just one person believed to be on board. the pilot, the plane took off this morning from slydell, louisiana on the way so sarasota, florida. at some point controllers lost contact with the pilot and the plane began to fly in circles over the gulf. they were concerned that the pilot was incapacitated or unconscio unconscious. the air force sent a plane up and tried to look into the the windows of the plane but was unable on do so because of fog and icing on the plane windows.

so the plane was monitored. officials estimated that if it had taken off this morning with a full tank of fuel, that it would have run out of gas about this time. so their estimate turned out to be about right. the plane was flying at about 28,000 feet before it eventually ran out of fuel and began to head toward the gulf where it's now splashed down. the coast guard had a plane and helicopter up to watch it, it had a coast guard cutter in the area. so now this is a search and rescue operation to try to get to that wreck allege and see about they can recover the pilot and try to figure out what happened. >> pete williams, thank you, sir. we'll continue to bring you the latest. coming up, as he gets new endorsements, president obama continues an uphill battle when it comes to environmental policy. in the meantime, states are taking matter miswill to their own hands. we will discuss what works and what doesn't next. [ male annou] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler.

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the company behind a keystone pipeline has proposed a new route that avoids an environmentally sensitive area in nebraska as the house voted for the poufourth time to appro virs shal pipeline. supporters say the project would create jobs and give the u.s. a new energy source, but opponents insist that it would destroy the environment. joining the panel now is the man who gets the last word every night and probably on this show, lawrence o'donnell, and commissioner of the department of transportation. thank you all for joining the program. david to you first. when we talk about this keystone pipe line, there's a lot of hue and cry about the environmental impact here in the united states. but if you listen to a lot of folks on the environmental and sustainability side, it's not just the pipeline itself, it's the fact that we would be

extracting oil in tar sands which is a very dirty form of energy. they emit 5% to 15% co2 than regular crude. when we talk about energy in this country, it seems as if we've taken not any steps forward, but in fact perhaps steps back in terms of energy reform and sustainability. you traveled around the world on the plastiki. tell us a little bit about how the the rest of the world sees america vis-a-vis energy reform and climate issues. >> you've said some very good points and i think i come from europe and right now i would say fuel prices which is obviously a hot debate in the election are cheap. we're dealing with $10 a gallon in europe. and i say cheap and it's all cheap overall when you think of the environmental impact. i think what we are, and i hate to say this, but it's this addict mentality, like trying to find these little areas, these pockets of oil that we can exploit.

and i know the cries will be this creates jobs and this is going to lower gas prices, but i think it would do more to the gax prices by taking the speculation ut of the gas market and the oil market and the trading on that side that obama has spoken about recently and is looking into further. i think we have this massive issue that we are addicted to oil and we're using inefficient cars and inefficient modes of transport and you can see these movements in europe now bubbling up with car sharing schemes, with mike sharing schemes, infrastructure into transport, across the european cities, paris is taking moves. and you can see it all over. so i kind of wonder where we're going by just trying to extract more dirty fuel and transport it over many, many miles with huge consequences. >> i want to -- brilliant segue for me to the bike question and the idea of sacrifice in american culture. and lawrence -- >> as a sacrificer, yes.

>> as someone who knows -- >> i'll speak for the sacrificers here. >> if you drive a hybrid, you have to look smug. >> mine is a ford hybrid. it's the least cool of the hybrids. buy american high where i had. >> but lawrence, is there not something in american culture that is incredibly resistant to the notion of sacrifice? and that seems to have -- independent of the jobs and the economy. >> it ain't about sacrifice, it's about price. there's something in the american culture that knows a bargain when it sees one and gasoline is a bargain. this is the cheapest place in the world for it basically other than places like venezuela. but you're never going to get where the environmental movement wants to go on this as long as the price of fuel is where it is. and i don't think our pollices through taxation of fuel is ever

going to be able to in that sense artificially raise the price of fuel to change our market. and so really you're going to use this cheap fuel just as the rest of the world is going to use this cheap fuel until they can't. until it basically runs out if that's going to happen. by the way, it was predicted to run out about 30 years ago. so all predictions have been wrong. >> but fracking and tar sands extraction has increased the life time. but commissioner, you have made changes -- we look at where change is happening in terms of the environment and the federal government is handcuffed in all sorts of ways. and a lot of the burden, if you want to call it, has fallen to the states. california has led the country in terms of establishing fuel efficiency standards and here in new york, you've done a lot of work in terms of i don't know if greening the city is the correct term, but you've also run into

some resist answer resistancres. how has that left you feeling in terms of the american public and their appetite for change? >> cities are the future of the planet. most of the population now in the world lives in cities. and so making our cities work is extremely important into the only for the live ability and quality of life and sustain ability of the planet, but for economic development of the world. and mayor bloomberg came up with plan yc which said we'll cut emissions by 30%, global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and because we'll be accommodating a million more people in new york city. and that's a good thing. a million more people in new york city is a good thing because new yorkers have one-third the carbon foot a print of the average american. because we're a dense city and an extensive public transit system. >> and you walk which is illegal in california. >> it's a really important point because the bottom line is that two-thirds of new yorkers don't drive to get around. and that's one of our strengths.

and so what we're trying to do is leverage that strength. so when you think about it, if you really want to save the planet, should yyou should real to new york city. >> your city is the most energy efficient zone in the united states of america. >> and we get no credit for it. >> you just did. >> well, thank you, lawrence. >> you'll hear it again will about a year from someone. >> i want to read this "wall street journal" editorial from april 15th. we're talking about the house transportation bill which was defeated last month when it denied mass transit projects money from the highway trust fund. mass transit i think is one of those necessities and certainly a peg in terms of moving us outrageous fossil fuel consumption. one reason roads are short changed is that liberals believe too many americans drive cars. ray lahood has been pushing a strange live ability adjust ga which he defines as being able

to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie and play with your kids in a park all without having to get in your car. this is the mind of the central planner at work, imagining that all americans want to live in his little utopia. >> you know who dwgot mass trant in the transportation bill, center moynihan from new york. the point was simple. new yorkers were actually paying into this fund and not getting back their fair share. and the rail system relieves the pressure on the george washington bridge, it relieves the pressure on all of your roadways. so the people who are using the roadways and paying the gas tax and therefore they think they are paying for the use of that road, they are enjoying less traffic on that road because of all these people who are in mass transit and that was the theory of why mass transit should be funded in the seame way.

>> it's an economic development strategy to be investing in mass transit. 75% of the gdp in the country is generated in our metropolitan areas. our metropolitan areas depend on mass transit to work. so it's extraordinarily important that we continue that investment and leverage that investment. that's what made new york city strong, cities across the country strong. so to ignore that is to ignore what makes this will country work. and when you look at what's going on in the global marketplace, every other country around the world is investing in heavy duty mass transit systems and building the kind of infrastructure programs that they need to survive. >> but then why the talk from the "wall street journal" editorial board about this being some sort of socialist uhe tetu? it seems like basic common sense. >> because of the way i said it. >> but, david, is this a generational divide? are we moving -- or why is there

this notion that you have to be sort of a residents of copenhagen to wrap your arms around bike lanes and mass transit? >> it's confusing to me, as well. i sit here and i think to myself this is common sense. we've got massive as we heard mobility happening you can people moving in to the urban environment, people moving more and more every day. we're relying on our mobility and it's connected to fossil fuel and that's having an impact on our environment. so just common sense to invest in mass transit. we have this noise going on discrediting this idea of being smarter with the way that you move. and getting people to be more efficient with mobility. 45% of people's fuel i understand is actually used on finding parking spaces. so people are driving in circles trying to find somewhere to paurk. it's just in-efficient. so we have to look at mobility and trends.

you look at how cars are moving. people are buying their cars. average commute is no more than 20, 25 minutes. and then it sits in these huge parking lots. very inefficient. so we need to look at concentration and movement of people, how we make that more efficient, how we start to integrate the conversation as a sort of open education conversation. let's remove to some extent the kind of issue from that and just talk about efficiency. and talk about saving our resources. because that's just a win situation. >> you didn't mention the shear emotional meltdown factor that is in play when looking for a parking spot in many major cities. the >> horrible. >> that 's for another time. alec decides to shut down a controversial task force responsible for the stand your ground and voter i.d. laws. we'll take a look at what it means for actsi activism and other special interest groups next. ♪

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after getting dwrropped by prominent if you safunders urks decided to shut down its task force in helping on the stand your ground laws. opponents caused the move nothing more than a pr stunt. as usual, i will quote the "wall street journal." this was amazing to me. the ugly race-baiting anti-alec campaign is typical of today's liberal activism. it's akin to the campaigns to smear libertarian donors and to exploit shareholder proxies to stop companies from giving to political campaigns or everyone the chanmber of commerce. >> i think the thing with the "wall street journal," they believe no one reads our editorials. what are we going to do. and so they just do this crazy

awayed up language that has nothing to do with the rest of the news paper. >> but as a conservative, do you think it was color of change, a statement from april 17th? to simply say they have stopping noneconomic work doesn't guarantee that alec are will not continue to push laws that endanger african americans and trample our votes rights. it does not provide justice to the millions of americans whose lives are impacted by these discriminatory laws. >> courtesy of governors like janet napolitano, are they racist? i mean, to smear and entire segment of the population as racist and discriminatory because you disagree with laws that are on the books -- >> it's the laws that they're calling discriminatory. >> sure, signed into law by some democratic governors,s as well. and they're not taking it to

janet -- >> of course not. this is prompted by van jones' effort to fight against any free market policy groups. but also one of the big things they're attacking is the voter i.d. law which is most people supts. but for them to say that it's racist to require people to show an i.d. to vote is simply wrong. we have to show i.d. for many things in this country. and voting is a very important privilege people in this country have and they should be required to show i.d. >> here's my favorite thing about this show. it's sitting here and watching ari listen to this, listen to things that i -- it's like i'm watching him not fume . >> an exercise in self-control. >> but i can see the temperature rising. >> i can feel the body -- i think he has something to say. >> i'll lead you into this by saying the reason that folks call these laws it is criminalary crimina

discriminatory because they are. >> thank you, alex. yeah, i felt my temperature rising because there was a lot to deal with. number one, there is a -- >> take your time. you have my time. >> are you -- >> the gentleman on the left. >> number one, the laws that are in question do have a tremendous disparate impact on not only african-americans, but also the poor, the elderly, generally the marginalized in our society. so there's a reason why many people across the political spectrum are concerned about voter i.d. laws. number two, this is the free market. this is what it looks like. when a company like coca-cola gets feedback from its shareholders or customers or stakeholde stakeholders, they look at a cost benefit analysis. and what they see is a $25,000 check to alec that is engaged in many of these questionable

activities which some people support and some people don't. but it's questionable enough. that as a company, not as a political group, as a company, they say this is so outside the mainstream of people who drink coke, that's what they think about, they want out. that is the free market. it's also the politics. >> you're right. that is an excellent point. it's free market experience that you're seeing here. but to look at voter i.d. laws, which as alice pointed out, majority of the country supports, they've passed in 30 states now, not that questionable. here is my -- >> the supreme court is taking it up. >> absolutely. but this is my issue with. we can all agree voter fraud happens. we disagree on how often it happens. that's fine. but if it happens once, it happens too often. so what's the solution? if you don't like voter i.d., that's fine. bring me another solution. the point is people don't want the solution to this problem.

>> there is more chance that you will get hit by lightning i think on a plane, actually that would be increasing your chances, that's more likelihood of you getting hit by lightning twice i believe than for voter fraud to happen. >> people are dying overseas for our right to vote. what's the solution to voter fraud? give me another solution. >> once is perfectly reasonable. >> give me another solution to voter fraud. >> they're picking hot-button issues like voter i.d. and stand your ground that they see that can generate conversations of a few of the many things that alec sdr does, most of which is educate legislators on how to better write legislation and reducing the size of alec. that's what it stands for and van jones is doing nothing more than furthering the obama administration's agenda to silence those who go against that.

>> let's talk about alec and move away from the voter i.d. laws for a a second. i think you're making a point here which is what alec does. and when you talk about questionable activities, the notion that alec is a 501-c 3 nonprofit organization not supposed to engage in any partisan activities to me sounds ludicrous. because effectively they bring in state lawmakers to conferences, write the legislation, then give to them. sometimes they forget to it take the alec tag off of it when they propose it. it that ain't lobbying, i don't know what lobbying is. >> and what happens in these stories is you try to do a segment or an article on the process of the back room lobbying, you get very few readers. very little audience. you take a case like the horrific killing of trayvon martin and you look at the stand your ground law and you say does this seem like the right balance we want in the criminal what you. and a lot of people say that looks wrong. a lot of people say i'm concerned about the way that might be applied. and then you say how did that law get passed. suddenly people are interested.

these type of retreats, the lack of transparency and a lot of lobbying. if alec decides it wants out of the stand your ground game, by all means they can change. and if companies then want to get back involved with them because they have a truer closer business focus and doing his other things, that's fine. this is a good debate we're having. >> haur renit's a great debate. i got nothing on it. i just have a word for the confederates. i've been watching this drama. in tv drama and in all drama, when someone is saying -- i'm talking to the control room. when someone is saying something infuriating, you don't want the camera on the person speaking. you want the camera on the person who is in-fewn-fewer rat. leave me out of this. you have to watch that in-fewer

yags. >> when lawrence o'donnell is here in the bull pen, we go meta. it's a treat. >> the true narrative. lawrence o'donnell, thank you for your time. >> do you want to come on my show tonight? i got nothing. >> i'd love to. >> can i bring my friend, chris hayes? >> about if he's available or anyone else you feel -- any escort you want. >> i will be this there tonight. you can catch lawrence and me -- >> around 10:00. >> somewhere around 10:00. it's my friday. i couldn't be happier. my fourth day of the week is the end of my week. >> and he will rest on the fifth. coming up, john boehner and paul ryan push back at criticism from the catholic church over the plans to cut programs for the poor. but isn't the church just practicing what so many republicans often preach? that's the subject of my postscript next. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen....

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and now on to my p.s. weeks after making access to contraception in to a war on religion, the catholic church has again decided to weigh in on policy. if a letter to the house this week, the u.s. conference of catholic bishops criticized the budget put forward by congressman paul ryan saying that it failed to meet certain moral criteria by cutting back on programs that serve the hungry, poor and unemployed. in particular, the bishops found ryan's targeting of programs like the federal food stamp program unacceptable. these cuts are you unjustified and wrong, they wrote. government has a responsibility to promote the common good of all. ryan and speaker of the house john boehner both catholics defended their handy work. boehner said he was simply making necessary hard decisions while ryan used the popular if twisted republican logic to explain that by cutting assistance programs, he was preventing the needy from becoming, quote, dependent on the government. this from the part i that has

made a loud and specific argument regarding the importance of faith as a guiding principal and public life and criticized the separation of church and state. one can only ask why don't religious principles regarding the most vulnerable have a place in republican policy? conservative leaders enjoy insulting president obama, calling him the food stamp president. but if that means protecting programs that are according to the church itself morally incumbent upon us to support, at ones that reof a firm our commitment to one another as human beings, well, then, it's a title president obama should wear with pride. thanks again to ari, se, alice and casey. that's all for now. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern when i'm joined by charlie crist. andrew a mitchell reports is next. thanks so very much. and coming up next, the obamas

versus the romneys. who is more popular? results from our new poll. and in the daily fix with chuck todd. and we'll remember dick character with another tv icon, dick cavett. and a look inside the most exclusive sclub in tclub in thee president's club. michael duffy and nancy gives here to talk about their new book next on andrea reports. ithp with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where all your investments are and what they're doing with free streaming quotes, news, analysis and even your trade ticket. everything exactly the way you want it, all on one page. transform your investing with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. transform your investing you know how hard if yit can be to breathedo, and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

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he would never give up on any of us. thank you dr. newfield. you had a big impact on me. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. ♪ >> right now on andrea mitchell reports, silver spoon politics. mitt romney and barack obama trade chibs over who is ritchey rich. >> somebody gave me an education. i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. michelle wasn't. but somebody gave us a chance. >> i'm certainly not going to