fear, republicans are here for us. yes, they have a plan. today house republicans approved eric canter's plan for business owners hit hardest in this recession. help mom and pop businesses, and paris hilton and her entertainment company that's barely getting by. small businesses like oprah winfrey. you know, she's struggling to make ends meet. that's right, oprah, have no fear, eric canter and friends won't let you down. thank you coming to the rescue, and i'm sure given the fiscal hoax in the gop, this bill is

fully paid for. >> the president has had the opportunity to change that path, but he made it worse. he has given us deficit and debt. >> we can't continue to spend money we don't have. >> that's right, we can't spend money we don't have. wait a second, i'm getting late breaking word -- wait a minute, right, the control room is telling me it's not paid for? that's right, this very week, the house gop pushed a plan to cut $33 billion from food stamps in the name of fiscal responsibility. and yet, today, their looking to add $46 billion to the deficit. 46 is still bigger than 33, right? this isn't right, and this is the kind of unfair policy that the republicans and willard romney want the american public to accept. joining me now is emanuel creed,

and david corn, washington bureau chief and his new book is "showdown." thank you both for joining me. >> good to be with you. >> congressman, let me start to you, what do you make of canter's small business plan for oprah, trump, and paris? >> i voted against it because it is not a mom and pop proposal. it is a small business bamboozle. and what we are seeing, is in one year, if this proposal makes it to the president's desk, and if he signs it, it would be $46 billion added to the deficit in one year. on top of that, most of the money will go to the wealthist

people. the president has already said that he was going to veto the plan. this was something to put out there as a talking point. >> now, the fact is that when you look at the plan, david, it's talking about employees -- companies with employees under 500? >> yeah, their definition of small business is rather large, and there is a policy argument that this plan, because of the way it structures a tax cut, will leave employers to hire less employees. there's a strong policy argument that the way this works is the exact opposite. i have no doubt that the smart people in eric canter's staff could come together and put

together a bill that would not benefit oprah, donald, and paris, but to benefit mom and pop stores. the tax code isn't 20,000 page long for nothing. they slapped this together and showed that when they really talk about the deficit, they only use it as a sledge hammer to go after low and middle income programs and they don't truly care about fiscal responsibility. >> paul ryan was attacked by the catholic's bishops and churchmen, and he just dismissed this today. watch his response. >> the catholic bishop's conference has come out and said they don't like what plan entails for cutting food stamps and a child credit for illegal

immigrants. >> this is not all of the catholic bishops, and we just disagree. >> your response, congressman cleaver. >> i tell you if there is a suggestion that cutting food stamps, hurting the poor, will help them get out of poverty, then we should just take their homes, clothing, and food, and then they would automatically rise to a level of affluence. this is a sad moment, and i think the people of this country are going to see through it. there is a rather bold attempt to lift up the already up lifted, and to pull down those already down. and if you look at the budget that the house passed, it's clear, it's on paper, that the poor are the ones who will be

victimized again. they're already victimized in the poverty, and they will be again should the budget pass. >> the fact is that nearly 75% participants in food stands are families with children. and from a government point of view, it is established that the poverty rate went down 8% in 2009. it was reduced largely because of food stamps, it was directly expected to food stamps. let me go back to you, david, the president made a statement today that willard didn't is seem to like -- the president in talking about how americans for everyone said something to the effect about he didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth, let me show you what he said and what will ar's response was. >> i wasn't born with a silver

spoon in my mouth. michelle wasn't, but somebody gave us a chance. >> i'm not going to apologize for my dad and his success in life. he was born poor. he worked his way to become very successful despite the fact he didn't have a college degree. ly n-- i will not apologize for my dad's success, but i know the president likes to attack fellow americans. >> i didn't pick up that the president was directly attacking them. in fact, i think he was trying to identify the need to help average americans, and he took it very perm, mr. romney, is he too thin skinned or trying to make political points? >> i think any time the president refers to silver spoon, some people will take that to mean mitt romney and i

mean justifiably. not only is his money there, but his policy is there. people think of him as monopoly man. his policies give tremendous tax breaks to the people who do play real life monopoly and put their interest ahead of the interests of america. romney getting upset because the president attacks people, the many times that mitt romney has attacked the president saying he doesn't believe in america, understand the economy, he doesn't believe in exceptionalism? what is romney's campaign except an attack on president obama. he's allowed to do that, but he should not say oh my god neodne

the president is attacking someone. >> when you hear david talk about the american people wants to talk about economic policy, i think the polls will show, and on the monopoly sets i used to play on they didn't have elevators for cars, americans say 56% say spend more raise taxes. 37% say lower taxes cut spending. then you go 67%, government should do more to help middle class, 57% wealthy pay less than their fair share. 52% government should do more to help housing mark. 51% cap gains should be taxed as ordinary income. so it's clear that on the policy questions, away from the personal references and attacks, it seems the american people are on the president's side. >> yes, if you look at simpson

bowls, they suggest we have a revenue problem. if the board of trustees or the deacon comes to the pastor, an say we have a progress here, and we have to stop bible study, we're going to have to take a 10% cut in your salary, at some point, the pastor will say wait, you have to put more in the plate. it's not just cuts, you have to add money to the plate. we can't just make cuts, we need to bring in new revenue, and the reason is because some people are not paying their fair share, and if they did, we would be in a better space. $46 billion will drop out of the budget if this is approved. >> thank you for being with us tonight, thank you for giving david corn that crash on church

politics. >> as the one nonreverend on the panel here. >> coming up, the woman claiming to be at the center of the secret service sex scandal is speaking out. plus, oops, he did it again. willard romney blames president obama for the devastating bush policies. out of control, allen west comes to ted nugent's defense on the day he mets with the secret service. time for leadership to speak up, you're watching "politicsnation." unner,marathon r in absolute perfect physical condition and i had a heart attack right out of the clear blue... he was just... "get me an aspirin"... yeah... i knew that i was doing the right thing, when i gave him the bayer. i'm on an aspirin regimen...

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the woman that claims to be at the center of the secret service sex scandal is speaking. that's next.

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we're back on "politicsnation" with explosive new details emerging in the secret service sex scandal. the woman claiming to be at the heart of the scandal is sharing her story with the "new york times" explaining what she says happened a week ago tonight in columbia. she says she and another woman were approached by a group of american men at the club. they never told me they were with obama. they were very discreet, and the

entire scandal erupted over a disagreement about her price. she said it was $800 and the man said she was drunk when he accepted the offer. the scandal left her scared and worried. "this is something really big. this is the government of the united states. i have nervous attacks" now the investigation is widening, agents are canvassing the area around the hole and investigating past trips. three agents are no longer with the secret service, and that number is is expected to climb. joining me now is congressman elija comings, and jack rice, a

former cia officer. congressman, will the woman's account be used in this investigation? >> i'm sure it will, director sullivan has told us that they will leave no stone unturned, i so think they will be looking into every single detail, talking to every single person that may have had any kind of involvement with this incident. >> will, will more people be let go? >> i cording to the word we got from the director, he does expect more people to be leaving one way or the other in the next several days. >> now, let me ask you, jack, you're formally with the cia, how bad is a blackmail possibility here? how bad of a problem is exposing the possible blackmail in this situation? >> that's always the concern. again, what this is about is about access to the president of the united states. when you talk about teams like

this, these are jump teams that go out in front of the president everywhere in the world, they can end up any place. if you expose them in this cay and can manipulate them, you have the potential of getting to very serious people. in this case, potentially the president. there is nothing worse than that. that's not light or right, it's just reality. >> peter king says he expects more resignations will be imminent, and senator jeff sessions tried to make the scandal a political issue today, listen to this. >> gsi, secret service, problem after problem. i believe that the president of the united states is the chief executive officer for the entire governmental bureaucracy. i don't sense that he is showing

that kind of managerial leadership that in my view is one of the most important qualitys in a president. >> and mr. carney reponded. >> that sounds very much like a lawmakers attempting to politicize something not political. >> is that fair to blame this on the president's management skills? >> i think it's very unfair, and i think that sessions was wrong. we have a situation here that we don't even have all of the facts yet, it's still being investigated. we have a situation where we have some officers who, in my opinion, use very poor judgment, and one of the things that i said is i really think in this instance, we need to take politics out of this and make sure this organization, which i

consider one of the most elite and outstanding organizations, security organizations in the world, is all that it says it is. i think it is, and i'm hoping this is just an aberration. the fact is, i was telling director sullivan, i think one of the reasons why the secret service is so effective, is because they have a reputation at being the very, very best. it would be almost impossible to pierce their armor. and i think when ever anybody thinks there may be a possibility, just the appearance is something that i don't want. when i talk to members of the secret service, present and past, they tell me that they are very upset about this, and they don't want any bad apples in their mix. >> jack, you have been in that

world, now that we're getting more and more facts, give us a sense of people around the country of how serious this is. >> it is truly serious. absolutely, and again i'm thinking about this, not just as a former cia officer, i'm a former prosecutor and defense attorney. i think the political aspect is critical here too. you can't look at the secret service as a republican or democratic association. sullivan has been there since '83, the director by 2006, he was put in by president bush, that doesn't make him a republican. this is a systemic question. if there is a chain of events, and if there is a leadership problem within the secret service, that in itself is not a left or right question either. to look at this, is to look more broadly now and say, don't just

look at columbia, if it was done in columbia, was it done where else these teams have been. that has to be looked at because it's critical too. >> and you're dealing with a lot of agents, and you're dealing with people who help key positions. look at the three former officers that have been dismissed or resigned. one is a supervisory employee. one nonsupervisory employee resigned. you talked to the ahead of the secret service, congressman, do you get a sense from him of embarrassment or outrage? what is he communicating with you? >> he is is is outraged, and i think based on my conversation with him, i believe he would have fired every one of these people immediately if he could have. but certainly there are certain things that he has to do. but i get the impression that he

is embarrassed, and very upset about all of this. i believe that they will be harder on themselves then the congress could ever be, and we're pretty rough as you know. >> congressman, and elijah, thank you for your time. still ahead, willard's big flip-flop at a factory in ohio. he is trying to blame president obama for the errors of the bush administration. and lily ledbetter is here live. stay with us. [ male announcer ] this is genco services --

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hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. welcome back to "politicsnation," willard mitt romney's to are a knack for bad pho pho pho pho photo-ones. today he went to an empty dry wall factory in ohio to attack president obama. this factory is is empty, it's owned by national gypsum.

had president obama's plans worked it would be open by now. >> this is ridiculous, even for willard, it closed when president bush was in office. how is it president obama's fault in what are they going to blame him for next? the titanic in but willard has tried this before. last yul he stood in front of a closed factory in pennsylvania and blamed it's failure on president obama. >> this particular plant didn't close -- didn't are anything to do with president obama's policies or even the economic condition of the country. this was actually part of a r

venture capitalist firm, they closed and condensed only plants. >> a new poll shows president obama winning a head-to-head imagine with romney 49 to 43. joining me now are two guests, thanks to both of you for joining me. >> thanks, reverend. >> erin, does romney think he can blame obama for a factory that closed during the term of president bush ? >> his point is is ththat a lot the factors are not come back fast enough. he is saying if i am president,

we'll' more factories come back more quickly. >> jackie, do you think he wants to auk about this in said ber national lost 1700 jobs, american pad and paper, 358 jobs lost. i mean, i really wouldn't bring up the factory closing if i was wi willard. >> i agree, all they can say is it's not growing fast enough, others what would they say? it's part of the strategy they're putting out there.

and with the record of bane capital, some things were successful, some things weren't, that's how the economy works. >> he can try, all right, let's move on to the polls a minute, i'm not convinced it's a good strategy, but it's his strategy. let's look at what people are thinking and saying in the poles. president obama and mitt romney, easy going and likable, president obama 54, romney, 18. caring about average people, president obama 52%, romney 22%. >> compassionate, understands people, president obama 52%, rom any 23. looking out for the middle class, president obama 48%, romney 27%. consistent, stands up for his believes, president obama 41%,

romney, 30%. not too good, wouldn't you say, erin? >> no, it's not, and the republican primary certainly hurt mitt romney in terms of a lot of those characteristics, a lot of people don't trust him. the obama campaign will make that push. a lot of americans don't know mitt romney at all or know much about his character because he has not been forth coming about it. also, a lot of americans are not paying close attention to this election yet. so it will be on mitt romney to reveal himself more and show more character going into the summer and fall election, and that is how the romney campaign wants to make the numbers more even. >> jackie, when you look at the poll of the american's vote on the perception of the future, in

12 months they believe the economy will get better, 38% better, 19% say worse, 42% say it will say about the same. that's not good for the president. >> no, the economy needs to continue to improve and that will help the president, otherwise, yeah, if it gets worse or even a little worse, it gives fuel to the romney campaign's message that it's not getting better fast enough. >> in fact, the only thing that former governor romney is ahead of the president is in terms of the one or two questions on the economy, and again going back, erin, to his theme of change happening fast enough. last night the president addressed his record and change. >> change is the decision we make to rescue the american auto industry from collapse when some

said let them go bankrupt. change is health care reform that we passed after a century of trying. change is the promise in 2008 we made for the first time in nine year there's are no americans fighting in iraq, osama bin laden no longer walks the face of the earth, that's what change is. >> erin, can the president sell this change? this time of gradual change that it may not have been as dramatic as some may have unrealisticly thought, but he has begun to change. >> yes, and that's aimed at the blue kcollar voters. the government programs he

pushed as president are helping many of the voters out there in michigan with the auto bailout and the manufacturing sectors. the point is that under mitt romney and paul ryan's budget, a lot of the programs would be cut. and that's a problem. it's possible with that group up for grabs, in a yes, they will believe there has been enough change for them. >> jackie, they of course will be the counter from the romney camp, but you can't deny the auto industry bail out or the rest. will this election come down to whether or not there has been enough change in your opinion? >> i think it will come down to the economy. i think if the economy is growing and doing better in november, this could end up well for the president. if not it will be mitt romney, anything can happen in six months. a day is an eternity, what is

six months. >> thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> ahead, equal pay for equal work. it was the first bill signed by president obama, but now the lily ledbetter act is a flash point in a national debate about women and work. we'll talk live with lily ledbetter herself. his what we'r? i don't want a plunger anywhere near my coffee. not in my house. with maxwell house french roast, you let gravity do the work. [ male announcer ] maxwell house french roast. always good to the last drop. [ male announcer ] maxwell house french roast. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines

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>> president made a speech last night at the henry ford museum in michigan. after the speech he toured the museum to see a piece of history. here he is sitting on the bus that rosa parks made famous. her courage helped spark the civil rights movement. still inspirational nearly 60 years later, what a powerful picture. getting grime from deep inside grout takes the right tools,

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i wouldn't trade him for the world. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. if you're caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care program offers strategies that can help. change is the first bill i signed into law, lily ledbetter. equal pay for equal work, our daughters should have the same opportunities as our sons. >> that was president obama last night touting the lily ledbetter

fair pay act. named for a woman that protested she was paid less than men for nearly 20 years at a tire factory. our daughters getting the same opportunities as our sons. a no brainer, right? 208 republicans voted against this eight years ago, and now their nominee won't take a position. here is an advisor responded when he was asked about it last week. >> does governor romney support the lilly ledbetter act? >> we'll get back to you on that. >> six seconds of silence, and then we'll get back to you on that. on equal pay, really? "i'm not going to go back and look at all of the prior laws and say had i been there which

one i would have supported." and the assault on fair pay is going on right now in republican states. scott walker just repealed the equal pay law. do they realize it's 2012? joining me now is lilly ledbetter herself. she spent 11 years fighting for equal pay from her employer. their so much for joining me tonight. >> thank you, reverend, i'm delighted to be here. >> what do you have to say to republicans like mitt romney that will not support this law? >> they need to wake up, this is what we need in this country, and it's not just for democratic people. this is for the republicans. it's for everybody. it's so common sense. it hurts me to try to figure out what they're thinking when you

get six seconds of silence, this is a no brainer. >> i mentioned scott walker just repealed equal pay. let me show you what he is saying. he saying it would clog up the legal system. >> the past, lawyers can clog up the legal system, instead the state department can put people back and get them up to two years back pay if there is a reason to believe there was discrimination in the workplace. >> am i missing something? equality would clog up the system? i thought the system was supposed to make sure we had equality. >> exactly, exactly, that's exactly what it should do. we should have equality, and if the employers are treating their people fairly, they have nothing to be concerned with, and this is not a lawyer's dream, because most people, reverend al, like

the person i am, i didn't have money to afford an attorney for eight years to support me and follow through the court system. i had to find one that worked basically on a cpro bono. most lawyers today can't afford to do this, so there's not a lot of cases, and a lot of people don't want to be involved in a case for eight or nine years. >> you have become the symbol of this equal pay movement that has now become law, how do you feel where you sit in history as you look at the republicans during this season vying to undermine the movement that you have become the symbol of? >> as you know, reverend al, this bill doesn't mean anything to lilly ledbetter except that i

am in the history books. and i take that serious. so i travel the country talking about my experience and what happened to me. this is detrimental to the american family, and i am scared. to put it plain, i am very scared right now for where the american family is going with the republican party, because if we rescind the bill, it puts us back 50 years. it didn't had any more laws except it only put the law back to where it was prior to the ruling in the ledbetter v. goodyear case. >> it's great to have you join us tonight. thank you for your time, it's great to have you on the show. >> thank you. >> allen west comes to ted nugent's defense.

i went to a small high school. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us.

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we're back on "politicsnation" with developing news on rocker ted nugent's rant against the president. nugent is unapologetic. "by no stretch of the imagination did i threaten anyone's life or hint at violence" let me show you his comments again. >> i can tell you this right now, if barack obama becomes the president in november again, i will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. our president within attorney general, vice president, hillary clinton, they're criminals. >> we need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in november. any questions? >> those so called metaphors were clear enough to get noticed by the secret service. and today, he is telling a

hunting magazine mitt romney would be "a vastly superior president than the current monsters." but it's not just rockers like nugent pushing the ugly rhetoric, allen west is refusing to back down from his over the top charge of progressives in congress. >> which are the members of congress that are -- >> i have it right here. >> the progressive caucus. >> progressive caucus members. >> you know something? i'm just talking about the fact that the ideologies -- >> west is even porting nugent, saying he doesn't think the rocker has any ill will toward the president.

it's one thing to push it over the top, but we hope the united states congress would be a little more reasonable. joining me now is michael eric dyson, msnbc political analyst and georgetown university professor. thank you for your time tonight first of all, the secret service telling nbc the matter is resolved, what do you think of ted nugents statements today? >> i think it's ridiculous, not an apology and it explanation wreaks of an arrogance. you made certain inferences and certain implications about the president. you did not back up off of those, you did not suggest you were sorry for making such extraordinary claims. you tried to explain away your exaggeration, and say that we should be careful not to contribute to the dialogue where people end up saying extreme

things as opposed to expressing their differences. >> it seems this continues to go on, this ugly over the line rhetoric, and michelle bachmann said. >> i have never seen a more infin tile for his failure to diagnose the problem and to address the problem. >> infantile, tar baby? you're not only enough to make the notion of how racially charged tar baby is. i saw you disagree with george bush and presidents, and i never heard you result to name

calling. >> and they do it with no push back. including ted nugent, from the leadership of the party. if i said something, i said you know what i shouldn't have said that. and others have had to do the same. but these people have a consistent pattern, and no -- people that can condemn us for a nonviolent rally, allow somebody to sayly be in jail or dead. >> think about hillary rosen. if you agreed with her or not, or the president, or david a axlrod distance themselves. they're as wrong by bei --

>> a congresswoman from missouri saying she has doubts about the president's birth certificates. >> i have a lot of doubts about all that. but i don't know, i haven't seen it, i'm in the same place you are on that, you read this and that, but i don't understand why he didn't show that right away. if someone asked for my birth certificate, i would say here it is. >> now she backed off when questioned and said i was just responding to a constituents question, i'll focus on the economy. still, they have this atmosphere of the birther thing. >> trying to say he is claiming to be something he isn't. and you and i for religious tolerance, for mitt romney as a mormon has never bothered us. but -- this is the double

standard they have, and the rue few sal to deny this stuff is not american. all of these hints are trying to chip away at the authority not only of barack obama as a president, but the office of the presidency of the united states of america. >> michael eric dyson, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> in the heat of social debate and political discourse, people say a lot of things they don't mean. i have. saying things that offend. you know they're sincere and they apologize or they clarify. but when they act like all they can do is defend and justify, you're only left to conclude they either don't care, or they meant what we thought we understood them saying. let's not do that. let's all have a civil discussion. thanks for watching, i'm al