today. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> now we know, i know some of you think you already knew this, but you didn't know it, you just suspected it, and there's a big difference between knowing and suspecting, but now we know, the we know the day, we know the very day the republicans secretly vowed to oppose every single thing that president obama would try to do. that's right, you were right. it was the day he was inaugurated president of the united states. the general election has begun, the primary process is over. >> there's going to be a lot of volatility. this thing is going to get nasty. >> four years ago we were always worried such a bad climate for the republican party. >> barack obama, the worst president in history. >> why would i want him to succeed?

>> america can't live for four more years with barack obama. >> they want to be able to say the obama administration has failed. >> they are the underdog. >> so many people are turned off by washington. >> this thing is going to get nasty. >> the attacks from the republican side are going to go too far and they're going to come back badly. >> yesterday what you saw was a cool -- >> if mitt romney was in the room right now, what would you say to him? >> hey, mitt. >> this country is fundamentally fair. >> michelle and i, we have been in your shoes, we didn't come from wealthy families. >> for the president to come out -- >> so many people are turned off by washington. >> there's going to be a lot of volatility. >> barack obama, he has failed. >> this thing is going to get nasty. >> i want this forever to be a country where everybody gets a

fair shot and everybody's doing their fair share and everybody's playing by the same set of rules. >> today the president continued to push congressional republicans to prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling on july 1. >> stopping this from happening should be a no-brainer. it makes me sick just thinking about it. the republicans who run the house of representatives have not yet said whether or not they'll stop your rates from doubling. >> the republican house speaker john boehner who has publicly expressed concerns about holding his majority in the house decided to take his first compromised step toward the president today on student loans. >> today i'm pleased to announce that on friday the house will vote on a bill to extend the current interest rate on federal student loans for one year.

>> but boehner is going to try to turn this republican surrender to the president into at least some kind of partial victory. >> we will pay for this by taking money from one of the slush funds in the president's health care law. you know, this week, the president's traveling the country on the taxpayer's dime, campaigning and trying to invent a fight where in isn't one, and there never has been one, on these student loans. >> harry reid's democratic senate plan for the student loan fix is to pay for it by closing a corporate tax loophole. now that the president has forced the republicans to agree in principal on the student loan fix, we will no doubt have a few weeks of interparty wrangling of exactly how to pay for it.

we now know when congressional republicans decided to oppose and obstruct every single thing that president obama has tried to do. it was in a secret meeting that occurred the day president obama was nominated. robert draper's new book, "do not ask what good we do" details a meeting that took place on inauguration day among leaders of the republican party including eric cantor and paul ryan and the disgraced former speaker of the house newt gingrich, along with communications advisor frank luntz. after four hours, everyone agreed on the path forward for the republican party. show united an unyielding opposition to the president's economic policies when the spear point of the house in 2010 jab obama relentlessly in 2011, win

the white house and the senate in 2012. you will remember this day, newt gingrich proclaimed to the others as they said goodbye, you'll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sewn. in an interview with "rolling stone" magazine, president obama sounds like a man who has not yet read that passage of robert draper's book. in the interview, the president says, frankly i know that there are good, decent republicans on capitol hill who in a different environment would welcome the capacity to work with me, but right now in an atmosphere in which folks like rush limb what and grover for kwis are defining what it means to be a conservative american. after this next election, they'll feel a little more liberated to go out and say, let's redirect the republican party back to those traditions in which a dwight eisenhower can build an intrastate highway

system. rush limbaugh interpreted that statement for his followers today. >> what that means is, obama has identified some republicans who are mor than willing to cave. but they won't because of me and grover norquist. obama isn't interested in compromising what he's all about. it's russia's fault. of course i'm just omnipresent, not just on taxes, but on everything. >> joining me now, democratic strategist and msnbc contributor crystal ball and robert draper the "new york times" best selling author of "do not ask what good we do." thank you both for joining me. this book is -- it's one of those things where it confirms a lot of suspicions that you have a right to, just from the external viewing of these things. i mean it doesn't shock you to discover that there was another one on secret meeting on inauguration day.

>> in hindsight, it makes you realize too that the first thing the president should have done with his political capital is to try to change the senate filibuster rules. hindsight is 20/20, but if he had done that with his incredible popularity coming in, that could have really made a difference for the entire administration. but the other thing with this, though, is the republicans benefit from obstructionism beyond just damaging the president, beyond just stopping the legislative general darks it also damages the credibility of government as a whole. and that helps push their message that the government is incapable of doing anything well. >> when you get inside like this and get to study how they have operated, this is all -- this is history now, but when you watch what happened this week, you watch speaker boehner say there's a one-third chance we

could lose the house, when you watch him talking about the student loan fix, now we'll find out how to pay for it. in what you know about how they operate explains what the speaker's been doing in the last two weeks? >> for one thing, the one out of three chance of losing the house was a fundraising cam butt, both sides are doing it. they want to gin up their done bases. >> so you scare republican contributors into the notion that we might not be controlling the house of representatives and then what do you have? >> and obama's campaign is doing the same thing, they're warning donors, that, look, after what you democratic donors may perceive as a clown show during the republican primaries, it's time to focus on the general election and romney looks very good in these battleground polls and we could lose. the other thing i would say is that you mentioned that speaker boehner has, you know, come to a

sort of reconciliation regarding student loans, but the devil is in the details and that's how to pay for it and taking sort of a bite out of the administration's hide paying out of the so called obama slush funds. >> the slush funds are on page 892, slush funds. >> i love the way, their branding is always amazing. the slush fund is money to provide incentives to take care of ourselves better, preventative care, that's why the core of why our health care costs are going up to democratically, and he calls that a slush fund. john boehner wants to be able to put this student loan thing to bed because it's terrible politics for the republicans. but he has to do something to apiece his crazy caucus. and the only way he can do is by giving with this hanged and taking away with the other, which is exactly what he is proposing. >> that is the story of john

boehner, they have been the tail that has wagged the dog and even on bills contending resolutions that they thought would be routine to pass, enormous energy has been exerted by these freshman, who largely occupy the far right, not all of them, but most of them of the republican party. it's been an ongoing headache for the speaker. >> i don't think that was just for fund raising, i don't think that was just external, i think that was also to try and remind these freshman and other far right people they better play ball. newt gingrich said in the quote in your book, "the seeds of 2012 were sewn on that day." that was a very good short-term

strategy, that at this point the democrats have caught on to and that the american people have caught on to. so democrats are pushing things that are broadly popular, like keeping student loan interest rates low, like extending unemployment, like extending payroll tax cuts and when the republicans end up on the wrong side of those issues, it's damaging politically. >> on february 12, 2009, it was basically a bunch of guys getting together to feel sorry for themselves. at the end of the meeting they decided we will remain unified, many of them had just come from that inauguration and had seen 1.8 million people on the lawn. but what happens was the democrats walked right into the narrative that the republicans hope they would do. they first passed a stimulus bill that did not immediately fix the problem and then speaker pelosi went for a cap and trade bill. and their folks back home was saying there's this huge

joblessness problem and we all need to go to work and why are we all talking about cap and trade and then comes so called obamacare. the democrats don't really care about helping people find jobs, they just care about their big spending agenda. >> as for their three-point strategy in that meeting. when the united states senate in this round of the election and win the white house in this round of the election, is the united states senate as important to them in effect as the white house? because then they control all nominations, they control all legislation if they have the united states senate. >> i think the view is if you win one, you win the other. realistically in 2012, there's no end where the democrats say lose the white house, white house, but pick up the house, at this point, all realistic scenarios are that the democrat

also hang on in a squeaker to the presidency, probably hang on to the senate, but not the house. >> but they could win the white house and lose the senate and that's a disaster for the president. >> yeah, absolutely. and i think you're absolutely right about how important the senate is, and we don't always focus on it because partially we are so frustrated with the senate. >> and bob kerry's going to be here in and we're going to talk about that. >> robert draper and crystal ball, thank you very much. you knew this one was coming, fox news is completely outraged that president obama appeared on late night with jimmy fallon. that republican outrage is in the rewrite tonight. and in the last exclusive interview, the fight for control of the senate. this show cares about the senate. if the republicans win back control of the senate, they will have complete control of the government, all legislation, all nominations, they can control those things even if president

obama is re-elected. former nebraska democratic senator bob kerry has decided to join the fight for the return of the senate. he'll return for his first national interview since declaring his candidacy. and it was almost exactly 20 years ago that los angeles was consumed by the most destructive riot in american history, it went on for days, over 50 people were killed and it was all about what happened to rodney king. rodney king survived a near deadly beating by los angeles police and he has survived other things. tonight rodney king joins me on what happened to him, what happened to los angeles and what happened to america, and most recently what happened to trayvon martin. look, every day we're using more and more energy. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from?

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>> the republican party and fox news are outraged that president obama found a clever way to get the attention of young voters last night on late night with jimmy fallon. they seem to have forgotten how many candidates have won the hearts and minds of voters on the tonight show. we'll show you what fox news doesn't want you to know. we'll have an exclusive interview with senator bob carr. also joining us tonight on the 20th anniversary of the most destructive riot in american history, rodney king. the man whose savage beating by the los angeles police sparked that riot. ... ♪ ♪ whenever i want you, all i have to do is... ♪ [ female announcer ] introducing xfinity streampix. stream your favorite movies and full seasons of shows

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something new to do like tim tebow ♪ >> president obama is doing everything he can this week to get the attention of the youth vote. he didn't just do jimmy fallon's show, he did jimmy fallon's show on a college campus last night. >> let's move forward and not backward, i believe in young people and i'm going to fight for you. that's what this election i think -- ultimately that's what this election is going to come down to? >> today the president continued his college tour at the university of iowa, pressing the issue of the week student loans. >> this is personal for me, i know something about this because michelle and i, we went through it. and it wasn't that long ago. we have been in your shoes. we didn't come from wealthy families. we needed loans and we needed

grants to get our way through. >> joining me now is richard wolffe an msnbc political analyst. the polls indicate that the enthusiasm that the president had of young voters in 2008 wasn't present. it looks like this is the very first thing as soon as the president was -- he wants to get that youth vote activated once again. >> what they did with the women vote yes, i guess it's the second thing. >> that's right. >> but if you look at the numbers, they're already on the move, they're on the move as they have been across the board through the republican primaries, if you go back to the end of last year, you see the differential romney and obama at about 10 points now, it's up to

about 17 points among younger voters, so it's already moving in the right directions, and what's unusual for this white house, which has frankly struggled with its message for the last three years is what we're seeing over the last several days, a repeated effort to hit this market, this group on the same issue again and began in different formats. that's a sustained effort that was lacking again for the first few years of this administration. >> we're seeing a college tour, we're seeing jimmy fallon and now we're seeing the cover of "rolling stone" all in the same week. this obviously was something that they have been planning for a while. >> right. it is. and you're seeing it control social media as well. you've got to start with a premise, not just a way of trying to get these voters, but a candidate who appeals to younger voters better than his opponent, an opponent who screws up his own messaging, remember he forgot what he had to say about student loans the other day and romney's idea of a quit

against an opponent is to quote a "lucille ball" episode. so there are some strengths that they have both in terms of personality and of course on policy. the student loan rate, no matter what john boehner says is not fabricated fabricated, it's real, it's concrete, and if you cannot immediately create jobs for young graduates, you've got to talk about what matters to them right now and that is the cost of their college tuition and how they pay for it moving forward. >> let's listen to what the president had to say at the university of iowa today. >> is spokesman for the speaker of the house, say we're -- meaning me, we're just talking about student loans to distract people from the economy. think about that for a second. because these guys don't get it. this is the economy. this is the economy.

this is about your job security. this is about your future. if you do well, the economy does well. this is about economy. >> richard, that was a fully engaged candidate, he's going out there on the message, as soon as he hears what the counter message is, he folds it into his message. >> it's not just the attacks that come to him. he's running against romney, he's running against obscure members of the republican party, members of the house that you have never heard of before. so it's a broad frame. >> richard wolf, thank you for joining us. trayvon martin's name is now at the long list of name that tell the story of the perils of being a black man in america. rodney king is one of the most famous names on that list. he will join me later to share his feelings about trayvon martin and what happened to him when he was nearly beaten to death by los angeles police officers. and i have said here

recently is the most important reason to vote is because of the supreme court. that is the reason to vote for united states senators because they confirm supreme court justices. if the democrats lose the senate in november, then the supreme court could be lost for a generation. former senator bob kerry has decided to run for his old senate seat in nebraska to help the democrats keep control of the senate. he joins me for his first national interview since declaring his candidacy. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds )

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they are outraged with president obama's appearance on late night with jimmy fallon last night. we'll tell you all the republicans who have appeared on tv comedy shows in the last 50 years. in a last word exclusive, former senator bob kerry joins me in his first national interview since declaring his candidacy to get his old senate seat back. and rodney king joins me on his reflections of trayvon martin and what has happened in the 20 years since rodney king was nearly beaten to death by los angeles police officers. [ degeneres ] what's more beautiful than a covergirl? two covergirls. get two miracles in one product.

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the next presidential term could see two or three nominations in the supreme court but will be decided by the senate. republicans need to win only four seats held by democrats to control the senate and therefore control all presidential nominations and all legislation. when democratic senator ben nelson announced his decision to not run for re-election in nebraska, republicans marked that down as a definite pick up of one republican seat in the senate until this happened. >> bob kerry was born here, raised here and he's got family here. >> he was a grunt soldier, he was a seal. >> he started his first business here, and he still has businesses here. >> he was a very good governor. >> a good independent senator. >> served on the 9/11 commission. >> i know bob kerry will put his country first. >> i'm bob kerry and i authorize

this ad to do what i can to change washington. >> joining me now on his first national interview since announcing his candidacy, bob kerry. i can see that you're -- a nebraska small business that you have owned for about 40 years now? >> yes, we started at 1973. so yeah, quite a while. >> i want to start with a reference to another nebraska businessman who started small and got a little bit bigger than you, warren buffett, your friend warren buffett there in omaha. he's got this proposed legislation named after him, the buffett rule about taxpayers where he is insisting that the nebraska way of doing things is to have the big boss who makes all the money pay a higher tax

rate than his assistants and the people working for him around your office. do you just have to be from nebraska to understand? why isn't that the law in this country already? >> it certainly has to be consistent with the values of the state, particularly if you pair it up with a permanent reduction in the payroll tax, which senator moynihan did a couple of years ago, for the majority of nebraskans, payroll tax is the largest tax they pay, if you permanently rebalance that, you get some disposable income for the median family which ought to be one of our primary goals. >> student loans have now become an enormous debt center in this country, the interest rate on student loans doubling on july 1, republicans now seemingly in a political retreat from the

house, willing to agree with the president on the principal of taking care of this, but now the argument is going to be over how to pay for it. how should we pay for something like this? >> well, i think we ought to -- either pay for it by redistricting the taxes to a higher income bracket, and/or closing some of the loopholes, on all the gas that's no longer needed. the big kahuna sitting right behind it is the sequester and the tax extenders and all the things that have to be done sometime after the election. these things are going to keep coming up, these items that have to be paid for. and the concern i've got, i these nebraskans have is that the conservative democrats seem to be incapable of agreeing on a tax policy in order to change -- they don't like the nature of this debate at all. i think the president was right

saying that we had to make certain that the student loan cost did go up by $1,000, he was right to say that, but there's going to be more where that came from. >> before john boehner came out and said we're going to have to do the student loan fix. he had members of the house talking about the recipients of student loans as lazy people, taking government handouts, talk about what you see as the role of government in supporting people's road into this economy and their lives along the way in this economy? >> well, you look, it's an extremely important thing that the government attempts to do, we have transformed the middle class after the second world war, the gi bill, thanks to web and others we extended it to iraq war veterans and it wasn't equity, it was cash equity and the stipends so they could come back and go to school.

but it was one of the great accomplishments post world war ii. every economist that looks at higher education will tell you that higher education is going to lift the standard of living and the earning capacity of every individual that goes to college. i would like to see more equity than debt. >> president obama has talked about his experience, the first lady's experience on student loans and how they just wouldn't be where they are in life without that kind of help, when you came back from vietnam having lost your leg there having to spend a year in a navy hospital, there's a lot that the government did to get you back

and moving and productive. >> yeah, it's a combination of community effort, my family, my friends, my church. there were an awful lot of things that weren't in government. but i was in and out of a va hospital the next eight how can you stand up against that fight that all that money that carl rove is going to dump on you? >> well, first and for most, by saying that nebraska values are terrific, nebraskans are very

home, it's the second best homecoming i have gotten in my life. >> well, first and for most, by saying that nebraska values are terrific, nebraskans are very patriotic, and they welcomed me home, it's the second best homecoming i have gotten in my life. even republicans who are saying i'm not going to vote for you, it's nice to have you back. so it's different than what karl rove sitting in the middle of belt way thinks nebraskans are going to do. we welcome people to the state all the time, either coming back or coming to it for the first time.

so we don't behave the way the coke brothers and karl rove think we do. it's very nice and i have no idea whether i'm going to win the election, i think there's a good chance that i will. if i do, it's because i love the people of the state, i love the place and i love the values. >> bob kerry, the happy warrior in the nebraska senate race this november. thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> you're welcome lawrence. coming up, fox news is in the rewrite again, they think it is absolutely outrageous that president obama appeared on a comedy show last night and you would never know that a republican presidential candidate started that tradition of appearing on comedy shows 44 years ago. and later, rodney king will join me. hey, dad, you think i could drive? i'll tell you what -- when we stop to fill it up. ♪ ♪

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saw all the outrage on fox news about president obama's appearance on the jimmy fallon show. and later, rodney king joins me on with his thoughts and feelings on trayvon martin and much more. thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! here's my spark card. and here's your wool. why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! the spiked heels are working. wow! who are you wearing? uhhh, his cousin. [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! wait! your boa. what's in your wallet?

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>> the president knows his stuff, all, that's why they call him potus. >> potus stands for president of the united states. >> stop the college loans. >> let's get it together and make our lives better. a college degree is more than a few dollars. >> that is how we slow jam the news. >> oh, yeah. >> of course rush limbaugh is outraged. >> it's supposed to be wildly funny if you smoke too many controlled substances too.

that can also make it funny as well. >> drug addicts, rush limbaugh always finds his own angle on obama hatred. on the fox news comedy shows, there was relentless outrage that the president would appear on a talk show that includes comedy. >> right now, former presidents are like, huh? that's what we do now when we're president of the united states? i think it's nutso. i personally do not agree with the highest office of the land t most important figure in the world going on these comedy shows. >> i think last night was awful. you can't swing a cat without finding president obama on a comedy show. >> this is really weird, for the first time in history, the cooler head at fox news was actually on the shoulders of sean hannity. >> the president kind of looked

silly going on this show, i don't care that he goes on a late-night show, that's fine. >> sean doesn't care, but for everyone else at fox news, it was outrageously undignified for the president to appear on a tv show that does comedy. it is just disqualifying for the presidency. and they didn't exactly say this, but they clearly want their audience to believe that there is absolutely no precedence in our history for what barack obama did last night. >> i am happy to be here on the dean martin show. dean and i have a lot in common. about the same size, we both like horses, we like golf and of course we both made a lot of movies, the only difference is, i knew when to quit. speaking at a dean martin roast is a lot like being a budget rep for jimmy carter, it's kinds of a temporary change. >> the top ten changes i'll make in the white house. number seven, make sure the

white house library has lots of books with big print and pictures. number two, give oval office one heck of a scrubbing. >> the fox news comedians are >> the fox news comedians are not about to tell their audience

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>> per march 3rd, 1991. rodney king speeding driving while intoxicated clearly wrong was stopped by several police officers. he was kicked, he was hit with batons 56 times in 81 seconds. when one of the officers arrived at the hospital he bragged that he really hit a homer. called king a bear. a bull. a gorilla.

worst, the worst of the dehumanizing descriptions of black americans that fuelled hatred and discrimination throughout our history. >> that was bill bradley addressing the senate on april 30th, 1992, the day after the four police officers on trial for the beating of rodney king were acquitted. this sunday will mark 20 years since rit on thing broke out in los angeles after that acquittal. the jury acquitted the police officers despite the infamous videotape proof of the almost deadly beating that by then had been seen around the world. at the end of six days of the most destructive rioting in american history, 53 people had been killed and more than 2,300 injured and the city had suffered nearly $1 billion in damage. as the riots were ramging in los

angeles, rodney king himself stepped forward to try to bring order and calm to the place where he spent his entire life. what he said that day remains painfully seared into the memories of everyone around the world who heard him speak. >> people, i just want to say, you know, can we all get along? can we get along? >> joining me now is rodney king, author of the new memoire the riot within, my journey from rebel yon to redemption. thank you very much. >> my pleasure. thank you for having me. >> i started with the tape of senator bill bradley because we all remember where we were when that acquittal verdict came down and rioting broke out in los angeles. i was working in the u.s. senate and the speech that bill bradley gave was the single most dramatic i ever witnessed. he took his pencil in the middle of the speech and hit his podium

56 times in 81 seconds to demonstrate graphically to the senate what happened to you. it was impossible for you to know. there was so much happening in the world in reaction to what happened to you, it was impossible for you even to know what was going on out there, wasn't it? >> yeah. i saw quite a bit i know i was blessed with prayers and everybody operation for me. it was so much going on, i do kind of remember a little bit of that pen hitting down on the table, but it was a lot. there was quite a bit going on. >> what's fascinating about the book is that we get to step inside some of what it was like for you and that striking moment where you came out and said can't we all just get along. i was amazed to read how that came about.

the riot was about in its third day. it was one of your lawyer who is said maybe you should say something. >> yeah. the lawyers had a long sheet of paper they wanted me to read, but i wanted to come from my heart. it wasn't too pleasant of things they wrote for me. that wasn't me. i wanted to speak from the heart. >> we knew the minute we saw that that it was you. your mother was afraid of you going out and saying anything. >> yeah. she told me to stay out of it. you are going to get yourself killed. just stay home and it's best not to say anything. i just had to say something when i started seeing the death toll rise with 56 people dead. it was like 40 something dead. by the time i got up to say anything. >> you came very close to being the first and possibly only

person dead in this story and if there had not been a video camera there, we never would have known your story. >> that's true. i was so happy that a good civilian was just curious and had a camera. it was god doing it or the higher power than me and that whole situation. for him to happen to have a camera there and me come through at that time and at that particular moment. >> your name is on a long list of names on the story of injustices done to african-american men in this country. tray von martin is the latest name to make an entry on to the list. what are your feelings as you watch this story unfold and your feelings about what his family is going through? >> his feelings, i can imagine

tray von is no longer here, but the parents deserve justice. the screaming with him screaming, i can relate to that. it sounded like me 20 years ago. the death scream when you know you are seconds away from death. it brought back memories for me, i must say. not a pleasant one neither. >> rodney king, this book has been -- i am not finished yet and i am hanging on every word. it's your voice and the really story. the riot within by rodney king. rodney king gets the last word. >> thanks for having >> romney now says the rich like him should be congratulated, let