tv Martin Bashir MSNBC May 3, 2012 3:00pm-4:00pm EDT
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romney in sportsmouth, virginia. >> i think for all of america, this is a very simple proposition this november. president barack obama, president mitt romney. you decide. very easy. >> it only took her 119 days to come on board and work out her choreography. back then she was going around and saying things like this. >> mitt romney, can he beat obama? >> no. he can't beat obama. because his policy is the basis of obamacare. >> yeah, there is that, isn't there? as you know, it was some 200 plus days ago that miss bachmann was claiming an hpv vaccine caused mental retardation. so her credibility is somewhat compromised, i suppose. not so for newt gingrich who never had any credibility in the first place.
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the former speaker did manage to state his support for romney among other things, such as space adventure program, during his 26-minute exit speech, brought to you in its full glory on this broadcast. apologies to our longsuffering viewers. gingrich said that he too will appear publicly with the man he once accused of spewing baloney. pious baloney at some later date. probably around the time he's desperate to pay back that $4 million debt to moby dick airways, among others. and this week we can programs arick santorum to the great and reluctant trudge to back romney. santorum will finally meet with romney in pittsburgh on friday for a possible endorsement. our sources are assured, however, that santorum will not appear publicly with romney a his event later that day. apparently, unmoved by a new quinnipiac poll showing romney down 8 points.
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i guess that's what happens when a former candidate doesn't need your money. sorry about that, mitt. let's bring in our panel from washington. jonathan capehart, an opinion writer for the "washington post." and david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones magazine and the author of the new york time best selling "showdown." david, today mitt romney won the support of a fantasyist. yesterday he received the support of a man with narcissistic personality disorder and tomorrow, he'll enjoy the company of a man who wants to take us back in time to the fourth century. do we call these endorsements? >> this is diversity. this is great for the republican party. i'm reminded watching all these people do these heart felt endorsements of what we call the perp walk. you march past the reporters.
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you put your coat over your handcuffs. it is a forced march. it is false. i mean, maybe michele bachmann has been quietly contemplating the last four months mitt romney's electoral prospects and now realized she was traumaly wrong when she said he had no chance of winning. but likely it is bs being recycled. it is the phoniness of this that is so patently obvious that is why i think these endorsements have no bearing. none of these guys have a constituency. >> while mitt romney is attracting this galaxy of luminaries, he is also lost an experienced foreign policy adviser in the form of richard glenell. in the romney campaign they maintain sexuality was not the problem. was this the result of the extreme right ordering romney to
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drop an adviser because of his sexual orientation? >> reporter: well, it would appear that way. if you look at the reports, both from jennifer rubin at the "washington post," and the story in the new york times today, the romney campaign put richard on ice in the days leading up to his appointment, or his official start date, may 1st. now, he is an open and proudly openly gay person. he made no bones about it. he did not try to hide it. when mitt romney and his campaign brought him on, they should have known that he would be a lightning rod. to do that, they should have stood by him. now, you know, richard scrub his twitter feed. did he all sorts of things. he is a rather opinionated person who took to twitter to make all sorts of comments about our colleague at msnbc, myself, and other people in politics. but you can, he should have known that this was going to
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happen. mitt romney should have known this would happen. and mitt romney, however, should have stuck with him. because put everything aside, there is no question that richard grenell was qualified for the job he was hired to do. >> i agree. mr. romney engaged the president on the issue of the chinese disdeny now pleading for u.s. asylum and alleging that he was pushed out from shelter at the u.s. embassy. take a listen to romney. >> if these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom and for the obama administration. we are a place of freedom here and around the world and we should stand up and defend freedom wherever it is under attack. >> i have to ask you, is this not premature politicalization? first of all, the secretary of state is actually in china and second, this is an extremely fragile evolving and delicate situation with a man whose life and indeed his family's life is at stake.
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and mitt romney just throws himself in and makes comments about the president. >> if you read closely between the lines you will see that mitt romney is in favor of freedom. i mean, it is an absurd statement. it doesn't say what he would do which might be somewhat relevant to the presidential race. there is a pattern that we go through in this country. every four years, it happens with democrats, too. whoever is the nonincumbent presidential candidate, always attacks the incouple benl or the party in charge for being weak on china and says if it was up to me, i would snap my fingers and i would make them do what we wanted and there would be freedom and no trade deficit and their currency would be maxed to the u.s. dollar. then they come into office and they find out it is a lot more difficult. as you just mentioned, this is a particularly dicey moment and it is still unclear what happened and whether chen himself made some miscalculations, unfortunately. so i think when you, if you want to practice good solid diploma
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and leadership, just say i'm waiting and seeing and hoping for the best. and no one in america would blame mitt romney for saying that. >> it is astonishing to me that mitt romney spends the week accusing the president of politicizing the death of bin laden and here he is literally jumping in to a live and as i said, evolving and delicate situation. does he know what he's saying? >> reporter: maybe not. and as ill advised as it is, it has the benefit in the short term of getting us talking about the pertinence and importance and whether he should have made these comments about china and off the conversation about what the resignation of richard grenell said about mitt romney's leadership abilities. >> indeed. as ever, thank you both for joining us. coming up, it's all in the family. gop edition. >> mitt romney's future for america would be a legalization of american energy.
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republicans seem to be falling in line. one case in point is our next guest. rick tyler. senior adviser to a pro newt gingrich super pac who had this to say during a previous appearance here on this broadcast. >> are you actually saying that you do not believe mitt romney will beat the president in november? >> i've never believed that and
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i still don't believe it. the establishment believed it like bob dole would beat bill clinton and like john mccain would beat barack obama. now they have the guy who lost to john mccain. >> i'm pleased to say that the very same rick tyler joins us now. so you made that statement on april 4th. nearly one month ago to the day. do you stand by that now or are you going to flip-flop in the fashion of one mitt romney? >> it seal like a lifetime ago. >> i'm sorry. it was only four weeks. >> i think mitt romney has a lot to do to beat barack obama. >> just for the record, is your position the same as it was four weeks ago that he has no chance of beating the incumbent president? >> well, i never said no chance. there is always a chance. and i do believe he might be able to beat him. i hope that when i said four weeks ago, i hope that i'm wrong. i'm not sure that i am.
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>> mr. gingrich has only offered what could be called tepid support for romney. do you think that will be good enough for him to pay off his $4 million in debt? >> i have no idea what the arrangements are. i have not spoken to the speaker about the debt. i have not spoken to them about it. >> you know newt gingrich as well as anyone. he has been described by one writer as an undisciplined megalomaniac. i wonld how you would assess his personality. he also appears to correspond to the dsm diagnosis for narcissistic personality disorder. i'm going to read you a few of them. tends to exaggerate his own importance, achievements and talents. imagines unrealistic fantasies of success, beauty, power and intelligence. trouble keeping healthy relationships. and sets unrealistic goals. do you think, sir, that newt gingrich has narcissistic
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personality disorder. >> i'm sorry. i thought you were about newt gingrich. i thought you were talking about barack obama. >> you've worked for mr. gingrich forle, many years. >> and i hnlt worked for barack obama. >> that's why i wouldn't address that question to you if i was asking it concerning the president. specifically, just for clarity. does newt gingrich have narcissistic personality disorder? >> no. i've known him for over a decade on a personal level. he is a very gentle russ person. he is actually in person, not a confrontational person. he is very inclusive. he includes a lot of people in his discussions and deliberations. i found him to be very open to ideas, suggestions, conversations, ideas. so no. i don't find him to be that way at all. you don't think he sets unrealistic goals. one is reminded when he told us all that he would be the nominee. >> but martin, he said the republicans would be in the majority. everybody thought he was what you're saying and we were in the
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majority. he said, people we can't balance the budget. we have to balance for four years in a row. he couldn't pay off debt. we did that. we couldn't reform welfare. we've reform welfare. so no. when he says we lay out a plan, we can do that. all the visionaries have large plans that people laugh at. thomas edison was laughed at. the wright brothers were laughed at. the people hine vented the trans continental railroad were laughed at. >> many people were questioning what newt gingrich will bring to mitt romney given that he has been eviscerating and he can core greating of mitt romney. what kind of an asset can he be to mr. romney? >> i think one thing the romney campaign has lacked, the recent ad for romney focuses on barack obama's record. that's good but not good enough. we need to know where mitt romney's america will bring us. what does it look like in four years? he has not articulated a vision
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which is desperately needed in the campaign. this is something that newt gingrich could help him with. >> rick tyler, once again i appreciate your honesty. all of us are waiting for mitt romney to come out with a constructive and substantive plan instead of simply casting apersians on other people. thank you so much for joining us. coming up, a super moon. >> if there is anyone out there who still doubts that america is a place where all things are possible -- when i found out my irregular heartbeat put me at 5 times greater risk of a stroke, my first thoughts were about my wife, and my family. i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke.
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see how the carrots i grow make that new stouffer's steam meal so tasty. actually, the milk om my farm mes it so creamy, rht dad. dad can e... boys! don't you think stouffer's steam perfectag should get some credit? my carrots. my mil [ female aouncer ] new from stouffer's. farmers' harvest steam mea stso goo we'll bet the farm on it. a day of shame for the president. that's what mitt romney called it over an hour ago. the dissident.
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joining us, the national security adviser to president obama's campaign and former ambassador to india. good afternoon, sir. >> hi, martin. how are you? >> i want to get to china in a moment. first on afghanistan, the president had a successful trip but it was followed by some bombings in that country. how is the president going to turn things around in afghanistan? >> first of all, as you look back at the president's challenges when he took office as our commander-in-chief back in 2008, a war in iraq, a war in afghanistan, a war against al qaeda. he has made tough, honorable, difficult decisions. brought bin laden to justice. he has brought home 140,000 troops and gotten us out of iraq in a responsible fashion. this week on tuesday he went to afghanistan and he outlined specifically by both signing the strategic partnership agreement with afghanistan and outlining and sticking to his timetable, precisely how he would bring our
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troops home. but also, stab shoulder to shoulder with the afghans, train up their security forces so they can protect themselves. and also, i think one of the most important parts of the president's speech was outlining regionally how to set up partners and strengthen our alliances, so that there will be a piece there hopefully for a long time to come even after we leave. >> indeed. at his campaign event, mitt romney spoke about the threats to mr. chen and the failure of the u.s. to get him out of there. he called it, and i'm quoting, a dark day for freedom and a day of shame for president obama. as a representative of the president with expertise in diplomacy, is this really a sensible thing to start shouting when we have the secretary of state actually in china at this moment and this man's fate very much in the lap of the gods. >> governor romney has been flip flopping on issues from libya, where he initially had one position and flip flopped to
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another after the president was successful in forming an international coalition and a victory there. to not outlining a timetable in afghanistan, to saying that he would not pursue bin laden or targts in pakistan as a candidate for president in 2007. we're never quite sure where governor romney is on these issues. maybe what he is saying today is not too surprising. i think the president has taken the responsible, the courageous, and the right decision with respect to our relationship with china. look, martin, we all want a peaceful and successful rise of china. we all as the president has said, we want to figure out the trade imbalance there. the president has pushed very, very hard and successfully in increasing u.s. exports to china. creating more jobs at home in america. he has worked with secretary geithner on the currency imbalance and saying a better trend in that direction.
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at the same time, he has been pressing these very difficult and tough economic issues, he has stressed human rights. he has stressed the importance and the value of human rights for america. not just with china but around the world. the vice president has done that. secretary clinton has been terrific at emphasizing that. and we'll see what happens in the future. mr. chen, we all wish him well. we all hope for his security. we all respect his advocacy against forced sterilization and against the one child policy. we hope he is successful in the long term, whether he is in china or elsewhere. but this has still got time to play out. and we must remember, martin, that mr. chesapeake bay was in our embassy, the american embassy. that's where he sought to go. the u.s. embassy in beijing. he knew that is a place where he could seek his safety and try to work out some kind of an agreement. he then volunteered to leave
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after being asked several times about whether or not he wanted to stay or leave. he said three times, he wanted to leave. but it is not over yet. and i know the president, the national security team, the secretary of state, hillary clinton, i know they'll all be working as gary locke, the ambassador is over there, on a good resolution here stressing the importance of human rights, which is a great value to the united states. >> so, sir, again, a final question. given your expertise in these matters of your experience overseas, do you think that mr. romney has been guilty of a little premature politicalization when it comes to this individual dissident? >> well, we all like to say that maybe he eats crow and something in this particular situation. time has to be allowed to run through. you have to let diplomacy have a chance to work. this is a very delicate and precarious position.
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i think all americans, republicans and democrats and independents, we all want to see this work out for mr. chen, for human rights, for a peaceful resolution. and so the best thing, you know, which we have always practiced in the past is we don't let politics come in the way when we have problems overseas. and i would hope the governor would take that position in the future. let's look at what is best for america, human rights, let's not politicize this kind of situation. let's give it time to work out and work out the right way. >> indeed. thank you so much for joining us today. >> thanks, martin. >> stay with us. the top lines are coming up. >> i want to introduce a person who has been a big part of my life's business myself sweetheart of, i don't know. let's see how many years? no, no. i know how many years we've been married. >> i just did the math and that makes me old. [ female announcer with swiffer wetjet,
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what's your policy? from newt's creepy and weird exit to the best job in the world, here are the top lines. >> he said he's leaving the race because he has already accomplished what he set out to do. to eat a cinabon in each of the 50 states. >> i'm suspending the campaign. >> newt gingrich will do what he's been doing, keep raising money and selling books. i thought he was delusional then. we look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead. that from mitt romney. politics is weird. and creepy. >> is mitt romney conservative? this is not a choice between mitt romney and ronald reagan. >> who would have guessed we would look back at the carter years as the good old days. >> there was a failure here. it would have disastrous consequences for me politically. >> my wife has pointed out to me approximately 219 times, the
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moon colony was probably not my most clever comment. >> i've got nothing for you. >> i don't think mitt romney has been -- >> he is a convincing guy. >> i've got patrick henry and thomas jefferson's dog. it doesn't get any better than that. >> bobby jindal for vice president. how is that? >> my sweetheart of how many years? let's see. i know how many years we've been married. my sweetheart of 47 years, my wife ann. >> i just did the math. that makes me old. >> what would you do to get the economy going? look at what the president has done. and do the opposite. >> president obama's approval rating has reached its highest point in almost a year. he called me. is it cool if i slow jam the news every tuesday? >> where are obama's former girlfriends? you would think women would be falling out of the wood work here. just combine all the character traits into one woman.
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a person was essentially made up. >> let's get right to our expert panel. joe williams covers the white house for politico. and dana milbank for the "washington post." good afternoon to all of you. rush limbaugh is ranting again. this time because of a new book about president obama. today's politico features a story claiming it could be potentially problematic for the white house. the book is titled, barack obama, the story, written by pulitzer prize winner david maraniss. and it features a detailed look at it's as obama's time in new york city and his relationship with this woman, genevieve cook, whom he dated in the early 1980s, including some revealing entries from her diary. joe, does this book threaten the life narrative that the president has so carefully written in his autobiographies? >> well, it threatens it to the degree that not everything that he wrote about was actually real
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or actually, he admitted that. i think to that end, it is not all that threatening to his life narrative. it probably brings a lot more details, a few more details into sharper relief. and frankly, when i read it i felt like it was more salacious than revelatory, if i can get that word right. i thought it was something that you would want to peek behind the curtain if you so desired but not anything that i didn't already know about the president. as he guy trying to figure out his identity when he was in his 20s. he is relatively aloof and self-contained. and that he was trying to find his place in the world like many of us were when we were that age. and quite frankly, the takeaway was, i'm sure glad that i'm not powerful or famous enough for people to have my ex-girlfriends come out of wood work. that would be ugly. >> i feel for you. the president admitted to creating a composite of his girls when he wrote his own book. with people like rush limbaugh, you heard him in top lines using
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this issue to attack the president. isn't this yet another example of a desperate desire to scrutinize anything which might be used to throw at the president? even if it comes from a period of life which lets you and i be honest, all of us would prefer to forget. >> i think president obama being a law student and a professor of the constitution would stand behind the new book on free speech. second, i've known the president since 1992. i'm glad that now everybody knows if they read this book based upon the excerpts in "vanity fair", that he didn't stumble into his political greatness. he is like pee wee herman when he jumps off his bike and that i men to do. that as far as when i read "vanity fair," i talked about the musings of this young woman who was inflamed by this brilliant young man on columbia's campus. mabel he read something from t.s. elliott which i understand now was one of his favorite philosophers and thinkers when he said only those who are willing to risk to go far will
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actually go far. i'm paraphrasing that but i think that obama read those words and took them to heart. that he was very shrewd and very calculating and very focused and that's better than a president who wants to wear the statue of the presidency's office as a halloween costume. don't you think? >> could i and i love your reference to t.s. elliott. let me read one of the diary entries by genevieve cook. she writes, his warmth can be deceptive though he speaks sweet words and can be open and trusting, there is also that coolness and i begin to have an inkling of some things about him that could get to me. now earlier this week, after he slow jammed the news with jimmy fallon, you wrote in your column that the president was beginning to look a bit sleazy, albeit in terms of his constant campaigning. does he now, does that worry you now? do you think this story itself adds to that notion that you suggested of sleaziness?
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>> no. i think they're entirely different things. i was about going to fund-raisers. i was not speaking about his sexual warmth. >> i'm be suggesting that. i'm saying as you do that, is that not going to add to this notion that you were suggesting about this endless nonstop campaigning that gives the impression of a certain level of sleaziness? >> i don't think so. i think the endless campaigning is a sleazy aspect of our system. and i don't think the president should be excused if the other side isn't being excused. that has nothing to do with his biography here and my colleague david maranis has done another terrific book about a president. giving a very nuanced enriched portrait of his life and i don't think there is anything that the white house fears about this. it is giving us more contech for a life story that we already know a great deal about and it is filling in some other pieces of that.
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and i think whatever an old girlfriend said about him, three decades ago which was not terribly unflattering, is not going to impact him at all. >> not to mention the fact -- not to mention the fact that pick a president that hasn't been very goal oriented for a polite way to put it. ambition is a prerequisite for the job. you have to be very ambitious to get from there to the most powerful job on earth. that to me wasn't very much a liability. i agree with dana's point. the portrait was nuanced but in a way that didn't, from my reading of it, didn't really shed all that much explosive material short of providing fodder for people like rush limbaugh which we know it would do and things they already tend to say now. to that as that he can, i think that the white house is at least the campaign certainly is looking at this as a short new cycle event that they're worried about, but now that they're in the middle of it, they're not too concerned that it will do any lasting damage. >> i agree. and first everybody was off
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every word that obama said and wrote in his book, dreams of my father. now they're trying to hang him on every word that was written at a very early age. >> indeed. he is relieved that we're not looking at his early 20s. thank you so much. coming up, russell simmons on the future of the occupy movement and the problem with politics. stay with us. ok! who gets occasional constipation,
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ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and we listen before making our recommendations, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so we can offer practical ideas that make sense for you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck, and see how we can help you, not sell you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 the 1st of may was marked around the world by ordinary working people protesting against the inequality of wealth and for labor rights. the occupy movement was was in detroit, cleveland, seattle and los angeles. while the demonstrations were back, many were smaller and drew far less media attention than those that seemed to grow organically last fall. russell simmons is the chairman
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of global grind.com and has been involved in the occupy movement from its inception. good afternoon. how are you? good to have you with us. do you sense that on this occasion, may day, that the occupy movement had by all accounts lost much of its drive? lost much of its potency? >> i think the drive to promote the discussion about inequality is still, we're about it now. >> we are. >> it is important that we continue to dialogue. and i have a reason why i occupy, which you know that i believe occupy wall street for a good reason. and the discussion around wall street's control and special interests, undue control of our government continues. there is a new constitutional amendments being proposed. so long as we're having this discussion, we're on the right track. we know our democracy is totally corrupt.
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>> on that point from your website global grind, you explain why you okay pix i want to read a portion of what you write. you said because our democracy has been hijacked, the corporations and special interests pay our politicians to do their bidding instead of the people's. this legal bribery has to stop. those are strong words. >> i can go home now. that's right. i wrote that because it is absolutely true. why else would you pay a politician? a corporation, why would you underwrite some politicians' initi initiatives. look at the money, $20 million. and many, many billions out of our tax system on laws that we know are not functional. and -- functioning. and such proof, the disease individuals who are train in criminal behavior, they destroy communities and then send them back to the jails again. they fill the hotels. there's one example. the jobs that move overseas.
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>> what about the presidential campaign? do you reserve the same criticism, if i may ask you, for the president as you would for the republicans who are -- mitt romney has a war chest like no other. all of the republican contenlders for the nomination have accused him of burying him with million of dollars in the campaign. >> that's the system we're in. i don't expect the president to live under a different system. i'm hoping he would make it a legacy issue if he has a second term, that he would know that getting the money out of politics is one of the greatest accomplishments he could have. >> and yet you and i know that citizens united has made this ten times worse because now there are these super pacs that can raise untold and unlimited amounts of money and that's where politics is in this country. >> everything. almost everything you can come up with. that disempowers thor pooh, the middle class, any american, most every class. even, a minute part of the 1%.
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there is a tax break. i can give you 100 reasons why money and politics is separate like church and politics should be separate. this is what we have to do to protect our democracy or promote a pure democracy. it is crystal clear. whether you're a tea party member, a republican or a democrat or a progressive, a conservative. everyone would love to believe that the politician that they put in office works for them and not some special interest the reality is it doesn't matter where you are on the political spectrum. everybody is using money to fight the election. >> if i promoted a constitution aldal amendment which dennis kucinich put, in it needs to come out. we need a sound bite. a public discussion that is crystal clear and we all agree, everybody agrees that special interests control our government. everybody agrees we have to change that. it is a question of can we create enough of a, any president says make me do it. we have to make the president do it. >> are you disappointed that the president hasn't done more?
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>> on this subject, he's been as vocal as any president we've had. next time around, after he's been competitive and if he wins, maybe he can go to work and solve this major problem in our country's politics. are you confident that he'll do that? >> i'm hopeful that he'll do that. and he has spoken more about it. mitt romney said maybe we should have the money go directly to him and forget the super pacs. >> yessie don't we have one guy buy the whole government and work for him. >> why not? >> the coke brothers -- >> i want to move on. not just your political interests and your commitment to occupy that has driven you recently. you're also quite a spiritual person. you know that today is the national day of prayer. is that in any sense related to what we have? >> the effort is a prayer. i'm a yogi. 500,000 kids have learned to
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meditate through the david lynch foundation. i keep pushing prayer and meditation to kids and to everyone. your actions, it is right there in the quantum physicalics. we know that our prayer matters. go about the work. you have to start with a prayer. >> you know that religion and politics -- >> i'm not a religious person. these are prayer beads but not religious beads. >> prayer can be just a look inside to find the strength from inside. >> so you're not praying to god. >> well, the prayer, there's many ways to look inside. you could say god inside you but you don't have to. silence and stillness is a very critical thing for every human being. anyone who can sit still for 20 minutes a day needs two hours. so i recommend people sit still and look inside for strength and for whatever they want to do to change the world or how they want to contribute to the world. so prayer day is an idea.
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a universal idea. not a religious idea. >> indeed. russell simmons, thank you for coming in. thank you. >> we have much more ahead. first amanda drury has the cnbc market wrap. >> good afternoon. let's look at how stock are doing. we're pretty negative. we started out okay and then we moved to the down side after we got some disappointing news. let's look at the numbers. with the dow off by about 65 points, the s&p below 1,400. down by 11 points. the nasdaq holding to the 3,000 mark but down by 35 points. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. back to msnbc.
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asylum in the united states. chen guangcheng is begging them to let him leave on the same plane to china. mike, with precise diplomatic terminology, this has turned into a hot mess, hasn't it? >> i knew you were going there, martin. the white house and the administration are trying to keep this out of the public, but when you see this, gordon locke hugging with state assistant campbell, hugging with mr. chen on the way to the hospital, everybody thought everything was great for just a brief, shining moment. apparently according to
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officials, both privately and publicly in front of the microphones, he has had a change of heart. the embassy saying chen left it by his own decision. all of it has been turned on its head, and it couldn't have come at a worse time since secretary clinton is there. we've seen mitt romney hit the president's policy very hard today, romney calling today a day of shame, fortuitous for mitt romney as well, on the day of the osama bin laden raid. >> you know that i defer to your expertise on these matters. is it not something for a presidential candidate to be leaping into what is a clearly delicate and fragile situation with the secretary of state actually in china. >> it is a quaint notion that politics stuff at the water's
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edge has gone by the boards, martin, unfortunately, over the last course of the months and years. certainly it is the secretary of state and not the president that is overseas. clearly, our polling shows that president obama going into the election with the campaign kickoff this weekend has an edge in what is traditionally the republican advantage, and that is foreign policy. it's somewhat of a surprise, and it really isn't to see mitt romney come out very harly against china. united states still competes with china as much as we try to emphasize the cooperation or the u.s. government tries to empathize it. competes it with monetarily, competes with it militarily, including the balance also focusing on the economy, the u.s. administration consciously, publicly overtly taking steps to emphasize asia policy, emphasize china policy, trying to
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counterbalance china's emerging or strengthening military profile, martin. >> as i said earlier, i defer to your expertise. thank you so much. we'll be right back to clear the air. makeup artists have everything to make my skin look its best. at home, i challenge that in one easy step with olay. total effects tone corrector. 7 anti-aging therapies for younger looking skin including an even skin tone, instantly. from olay. i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast.
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taste so gdwe'll bet . departure. hertz gold plus rewards also offers ereturn-- our fastest way to return your car. just note your mileage and zap ! you're outta there ! we'll e-mail your receipt in a flash, too. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. it's time now to clear the air, and in the fog of political conflict that was created by some conservatives this week, but signature success in capturing and killing osama bin laden may have been lost in the party's own discourse, but it wasn't lost on the president. when he explained, on afghan soil, his objective for america's role in that country. >> our goal is not to build the country in america's image or to eradicate every vestige of the taliban. and we are on the path to do just that. >> today we learned in the words
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of he osama bin laden himself t destruction. the taliban has released 200 pages of documents that was seized from osama bin laden last year. these outline the attack on his odious network. he admits they are on the wane. i plan to release a statement that krekts the micorrect the m made. in doing so, we shall reclaim the trust of a large segment of those who lost their trust in the jihadis. the leaders worried about the last days of his competence, something that he cannot now repair since his body lies at the bottom of the arabian sea. you see, it's not just the fact
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that bin laden was killed during his tenure that speaks to his confidence in foreign affairs, it's also the broad knowledge of afghanistan. as he said, he has no interest in building another country in this nation's image. that is a welcome relief given the ill-considered meanderings. dylan ratigan sheis here. how are you? >> i just like to listen the words you use to incite the dignity and hilarity. there was one other word -- >> odious. >> odious, that's it. >> which means appalling,
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