>> i hesitated on gay marriage in part because i thought civil unions would be sufficient. that was something that would give people hospital visitation rights and other elements that we take for granted. and, i was sensitive to the fact that, for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that invokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs, and so forth. i have to tell you that over the course of several years, as i talked to friends and family and neighbors. when i think about members of my own staff who are incredibly committed to monogamous, same sex relationships, raising kids together. when i think about the soldiers, airmen, or marines, or sailers

out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that don't ask don't tell is gone because they're not able to commit themselves in a marriage. at a certain point, i just concluded that for me personally it's important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same sex couples should be able to get married. >> this comes just three days after vice president biden said he was comfortable with same sex marriage. >> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, and women marrying women, are entitled to the same exact rights and civil liberties, and i don't see much of a distinction. >> we had signs for months now

there might be a shift on this issue from the white house after supporting civil unions but not gay marriage, the president said in december of 2010 that his views were evolving. the public has been wrestle wg this issue as well and have been changing and polls show steadily rising support for same sex marriage over the next decade. a new poll shows 50% of americans now support the right of same sex couples to marry. this includes young people, democrats, moderates, independents, college grads, women, and catholics. clear majorities of all of these groups support it. the american people are changing on this, moving toward acceptance of these basic civil rights. not mitt romney, here is what he said today. >> i think people have different views on marriage, i respect

those views. when i served as governor of my state, this issue arose. i pointed out that i'm in favor of traditional marriage, and i don't favor civil union or gay marriage. >> for many of us, this is about people's rights. people having the same civil and human rights. this is not about personal religious choice an we must underscore that on such a historic day like today. joying me now is melissa harris-perry, and jonathan capehart. thanks to you both for joining me tonight. jonathan, this is big news, what's your reaction to this? >> it's not just big, it's historic news. at 3:00 this afternoon, the president of the united states for the first time expressed

support for same sex marriage. a law from congress would have to hit the president's desk and he would have to sign it. there is one from senator diane feinstein. another way it could be overturned is by a court challenge and there are a number of cases coming up through the supreme court. the fact that the president came in and out in favor of equality today is historic news and it was the right thing to do. >> i agree with you, and i think that it clearly was the right thing to do, but melissa, aside from the law, this is a real victory for civil rights and civil liberties even beyond just those in the gay and lesbian community. wouldn't you agree with that? >> absolutely. i know a lot of people will look at the politics around this and trace it back to vice president

biden saying he was comfortable with marriage equality on "meet the press." i think a lot of this decision for the president to speak out on this today has to do with that north carolina amendment one vote yesterday. people keep saying people in north carolina voted for a same sex marriage ban, what that is not what happened in north carolina. same sex marriage was already banned, what happened was a kind of extremism that pushed beyond a reasonable understanding of what civil and equal rights and first-class citizenship should look like. part of what i hear in the president's decision today, is like jonathan said, it's not a legislative or policy decision, it's about getting in front of a fundamental ethical position about the question of

first-class citizenship for all americans and putting his voice on the historic record in this moment saying i will not be part oaf that group of voicing calling for some people to be delegated to a constant position of citizenship. i hate that it happened, just in an interview, i would have loved to hear this in the well of congress -- >> you may, i'm sure -- >> talking about we shall overcome, but i'm happy to hear it no matter how it happened. >> i any you will hear more, but you agree it's historic for a sitle president to s ll ll ll l say this. >> i think there is one side that people will miss, that is the courage of this. president obama politically was way ahead of his opponent in the gay and lesbian community. this is a stand that he really

didn't have to take in order to get votes in that community. so i would question isn't this an example of him taking a stand that politically shows courage. he was way ahead in that community already. >> right. he was in the lbgt community, and if you read the stories talking about the political peril that faced the president. if the republicans try to go after the president for his public stance on same sex marriage supporting it, it would then shift the conversation away from the economy and on to social issues which, as we have seen in the republican primary process, doesn't help republicans all that well and it shifts the conversation away

from the economy. the president is in the right on this issue. and if republicans and mitt romney in particular want to have that conversation on social issues and particularly on marriage equality, i think the president and the white house would be more than happy to have it. >> melissa, will this become an attempt by the republicans to use this as a wedge issue? i remember in 2004 when i came out for same sex marriage, people in the black church were denouncing it. will this be a wedge tosh get all kinds of people, especially those in the right-wing christian community, to come out and drive out a vote against the president. >> of course, they're going to use the fact that it's tuesday, wednesday, or thursday in order to try to drive a wedge and keep the president from being reelected. that goes to two points. they have been failing on their

attempts to revival social issues as a basis for a broad coalition building. it enables them to drill deep ner the deep red states where people are willing to restrict contraception and the basic fundamental civil rights of gay and lesbian voters. they want to know whether or not they going to have work, security in their homes, and if their kids can go to college. in the question of race, i think this is in part why this issue is so courageous for the president. part of what he said here is, i had these conversations with michelle, sasha, and malia, and family members helped guide him to this position. and he talked quite specifically

about his faith and what it meant to be a christian that understand both the golden rule, as well as the idea of a god, a god who actually sees sort of all of humanity as part of the narrative and the story of the divine experience. i think it was quite bold of the president. >> very courageous, and also, as we talked about a selective reading of the bible. jonathan, i think the real question is if you look at the fact that there are six states that marriage is legal now, plus the district of columbia, 30 states with constitutional bans on same sex marriage, this is going to energize a battle, but it seems the democrats were

moving that way, and moving the way the general american public has changed and grown on this issue. not only vice president biden, but former president clinton did a roll call in north carolina. and when we look at the fact that in north carolina, voters ban same sex marriage and civil unions, 16 to 39, and people came out yesterday, it is a hot issue, and the president gets a lot of credit for courage, but let's not make a mistake about this, it will be a hot issue in this campaign. >> right it will, and there's something else to keep in mind. with the president's declaration, what you're seeing is the last -- we have now seen the last democrat to not be in favor of marriage equality. when the folks go to run in

2016, two of the candidates are men who are in favor of marriage equality. as you said in new york state, same sex marriage is legal there due in large part the active work of governor como. what we're seeing is an incredible political shift away from having civil unions be the acceptable minimum that you can say you were for to show that you were in favor of gay rights, to now, if you're a democrat in particular, you must be in favor of marriage equality if you want to be on the national stage. >> thank you both for your time tonight. ♪

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welcome back to "politicsnation," i'm al sharpton in los angeles, and this is melissa harris-perry in new york. i'll be back later, but melissa will pick up our coverage from here for a minute. >> thank you for letting me sit in the seat tonight. i will be talking with senator barbara boxer about the president's historic announcement on marriage equality and the very hard to understand choices that republicans are making on issues like student loans and food subsidies. >> folks, stick around, i'll be back later in the show. by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table.

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for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same sex couples should be able to get married. >> i'm melissa harris-perry, and we're continuing our coverage of president obama's historic announcement that he supports same sex marriage. 16 years ago, the president signed one of the most restrictive laws against same sex marriage ever. it allowed states to ignore legal same sex marriages from

other states and oppose marriage equality. the former president made robo calls in north carolina encourages voters to vote against an anti-gay bill. >> i'm calling to urge you to vote against amendment one on may 8. the real effects of the law will be to hurt families and drive away jobs. north carolina can do better. >> president obama's announcement today shows just how far the democrat party and the country have evolved in supporting marriage equality. joining me now is senator barbara boxer, a democrat from california. she is one of only 14 that votes against the defensive marriage act in 1996. thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you for reminding me of

that. the democrat party has come a long way. how important is the president's announcement today? >> let me just take issue with this idea of the party coming a long way. i think the country is evolving. if you look at the points of view of the people. yes, i think definitely more democrats favor a marriage equality than republicans, but independents are divided, but the whole country is moving toward that marriage equality idea. if we believe in equality for everyone, and i think we all do, theoretically we do, then you just can't deny this basic right to be able to spend your life with someone you love. it helps the society, it really does, when you have these loving families. >> absolutely, polls show it's it's a generational divide. the young people of both parties are thinking who cares about

this, you know, on the pro-equality side. that said, the parties now are distinct and particularly these two candidates for president. i want to demonstrate for our viewers what president obama has accomplished on lbgt issues as a matter of law in his term in office. in 2009 signing the hate crimes prevention act. in 2010 education expanded family medical leave act for lbgt parents. asked the department of justice to stop defenses defense of marriage act. the employment non-discrimination act, and we compare that to mitt romney, someone who was decent on questions of rhetorically lbgt rights, but is now in a position

with the president evolving, he has been deinvolving. in 1994 promised full equality for all of america's gay and lesbian citizens. in 2002 supports domestic partnerships benefits for same-sex couples. in 2011, signed the national organization for marriage pledge opposing same-sex marriage. and saturday giving the commencement at liberty university. when you look at the distinction, what are americans facing at the ballot box on the question of fundamental civil rights. >> there's a huge choice in this election ever where you look. you could look at this issue of equality, and we see mitt romney now, not only has he flip-flopped all over the place on this which says a lot about a human being, but he does not support civil unions anymore.

this is unbelievable. i think if you ask americans, do you support gay marriage or civil unions, if you added that up, it would probably be 80% of the people. he is just stuck on the far right on this, and i think it isolates him certainly from the younger people. i'm glad you mentioned it because it took me awhile to evolve myself on this issue. it wasn't until i read the supreme court decision by a great california justice that say you can think it's equal all you want when you say civil unions are marriage, but it has to be marriage. that's just the way it is because of all of the rights and benefits that go with it. that was '08, i changed and my kids of course had been bugging me for years on it and i said you can have equality without -- i realized i was wrong. and i'm very, very, very happy that this president has said

this today. you know, he is on the right side of history. >> i appreciate you taking a point of saying i recognized i was wrong, i learned more, i came to a new position. i feel like that's what we have seen with president obama listening, learning something new, taking a new position. let me ask you in the senate, in a place they have been -- >> one can only hope this would happen. i just tell you, it's so frustrating and in your little lead up to this interview you said you would talk about what's happening in the senate. can you imagine every single republican voting against us being able to take up the bill that would cut interest rates in half for college students.

they would not let us take the bill up. they are making history in the wrong way. already in just the last couple year or year in a happen we have seen 40 filibusters. >> part of it is about the policy making and the filibustering, but liberty's positions on lesbian and gay students and issues is quite clear. this is a place that says while it doesn't support federal encroachment received $445 million in federal aid in 2010 and openly forbids gay students, banning a democratic club that supporting equal rights, and they protested the inclusion of a gay rights group. what does it mean that this candidate is speaking before a university that takes millions

in federal aid and simultaneously going against the basic civil rights of americans? >> obviously, i certainly believe that this is his decision, but i don't agree with it. he would make the speech somewhere else. however, having said that, somebody wrote today this could be a moment where he could look out at that audience and lead them in another direction. but if he goes there, and he just talks about how he opposes even self-y even civil unions, i think it will be interesting, but i can tell you this, history in america is clear. when you go back to the founders who could vote. only white men owned property. from there we had our struggles, but we moved forward and mitt romney is moving back wards. as you said, he is deinvolving,

the president is evolving, and the people should choose him. >> i appreciate you being here and i appreciate you setting up the possibility that maybe mitt romney will be a great courageous leader on saturday, that would be fun. thank you, coming up, the effort to defeat scott walker is on. plus, the latest installment of the gop war against the poor. [ donovan ] i hit a wall.

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we're back on "politicsnation" with the issue of fairness and just doing what's right. today senate republicans are behind closed doors plotting their next move at filibustering a bill that would have stopped student loan interest rates from doubling this summer. they didn't like that it would be paid for by closing a tax loophole for the wealthy. instead they wanted to raid a women's fund that helps pay for cancer screenings. the republican budget guru, paul ryan, ramps up the crew said to cut food subsidies. >> food stamps will have increased like 260% instead of 270%. you will still see a massive

increase in food stamps, but we think you have to get increase in some of these areas with a huge increase in spending. some of these programs are growing at such unsustainable rates. >> he wants to cut funding for food stamps by $133 billion. it reduced the poverty rate by 8% in 2009, or that children make up the greatest number of recipients. a study by researchers shows a clear link between food stamps and kids performance in school. families that rely on food assistance run out of food by the end of the month. the result is hungry kids that get in more fights and lower test results. they will be literally too hungry to learn. how is that for priorities?gene ,

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we're back, and scott walker is fighting for his political life. it all started february 11th last year when knewly elected governor scott walker announced his government repair bill and stripped state workers of rights. protesters took over the state capitol, and it became a national story with people from all over the country vowing to recall walker. a movement was born and america heard wisconsin loud and clear. they got a recall with nearly a million petitions. last night, tom barrett won the democrat primary and he is gearing up for a remark. walker, of course, won by 125,000 votes, a 5% margin. this time around, they're neck

and neck. but it will not be easy, $18 million has been senz in wisconsin in the last four months, and 78% of that is from republicans and their supporters. all eyes will be on wisconsin for the next 27 days. joining me live from madison is tom barrett, the democrat challenging scott walker in wisconsin, first of all, congratulations. >> thank you, it's great to be here. you faced scott walker before. this is a rematch. tell me how will things end up differently this time? >> it's a much different year, 2010 was the year that russ f e finegold and i walked into the buzz saw. he governed as though he received 92% of the vote and

that's a big part of the issue. as he, in his own words, dropped the bomb on the peel of the state of wisconsin last year, when he went after 50 years of established law that pertains to worker's rights. it was a 16 month ideological civil war that scott walker started. this state has been at itself for 16 months. like any war, there has been casualties, and unfortunately the first casualties have been jobs. he said he would focus on jobs, but instead he focused on these social issues and going after workers rights, and wisconsin lost more jobs in 2011 than any other state in the country. >> mayor, you're right, there was a focus initially in that campaign. wisconsin instead ended up 49th losing 24,000 jobs in the last

year alone, but the other piece of this, i think the piece that feels like it gave so much fire behind this is the issue of workers rights and union organizing. the fact is, mayor, you were not the initial candidate of unions in the state of wisconsin. there was angst around your own position. so how do you bring those unions enthusiastically into your fold in the next few weeks, and what do you commit to them about what you will restore when you become dworch? >> throughout the primary, i made it clear they supported the restoration of public bargaining rights for teachers and other public employees. i will stick to that. there was a difference of opinion about the vehicle that should be accomplished through. i can tell you this, this morning i met with the other three candidates for this

office, and all three of them endorsed me this morning, less than 14 hours after the polls closed, and that shows a unified front, and i know their supporter wills support me as well. i think it's fair to say the democratic party, our big tent is together, and we all recognize the seriousness of this, and the goal is to elect a new governor for the state of wisconsin. we have more information on our website -- >> good job getting that in. >> we feel very confident that lerch be with us. >> so they may be with you, but how do you get boots on the ground. the initial impulse was it was february in wisconsin and people were outside and it was cold. can you get people to have that enthusiasm to finish sflong this process? >> absolutely, yes. we have talked to the democratic

party, and the president's field organization, and we know the working people of the state, the organizations, unions, and others will be extremely supportive of our round roar in getting people out to make sure they vote on june 5th. when you have nearly a million people signing a petition, we have a good base to work from. we have to reach those people and those that voted in 2010, and we think we have a winning formula. >> graduations on your win last night, thanks for joining us, and you know we will keep our eyes on this race. >> thank you very much. >> thanks. >> still ahead, a new tea party extremist shaking up the republican party. sure that we were on schedule.

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lose to a tea partier, he lost by 22 points. a former republican senator once said that losing lugar would mean that the gop has "gone so far overboard it is beyond redemption" that's right, folks. lugar was such an important figure in washington that he showed up in president obama's campaign add in 2008. >> the single most important nation n national security problem -- >> lugar backed the president numerous times because he wanted to do the right thing. yet those very vote social security what murdoch used to oust a senator. lugar voted to confirm the

justices, lugar helped save the auto industry, murdoch was a fierce opponent. lugar voted to have the government stop the financial meltdown, murdoch opposed it. here is what murdoch thinks of that word. >> what i shade is i certainly think that bipartisanship should consistent of democrats coming to the republican point of view. we wanted to give more of a national voice to republicans and conservatives would be in the majority of the senate and the house and hopefully we have a republican in the white house. if we do that that means they have to come our way. >> this is bipartisanship? everybody who is not a republican has to become one. it is not possible from a politician who says this -- >> to me, the highlight of politics is to inflict my

opinion on someone else with a microphone or camera to win them other to my view. this is what senator lugar thinks of murdoch's stance. he says "murdoch's embrace of an unrelenting partisan mind-set is irreconcilable with my policy for governance. this is extremism in your party, it forced your candidate, mitt romney to drop any moderate beliefs and has forced you to work against this president. >> every time we put these policies up for a vote, the republicans in congress got together and said no. they said no to putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. no to a new tax cut for businesses that hire new workers, no to putting more teachers back in our classrooms

or cops back on the beat. more firefighters back to work. the kind of things that in the past had have been supported by democrats and republicans. these are ideas that have had bipartisan support. >> joining me now is the columnist for the washington post, and karen finney, msnbc news political analyst and columnist for the hill. thank you for being here. dana, let me start with you. what was lugar's defeat say about where the gop is headed? >> it says the republican party is headed for the toilet. the problem is it will bring everyone tlels with them. what you hear, it's not just what he said, it's what he said during the campaign. basically he was beating up on dick lugar for compromising with the democrats on keeping weapons

out of hands. they're at a point where the only way to get things done in washington is to have a huge conservative majority, and the white house, house, and senate, and that's not going to happen. even if it does, there will be a push back against it. it's just fundamentally not the way things work here. i think it is a depressing outlook and there's no hope for getting things done on the debt and all of the things that need to be done. >> karen, it seems that unfortunately murdoch is just part of a growing list of gop leaders that don't want to compromise, let me show you this. >> so you did compromise. >> we found common ground. >> i reject the word. >> your idol was ronald reagan. he compromised.

>> he didn't compromise his values. >> the fact is you never compromise on principals. if people on the far left have a principal they want to stand by and those of us on the right should not either. >> karen, it's like he is in line with some of the leadership in his party that just seem to hate the word or the thought of compromising for a greater good. >> yeah, it's become the new c-word that you should not say. certainly i think that will make continuing to have a divided congress if that's where we end up, it will make things even more difficult. >> dana, let me be clear about the reason why this is so concerning to me. when you look at the fact that lugar was consistently rated as a strong conservative not a person in the wrong party, his

lifetime con servive rating was 77% so here is a man, 77% rated conservative, yet he was defeated last night by 22%. in 2008 he won by 87% of the vote. last night he lost by 22% of the vote. if someone raided that conservative could lose by that margin, that's carry, don't you think? >> and look, it's not just him, it was murkowski and bob bennet, if the same standard were applied, bob dole would be kicked out, ronald reagan wasn't in the congress, but one presumes he would be kicked out of the party as well. it's like it's not a liberal conservative here. it's about temperatument.

it's like being in favor of the free market. he is saying i will not compromise on any position whatsoever. not just principals but every piece that implements it. >> now willard mitt romney is locked into positions of having to be extreme or silent. this week he refused to stand up to a woman that accused the president of treason, look at this. >> we have a president that is operating outside of the structure of our constitution. i want to -- i agree he should be tried for treason, but i want to know what you are going to be able to do to help restore balance between the three branchs of government. >> i happen to believe that the constitution was not just

brilliant, but probably inspi d inspired. >> i mean, karen, either he agrees with the extreme position or he is afraid to say something that will be heckled or does not sit well. either way it's the same effect. >> apparently he must still be trying to figure out how you make a pivot from a severely conservative stance he took to realizing this is a really election and the rules are different. al, to me, this is a failure of leadership. leaders understand when something is happening, why it's important, and why they either need to say or do something. and that could be hurricane katrina, a came pain event. they get why it's important right here and right now and know they have to do something. the in fact he brushed by and didn't think to say something about that, shows you that's not

a good leader, that's not strong leadership, and also that he is so willing to play it so safely and he is so freaked out about the right wing and not wanting to upset anybody or make mistakes, that's what a romney presidency would look like. >> dana, the probability of a day of political reckoning may be coming though where mr. romney is going to have a hard choice between what is politically correct and for his own position, i don't mean politically correct in a pc term, and where he will play to the right. somewhere down the road he will have a hard, hard decision to make, and i don't think it will be an easy one to make. >> the question people keep asking is will romney have a moment like bill clinton did in

1992. he didn't do it on grenell, he will have another chance at liberty university where he is giving the commencement address, i bet he doesn't do it there either. >> i don't think -- >> i've got to go, karen, thank you for both of you coming. thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks. what happens when classroom teachers get the training... ...and support they need? schools flourish and students blossom.

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tomorrow will mark an important moment in the history of american quality. may 10th, 1866, the house of representatives passed the orange version of the 14th amendment. it grants citizenship to former slaves, but it does more than that. it creates the first constitutional language establishing american citizenship for all people morp or naturalized in this country. when it was necessary to explain what citizenship is, for a group, in this case, former slaves, it moved the entire country forward into being a more equal, just, and fair nation. president johnson rek niced that equal access to the ballot box was about the heart of our democracy. he said rarely in any time does an issue lay bear the secret

heart of america isn't. rarely are we met to a challenge, but the values, purposes, and means of our beloved nation. we may look back and remember our nation as a day of similar leadership and courage. a president realized what is at stake is more than the partisan bickers, but more of the policy of america. are we prepared to reaffirm the civil rights of our fellow citizens should not be up for debate. so we should debate policy, we should debate which legislative plan we take. that's reasonable. but the base ig rights of citizens should not plip and flop and be erased like an etch-a-sketch. it should be permanent, constant, and abiding, thanks president obama for reminding us of that, thank you for