his failed policy. today romney adviser and former new hampshire governor john sununu said it is fair game to examine romney's record at bain but seconds later slammed the president's strategy. >> i think that the bain record as a whole is fair game. i think it is amazing that this president thinks that cherry picking some investments that did not work out that he is going to be able to somehow convince the american public that private equity investment is evil. >> and joining me now from "the washington post" nia malika henderson. when investments did not work out people lost and that is the job maybe of someone in that

industry, but not the job as the president said of the person who leads this country. >> i think it's all fair game, and i want to applaud substance because so often with what i do for a living, you know, i go down these tangent roads getting caught up in conversations about bogus birth certificates or whether someone's dog should have been strapped to the roof of the car. the country is ailing. the economy is problematic, and we're having, i think, a really good conversation about who among the two of them can best move this country forward when it comes to jobs. i don't think that mitt romney can put part of his record in play. he talks about having been a job creator at bain. he stresses this far more than he does his record as the governor of massachusetts, and, therefore, the totality of that record is all fair game. >> do you believe that most people or many more will see what michael does after hearing the president, his strongest and most clear explanation of why mitt romney's record at bain capital matters. it's not, as he put it, an

attack on private equity, it is as we have at the bottom of the screen, what this job is about. >> yeah. i mean, the president is essentially saying that the presidency is about people and private equity is about profits. i think we have really seen over the last weeks the power of the bully pulpit. this is a president that is in many ways a control the conversation and has benefitted from what looked like gas initially. he has really turned them in any ways into home runs. mitt romney over the last couple weeks, he's wanting to talk about many things. spending last week, this week it's supposed to be about education. next week is supposed to be about energy. but he's finding it awfully hard to stick to a consistent message because he's on the defensive all the time. >> but that brings me to this article on the associate press, steve peoples, they right regarding what they refer to as romney's bain playbook, that romney and his aides have struggled to respond consistently to intensifying criticism about his tenure at bain capital. the lack of a cohesive message stems in part from romney's fundamental belief that any

debate that puts the economy front and center is a win for republicans. so at least according to steve peoples' observation here, is that somehow romney believes that he benefits, though he doesn't want to talk about his record at bain capital. >> yeah. right. and that's the problem. you know, i have gone to many mitt romney speeches, and he sort of has this approach which is he can create jobs. we should just take his word for it. he doesn't talk a lot about exactly what he did at bain. he certainly doesn't talk a lot about what he did as massachusetts governor, and you can see that democrats are now picking up on that. this idea that if he was so good at creating jobs in the private sector, how come he wasn't able to transfer that to his tenure as massachusetts governor? >> and, michael, let me brick y -- bring you back in on after joe biden was on "meet the press" and discussed same-sex marriage we saw that historic statement from the president. now we have cory booker and one

has to wonder were it not for cory booker's gaffe would we not have heard those strong words from the president forming an attack on mitt romney's bain capital book ground. >> i think the surprise is from which side of the aisle it came from. sooner or later we were going to have this debate. i paid close attention to what the president said in chicago yesterday, and i think there's a lot of merit to it. what he's essentially saying is mitt romney had to respond to his investors. that was his job. i have an entirely different role. my role here is the general welfare of the american people. mitt romney would not have had to be guided by an 8% unemployment rate when he was running a private equity firm, but that's the job of the president of the united states, and one doesn't necessarily transfer to the other. >> a little bit later we will talk about this new nbc news poll that's out regarding some of these issues, but "the washington post"/abc news poll asked regarding handling of the economy, michael. it shows president obama and

mitt romney both at 47% there. so obviously there are clear distinctions between these men and as our first read team has pointed out, both of them are trying to at this early stage clearly draw the line. but i want to play what cory booker said to our own rachel a maddow last night regarding what he sees as gop manipulation of his words. >> here they are plucking sound bites out of that interview to manipulate them in a cynical manner to use them for their own purposes, and that slogan is really what had me and basically my entire staff really fit to be tied. in the beginning i think i use the metaphor my staff is going to have to hold me back. >> is it fair? we've asked whether bain capital record of mitt romney is fair. cory booker filed his complaint, fit to be tied, but does that convince voters who have heard his words and the rnc who chooses to use his word? >> i think in some ways folks aren't paying attention in this

level of detail to cory booker -- >> i don't know. he was the second most googled person yesterday nationally. >> that's true. that's true. and i think in some ways he's crying foul here in the sense that he's saying, oh, people are cherry picking his words, but that's what happens in politics. that's why when you go on david gregory who has been able to get many a people off script, democrats should be warned not to go on that show in some ways because he's been able to get biden off script and booker off script, too, but when he's in that situation he will have to stay on script. we'll have to see if democrats put him out there. >> speaking of staying on script, we can talk about cory booker, but the reality is what you have pointed out, having this substantive conversation on the economy and which one of these men will help this country improve its situation. and first read points out obama argues that romney does not have the values to lead. he'll look like a one person in a world where we know the 99%

want to be heard from and romney's arguing that obama does not have the skills to lead. he's never run a business and policies have failed, so there you have your line in the sand and we'll only see it pile up for each side as we continue. >> i was surprised by the polling data you shared a moment ago as to how they're deadlocked in terms of when you get to the internal, who can do a better job on the economy because given the state of affairs right now, that's a category where i would have expected mitt romney to have an edge on the president. the fact that he doesn't i think is problematic. the conclusion i draw, we're going to probably have polls within the margin of error from now until november. >> and back to the values versus skills, what do you think of this observation, at least by our first read team, that that's what we're seeing shape this early? >> i think you had mitt romney come out with that statement where he talks about barack obama not taking the moral responsibility in terms of this campaign and his handling of the economy. so i think that's a theme he

wants to try to hit. but i do agree with michael. surprising that they're so deadlocked around the economy. if you look at the internals of that poll, it also show that is people are starting to feel better about where the economy is headed. something like 52%, 58% feel more hopeful than anxious. i think for now that bodes well for this president. also provides a challenge for mitt romney. he's in the i'm mitt romney phase of this campaign. he's got to do a lot better in terms of getting his message out about the economy, what he would do because this is an administration that is playing smash mouth football, and i think he's got to step it up, mitt romney. >> nia, as you pointed outsi, y have been following the romney campaign. there was an observation that somehow a republican strategist that was on in the last hour, that believes romney's team has a retort, a reply to these bains attacks. you were there. have you seen the campaign form any real response and will we

end another week without hearing from mitt romney specifically on his bain record and defending that? >> right. i mean, their retort so far is they are accusing the president and democratsssentially of playing a game of character assassination by talking about bain capital. by saying mitt romney is not only a bad business person but that he's a bad person. so that is so far their narrative here. i don't know that it will work. i think they probably need to put more positive stories out there about bain capital. in some ways pick up on some of the things you heard cory booker say about bain capital. that's their challenge. >> to quote mitt romney, to have $10,000 to bet but he once proposed a $10,000 bet. do you think we can end another week without mitt romney coming out with stronger language regarding bain company and his time leading that company? >> it seems it's a subject akin to his faith where it's at his

core, around yet there's a reluctan reluctance, an uncomfortableness in him addressing that record, which frankly i don't understand because he might derive benefit if he would. i don't think that will change. i think that's who he is. >> thank you so much. i'll see you both soon. coming up, we have the results of that brand new nbc news poll and it shows the prediction of the president being hurt by announcing his support of same-sex marriage. well, it may not be true after all. we'll show you the numbers. plus, the maen behind that infamous willie horton ad in 1988, you probably remember it, he is back with a new ad that is being called the centerpiece of a $25 million campaign by the gop super pac founded by karl rove. i always loved watching the kids play basketball. i still do, even though things have changed. it's funny, they can't find jobs to get their careers started, and i can't afford to retire. >> join our conversation on my twitter page @tamronhall. we'll have more about that ad

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back to politics and our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll that comes out a little later today but we are getting a preview this hour. right now it seems like president obama's announcement in favor of same-sex marriage may be a political wash. let's bring in nbc news senior political editor mark murray. i put my little quotes up like that because, mark, you know there were dire predictions, many people felt this would certainly hurt the president with independents. there was even speculation that it would hurt him with african-american voters who are a solid supporter of this president. so now we have some numbers to discuss. >> we do, tamron. it comes two weeks after president obama's announcement that he was supporting same-sex

marriage. and it does, as our pollsters point out, look to be a political draw. according to the poll, 17% said that president obama's announcement would make them more likely to vote for him. 20% said that the announcement would make them more likely to vote for mitt romney who opposes gay marriage, and then this is probably the big headline here, 62% say that it doesn't make a difference at all, and while i can't give away any other numbers, tamron, it does show you that -- and you have probably seen in other surveys -- the economy matters a whole not more here than gay marriage. >> absolutely. i guess some of the information in the polling indicates that it may motivate some people to perhaps support the president. is that regarding maybe independents who are gay? >> well, tamron, what our poll did show when it came to independents is actually 75%, 76% of independents say this doesn't matter to them at all. where it did make up a little bit of a margin had to do with younger voters. actually, when you look at people 18 to 49, that actually said that those folks actually

said they would probably be more likely to support president obama. conversely, people voting for mitt romney, evangelicals, people who you would assume to line up against same-sex marriage said they would be more willing to vote for mitt romney. but when we're looking at the middle of the election where this election is going to be won or lost, it doesn't seem to have made that much of a difference. >> so how does this factor into again the conversation that this was a risky move? we know the president said this was something he planned to announce later on in the year. obviously the remarks made by joe biden on "meet the press" moved up that date but you had pundits and analysts who speculated this was a tremendous risky move by the president snp. >> i think where the risk comes in has to do more with the process. for example, that president obama might have taken a little bit of a hit, that actually it seemed to be more of a political announcement due to fund-raising or making sure that he was going -- he was consistent with

vice president joe biden. you are right that this is a wash. the other thing that it does for president obama is that, you know, this announcement, they clearly wanted to help him with fund-raising. people might end up saying this might have been a little bit of a political decision. one other thing about this, president obama was talking about gay marriage and not the economy. so, again, when you're talking about risk, i don't think it has to do with the issue itself. it was probably the opportunity with other things. >> we also following the president's announcement regarding same-sex marriage saw the big speech from mitt romney at liberty. that conservative christian college there. but we saw prior to that speech mostly silence, mark, from republicans regarding the president's announcement. does this show why there was silence, because folks really do want to talk about the economy? and those who choose to applaud the president on same-sex marriage, they will do so? >> i think that that is one of the reasons we saw some silence. this is no longer a clear political winner the way we saw

in 2004 in that presidential election or even before then. and, tamron, this is in the numbers we're showing from our nbc/"wall street journal" poll, but when you look at the evolution of how attitudes about same-sex marriage have changed, even the last two, three, four, five years, that's, i think, what's given republicans more pause, making them say, look, let's focus on the economy. let's focus on president obama's record. let's don't focus on social issues like gay marriage. >> i'm told we're out of time but if you want to tell us more about what your poll has, we can make time if you want to reveal more. or do we have to wait to watch nightly? >> tune in to chuck todd at 6:30 at "nightly news" tonight. >> i tried for the "news nation." coming up on "news nation" -- >> why is he called a surrogate when he's just walked away from the most effective bit of campaign sabotage of the campaign season to date? >> that voice that you hear,

well, that was chris matthews on his show giving his straight hardball. of cory booker's appearance on "meet the press." we'll show you more of what chris had to say. do you think cory booker's political career will be able to survive it? it's our gut check. plus -- nasa is calling it a new era for space exploratioexp. the first private space mission is under way. i will talk with former astronaut and senator bill nelson to get his take on this historic liftoff. ♪ [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing...

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it is scheduled to reach its destination thursday. it will deliver supplies. the launch marks first time a private rocket has ever been selected to carry nasa cargo. the unmanned rocket is the brainchild of billionaire entrepreneur elon muck. he's the founder of pay pal. nasa administrators say the launch is the first step in bringing space jobs back to this country. >> today's flight was absolutely spectacular. it signals the beginning of a new era of exploration and efforts for nasa. i have to commend the space x team for getting to this point. i hope this signals something we will see on the space coast quite a bit with some frequency. >> i'm joined by senator and former astronaut bill nelson. thank you for your time. >> thanks. >> space x proves if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. what is your reaction? >> we're in a new era of space

flight. commercial companies, in this case they're taking cargo up. they will bring experiments back, and several companies will compete then for the manned part. they have to put in the redundant systems, the escape systems to make it safe for humans. notice, tamron, these rockets are designed differently than the space shuttle. we had an inherent problem when the crews on the side of the stack, as it was with the space shuttle orbiter. new the crew is on the top where you can separate the crew if there's an explosion of the rocket. but this is just the first step in getting back into the cosmos. come july the big capsule called orion for the monster rocket that will take us to mars, that arrives at the space center to be assembled. >> as you pointed out, this is just the beginning. what about the concerns,

senator, from those who believe because this is a private company, there might be a temptation later on to perhaps shortcut and once these rockets are manned certainly that there could be conflict with the company wanting to make money, the company wanting to succeed as opposed to safety which we know with nasa's history, there is a painful past but one where the lives of those astronauts were valued each and every one of them and there was no issue with a profit. >> nasa's not going to let it fly unless it's safe. so when it comes to the human space flight, nasa will be all over it, and you as much heard the administrator of nasa, general bolden, say that. >> let me also ask you about elon musk. here is a guy that i just recently learned the character of ironman played by rocket downey, jr., was kind of fashioned off this big thinker, this guy with a passion for building and obviously a passion for space. what do you make of him and what

does this also say about, you know, that the american work spirit, people really want to move forward here. >> it says a lot about american ingenuity and our creativity, and in space x's rocket factory, they're finding out ways to do it a lot cheaper, more efficiently, and quicker. for example, they had this problem on one of their nine engines. they turned that around in two days. that's just incredible. and this whole commercial venture is bringing down the cost of launching, will bring back this whole business back to the united states when we have these much more efficient and cheaper vehicles to get into orbit. >> well, it is an incredible sight to see. it's also incredible that the ashes of actor james doohan who played scotty on star trek and a number of other people who are fascinated by space were on the rocket. it is extraordinary, sir, but quickly, what is your vision or

your, i guess, your hope for our space program moving ahead? >> well, as articulated by the president, we're going to mars, and in the interim with the big rocket that is now being assembled, not these commercial rockets, in fact, we're going to rendezvous and dock, land on an asteroid by the year 2025. all of that starts july with the arrival of the spacecraft. >> all right. thank you, senator. it's a great pleasure as always to talk with you about anything, but especially space. thank you, sir. >> thanks, tamron. coming up, new reaction from the obama administration to those lawsuit filed by dozens of institutions of the mandate requiring employers to offer contraception insurance. the lawsuits were announced yesterday. critics say there's still plenty of time to promise so why were the suits filed yesterday? plus, details, a bizarre story. an auction house is selling what it claims to be ronald reagan's

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the man behind a controversial political attack ad back in 1988 is at it again with a new anti-obama spot going up in ten swing states tomorrow. political strategist larry mccarthy is known for the infamous willie horton ad that went after democratic candidate michael dukakis. >> dukakis not only opposes the death penalty, he allowed

first-degree murderers to have weekend passes from prison. >> well, "the new york times" reports mccarthy's latest ad is at the heart of a $25 million campaign by crossroads gps that is the pro-republican group founded by karl rove. the 60-second spot is called basketball. it's narrated by an actress playing a mom whose kids have moved back home after they couldn't find a job. >> it's funny, they can't find jobs. i supported president obama because he spoke so beautifully. he promised change, but things changed for the worse. obama started spending like our credit cards have no limit. his health care law made health insurance even more expensive. >> well, joining me now jeremy peters, the politics reporter for "the new york times." he wrote about this new ad. jeremy, you point out that this ad we just saw, this basketball ad, is a soft touch approach, very different from the willie horton ad. >> yeah, that's right. it's hard truths wrapped in sot

packaging. and the reason behind that is that when crossroads started doing surveys of voters out in the field, especially swing voters, they found that the hard attacks against president obama were not resonating. so what they've tried to do now is use subtle facts about the economy and the direction that the country has taken over the last three years to undermine the president. >> and it's also interesting, the person or the actress used to i guess portray the mom, the married woman who lives in the suburbs, which we know right now romney is doing at least a little better with that group. >> yes. that's absolutely true. and what the crossroads people and what conservative groups and indeed the romney campaign across the board are going for is an emotional pitch to these people to kind of remind them that the man that they voted for in 2008 has failed to live up to the promises that he made.

and that can be a very powerful message for people who really bought into barack obama's message of hope and change. >> well, you point out again that this is a soft pedal approach, but the response from the pro-obama super pac is anything but soft. let me read what they said about this new ad, if romney wins the fictional woman in rove's ad would see the gradual demise of her fictional medicare. her fictional adult children could no longer be carried on her fictional health insurance, and the student loans for those kids would cost more, and all of that would be so that romney could give the fictional wealthy, not portrayed in the ad, massive tax cuts. they point out this is an actress in this ad. their bain capital ads feature real people who have lost their jobs they say as a result of romney -- when he was head of bain capital. >> yes, that's absolutely true. and i think it comes down to a question of which appeal resonates more with swing

voters. kind of this composite fictional -- somewhat fictional character or people who are speaking about their own experiences being laid off from companies that mitt romney came in and bought out. you know, i think this is what this election is all about, kind of appealing to these swing voters, and which direction you think the country is headed in. if barack obama has improved things enough to your satisfaction, you're going to vote for him again. if you think that he has not made things better fast enough, then you're more than likely going to vote for mitt romney and that's what this ad ultimately is all about. >> jeremy peters, thank you very much. and sources in the obama administration tell nbc news the argument -- that 43 catholic institutii institutions are using to sue the administration over birth control is not accurate. for most employers the mandate

would not go into effect until 2013. joining us now to talk about it via skype, erin camone, and emily hardman. also previously filed four other lawsuits challenging the mandate. thank you both for joining me. emily, i will start off with you. i was watching "hardball" last night and there is an argument out there that there was time to negotiate. there are sources within the administration who say that they were ready and willing to certainly reach a compromise further than what has already been reached. so why was this suit filed now? >> what we have is the president who has promised two separate times to make adequate accommodation, and all that the president has done is finalized the rule that was issued back in august, not a single comma was changed. and so the faith of the obama administration to accommodate religious individuals has failed. what we have is the most radical and unprecedented mandate in federal history.

it's so radical not even mother teresa's organization would qualify for the exemption in this unprecedented mandate. >> erin, i will bring you in on that. are those accurate sframents emie statements from emily? >> they're already being accommodated. no one is being forced to use birth control in any way, shape, or form. religious institutions are already exempted. what's happening is the new regulations allow women to exercise their individual liberty, their religious liberty, and not be discriminated against because they happen to work for a catholic institution or because they happen to attend university or work for a university that has these catholic values. 98% of catholic women use birth control, so the idea is they should not be discriminated against simply because the catholic church follows -- >> women who work for these organizations know the principles and policies of these organizations. they know full well they do not cover birth control.

>> a lot of times the best education such as georgetown university law school, a lot of times the best option happens to be a catholic -- at this point the catholic church can convince these women to follow its own teachings, but it has failed, and as a result right now they're being discriminated against because they're having to not have the same access to health care that other -- >> access is not an issue. nine out of ten health care employee plans already cover contraception. and if you don't make enough money, you can go and get it under the title ten program. and you can go down to planned parenthood. access is not the issue. >> i apologize. irin is via skype. obviously i think as a result of irin being on skype, this is not a fair conversation in that obviously we're having some kind of technical difficulty. if i can get you not to, emily, interrupt irin and let her finish her thought. that would provide a more substantive conversation. irin, let me play what sister

simone campbell, she's the executive director of network, that's a national catholic social justice lobby. here is what she told chris matthews yesterday regarding this time line and this rush for a lawsuit. >> i think that this is mostly related to the project that the bishops have coming out in june which they're calling the fortnight of freedom. they want to raise up this idea that we in the united states are religiously persecuted. >> so, emily, this is sister campbell who believes that this is a notion, this is a concerted effort to present people as being religiously persecuted when we have heard from the president, we've heard from his administration, this could not be further from the truth. vice president joe biden is catholic. i mean, this continued notion that there's an unwillingness to compromise here as if the administration has taken all the ideas off the table and walked out of the room, that just isn't true, is it? >> again, the administration has had months to make a

so-called -- >> that's not what i'm asking you. i'm asking you iffed administration has shut the door and is unwilling to compromise? >> what we have is the law before us. we can't wait for a promise or an accommodation. the law was final, and as of the end of this year, these rights will be violated. we have a constitution that protects these rights, and they have gone to court to get those vindicated. >> irin, obviously not everyone agrees, even students at notre dame. there was an article that says at least the people this reporter spoke with were split down the middle. one student's reaction was while i respect the church's right to preach against contraception, it must permit its followers, and especially in the case of notre dame with students and faculty who are not even catholic, to disagree with that teaching especially in issues of personal health. i should point out according to this report the students surveyed were kind of split down the middle. it's been widely reported that somewhere around 90% of catholic women use contraception. so you factor all of these reality numbers in and not what

some see as a fictitious story line of religious persecution. >> well, i think it's important to note that within the catholic church there are serious divisions. right now you have the catholic church cracking down on nuns saying they are radical feminists. there are women who believe there should be more liberalism allowed. these are only 13 out of 200 diocese which you could wonder why haven't they all signed onto the case? it's clear that there's a fight here where certain elements within the catholic church are fighting for the church to be conservative, to impose its values on others you might argue, and there are women, including nuns and including the catholic health association, who supports the obama administration's compromise who believe that, in fact, this is not the fight to pick, and that they should go onto their social justice mission. >> irin and emily, we hope to

have you both on again and have you on camera not on skype because i know this is not going anywhere and the conversation will continue. thank you very much. great pleasure. we are following developing news about a us airways flight from paris to the u.s. it was diverted after a passenger's suspicious behavior. first, there is a lot going on today. here are some things we just thought you should know. indiana governor mitch daniels leaving little doubt he does not want to be vice president. asked if mitt romney had called to start vetting him for the job, daniels replied, quote, if i thought that call was coming, i would disconnect the phone. wow. meantime, hollywood republican bruce willis is slamming mitt romney in an interview with "esquire" magazine. he called romney a disappointment, an embarrassment and the dash rip rock of the republican party referring to the egotistical image obsessed character from the beverly hillbillies. i guess you have to get that on dvd. and in what could be one of

the most bizarre stories, an online auction house has announced the sale of a vial that allegedly contains blood residue from president ronald reagan. bizarre. the auction house says the vial was used by the laboratory that tested reagan's blood when he was hospitalized after that assassination attempt. the late president's foundation has denounced the sale. those are the things we just thought you should know. we be. ♪ then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. ♪ now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. trouble with a car insurance claim. [ dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed.

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i'm martin bashir. coming up at the top of the hour, the president explains in no uncertain terms why mitt romney's private equity experience is no political distraction as the republican nominee courts big dollars from wall street donors. plus sarah palin, sean hannity, and donald trump sitting in a tree. now back to tamron. >> a security scare aboard a united airways flight. a us airways flight from paris to north carolina was diverted

to maine. a french citizen was restrained by other passengers after she claimed to have explosived sewn into her body. officials say she was mentally disturbed and did not pose a threat. ! activists around the country are celebrating the third annual harvey milk day. today the holiday honors the memories of the san francisco supervise wore was the first openly gay elected official to ever serve in the united states. milk was murdered by a fellow supervisor in 1978. california is the only state to officially honor milk but people around the country certainly participate, gay or straight. just in time for memorial day, the critically aclaimed movie "red tails" is being released on dvd and blu-ray. the movie produced by george lucas tells the amazing story of the tuskegee airmen, the first african-american aviators to serve in the armed forces. >> 11:00. >> let's give those newspapers something to write about. >> gotcha!

>> whoo! >> whoo is right. joining me now one of the real life tuskegee airmen, roscoe brown. turned 90 years old. you look 20. >> i am. in my mind. >> also with us the star of "red tails" elijah kelly who plays samuel "joker" george. it fits you. mr. brown, i have got to ask you, what a life you have had, and when you see it on the big screen and i imagine when you think about some of those memories in your mind, at any point in the day do you just go, man, i'm a lucky fellow? >> i am a lucky fellow. but, see, i come from a generation with lots of lucky fellows and lucky women because i come from the generation of african-americans who wanted to be better. we knew we had to be better than white people. we knew we had to compete. part of the tuskegee airmen story is just the competition among us to do good and then we see these young guys trying to act like us, they did a pretty

good job. >> yeah, yeah, about you it was acting. you did the real thing. >> i did the real thing, but when they shot the movie i was over there as a consultant along with lee archer. >> to make sure they got it right. >> i taught them how to fly. >> no, no, no, you taught them how to act like they were flying. >> that, too. >> they reminded us all the time how not them we were. >> elijah, what an honor. as i pointed out, memorial day just around the corner. to be able to share space and time with someone like mr. brown, the hit of it alstory of. >> you said something very important, space and time. as we get older, those are the two things that we don't cherish so much, and to be able to look at a living legend in his eyes and know that he's a modern day hero, you know, we have movies like "avengers" that just did a billion dollars almost, but those are fictional characters, you know. they don't exist in real life.

i feel like the only things that separates a person like dr. roscoe brown and the other tuskegee airmen from being modern day super heroes is they're more talented. when you see a movie like "red tails" you can't believe they survived, he survived these type of things. >> watching just the body language between the two of you, you keep touching his arm, it's like you're caring for him. there is a connection here that i think people who see the film certainly know that these young actors, you wanted to get it right because the story has not been told enough and certainly on that grand scale as george lucas presented. >> absolutely. you know, seeing them behind the camera and when we would get off -- get out of a scene and they would come over and, you know -- >> straighten you up. >> fix your jacket. this is how we look. we want a commercial success, we want a fiscal gain, but aside from everything, this is their legacy, and without us, without my generation, without you, this

doesn't get told over and over and over again. that's what this dvd is about, to put it in households where it can open up dialogue and have a conversation with three and four generations of family, you know. >> absolutely. and all families, all walks of life, dr. brown, can be inspired. they tell you these kids these days, don't know responsibility, they don't want to work hard. you can see this and whip them into shape. >> when we were kids, i speak a lot to kids, i try to point out to them that pursuit of excellence is what we were about, and pursuit of excellence needs to happen now because excellence can be an anecdote to obstacl obstacles, an antidote to prejudice. but most of all it makes you feel good. when you know you have done the best you can do, you are at the top. >> i feel inspired now. >> you are at the top. >> elijah, thank you so much. we're going to watch this over and over all weekend long. "red tails" go out and get it. uhh!

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time now for the "news nation" gut check. today on "morning joe" joe sc scarborough said corey book ser fighting for his political life after the comments he made. well, here is what chris mat matthews described it yesterday on "hardball." why does mayor booker, why did he choose to choose sides against the president yesterday and say i'm with private equity against the president? the president's campaign is wrong. he didn't say the president was part right. >> and it went on. in fact, you can go online and see more. cory booker told rachel maddow that he's, quote, being used by the gop and he's fit to be fid about it. so what does your gut tell you? will booker's career survive the

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good afternoon. it's tuesday, may the 22nd, and here is what's happening. this issue is not a, quote, distraction. if your main argument for how to grow the economy is, i knew how to make a lot of money for investors, then you're missing what this job is about. the upsides and the downsides are worth examining. >> he will condemn private equity because he doesn't understand the benefits of private equity in job creation. governor romney has claimed to have created 100,000 jobs at bain, and, you know, people are wanting to know, is there proof of that claim and was it u.s. jobs created for united states