>> do you feel like voters are owed a better explanation of just, i misspoke? >> republicans cannot control their hatred for president obama. they leadership needs to stand up and do something about it. my commentary is ahead. the teachers unions don't fight for our children. that's our job. >> the republican assault on public education has gone national. we will dissect the romney education plan he unveiled today. paul ryan has some new fighting words for the president. >> we face not just a failed president, but a failed ideology. >> tonight, we'll remind the congressman what failure really looks like. and the countdown to recall continues. the race in wisconsin is tightening. we'll go live to the badger state for the latest. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the republican strategy of casting president obama has un-american is going strong. yes, it's a republican strategy. this is not just the birthers. this is not just the tea party.

this is the republican party. the gop can't run away from this pattern. the latest example comes from congressman mike coffman in colorado. coffman presents himself as a moderate republican. but earlier this month, he told conservative fund-raisers what he thought about president obama. >> i don't know whether barack obama was born in the united states or not. i don't know that. but i do know this -- that in his heart, he's not an american. he's just not an american. >> "in his heart, he's not an american." coffman didn't know he was being recorded. four days later, he released this statement. "i misspoke. i apologize. i have confidence in president obama's citizenship and legitimacy as president of the united states. i don't believe the president shares my belief in american exceptionalism." exceptionalism? don't you have to have the facts to be exceptional? or that's gone too? oh, he misspoke. how do you misspeak when you say, "i do know this -- he's not

an american"? it sounds like coffman said exactly what he wanted to say. coffman laid low after releasing this statement. he just kind of wanted the whole thing to go away. but a reporter from denver's kusa television won't let the story die. >> the congressman is usually willing to talk about anything. he's been on 9 news 16 times in the past year, weighing in on everything from wildfires to memorial day celebrations. seems the only thing he didn't want to talk about is what he said at a fund-raiser in elbert county, may 12th. >> reporter kyle clark tracked down congressman coffman yesterday. the result is one of the most stunning political videos of the year. >> reporter: i apologize for showing up unannounced. i've been trying to call your staff. they won't return my phone calls. let me ask you. after your comments about the president, do you feel that voters are owed a better explanation other than just, "i misspoke"? >> i think that -- um, as -- i stand by my statement, that i misspoke and i apologize.

>> reporter: okay. and who are you apologizing to? >> you know, i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> reporter: i apologize. we talk to you all the time. you're a very forthcoming guy. who's telling you not to talk and to handle it like this? >> i stand by my statement that you have and i misspoke and i apologize. >> reporter: was it that you thought it would go over well in elbert county, where folks are very conservative and you'd never say something like that in the suburbs? >> i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> reporter: is there thing that i can ask that you'll answer differently? >> i stand by my statement that i misspoke and i apologize. >> thank you, congressman. >> he speaks like a prisoner of war, name, rank, and serial number. folks, this goes beyond birtherism. this an elected official saying that the president of the united states is not an american, in his heart, he's not an american. this is not just a fringe element of the republican party. in fact, he's representing a prime congressional district. colorado's sixth district is one

of the wealthiest districts in the country, with a median income of more than $73,000 a year. this isn't just the middle of nowhere. mike coffman is silent. he won't say anything other than he misspoke. his silence is bad. but the silence from the leaders of the republican party is deafening. last year house speaker john boehner was asked why he won't speak out against people who think the president isn't an american. boehner repeated the same thing over and over, just like congressman mike coffman. >> it's not job to tell the american people what to think. our job in washington is to listen to the american people. the american people have the right to think what they want to think. i can't -- it's not my job to tell them. it really is not our job to tell the american people what to believe and what to think. >> now boehner has a member of his caucus who says the president isn't an american and boehner is nowhere to be seen on this issue. where is rnc chairman reince priebus on this? he spent the last week saying president obama is engaged in

dishonest attacks about bain capital. but he wouldn't say anything about the attacks from his own party on president obama's citizenship. oh, by the way, where's mitt romney? has he been around on this? romney says the campaign shouldn't be about character assassination. but apparently he's only talking about his time at bain capital, not the president's status as an american citizen. romney said it meant a great deal to have this man, donald trump, endorse him. never once did mitt romney say anything about donald trump's crusade on behalf of the birthers. now trump is trying to secure a major speaking role at the republican convention. uh, there's been no condemnation of trump's birther talk from the republican leaders. republicans, they don't condemn this because they want it to continue. this republican party strategy is very plain and simple. they are not going to hide it. they pretend that it's really no big deal. they deny it when it gets into

the mainstream. and then they turn their backs on it when it happens right in front of them. if you think that this strategy is going to be going away anytime soon, you better think again. have you noticed that the more success that the country has, the more success that president obama has, the more radical these people get? let me tell you about mr. coffman from colorado. he's not only a phony, he's a coward. to hide behind a statement like that and then to treat a reporter and not have the guts to answer the question speaks volumes of who this man is in the congress. and the people of that district ought to rethink the brains between this guy's ears before they send him back to congress. but the sad thing is, and there's some sick way about all of this, is that the republican party is going to prop this guy up to be some kind of a freaking hero. oh, he had the guts to come out and call obama what he is. he doesn't love america. that's how these head shakers think and that's how they raise their money. but this is who the republican party, this is what the

republican party has evolved to. they don't have the character to stand up and speak the truth to the american people. and they complain about bipartisanship not being there? get the facts straight. this president is an american citizen, this president loves this country. and there is one party in this country that won't stand up and admit that. how sad is that? how could anybody vote for these people? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will republican leadership ever condemn birther talk in this party? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639. you can always go our blog at ed.msnbc.com and leave a message there and i'll bring you the results later on in the show. joined tonight on this program by keith ellison of minnesota, co-chair of the congressional progressive caucus. congressman, good to have you with us. you know -- >> always a pleasure, ed. >> you bet. you know, it's pretty frequent, in fact, it's almost weekly that some jughead of the republican

party comes out and makes a statement like this and then hides behind his statement. is this part of their plan? am i off-base when i say that this is no longer the tea party or the fringers, this is the republican party strategy and it goes all the way to the top? >> i think that they have a strategy to try to convince the american people that the president is not one of us. one of us is said with a wink and a nod. and it has to do with feelings of people's latent fears about immigrants, about kenyans, about people of color. you know, income issues and class. i think, basically, they're in a very difficult position, because if they were being forthright about their economic policy, what they would have to say is that we believe that rich people don't have enough money and poor people have too much. they can't say that. so what do they have to do? they have to whip up people's latent fears and anxieties about the changing demographics of

america and so they say the president's emblematic of that, connect him to those fears, and then try to get votes that way, basically by dividing an alienating america. it's just willie horton, 2012. >> let me say this. in this broadcast right now, this the segment on "the ed show" is a classic example. i should not have referred to the congressman from colorado as a jughead, i should not have done. but this is who i am, i'm passionate, i love the country and i get involved in the issues, but i'm not alone. this is what other americans do. this is how other americans respond when they hear people come out and say outlandish things about our president, our elected prident, our legitimate president. i spoke with bernie sanders today. he says that the counteroffensive has to continue for the democrats. well, do you think that the democrats have to answer to these folks every time that they hear something like this? >> you know, ed, i think we've got to talk about solidarity as

americans. i think we've got to talk about how we as americans, all colors, all cultures of faith, no matter when we got here, if we are americans and legally engaged in american activity and we're doing what we're supposed to do as americans, then we all count and we all matter. and i think that this message of trying to divide people based on, you know, all kind of factors that people like the congressman don't want to actually say. he doesn't really want to say he was caught pandering to people's ugliest impulses, so he just hides behind that statement. but the reality is, is that it's divisive and he's trying to divide americans and therefore distract americans. but i think bernie's right. we've got to take this thing forward. we can't just counter what they say, we have to make an affirmative argument that we are together, we are americans, we are proud of our country, and that we're not going to throw anybody under the bus. >> but congressman, isn't it hard to get together? look at it from their perspective. >> it's hard, but we've got to

do it. >> but if they think that the president is not american, if they think the president is not legitimate, if this is what they say behind closed doors and the truth doesn't come out until they get recorded and it gets public, how do we expect these people to work with the president or with the democrats if they think that the president is un-american and bad for the country? they're just going to say, hey, we're just going to wait this thing out and try to beat him at the polls. we're not going to try to get anything done, because we don't think he's an american anyway. see my point? >> ed, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle told me everything i needed to know when they were willing to default on america's debt last year, last august, in exchange for concessions. when they were willing to let america be downgraded, from aaa to aa plus, you know, i came to the conclusion that any hope for bipartisan cooperation was going to be slim to none. when they let the faa expire and

wasted a bunch of money because they were trying to play games with the faa. when we come -- we're on the two-month, run a month-to-month basis with the transportation bill. i mean, i don't hold out any illusions that we can work with these guys in a constructive way. we've got to win at the polls and let that be the deciding. that's sad. i want some cooperation. i'm ready to cooperate, the president's ready to cooperate, but if you're looking for cooperation from the other side, i don't think we're going to see it. >> not with that attitude. congressman keith ellison, thanks so much for being on the program tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen, share your thoughts on twitt twitter @edshow. coming up, we'll have more on the republican party going birther. our political ball, krystal ball, chris kofinis, and steve dais will weigh in. next, mitt romney is going after teachers' unions and is unveiling his big plan to undermine public education. stay tuned. that's coming up. [ engine turns over ]

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coming up, mitt romney has officially joined the republican war on public educators today. we'll bring you the lowlights from his speech in washington, d.c., next. and the president torched republicans on spending today in a speech in denver. we'll bring you that later. and things are tightening up in the wisconsin race, despite the latest lies from scott walker. and they are lies. the latest on the recall, ahead. share your thoughts on twitter using #edshow. we're coming right back. ♪

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whenever anyone dares to offer a new idea, the unions protest the loudest. >> that simply is not true. welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney didn't miss a beat, going after teachers today, while speaking to a conservative latino business group about education. it was romney's first major speech on education, but as "the new york times" points out, "the challenge for mr. romney is that many school reform ideas he touched on, increasing charter schools, holding teachers accountable for student success, are already central to the obama administration, whose education policy has all be coopted traditional republican positions." but here's the big difference. romney believes this country should be doing less to help its children, not more. just last month, he told a group of conservative donors that as president, if he's elected, that he would gut the federal agency charged with administering education funding. "the department of education, i will either consolidate with another agency or perhaps make

it a heck of this has nothing to do with unions, unless you're a republican, because they want to destroy every union in this country. they want to destroy the voting bloc. have you ever looked ed ed at i way, folks, that the teachers in the teachers' union only want the best for your child and they fight like crazy for your child, that they fight like crazy for better working conditions, so there'll be a better environment for children to learn in

america? this underwriting theme -- this overriding theme, this undercurrent that's in the republican party right now, it's all about destroying the teachers' unions. it's all the teachers' fault. bad scores, all the teachers' faults. you know what it's like being a teacher? when you're a teacher, it's not like going to the grocery store and you're picking the best grapes to take home. no, when the doors open, everybody's welcome in america. the rich, the poor, the gifted, the challenged. and a teacher can't pick the socioeconomic background that walks through the door or the home life. the teacher has to do the best possible job with what comes through the door, and the teacher can't control society. so let's just blame the teacher. that's the republican answer. and oh, by the way, let's just have more charter schools. let's bring in charles hampel. he's a teacher at the hannapin middle school. i've got to ask you, mr. hampel, from what you hear, is there any

daylight between governor corbett and candidate mitt romney when it comes to education, from what you hear? >> is there daylight? well, thanks for having me again, ed, and thanks for covering the story for us, because we as teachers so much appreciate you getting the the word out for us. i can't believe what mitt romney said yesterday. one of the quotes i wrote down here was, "unions favor teachers' well-being over students." that couldn't be farther from the tooruth. we favor students. look at across pennsylvania. how many teacher unions in pennsylvania took pay freezes, have given back money, have done what they can to save these programs. these radical republicans assume that they can just cut and walk away. i don't get us. yeah, they want to make us charter. they want to make us all charter. what is a charter school? charters are for profit. public schools are for kids. >> what do you make of this formula they're coming up with it seems like almost in every state. that if a district cannot meet

its budget, they just won't fund it. they'll cut it off even further and go right to the charter school and blame the teachers in the classroom. your response to that? >> well, my response is, yesterday, here, just in pennsylvania, they threw the senate education committee, they passed a bill, a bill 1307, i think it was called, that these distressed districts, like our district, they can come in and take over the union, take away our collective bargaining rights, and set our salaries for what they want to balance their budget. well, it's just ridiculous. i mean, they devalue unions. what happens to the middle class? the middle class wages go down. they devalued unions, who are they after? they're after the teachers. but who suffers? our kids suffer. >> so what we're seeing here is this country that used to believe in immigration, that used to believe in equality and education, we seem to be getting away from that, don't we? because the poorer school districts are not being resourced, because all of these

republican governors want to fix their budget, and oh, by the way, we might as well turn it into charter schools and make a profit out of the deal, and help our private boys out. what about that? >> sure, we're going to turn the schools into charter. then what happens to the public schools? see, public schools aren't for business. we're not-for-profit. we're for kids. see, that's where i think mitt romney comes aboard. it's kind of like the same thing he did with bain. came in, we're going to close down the factories, we're going to fire the teachers. we're going to fire whoever's working for us. and we're going to sell us off piece by piece. i'm here to tell you, our kids aren't for sale. public education's not for sale. and we're here to stay. >> charles hample, thanks for joining us tonight. i know you speak for millions of teachers across america. thanks for join us. mitt romney says, of course, he would welcome a focus on bain capital. but wait until you see which republican takes apart romney's so-called business experience. one of the guys who would like to be romney's vice president, congressman paul ryan of

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welcome back to "the ed show." today mitt romney was asked whether an explanation, an examination of bain capital is fair game. >> so when the president says he wants to focus a lot of the election debate on your career at bain capital, do you welcome that? >> well, of course.

i'd like to also focus on his record. what is it -- what is it that he's done as the president of the united states over the last four years? >> romney says, "well, of course," but he didn't look too enthusiastic in his response, did he? here's what former reagan budget director david stockman had to say about romney's business experience. >> i don't think that mitt romney can legitimately say that he learned anything about how to create jobs in the lbo business. the lbo business is about how to strip cash out of old, long in the tooth companies, and how to make short-term profit dss -- >> no, it's not! >> david, he had so many jobs created for all the jobs that were loss, it was a net gain, no? >> i don't think so. all the jobs that he talks about came from staples. that was a very early venture stage deal that, you know, they got out of long before it got to its current size. >> interesting how that fox anchor right there, said, oh,

it's a net gain! really? a net gain? give us the number. you mean you guys over at fox business don't have the number? you don't know what the net gain is? the romney camp, here's the bottom line. they have no choice but to accuse the obama campaign of character assassination. but that's not too convincing. so now romney's senior aide has described the bain ad as "performance art gibberish." "shouting louder and getting more angry is not very persuasive." well, romney's adviser is actually describing testimonials from real people who lost their jobs because of romney's bain capital. this is what the romney camp calls "performance art gibberish." let's turn to bob shrum, democratic strategist and nyu professor. bob, good to have you with us tonight. >> glad to be here. >> romney tried, i think something similar in his losing

run in 1994 when he wanted to unseat ted kennedy. i think a spokesman back then said that kennedy, the camp had put words in people's mouths. what about that? >> yeah, well, that's what they said. "the boston globe" went out and found out it wasn't true. we turned the camera on and the workers had talked about what happened to them. look, they don't have an answer to this. they don't have a coherent claim. this guy sometimes says he created ten thousand jobs, sometimes says he created a hundred thousand jobs. sometimes says, well, maybe a hundred thousand. i mean, his communications director said it was a back of the envelope calculation. but, you know, it adds insult to injury in terms of these workers, who are just saying what happened to them. to call them gibberish and performance art, and that's not going to fly. people are going to hear the story of how mitt romney took over companies, fired workers, re-hired some of them at lower wages, took away their benefits, took out huge fees, and then those companies in many cases went belly up. the whole notion -- you know,

and by the way, this guy who was against the bailout of the auto industry, and saving the auto industry, in one case, left a company behind, the federal government had to spend $44 million bailing out the pension fund. after romney and his partners made millions. >> bob, you also wrote today that romney should release the records of all bain transactions from which he profited. explore that with us. >> well, i mean, look, if he's going to make this claim, and you did it very eloquently a minute ago. if he's going to make this claim about all the jobs created, fox is going to say net jobs created. let's put the records out there. let's not talk about character assassination. let's talk about facts. character assassination, it was this guy himself who put his bain job record front and center. he said, that's his claim to the presidency. and david stockman is absolutely right. leverage buyouts, or in the way romney practiced them, vulture capitalism, are not a qualification for creating jobs. >> yeah. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows most

americans still don't have an impression of bain either way. i mean, look, 72%, neutral or not true. so does president obama need to fill in the blank here? do they need to stay on this and will they stay on it? >> they're going to stay on it, ed. they're going to stay on it, i believe, all the way through the campaign. and the schoolteacher you interviewed in the last segment made a very important point. and he got it. his attitude -- romney's attitude in bain connect directly with what he wants to do to teachers. this is a guy who took away health benefits from people and now he wants to end medicare as we know it. this is a megamillionaire with an offshore bank account. now he wants to give huge tax cuts to millionaires. you can just go down the list, every single thing connects to this story. it's a narrative and it's going to be very powerful. and what i wrote in that column is that by the time this is over, this guy is going to end up the candidate of the few, by the few, and for the few. >> here's what senator mitch mcconnell, republican leader in the senate said when asked if he thought that bain was fair game. >> i think it's interesting to

note that the whole issue of earned success and of capitalism seems to be under attack by this administration across the board, not just in the campaign, but through the actions of the government itself. >> i mean, this is all part of a coordinated effort. i mean, to paint the president as against free enterprise. how do they handle that narrative? >> well, i don't think they have to worry about that narrative. this is blather about free enterprise. look, i could sit here and criticize the executive at jpmorgan chase who just lost $3 billion through a bunch of bad decisions and got fired. that doesn't mean i'm anti-business or anti-free enterprise. the bain formula, in many cases, was to take these companies, squeeze all the money out that they could, not worry about the workers. and you know, mitch mcconnell, all of this stuff is a fraud. and what it tells me is that they don't have an answer. if you looked at romney in that earlier clip, boy, was he uncomfortable. >> he sure was. >> when mark halperin mentioned bain. he doesn't want to talk about

it. he doesn't have answer. he didn't have one in 1994. doesn't have one now. >> apparently mitch mcconnell and mitt romney met today, so they're behind closed doors trying to figure this thing out. they're probably trying to get the senators on board with mitt romney when it comes to verbalizing this to the american people, to keep everything straight. because i think you're right, bob, i don't think they've got an answer on how to deal with any of this. the numbers are the numbers, and notice that the fox anchor, he didn't have the numbers either. bob shrum, great to have you with us. there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. we're right back. >> are you with the president in supporting gay marriage? >> i have no problem with it. >> colin powell isn't endorsing the president, but he's on board with marriage equality. mitt romney steps in it big time with his unemployment prediction. >> we get the unemployment rate down to 6%. >> and republicans are still figuring out how to deal with this embarrassing attack on the president. >> that in his heart, he's not an american. he's just not an american. >> the big panel weighs in on al

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wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. earlier in this broadcast, we told you about republican congressman mike coffman of colorado. coffman told a group of conservatives at a fund-raiser that he didn't believe president obama is an american at heart. >> i don't know whether barack obama was born in the united states or not. i don't know that. but i do know this -- that in his heart, he's not an american. he's just not an american. >> coffman then issued a statement claiming he misspoke, but when asked to elaborate, coffman refused. not once, not twice, but five times, repeating this weak response. >> i stand by my statement that

i misspoke and i apologize. >> i am joined tonight on our panel, chris kofinis, krystal ball, and steve dais. great to have all of you with us. chris, let me ask you first. how big a deal is this that the democrats need to keep coming out and responding to this, or they just ignore it? what's the best way to go? >> well, ironically, you know, i don't think, obviously, the president or the white house should respond to it, because it's too crazy to deserve a response. but in terms of democrats or, you know, the grassroots, absolutely, they should respond to it. i mean, here's the fundamental problem, aside from it being absolutely crazy, it's just this anger and hatred towards the president. and the part that apparently these folks just, you know, don't want to comprehend or accept is the president is likable. the president is a person that the american people like and believe in. and so the notion that somehow you're going to question his, you know, his american bona fides or that he wasn't born here, i mean, it's this ten full brigade that doesn't even pass

the laugh test. but i think you should respond to it, hit it back and hit it back hard. >> krystal, what does this say about republicans? >> well, i don't know how much more evidence we have to have that there is a racial component to this. i mean, ever since the president was elected and even before that, you've had these crazy chain mails going out, you've had all of these efforts, including birtherism, to paint him as the other. you have the rickets plan to defeat barack hussein obama, which is in search of an articulate black man to make the case and to launch racially black attacks based on reverend wright. >> oh, it's a pattern. >> i don't know how long we have to pretend that race is not a component in this campaign. >> it's the republican party. it's not the tea party wing, it's not the radicals, it is the republican party. for instance, in the state of iowa, they wanted to put it on the state platform, the birther issue. steve dais, you broadcast from iowa. have the republicans in your state reached out to mitt romney for proof that he is a natural born citizen? >> i'm not sure many republicans

in iowa want to reach out to mitt romney for anything, ed. he's not very popular in our state with a lot of the conservative grassroots, which is one of the reasons why when we had our caucuses, he stayed away quite a bit. in fact, if anything, i think a lot of iowa republicans would just prefer that they take on obama by themselves without any help from mitt romney. >> but why is the birther issue, why is this conversation even taking place in the middle of the country? >> i think it takes place for the same reason that a dade ago, on the other side of the aisle, we were having conversations about bush lied and people died, and bush wanted to go to war in iraq to get revenge for the attempt on his dad. >> well, that was on tape. >> i think what happens is when you have a clash of world views that is as stark as what we have right now in america, a house divided against itself, it lends itself to a lot of distrust. >> steve, this is not a world view. these are facts. steve, respectfully, these are facts. there are facts that back up that president obama is an american citizen, he loves the

country, he was born, he is got all the documentation. why is this an issue? krystal, you can see just from his answers that this is where they are. >> well, that's absolutely right. i mean, this is nothing -- this is nothing like the situation with bush. no one was questioning whether he was constitutionally eligible to be president, which is what is going on here. it's a totally different level. and to say that mitt romney is not popular in iowa or that this is not the mainstream, mitt romney won the iowa caucuses with rick santorum, they basically tied. so the problem here is that the republican party engaged in a short-term strategy in 2010 to ride the hatred and the anger of the far right tea party. and what has happened now is they have completely consumed the entire republican party. >> when you have a state party talking about putting it on the platform, how much more radical can you get? i mean, they do not want to accept this president. >> and we had in virginia, in my home state, we had one of the

local county parties send out an e-mail calling for armed revolution if the president is re-elected. that's the republican party machinery, sending out that sort of hateful, violent message. >> ed, you know, i think you know, one key point to keep in mind, when was the last time the last president that anyone questioned whether they were an american? i mean, it's really that simple. so you have fringes within the republican party that are saying this, i think, just, it just sends a -- it puts a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth, and it's just so counterproductive. it's just the worth type of politics. >> why aren't the democrats asking for mitt romney's birth certificate? i mean, his dad was born in mexico. i mean, how do we know? >> you know why, because -- >> here's what i think -- >> go ahead, steve. >> i think if unemployment -- i think if unemployment was at 5%, i think if the president had lived up to his campaign promises on turning the economy around, we probably wouldn't be talking about this issue right now. but when you've got to run on ft.'s economic record, you've got to change the subject to stuff like this. >> well, not really.

he's got 26 months of private sector job growth, he's saved the automobile industry, and added 4 million jobs. the guy is not superman, just president of the united states, and those are three facts there that are -- >> ed, there must be a lot of stupid people, there must be a lot of stupid people, then, ed, in your own nbc news poll. because if you look at the cross-tabs on the economy in your own poll that came out yesterday, it doesn't appear that they see things the same way you do -- >> that's a messaging issue, no doubt -- >> at best he has a 50/50 chance -- >> that's -- he has added 4 million jobs, saved millions of jobs, and 26 months of private sector job growth. those are three facts right now, whether it's polled or not -- >> the fact -- >> why would you talk about that instead of the birther issue or -- >> your party in iowa wants to put birtherism on the platform instead of talk about creating jobs. i'm out of time. >> we're not the ones that -- >> what cracks me up is it's considered radical -- >> great to have you with us

tonight. great to have you here. we'll have you back to talk about it. i gave the facts tonight, no question about that. paul brown calls obama a failed president. like the man as anesthesia. really? we'll set the record straight. sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. support team usa and show our olympic spirit right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen. tom chipped in 10,000 points. karen kicked in 20,000. and by pooling more thankyou points from folks all over town, we were able to watch team usa...

[ cheering ] in true london fashion. [ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders can combine the thankyou points they've earned and get even greater rewards. ♪ coming up, paul ryan says president obama is a failed president. it seems like he's forgotten what happened under the last administration. i'll refresh his memory, next. stay tuned. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol

and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. mary? what are you doing here? it's megan. i'm getting new insurance. marjorie, you've had a policy with us for three years. it's been five years. five years. well, progressive gives megan discounts that you guys didn't. paperless, safe driver, and i get great service. meredith, what's shakin', bacon? they'll figure it out. getting you the discounts you deserve. now, that's progressive. call or click today. let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do.

motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. welcome back to "the ed show." congressman paul ryan of wisconsin, he's the chairman of the budget committee in the house. he made a very bold statement about president obama in a speech at the reagan library. >> that is why the parallels between 1980 and today are so striking. now, as then, we face not just a failed president, but a failed ideology. >> this is a fascinating claim, made by a man who might be mitt romney's vice president. you never know.

let's start with the economy and jobs. this chart, absolutely says it all. you can see the republicans epic failure of the bush administration and what happened when president obama came in and the turnaround took place. after digging us out of a hole, president obama has delivered 26 months of private sector job growth. we ought to call this the deace map. what about mitt romney's jobs' record? massachusetts was 47th out of 50 states in this country in job creation during romney's time as governor. 47 out of 50? that's a failing grade, isn't it? and next, how about general motors and the automobile industry? it was left for dead the time president obama took office. now gm is number one in the world and the united states automobile industry is coming roaring back in a big, big way. mitt romney would have left the automobile industry go bankrupt. that's what he wrote. next, there's this guy named osama bin laden who's not breathing anymore or plotting

against the united states. i suppose that's a failure too in the eyes of the republicans. president bush used torture trying to get osama bin laden. president obama, he didn't use torture, but he did get the world with's number one terrorist. and in 2007, mitt romney said it's not worth moving heaven and earth to get him. what about war? what about war? bush gave us two unfunded wars, off the budget. president obama got us out of one of them, and he's getting us out of the other one. mitt romney wants to get us into more conflicts. by the way, we should point out that a lot of the guys who were with bush are with romney now. even colin powell said that. now, if we are to believe his warmongering on iran, holy smokes, we ought to be nervous. even on the president's most controversial action, health care, he paid for the entire package. bush 43 gave us medicare part "d," but didn't pay for it.

which brings us to the deficit and the debt. the biggest cause of the deficits through 2019 are going to be the bush tax cuts, if they are not reined in, as well as the bush wars. the spending under president obama, spending under the last five presidents, has grown the slowest under president obama. that's a fact. these are facts and president obama is not going to let them call him a failed president. >> since i've been president, federal spending has risen at the lowest pace in nearly 60 years. this other side, i don't know how they've been bamboozling folks into thinking that they are the responsible, fiscally disciplined party. they run up these wild debts, and then when we take over, we've got to clean it up. and they point and say, look how irresponsible they are. look at the facts! look at the numbers. zpled show survey tonight, i asked you, will republican

leadership ever condemn birther talk in their party? 3% of you say yes, 97% of you say no.

new numbers show the recall race tighter than ever in wisconsin and the republican

governor's association is pushing out an outright lie to help scott walker. "the nation's" john nichols weighs in next with me. stay with us. and in the big finish tonight, going to be a heck of a finish in wisconsin. new poll numbers out in the walker recall election show that it's going to be clos pushing a outright lie. here is a fact for you. the bureau of labor statistics show walker has lost over 30,000 jobs. lost over 30,000 jobs in the state. the republican governor's association isn't the only association lying for walker. now comes the national rifle association, jumping into the fray. this is your freedom. this is your freedom if tom barrett gets the chance to recall your gun rights. any questions? tom barrett has a rating of "f" from the nra. don't let tom barrett recall your gun rights. >> every democrat has an "f" from the nra. scott walker has been whining about outside money coming into the race on the democratic side. i just showed you two commercials from the nra. take a look at some of the outside republican big guns that are coming in to back walker. earlier this week, well, romney's co-chair, the campaign tim pawlenty, failed governor from minnesota, stumped for

walker. louisiana governor bobby jindal plans to rally with walker on thursday. south carolina governor nikki haley will campaign with walker on june 1st and mike huckabee, you know, the guy who's got a show over on fox and nationally syndicated talk show, he actually has a pac. i didn't know that. and he is raising money for walker. hey, phil, can i have a pac? probably not. i work for a news organization. i'm joined tonight by john nichols, washington correspondent of "the nation" magazine and author of the book "uprising." john, where is the race right now? how tight is it? >> it's a tight race, ed. when i talk to democrats and republicans, they tell me that all of their internal polling shows that this race is close and in most instances, getting closer. as you see, that movement among independents, toward tom barrett. and i've seen it physically around the state. this afternoon, i was in scott walker's hometown of delvim,

wisconsin, and in front of the big old bed and breakfast, in downtown delvim, there's a huge recall walker barn. so even in his hometown, people are feeling quite confident in saying they don't want him. >> john, what about the commercials? are they lies? what you've seen in the republican governor's association and the nra for that matter? >> these ads deal in genuine falsehoods. and i want to emphasize that. one of the most troubling things is that in addition to deceptive language and deceptive messages, things that just simply aren't true, as you pointed out, they also create a false impression as regards scott walker, that nra ad, suggests, i think, that scott walker is some sort of great defender of sportsmen, and a great defender of hunting. he's not. when he took over as governor, he put a businessman, builders and developers, in charge of the agency that is supposed to protect our hunting areas, our

wetlands. he signed a law that's going to make it easier to sell off wetlands, and he put a guy from texas in charge of our deer hunting in wisconsin, and this guy's one of the top advocates in the country for something called deer ranching, where you take public lands and sell it off, so that they can only be hunted by people that pay to be there. >> land access is a big issue in the upper midwest, no question about it. you don't mess with deer hunting in wisconsin. i can't believe he's done that. john nichols, great to have you with us tonight. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. i might just have to do a little bit of fishing the weekend before the vote in wisconsin. i don't know, i might have to do that. >> i will warn the fish. i will warn the walleye that you are coming, ed. thank you, ed. >> thanks, rachel. and thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. it was 1977, he had had to resign the presidency of the united states three years early in disgrace, narrowly avoid