families. including 30,000 children. he slashed school funding by over 8%. guess what all that made room for. a $1.7 billion tax break for corporations. those are some messed up priorities. right? not to willard. >> what we immediate is to have someone in washington that will do for washington what is being done right here in michigan and i will. >> hear that? he wants to do to america what snider is doing to michigan. i guess that includes the emergency manager law. it allows such people to run any city or school district that is under, quote, financial stress. one person with the power elected officials to cancel contracts. how's that for democracy? of course, today's event with snider comes on the heels of yesterday's lovefest in

wisconsin. romney toured with scott walker, a man who vowed to divide and conquer union workers. and paul ryan a man whose budget guts low income programs and yet, here is what romney talked about in wisconsin. >> my priority is putting americans back to work. that's job one. people in this country ought to know that they have a fair shot of being successful and fulfilling their dreams. >> let's build the middle class! really? while standing with those would? willard can pal around with a union bus and guy whose budget hurts the poor. he can even campaign with the governor who puts corporate profits over people. but he can't pretend to care about the middle class. he can't say he cares about every town. it is clear what his motives are and it is clear which party really cares about the middle class. >> to me being middle class not a number. it is a way of life.

it is a value set. it is about a minimum standard of living. it is about being able to own your home and not just represent it. it is being able to live in a safe neighborhood where your kids can walk the streets. where there is a playground. that's not polluted. where you can send your kid to a decent school, knowing if they do well they have a chance to go to college. if they have that chance you have a chance to get them there. that's what being a middle class person is. that's not asking too much! that's who we are! that's what we believe! that's what you are about! >> joining me now is joan walsh, editor-at-large for salon.com and msnbc political analyst. verge who ran against governor snider in 2010. thank you both for joining me. >> thank you. >> my pleasure. >> mayor, let me start with you first. do working class folks in michigan think willard is on

their side? >> absolutely not. look, we are fresh off the auto rescue and we know who is responsible for that. that's barack obama. what's right, what's going right in michigan, really has to be credited to president barack obama because manufacturing is leading michigan's recovery. the people who are being put back to work is in manufacturing and that stems from the auto industry. if it 00 been for barack obama ask his plan to rescue the auto indust industry, we wouldn't be on the map economically. if we would have followed romney's advice and let him go bankrupt, we would be wiped off the map. we would have been talking about a million more unemployed. we would be in a depression and not a recession. you know the only -- real surprising thing about this was that mitt romney was speaking -- visited a pie shop. i would have thought he was a let them eat cake kind of guy. >> well, joan, let me say this. the optics of trying to act like you are just everybody's friend and every day guy and every city counts is one thing. but the policies don't match

what he's trying to project and those that are campaigning with him have policies that don't match that. >> right. and, you know, also he's picking some very interesting places for his tour. he's not picking other places. the place he was today, i think it was franklin news, 96% white in the wake of president obama's announcement on ceasing deportation of young people who are brought here illegally. he's certainly not seeking out any opportunities to dialogue with the latino community. he is in a place that's very white and also older than the michigan average. so he's taking his -- we know which towns count under mitt rom my and we kind of know which towns don't count. he's also given up on i guess this is a good thing, no longer saying hey, president obama, listen to me. he took my advice on the auto bailout. that wasn't flying. he is staying -- certainly staying away from the president's obvious successes on that front. he's continuing to have this

kind of -- not blueberry pie. it is pie in the sky, very -- chiffon pie, very light on any kind of details about how he would put middle class people back to work, back in their homes, with their wages rising. there are no details. except corporate tax cuts and deregulation. >> well, i have something to say about him and blueberry pie. mayor, let me say that governor snider who you ran against campaigned today. he said that romney should not attack the bailout. he told "the new york times" in november i would have had some differences on how they did it but i'm not going to second-guess it. the most important thing is the results. and auto industry is doing very well today. that's what he told the new york times in november. today he was campaigning with mitt romney who you -- quoted earlier as saying let them go

bankrupt, the auto industry. >> like your other guest said he didn't mention the auto industry. for good reason. he's running from his record and the president is running on his record. look, he has to run from it. he wants people to forget about it and wants to reinvent history. when we were on the ropes, he wasn't there. he was awol. he was fighting on the other side. he tried to stop it. he was against the auto rescue. and that is michigan. that's when we are about. we make things. he doesn't get people that work for a living. they roll up their sleeves and go out and make things and contribute to gdp, gross domestic product. that's what this country needs more of. that's what president barack obama delivered to michigan and to this country. the backbone of this country is manufacturing and he's bringing it back, including the investments in green energy taking off in michigan. in terms of wind turbine. we are making solar panels. that's because of -- battery technology. that's because of the president's policies and the president's investments and our previous governor who also worked with the president to make it happen. michigan is enjoying the fruits

of those public investments and those public private partnerships. >> not only michigan, mr. mayor, beyond michigan, people in the auto industry, the fact is that the state that was saved and auto industry that was saved by president obama's auto bailout, 1.45 million people are working asing a direct result of the action. >> exactly. no wonder romney does wan't wano talk about it. he's on the wrong side of history. it is terrible thing to be on the wrong side of history but that's where mitt romney was. in our darkest time in michigan, when we were fighting for our survival and like you say it would have been way beyond michigan because the supply chain would have affected millions of jobs. the president didn't the right thing. he the courage and guts to do the right zthing. >> joan, the bus tour that he was on, not only did he not mention the bailout he was against, in detroit, he

conveniently avoided freeport, illinois, a city hurt by bain capital. and close to where he was on yesterday. now it is very important because here's something he's raised himself, bain capital is his example as a job creator. he's right there next to a city of their -- close to a city that bain was involved in and clearly he kept going. he didn't go and show us the results of bain's work. >> well, right. that's because bain's investment in that technologcompany, reverend al, wound up costing it jobs. so it is -- you know if he is going to talk about creating jobs, middle class jobs, that would not abplace to take us. i think that's an interesting point, too, maybe there is a place. you know, why doesn't he go to place that maybe he -- he helped -- can point to concretely that he helped turn around when he was at bain. probably because he can't. and i -- you know, i just think

that he -- touring these cities, it is a very lovely, bucolic old-fashioned golden age kind of imagery but it doesn't really pertain to the way the country lives today. and doesn't really help us think about how we are going to get those manufacturing jobs back. when that's where the president has really been outstanding. >> now, mr. mayor, romney said the other day on the trail, that he spoke with someone who had to fill out a 33-page form to change his address. >> this optometrist wanted to change his billing address. this is so he can get reimbursement from the federal government for the services he provides for the for and seniors. the form he gets to change addresses is 33 pages long. he calls someone to ask how to fill it out. he calls someone in the government. he sends it in. they send it back. wasn't done right.

got to do it again. another 33 pages. >> doesn't this say willard can't even tell the truth about little things? i mean, that's a little outrageous. >> well, of course it is that. but beyond that, reverend al the guy has nothing to talk about. it is like joan said earlier, he has no plan, no vision, no alternative. he comes here, all he does is bash the president, mow down on pie. give me a break. he is running for president of the united states. what's your plan, mitt? what's your plan to put people back to work? we don't need any more trickle-down economics. we are tired of being trickled on here in michigan. we have had enough. we need a government that's going to work for working people and that's what president barack obama is trying to do. he has a congress working against him in every turn, throwing up hurdles and playing games. we need the president back and we need a democratic congress and people that can fate for working people. >> can the president win michigan? what's it look like out there? >> absolutely. the president can win michigan. >> what do you think, joan? >> yes. i think he can very -- very --

he will very likely win michigan. i expect him to win michigan. >> joan walsh, mayor virg. work on your energy next time i have you on. thanks for your time tonight. we have breaking news coming up. attorney general holder speaking out after his big meeting on capitol hill. republicans may be moving ahead with their vote to hold him in contempt as soon as tomorrow morning. plus, you know republicans are in trouble when they are looking to mitt romney for political coverage. why the gop is desperately seeking answers on immigration. we will dig into some revelat n revelations about a new jersey controversy that could threaten chris christie's national ambitions. and gop's hopes for 2016. you are looking at "politics nation" on msnbc.

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we are back with republicans reeling and on the defense after president obama's big immigration decision. they are boxed in. they are losing on this issue. they have no idea what to say about it. and you know it is bad when they are passing the buck to willard romney. >> most of my members are interested in learning what governor romney has to say about this issue. we are going to see what governor romney has to say. he's the leader of our party from now until november and we hope beyond. >> folks, i can smell the desperation from here. and we you a degree. we would all like to know what mitt romney thinks about president obama's new immigration policy. the ball is in your court. >> what i can tell is those people who come here by virtue of their parents bringing them here and come in illegally, that's something i don't want to football with as a political

matter. >> something i don't want to football with? what does that even mean? how about senator marco rubio, what do you make of the decision? >> it feels weird to deport a valedictorian that has been here since they were 4 years old. finding a balance, that's important. what the president did by ignoring the constitution and congress makes it harder to find that balance. >> actually, the only weird thing is that senator rubio kept saying he supporting this policy until the president did. senator, no matter how much you would like to ignore it, the fact is that the president beat you to the punch. so can we count on the old guard to give us the standardized republican response? the. >> the president's actions are going to make it much more difficult for us to work in a bipartisan way, to get to a permanent solution. >> there it is. when all else fails, blame the president. even if it is not true.

but it doesn't look like it is going to work important the gop this time. joining me is democratic congresswoman loretta sanchez from california. and maria kumar, president and ceo of la te-- and msnbc contri. thank you for being here. congresswoman sanchez, let me go to you first. the republicans don't like the president's immigration policy but what's their policy? i mean, is there one? >> well, their policy has been to do nothing for immigration. their policy has been and, in fact, sitting on the homeland security committee, their policy and their efforts have said that hey listen, if you fortify the border, if you charge companies who are misusing the system, if you deport people, if you get rid of criminal aliens and you deport them, once you do all of

these things, we will talk to you about some sort of comprehensive immigration reform. guess what? the president worked on fortifying the border. the president worked on deporting people. the president worked on going after criminals. hay has done everything that they have said is important before getting to this issue of what do we do with the people who are already here? guess what, these kids through no fault of their own are here. they are great. they are great. they have been working hard and this country needs them. so i say kudos to the president for saying hey, it is time that we take care of the rest of the situation. >> now, maria, the republicans were for the dream act before they were against it. take a look at this. august of 2001, the dream act was a bipartisan bill. march of 2009, it was reintroduced by several republicans and democrats. bipartisan. july 2010, another bipartisan

version was even approved by the republican controlled synergy -- judiciary committee. is this all just partisan politics? how do you have a con us is tent patterning of supporting, march wrashgs and now all of a sudden they are all opposed to it because president obama was the one to push for it. >> that's right. basically what the president did was call the republicans' bluff saying you keep saying you want go ahead and introduce the dream act, recognize them you keep falling short. what i will do is provide temporary relief because this is not ideal. it is dream acolyte. it is not ideal. he threw it back in a congress and saying now it is up to you to do something. the fact that speaker boehner has said today that what he -- president was trying to create a political atmosphere, that's nonsense. immigration policy, whether it is the dream act of comprehensive immigration reform is excellent policy for the

american people. because it provides, one, get people out of the shadows and ensures make sure everybody is getting paid fairly. it is important for national security. i want him to be able to know who is living in my neighborhood as do the rest of the american public. so what right now is happening is that president obama called the republicans' bluff. you want immigration reform, i will provide temporary relief. you can permanently fix. >> it now, in -- clear that the american people agree with you because in a bloomberg poll, 64% approved of the policy. 30% disapproved. and -- clearly, the american people are with the president on this. maria. but congresswoman, let's talk a minute about another poll on latino enthusiasm. in five battleground states, florida, virginia, nevada, colorado, arizona, latino voters were questioned on whether new policy makes them more or less enthusiastic about the

president. more enthusiastic, 49%. less enthusiastic, 14%. no effect, 34%. what are you getting out there? is this poll right? has hum gone up for the president because of this move? >> people are very excited about this move. people are very excited to see these young people who have worked so hard, who are needed by our country to be able to stay here and to go to work and to help solve some of our problems. so there is a real excitement in the latino community. there is a real excitement in those people not just latinos but those people who work with la teen companies and people who are used to living with latinos. they are just as excited because they understand that these young people have a lot to give to this nation and that we really need to move along the whole spectrum of getting to real immigration reform. and this is one of the first positive steps torz going that way. so back home in california, they

are excited. i was -- i was looking at a poll from arizona where they say the president is getting very close. >> very interesting poll. i'm glad you brought that up. >> exact. >> i very interesting poll. in arizona, romney 49% to 46%. that's within the polls margin of error. in arizona, maria, only gone to a democratic presidential candidate, only once since 1952. this is very interesting. >> and your viewers may forget obama almost beat mccain in arizona. now with this new piece of legislation that executive order the president came out, what he is going to do is galvanize, not just latino voters in arizona, but he's also going to galvanize the supporters of arizona saying this is a shot we have been waiting for you to stand up and have leadership. people forget russell pierce the one that crafted arizona 1007,

anti-immigrant racial profiling law was ousted this past october because of -- mobilization of immigration groups. >> i'm going to have to go. it is exciting, isn't it? congresswoman loretta sanchez and maria kumar, thank you for your time tonight. breaking news from capitol hill. it appears republicans will be voting tomorrow to hold the attorney general of the united states in contempt of congress. we will have eric holder's reaction coming up. [ morgan ] lopez lomong started running when he was six

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protecting your family fun. now, that's progressive. call or click today. folks, have you checked us out on facebook? the conversation is going on all day long. how fans have a lot to say today about darrell issa's threat to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. ken wants democrats to step up, quote, every democrat should put their full support behind holder and tell the republicans to stop this witch-hunt now. he's right. we want to heart what you think, too. head over to facebook and search "politics nation" and like us. to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show airs.

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hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. it is all about whether the justice department has handed over to republicans in congress enough documents about the failed, fast and furious gun walker program. it is a dramatic escalation of a campaign that began before holder even took office. just moments ago, holder wrapped up his meeting with the republican who has been leading that campaign, congressman darrell issa. holder ordered to hold a briefing about turning over more documents related to the fast and furious program. issa rejected that offer. >> the ball is in their court. they rejected what i thought was an extraordinary offer on our part. they have, i guess, until they decide -- ability to change their minds. but -- as i said, we -- we made, i thought, an extraordinary offer. and indicated to them materials

have been accumulated and they are -- for distribution to them. we will make, as i said, somebody available to brief on them and answer questions connected to them. >> here's issa from maryland. that's elijah cummings. that's not mr. issa. republicans -- we are going to pull up issa for you but republicans held several hearings on the so-called gun walking prime minister even though it was cooked up by the bush administration and shut down by holder. despite all of that, republicans are still moving towards a contempt vote at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. joining me now is democratic congressman adam schiff of california. he's a former federal prosecutor who has been outspoken in hol r

holder's defense. thank you for being here, congressman schiff. >> you bet. pleasure to join you. >> congressman, do you think that republicans will definitely go ahead with this contempt vote? >> i think they will. that's been the game plan all along. i wish i could say otherwise but this looks like a completely political exercise. in the beginning, the -- committee was demanding grand jury materials, wiretap application materials the justice department was precluded from providing. they had to walk back from that. now they are demanding information part of the deliberative process of the doj. they never turned over. but the attorney general made an extraordinary offer to do that, to provide additional extensive materials and that -- good faith offer appears has been rejected out of hand by the committee. >> let me walk through this slowly because i want -- to make sure that we all listening and myself included understand. the justice department has already handed over 140,000 documents.

7600 pages turned over. eight hearings before congress. you said that they then requested things that the doj never hands over, has never handed over, and the attorney general even said they were prepared to do that and even at that, they are saying no deal. >> well, that's exactly right. you know, first they asked for materials that legally the a.g.'s office is not aloud to turn over. then they narrowed the scope of what they asked for but still asked for materials that the department of justice, for good reason, hasn't turned over historically. that is part of the work product of the office, internal memoranda of the office. but the attorney general extraordinary steps said look, let's not have a constitutional fight over this even though it is the attorney general's view that he is on solid constitutional ground. we will provide the materials that were not obligated to, historically we have not provided. let's sit down and work this out. i think the problem here is that the committee doesn't really want to work this out. that the conservative base is

demanding continuing political attacks on the administration and founded profitable to go after the attorney general if if he reach an accommodation with the attorney general, then that, i think, is disappointing to some of the conservatives. so -- >> very interesting, congressman. you feel that the base of the party is so extreme now that issa no matter what the attorney general says, issa has to go forward to keep his base with him? >> i think that's unfortunately true. i don't know at this point whether darrell issa could walk back even if he wanted to. in fact, that dime may have been cast weeks ago. it is unfortunate because it puts the legislative branch which has an important oversight function with corroboration with the legislation for no good reason except the politics of the moment. we ought to be thinking beyond this moment. we ought to be thinking about what this does to the future relationship between the two branches of government and how the subpoena power is used and how it is you a abused. but, unfortunately, here i think

it has become completely political exercise. >> what does it mean in layman's term that if the attorney general of the united states is held in contempt? what happens? how serious is that? what happens to the attorney general? >> well, you know, committee will vote on the contempt citation. lit then go to the house floor. since the house floor is controlled by republicans, presumably pass there and becomes a court fight which won't be decided any time in the next several months. so plainly, if the committee wanted to get the documents and wanted to get them in a timely way, the attorney general offered to provide them but it is not about getting documents. it is about getting the political fight at this point. and, unfortunately, i think the gop committee would rather have the fight than the documents. that seems to be the path we are head order. >> you are telling me if they hold him in contempt, it goes to the house where the -- the majority, they go ahead and hold him in contempt and this becomes

a court process that will take months when they could get the documents now since the attorney general has offered this so they are really trying to go through a campaign season of being able to say the attorney general is in contempt. they are really not trying to get the documents on fast street and furious in your judgment. >> i think it is really clear. look at the history of the investigation, of course as you pointed out, the -- gun walking tragic ill-conceived idea of gun walking began under the bush administration. but whenever witnesses in the hearings try to talk about the origins of the program which were shut down by this attorney general, by our attorney general, the committee didn't want to hear that testimony. they didn't want too look at beyond where -- this administration where the origins of the program began. it has been clear all along that the focus was trying to score political points against the a.g. and against the president. and also, it has been clear, unfortunately, this is the greatest strategy of all that there has been no interest in the committee and no interest in the house and in trying to make

progress on the very issue this is all about which is the massive numbers of american-made weapons going into mexico fueling the drugs wars down there. when we engage in political circus instead it is a real disservice to our country and disservice on our neighbors to the south as well. >> congressman schiff, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> it seems to me that it is a -- sham and shame that the attorney general of the united states may be facing contempt when he's made this unusual unprecedented offer to turn the materials over. it also seems to me to the height of an insuggest to the american public that is facing so many questions in a criminal justice system to put this crowd over the attorney general at a time that we are dealing with everything from high crime to voter i.d. laws and to questions that are clearly important even life and death questions.

but some would rather play politics than to have us move forward and deal with these issues. i think that people ought to be real clear and we are looking -- at what we are looking at. we had this program under the bush administration. it was called operation wide receiver 2006 and called hernandez case in 2007. it was the mandrano case in 2008. but they don't want to talk to any of those people. they only want to hold this attorney general up and then hold him in contempt even when he offers it over. you make your own conclusion. some of us understand the difference between politics and due process. we will be right back after this.

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centers. the company dominates the state's halfway houses. but it might not be so innocent. meet paul palatucci, senior vice president and general counsel for community education centers. he's also one of christie's closest friends and christie's former legal partner. palatucci has been called the most powerful nonelected official in new jersey and now there are questions about the cost of that friendship. since christie took office, the new jersey department of corrections has paid cec $71 million to put up inmates in the halfway houses. that's 22% more than what the cec got from christie's predecessor. and for less work. there are 11% fewer beds under contract now. but it is not just about the money. there is a human cost, too.

this story, two years ago, a 21-year-old woman was killed by her ex-boyfriend. his name was david godell. he was on parole at one of cec's halfway houses. but managed to escape one night. hours later, he strangled a woman to death. two years later and no investigation, nothing has been done. so how could this impact christie's political future? joining me is zachary carter, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york. he's now partner with the law firm of dorsey and whitney. and steve kornacki, political columnist for salon.com and msnbc analyst. he has been writing about the story this week. calling it chris christie's willie horton problem. thanks for both of you for being here tonight. zack, let me start with you. it has been two years since that young woman was murdered but there has been no formal

investigation into the halfway house to see what happens. doesn't that seem strange to you? >> well, what seems more strange is that there have been hundreds of escapes, if not thousands of escapes, from these privately run halfway houses. and those have not seem to have taken corrective action. >> we checked this out. there have been 1300 escapes since christie took office. and nearly 100 inmates are still at large from these facilities. how do we explain these kinds of escapes, people at large, and this company still is getting all the state money? >> part of it is a philosophical issue that at large is insinuated into the national debate that we have now. and that is what is the proper role of government. where -- what are the things government does best and what

are the things private industry does best? and this kind of exposes that fault line because now a service that implicates public safety in a life and death way as demonstrate bid the case involving the tragic deaths of this woman has been entrusted to a private company with a profit motive. and -- at least in my view where public safety at this level is involved, there shouldn't be any compromise in the quality of the services that are provided. both with respect to security and safety and the screening of personnel, screening of inmates to determine whether or not it is appropriate for them to be in a halfway house in the first place. there certainly shouldn't be the distraction of trying to reach some profit margin goal as opposed to investing every time they received from the state in making sure they have the highest quality facilities. >> steve, how did this catch your eye? why did this catch your eye? why would you call this the willie horton for chris christie?

>> it is such a -- the -- some sort of a systemic standpoint it is very disturbing, all the details raised in the story. that's such a powerful and damning anecdote about this particular case where have you he faked sickness, got to a hospital, escaped and killed a woman. what's really gall being it, this is a couple of years ago. administration basically made assurances at the time in a there will be consequences for this, poll stay si stand sxoypt there has been nothing. there has not been a big followup to this. look at christie. >> they promised there would be and has not. >> state parole board said we won ducked a review. asked by "the new york times" can we look at the review? they said it is in the an actual document. the company itself that runs these things we conducted our own internal review and exonerated themselves. christie himself -- talk about the politics of this stuff. christie himself showed how this is done because there is a couple of years ago, legislator in new jersey who passed an

early release program. somebody threw through that early release program committed a murder and christie called the legislator out by name and said the murder is on her conscience. in that situation, if he is willing to throw out a charge like that, in a situation like this, there is a lot going on here. this is a guy at the top had a spent two years -- starts to get -- raise the same point about him. >> beyond even politics, and that is certainly serious questions that steve is raising, the fact that these people are going back into poor communities that already have high crime, would -- kinds of facilities that seem to not be able to secure their -- 1300 people escape, i mean, doesn't this increase the danger while people like christie are running rinds talking about let's be hard on crime? >> two things that not accomplished by this company, they are not securing these insxhats not rebuihabilitating them. generally speaking these are

people who have been released from prison to a halfway house. these are people who are within weeks of being returned home. the incentive to flee shouldn't be that great. if they are quality programs, you would expect that people would stay and submit to those programs. people will always take advantage of them from time to time. that's where you have to have quality supervision. >> there's even danger in this halfway house when you talk about quality supervision. >> correct. according to the times reporting, the -- supervisorsup the personnel, or at least as much of a problem as the inmates and parolees. it is -- one of the anecdotes that's reported is -- >> report sexual assault by prisoners and guards. >> drug sales. >> and drug sales. steve, how close when we say that this is the closest -- what's the connection of the person, executive of this firm

and governor christie? >> chris christie would not be the governor of new jersey and not mentioned as a national political figure if it was not for his friendship with him. chris christie lost polite kwli a decade ago. he got thrown out by the home voters in new jersey. he was a political joke. bill palatucci's friend is tide into the world of bush's family. he was getting to run in 2000. he set out to raise money for him and recruit people. he recruited chris christie. he got into the bush family network. when bush became president in 2001 the story has it that he went to the bushes and said here is your next u.s. attorney for new jersey. that's how christie, washed-up politician -- >> he helped get him in the appointment. >> that's how chris christie became the u.s. attorney and wouldn't be governor if he had never been u.s. attorney. >> talk a lot about this in -- coming days. zachary and steve, thanks to both of you for your time. >> sure.

>> it used to be the party of lincoln. the compassionate conservative. today more evidence that it is now a party of me. that's next.

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day after day, week after week, the question keeps growing. how did the republican party get so mean? it is the party of lincoln. it used to be the big tent party. in 2000 george w. bush sold himself to the american people on the image of compassionate conservatism. >> technology, education, and ambition. on the other side of that wall, poverty and prison and addiction and despair. and my fellow americans, we must

tear down that wall. this is what i mean by compassionate conservatism. and on this ground, we will lead our nation. >> didn't quite work out that way but can you imagine a republican even trying to run that way today? today the party is allergic to the word compassion. as it is, to the word compromise. take one of the new faces of the tea party. indiana senate candidate richard murdoch. he says businesses should be allowed to deny employees' health care coverage if they have cancer. quote, does that employer have the right to do it? i would say yes they do if they want to keep their health care costs down." he quickly tried backtracking and even arguing companies would want to offer the best coverage to get the best employees. the pact is that he said what he said. this is how the right wing

fringe are thinking these days. remember this is the same guy who said this. >> certainly think that bipartisanship ought to consist of democrats coming to the republican point of view. bipartisanship means they have to come our way. >> when you have wisconsin candidate eric hovde says he's tired of hearing son store bees poor people. >> i see a reporter here -- stop writing about oh, the person couldn't get, you know, their food stamps or this or that. you know, i saw something the other day that you just -- you know, it is like -- another son store -- story. what about what's happening to the country? >> he doesn't want to hear about the people not able to get food stamps. how did we get to this point? politics should be about how we have the best policies because we care the most. we should be competing about whos that most care for people. not who can be the meanest to

people. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. re-election. let's play "hardball." good evening i'm chris matthew in washington. let me start with politics. how do you win elections? start with your base. they are the ones. you lock them in. then go to the reachables. those inclined to vote for you. they're the twos. then the undecided. the threes. leave the fours to the other guy. watch obama run. he worked hard recent weeks to lock in women voters with equal pay. underlining his issue on women's issues with a push from biden, he has done the same on gays backing full marriage he qualities. last week, he went further than any other politician in history