the çpresident's major achievement and an issue that has royaled this turbulent legs year. >> it should be clear i didn't do this because it was good politics. i did it because i believed it was good for the country. the highest court in the land has now spoken. we'll work together to improve on it where we can. what we don't do, what the country can't afford to do is refight the political battles of two years ago or go back to the way things were. >> indeed, it was the decision and majority opinion of bush appointed chief justice rorts, which swung the court in the president's favor, holding up the individual mandate as a tax quote in this case however, it is reasonable to construe what congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income but choose to go without health insurance.

such legislation is within congress' power to tax and in his remarks today, the president took pains to point out that the mandate was once beloved by republicans, including one mitt romney. >> even though i knew it wouldn't be politically popular and resisted the idea when i ran for this office, we ultimately included a provision that people who can afford to buy health insurance should take the reasonability to do so. in fact, this idea has enjoyed support from members of both parties, including the current republican nominee for president. >>ç well, not so much anymore. indeed, the president's rival wasted no time in tacking his repeal and replace banner and casting health care reform as a job killing, big government pie rye area. >> obamacare is a job killer. businesses across the country have been asked what the impact is of obamacare.

three quarters of those surveyed said it makes it less likely for r them to hire people. if we want good jobs and a bright economic future for ourselves and kids, we must replace obamacare. >> mr. romney there serving as mouthpiece for big business lobbyists, some of whom may join donald trump as guests this evening, but wait a second. with what would you replace it, mr. romney? never mind. in the biggest surprise since john roberts joined the left of the court, romney did not take any questions and while mr. romney engages in the politics of vagary and fund raising while the households a vote, that even its own members say is meaningless, there is one politician today who appeared to have perspective about why actually governing can be meaningful and important. >> whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country

whose lives will be more secure because of this law and the supreme court's decision to uphold it. brothers andç sisters, fathers and mothers, who will not have to hang their fortunes on chance. these are the americans for whom we passed this law. >> well said, mr. president. let's get to our panel. from philadelphia, leehigh professor, james peterson. and with us from washington, msnbc political analyst, former dnc communications director, karen finney, a columnist for the hill and julian epstein, former chief council for the house judiciary committee. i have to congratulate you because you have consistently said the mandate would be upheld and you've been proven absolutely right. how did this happen given that the solicitor general in those

three days of oral arguments was criticized. people said he choked. couldn't even drink his water properly, then today, you have this decision by the supreme court. what happened? >> i think the media did a woefully bad job covering this. the justice department and many of the lower cases argd it was not just the commerce clause. it was the taxing authority. if somebody doesn't get married or have a kid, there are tax penalties. there's nothing new about this. it is a huge victory for the tens of millions of americans that have no or inadequate health care. not just a political victory, it shows he's a very strong person and an çunbelievable slapdown the theory that has been the opponents have used against obama, which is that he is a socialist and acting in an extra constitutional way.

a conservative supreme court today said the tea party, all of the critics that obama has been so subjected to, so unfairly, all of them are wrong. it was just a huge slapdown. the second one this week. >> but karen, before you celebrate this, isn't there a rich irony here? when the administration tried to sell health care reform, they studiously avoided using the term, tax, anxious about republicans whom as you know, regard tax as a swear word and yet the individual mandate has been upheld as atax. >> there is an irony to it, absolutely. but i think what jewulian said important. on the flip side, it's not just that it's a smackdown. think about the three major decisions we had this week. in each of these cases, the court reaffirmed the power of the federal government and for how many times have the tea partiers and those folks on the right been trying to undermine the authority of this president? you have a right wing-led court basically reaffirming the authority of this president and

his actions during his term as president. incredibly important for the president. whether you call it a tax as the tax that mitt romney has nowal tern n imposed. >> mitt romney speaking of himç offered another statement. of course, he can't take a single question, but repeats his plan to repeal the law. given this would embrace 13 million people that don't have insurance, preexisting conditions won't allow insurance companies to drop them. doesn't romney have to come up with something like an alternative, or treat health care like he does immigration. i don't like the president's policies, but i haven't got a single krugtive idea of my own. >> it's going to be romney as usual here, martin. first of all, he doesn't have a plan to replace this particular plan. he was hoping he was going to come out a winner today that's not the case. at the end of the day, remember,

also, that what he refers to as obamacare is also the same at romneycare and what you're seeing here when you look at the juxtaposition of romney's comments versus the president's, president obama actually cares about people. he actually cares about the challenges that people face on a day-to-day basis with their health care and this is why he did something not politically expedie expedient. romney's only talking about constituencies in his comment, so that juxtaposition was very striking. >> julian, even without his own health care plan, the romney campaign is bragging and i get this. they've raised more than $1.5 million. >> that's absurd. >> off the decision today and he hasn't even gotten to the pierre penthouse yet. what do you say to that? >> this is a fool'ser çrand. >> so stupid about how this looks. this looks absurd. the president is visiting walter

reid hospital, attending to people who have been injured, wounded warriors and this man's proclaiming the fact he's raised a million and a and a half dollars. >> this is absolutely the last word on health care. there is no chance, no chance, this law will ever be repealed. two reasons for that. mitt romney himself has not one time, but numerous times endorsed the use of tax penalties to go at free riders. using tax credit as others have proposed encouraging free riders to take responsibility for themselves. that is mitt romney writing an op-ed piece. he is on record time after time talking about exactly what the court has identified with respect to tax penalties. point two is many republicans now are on record supporting many of the provisions of the health care reform. for example, the prescription drug donut hole closing.

the preexisting conditions. subsidies for businesses and middle class, so with republicans being on record supporting that, you can't simply have a one-page repeal. there's too many provisions they want to support. that means as david frum has pointed out, no chance. >> pase, karen. >> if i could add, there are a couple of things in term of the politics of this. mitt romney now has to campaign, two problems for çhim. number one, this is yet another reversal. it plays into the narrative that we're already seeing really take root for mitt romney that he is a flip-flopper, someone who will say or do anything to get elected. we're seeing that in the polling. number two, he and the republicans, when they do their repeal action next week, they now have to go to people and explain why they are taking something away. it's like 6 million young people

now covered. they're asking to take that away without telling you what you're going to get in return. that's the choice americans face now in november. >> to your point, dr. peterson, the president presented himself as wanting to include everybody. using this device to provide health care for all so that people who pay are not penalized are not penalized by those who don't pay. what is mitt romney's alternative apart from the prototype that he gave the president in massachusetts? >> he has no alternative here. in fact, republicans have no alternative. i didn't hear representative cantor or boehner talk about any kind of alternative rather than this crazy vote to try to repeal it again. they're playing politics and the president's interested many people and policies. he actually cares about what's going on. there are other hidden pieces here as well. if you look at the vote, you will also see that all the women voted in favor of this because women have intimate connections to the value of health care and those choices president obama

makes shows the american people the valueç of a president's pi to the court. so there are a lot of wins here that aren't even necessarily on the table, but the distinction here is do you care about people or politics? >> indeed, as my mother would say, women are all smarter. thank you so much. next, the contrast between mitt romney and the president on helping those in need. stay with us. >> let me tell you, i have no problem with folks saying oba obama cares. i do care. if the other side wants to be the focuses who don't care, that's fine with me.

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in sport, we're told that when you u lose, you should do so with dignity, but sadly, republicans on the hill didn't learn that lesson at school. instead, after witnessesing the supreme court's decision, many are lashing out against the attorney general. at this moment, lawmakers are debating on voting on two counts of contempt against eric holder. we're joined by barbara mccowski. there's something of a circus going on on theç other side of capitol hill from where you are. you've been in congress for 35 years. did you ever see anything as vindictive and meaningless as what republicans are doing right now to the attorney general? >> well, it's not the old school

republicans i know like bob dole, who or others, the world war ii generation. th is mean. it's vindictive. and i think all of the venom that they have towards president obama they're taking out on eric holder. and boy, are they grouchy today because of the supreme court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the affordable care act and rather than being such sore losers, we ought to be concentrating on what we can do to help more people be winners by creating jobs, implementing this health care bill and bringing their troops home. >> indeed. we're waiting for a vote. we understand that the members of congress are actually still debating at the moment. we're beginning to learn about this specific operation though. given the efforts of eric holder that he's made in disclosing as many dolts he can, given that any court hearings are unlikely

to take place within about three years, what is the point of this process other than a witch hunt, a show trial, a complete waste of time when you know, senator, whenou know full well there's a transportation bill that needs to be passed and student loans need to be prevented from >> well, that's exactly right. i think this is a distraction against governing. i think it's venom against president obama. and right now, in terms of the student loan bill, the clock is ticking. if we don't act before july 1st, interest rates on student loans will go from 3% to 6%, so we're penalizing our young people who are working hard, going to take their god given talents, get an education to make a contribution to america. we are spending too much time on too many of the wrong things.

you know what i'm frustrated about, martin? >> please, tell us. >> when all is said and done, what is getting said and done? if we can pass it over the weekend, this will be the closest we've come to an infrastructure bet. actually putting people to work in cstruction. from engineering to the people right out there digging dirt. we'll have roads. we'll have bridges. better public safety and yet and better infrastructure for our country. this is what we should be doing. not going after eric holder. he had this great statement by the supreme court up holding the affordable care act. this is going to be great for jobs cht it gives certainty to business. large and small. certainty to families so they'll know they have theç insurance they can count on. america wants us to stop

skaubling and start working. >> next, more on why today's ruling means so much for november. stay with us. >> i'm going to make sure on day one, we put a stop to obamacare. we're going to stop it on day one. if i'm president, i'm going to get rid of obamacare on day one. >> i will repeal obamacare. ♪ ♪ i'm making my money do more. ♪ i'm consolidating my assets. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions. i'm making the most of my money. and seven-dollar trades are just the start. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. and i'm loving every minute of it. [ rodger riney ] at scottrade, we give you commission-free etfs, no-fee iras and more. come see why more investors are saying... i'm with scottrade.

the president's health care law has been upheld by the pourt, but mitt romney says if he becomes president, that's the first thing he plans to repeal. good afternoon, ezra. you yourself heard mr. romney today. he said he'll repeal the law on day one. is that even possible? >> it would be a very long day one. no, it's not possible to repeal

the law on day one. when mitt romney's being more careful, he will begin the press of issuie ining out waive to exempt states that would be under regulations. there's a waiver process that begins in 2017, maybe could accelerate it. the reason i think it is serious within his first year certainly, he could repeal the law or change it beyond recognition is it using the budget reconciliation process, which means it can't be filibustered. hegd take all the money away from the law. couldn't do it on day one, but he could takeç all the money o the law. then start doing waivers. you essentially -- >> and well done, you remove 30 million people's health insurance. >> i'll go further than that. mr. has one plan to repeal the law, which takes 33 million people off health insurance and another plan to do a particular cut in medicaid, which would

take about 14 to 19 million off. so the number of people with health care insurance hanging in the balance is about 15 million when you add up all of the proposals. >> a remarkable number. he's also made a lot of claims today. for instance, he says the law raises taxes by $500 billion and cuts medicare by equal amount. can you fact check that, please? >> the law does cut medicare by quite a bit and raise taxes by a fairlyarge amount. i haven't run through mitt romney's numbers exactly, but roughly speaking, that's not incorrect. remember, the law is going to cost a bit more than a trillion dollars in its first ten years. those tax increases mainly fall on the very wealthy. particularly, the early ones. a tax increase in medicare, where very high earners pay a little bit more. a lot of the medicare cuts are coming from a program called medicare advantage. it was overpaying private

insurers to over private coverage. turns out they offer for about 20% more. we're basically cutting that off. so people can argue whether the the spending cuts are good or bad. i think they makeç sense. there's a deep tension here when mitt romney says this, it would be 500 billion. mitt romney wants to make large cuts to medicare, medicaid. you can't cut government spending and when he says the law's a fiscal disaster, you can't have it both ways. either it's paying for itself or it isn't. a game republicans like to play here is they attack it for all the the ways it pays for itself, then pretend it doesn't. >> he says he would increase the the size of the military, but never explains where that money would come from. thank you so much and we should add that the first lady has made our first comments about the decision today. she said it's a victory for families right across this

coun country. stay with us. if you made a list of countries from around the world... ...with the best math scores. ...the united states would be on that list. in 25th place. let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this.

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it's bringing the future forward. from a supremely important health care decision to a supremely frivolous contempt vote, here are today's top lines. >> we are first and foremost americans, not democrats or republicans. >> my guess is they're not sleeping real well at the white house tonight. >> i have no problem with folks saying obama cares. i do care. >> i so admire the supreme court's ability to keep everything quiet. >> those who talk don't know. >> we have breaking news topping this hour. >> supreme court has upheld the health care lay. >> this is a big victory for the president. >> whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this count y country. >> i disagree with the supreme court's decision. >> obamacare. >> whether it's romney or

obama -- >> politicsç be damned, this i about what we came here to do. >> obamacare and i say it very firmly. >> we will never be is the the same again with this denial of libber the i. >> you don't think this fast and furious and things like it are the the beginning of an attack in the second term? >> using this to take away or limit people's second amendment rights. >> i don't know if that's the case because we don't have the documents. >> it's attacking the principles of the constitution. >> why is the nra waiting in. >> these guys are if the united states. we need more gun control. >> thanks for your wall to wall coverage on this. >> just doesn't smell right. >> circles because -- >> i think you're the talking in circles. >> back to our panel now, david corn, washington bureau chief,

mother jones and nbc political analyst. we'll get to the contempt charges -- i want to get your reaction to what's happening today. we watched governor romney, as you like to call him, stand up in front of that plastic podium and offer the usual stuff. i hate obamacare. i'll repeal obamacare. and what are republicans saying about that? >> i think this is a terrible decision. i think the administration never billed this as being attacks. andç the chief justice wrote a interpreted the law that wasn't the congressional attempt. at the same time however, i think republicans would be wise to say we don't like obamacare, but here's what we're for. let's change so you can buy insurance across state lines to make it cheap er for people to

have insurance. we would be wise to come up with details that governor romney would be wise to do. >> this appears to be a consistent theme with this presidential candidate. he has nothing to say and avoids the cameras on immigration after the president makes a very clear statement on allowing the children of law-abiding and legal undocumented immigrants to stay here. he says nothing. and then on this, he stands up and again attacks the president, but offers nothing constructive. >> well, immigration of course, the president acted in an extra constitutional manner. we can debate the legality of that. >> i'm asking you if you believe the romney is a consistently vacuous candidate. >> absolutely not. >> on matters of importance. >> absolutely not. >> immigration and health care -- >> this president has had two years of a democratically controlled congress. i think governor romney again would be wise to be specific,

but he's smart recognizing that wed be in a situation like we are right here where they're going to attack, attack, attack. >> let's talk about contempt because as you can probablyç s, david, members, democratic members have walked out of the house as a protest against a vote to hold the attorney general in contempt. what is your reactiono what is going on today compared with what the supreme court decided earlier? >> i think this is just a perfect capstone to what happened this morning and i'll pivot off or play off what you just talked to ron about. not only did romney not talk about what he would do with he got rid of obamacare, all these provisions that that have gone into effect. kids getting on their parents' plan, provisionses for children -- >> 33 million people.

>> he's very clea he would throw it aside and won't tell us what he would do to replace it with and then this afternoon, you have republicans who have promised, they have promised to vote on that sort of repeal. repeal without any replacement, just repeal in aeek or two and yet, today, this contempt citation, which is at best, marginal. i don't like when administrations use executive privilege to keep information in general, but darrell issa was a big fan of the bush administration doing it when there was a scandal involving the the u.s. attorneys back in those days and now he's doing this in pursuit of a crazy conspiracyç theory, that someh, the obama administration purposely locked guns to mexico to impose greater gun control laws here, which they haven't

advocated at all. it's all just a lot of nuttiness and it's incidental to the problem of the mexican border, which have imposed all policy ideas to do something about that. >> let me inject a little reality. last year, the department of justice sent up a letter to congress and said specifically the department of justice has no knowledge and there was no gun walking going to new mexico. ten months later, they retracted the statement and it was proven incorrect. >> did you read the "fortune" magazine story yesterday? >> yes, i did. are you going to allow me -- >> but can i -- he did, let me put this to you. in that mag seen, they identified 20 suspects. agents identified 20 suspects. i'm sorry. i'm going to have to go to camerast the hill because the

democratic members of congress are speaking right now. we're expecting them as i say to make comments. they've just literally walked out of a hearing and they vote to hold the attorney general, eric holder, in contempt. if i may, ron, i want to ask you what you think of this whole scenario. this whole çsituation. isn't this a fiasco. >> i think it's unfortunate that the attorney general of the united states was not more forthcoming with documents. the documents we need here, the question of the matter is what happened to that ten-month period of time between when the department of justice said specifically there was not a gun walking program. >> you know, you know because you worked with the vice president. >> and the president. >> every single communication between yourself and those very important individual members of government were revealed, it would have a chilling effect.

the attorney general is seeking to protect -- >> no. that's absolutely wrong. executive privilege, excuse me, david. executive privilege is for the president of the united states and his closest advisers. this privilege has not been identified by the white house or department of justice. this is why they're invoking it, martin. if the attorney general said the the white house doesn't have anything to do with this. >> we're going to listen to members of congress right now. >> the house of representatives what this is about we can't decide for sure, but it certainly is not about eric holder or holding back documents. and so, we did not want to participate in something that -- >> we're having a slight problem with our feed from washington at this moment.ç members of congress are speaking into microphones.

we'll bring you that as soon as we can. if i can go back to you, david corn, ron christie says that in this case, the president should never have invoked his privilege. is that fair and reasonable? >> you know, i think there's an argument to be made that maybe he shouldn't have, but on the other side, i don't think it's a slam dunk for either side, but i think it distracts from the big picture, which is what's gone down on the mexican border where thousands of guns a day or flowing over there and it's the nra that wants to put handcuffs on to do anything about it. so rather than having a whole big fuss about the the documents, they don't respond to what happened in the investigations. basically about what the justice department response was to the investigations on the hill. so it's not all getting to the truth of what happened because they have turned over thousands of pages of material to the

republicans in the house as they should have, but what actually happened, now, they're arguing over what the justice department response was to the congressional investigation, so it seems even more peripheral. all these people who work on the hill who are pulling the little hair they have out of their heads over gun walking to mexico, they don't want to take a single productive step and solving our addressing that problem and that's the real crime here. >> to that point,ç in the article, there was reference to 20 suspects who paid $350,000 in cash for 650 guns that the u.s. attorney in phoenix said she couldn't do anything about it because she couldn't find probable cause. that's really the problem, isn't it? if you want to deal with guns running out of arizona to mexican cartels, that's the issue,ut focusing on the attorney general is not going to stop that, is it? >> there are two questions.

one, we need to make sure we secure the integrity of our board e, not only from folks crossing in illegally, but to make sure you don't have illegal drugs and weapons going from either country. the fact of the matter with the attorney general, you can't have the chief law enforcement officer of the united states come up to congress and testify that the department of justice and atf had nothing to do with this program. >> it involved one individual. >> we're talking 2,000 weapons, martin -- >> that is not true, but i'm afraid we have to go to a break. thank you so much. coming up on "hardball," chris matthews talks about the supreme surprise. john roberts rules in favor of the president. stay with us. much more ahead. by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you.

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we have breaking news. the house has passed a

resolution by a vote of 255-67 holding attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress for his role in the fast and furious investigation. holder becomes the first sitting attorney general to be found in contempt of the house. just moments ago, house democrats walked out of the chamber and on to the steps of the capitol in protest against the charges that are facing attorney general eric holder. steny hoyer is there live speaking to a microphone. reverend al sharpton joins us from orlando. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon, martin. >> what is your immediate reaction to what you've seen with the attorney general becoming the first to be held in contempt of congress? >> well, i think it's outrageous at best. he is not only the first attorney general to be held in contempt of congress, he's the first person in modern history

to be held in modern history that actually cooperated with congress, voted, decided and did appear before the oversight committee on nine occasions. handed over 7,600 documents. the the documents they wanted to question are we don't know whether some of those are sensitive and would have compromised justice department cases including sources. they don't know either and they know they don't know. it was clear from the beginning of this martin, this was a witch hunt, because how do you investigate a program that you're saying you don't want to see weapons or money or drugs going across the border, but you're not going to investigate the beginning of the program which happened under the bush adminiration and two attorney generals. if they really hadç started th inquiry about the program, they would have had to go to the program's inception, so the fact they started only under mr.

holder's watch and under the obama administration, it showed they were looking for any reason to try to politicize this and use this to smear the attorney general. you can't have the right conclusion starting with the wrong premise. the premise of this was never about the fast and furious program. this was all about how to repin something on attorney general eric holder, which is why i think the democrats were right -- >> if i might interrupt you, we've just seen members of the house of congress, democrats shouting, shame on you, shame on you. this is former speaker nancy pelosi, who is approaching the microphone. i apologize, if you wouldn't mind, please stay with us as nancy pelosi prepares to speak. >> i want to join my colleague, mr. hoyer, the distinguished whip, in commend iing the leadership of the tricaucus, congresswoman chu, congressman

charlie gonzalez and congressman emanuel cleaver and to join our colleague in the leadership, mr. clyburn,or your leadership they are providing today to help us all give voice to our disappointment as to what is happening on the house of the floor. and what is happening on the floor of the house is a misuse of power. it is anç abuse of power and i the wrong thing to do. my colleague, mr. clyburn and the distinguished whip talked about jobs. we in the democratic caucus believe in the american dream, that anyone who wants to work hard, play by the rules, take responsibility, should have a success, a chance to succeed and we build ladders of success for that. that means jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. education. and opportunity. for some reason, our republican colleagues think it is more

important to engage in this abuse of power than to bring legislation to the floor that would be job creating and that is most unfortunate because that is what the american people sent us here to do and expect us to do. it is particularly disappointing because of the nature of the way they're bringing it to the floor. as mr. hoyer mentioned, first time in the history of our country that a cabinet officer has been held in contempt of congress. and why. i can tell you that the attorney general, justice department is a place where the american people look for us to uphold the constitution by enabling everybody to have the right to vote, have that vote be counted so that we have a true do democracy. that is the primary place. the ultimate place where we can fight voter suppression.

for this and other reasons, that are undemocratic withç the sma "d," the republicans decided to go after this attorney general. and after him, who's next? because these are trumped up what they're bringing to the floor is false. beneath the dignity of debate on the floor of the house and a cause for great concern, so i thank my colleagues when they said what they wanted to do and how they would like to express our objection to what was happening there, we all thanked them for their leadership. it's most unfortunate as even attorney general under president ronald reagan william french smith said that we are supposed to as a constitution guides us, find cooperation and that one branch is not supposed to have excessive force other the other. it's in the constitution. it was honored by ronald

reagan's attorney general. it should beonored by the republicans in the house. >> nancy pelosi there saying that she believes this vote against the attorney general is a misuse of power and an abuse of power and she says the motivation is there are these charges of trumped up, she says the motivation is because the the attorney general wanted to address the issue of voter suppression and that's why republicans have gone off in a way they have. reverend al sharpton, are you still with us, sir? >> yes, i am. >> is that not what you have been saying every day for the past few weeks? >> yes, and not only have iç sd it and not only has former speaker pelosi said it, senator john cornyn said it when he, in a public hearing, said he wanted the attorney general to resign, he looked at him and said because he has not cooperated with fast and furious, which by the way, isn't true, and because he is stopping states from

dealing with voter fraud that doesn't exist. so we're not guessing here. they said voter fraud was part of what they wanted to hold him in contempt for, which is an outrangs abuse of power. it is clearly something that has nothing to do with fast and furious. everything to do with the republicans to suppress the vote and they want to try and handcuff the attorney general for protecting people voter rights in this country and iwitne i witness exhibit a would be john cornyn. >> indeed, there was that member of the house legislature in pennsylvania who was caught on tape saying as we know, they passed voter i.d. laws and that was going to help mitt romney within the presidential election. >> and he said that and we have it on tape as well as cornyn i so when you have people that will use the cgress and a serious vote of contempt on the attorney general, even though it is meaningless legally, but it's

a smear campaign, it shows that these people will go to any length to try and use the congress and use whatever powers they have for partisan political means and iç think the america people will be wiser for it. i think what we saw today was the attempt to smear somebody so they can try to slow down indeed his commitment to try to protect voter rights in this country and i think people see it as the sham for what it is. >> and so finally and briefly if i may, i understand that you're in orlando, florida, for this very issue. >> i'm in orlando, florida, because we're doing a nationwide tour around voter i.d. laws. the network is trying to deal with one turning around these laws, but secondly, giving people prepared to get the i.d. for members of their congregation. we had a meeting today with ministers and civic leaders, regardless of who they vote for,

romney or obama, they should not be denied the right to vote with the voter se suppression laws. the same i.d. we use when we voted for reagan or bush sr. or bush jr., why do we need different i.d. now? there's not even a small number of frauds that we can say well there's a pattern here, so why are we changing? we're against new i.d. that requires people to get things that seniors and students don't have and the the only reason you would have it is because you want to try and knock out a lot of voters. many of them of color, which is the same reason why you'd have a vote of contempt for someone that's cooperating with you because you really don't wantç cooperation. you want to play politics using all kind of the attic, rather than dealing with the facts. "fortune" magazine, the author,

questioned whether the fast and furious program really was what they said it was. why aren't that hesitating with this revelation out saying let's lack at this. see what the progr was. because they're not after the truth. they can't handle the truth. >> indeed. i should tell you that the attorney general has issued a statement just now, and he says he's described this as a truly absurd con spespiracy theory. thank you, sir, for joining us and be sure to catch politics nation tonight. we'll be right back. stay with us. >> we are here in this courtyard to say to our republican colleagues, shame on you. shame on you. shame on you shame on you. shame on you. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station

about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. ♪

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the white house has just released a statement on the contempt vote against eric holder. kristen welker is live at the white house. what can you tell us? what is the white house saying? >> reporter: communications director just released a statement reaffirming the president's support of attorney general eric holder, essentially calling this a political exercise and pointing to the fact that yesterday r, chairman issa said there was no evidence that attorney general holder knew about this gun running operation, that he doesn't think that the attorney general knew about it. still, this continues to be a thorn in this administration's side and they are watching closely. >> thanks so much. and thank you for stayingç wth us. chris matthews and "hardball" is is up next. roberts rules. let's play "hardball."

good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington and let me start with one of the great days in this country's history. united states supreme court led by the chief justice himself decided that president obama's health care act squares with the americanconstitution. all t drum beating floated up from the right wing fever swamps are as of today, simply the hate vapors of the rejection. the rear guard funded by the koch and u.s. chamber of commerce. today's hero, chief justice john roberts who said yes to progress and no to the role prescribed for him by the right. he would not be the man, lead the court, let the court name for him carry historic play for health care to tens of millions of americans. right leaning partisan appearing supreme court ruling that would have been the third strike over the plate following bush-gore and citizens united. let's start by looking at