the unemployment rate held firm at 8.2%. how's it going to play in november? that's our top story. despite the weak jobs numbers, republicans are nervous that mitt romney is kicking away a winnable election. it began with a tweet from rupert murdoch and is spreading throughout his media empire. and now a lot of conservatives are saying i told you so. also, remember when pennsylvania's republican house majority leader said voter i.d. laws would help mitt romney win the election? here's what he was talking about. a new study shows that three quarters of a million people in the state don't have the proper identification and most of them are likely democratic voters. and not even scarlet ohara said the name ashley so much. >> look, ashley. >> ashley. >> ashley. >> ashley. >> ashley. >> ashley. >> ashley. >> ashley, i'll say it again. >> that's joe walsh with ashley

trying to defend his position saying tammy duckworth is not a hero. duckworth lost both legs fighting in iraq and joins us tonight. and how many times did joe walsh say ashley? stick around for the sideshow. robert reich was the secretary during the clinton administration and jared bernstein served with vice president biden. mr. secretary, let me start with you before we get to the politics of it. explain to me the substance. what's going on? what does it mean in the big picture? >> essentially, michael, job growth has stalled. 8.2% unemployment. same as last month, but we also would see that 80,000 jobs were created in june. the average monthly job growth of the last three months has been about 75,000 jobs. a substantial decline from the job numbers we saw in january, february and march. now, it's a similar to a

slowdown we have seen in previous years. the hope obviously is that we get more job growth later in the year. it's hard to make good news out of today's job numbers. >> mr. bernstein, where is it headed? i think we're aware of the statistics that since world war ii, no president's been re-elected when the rate has north of 7.4%. is it likely that 8.2% could get under 7.4% between now and november? >> absolutely not. you never know, but that is way outside anyone's forecast. the most optimistic forecast i've seen to have the unemployment rate trending down a bit below 8% by the end of the year, important policies to generate more job growth. which gridlock will probably block. it's hard toee things change that much. >> let's talk about the politics.

this evening governor romney was quick to attack the president and his policies. take a look. >> the president's policies have not gotten america working again. and the president's going to have stand up and take responsibility for it. i know he's been planning on going across the country and celebrating what he calls forward. well, forward doesn't look a lot like forward. to the millions and millions of families that are struggling today in this great country. doesn't have to be this way. america can do better and this kick in the gut has got to end. >> the president also mentioned the jobs numbers in his speech this morning in poland, ohio. >> we learned this morning that our business has created 84,000 new jobs last month and that's over all means that businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. that's a step in the right direction. that's a step in the right direction.

but we can be satisfied because our goal was never to just keep on working to get back to where we were back in 2007. i want to get back to a time when middle class families and those working to get in the middle class had some basic security. that's our goal. >> mr. secretary, he used a golfing metaphor. is it time for the president to put aside the 9 iron and bring out the driver? does he need to do something more bold relative to the economy? >> i think so. it's hard for the president, obviously. he was correct. he was dealt a terrible hand in the worst economy since the great depression. he, though -- i think he's going to have to say something more than we're making progress. it's slow progress. i was dealt a bad hand. now, he's got to be a bit bolder, i think. >> what might that be? >> well, he could say you know,

-- if i can get the votes, he can say if and when i do get the votes, we're going to have a new works progress administration. we're going to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, education. we are going to have a first class -- a nation in every respect. we're going to put people back to work. we're going to fight and keep fighting for average working people. and he can come up with other things as well. again, republicans are going to say as they already have said, we are not going to spend any more money. the president can say what about a middle class tax cut? exempting the first $20,000 of income from the social security payroll tax? i, president of the united states, am not going to stop makingew proposals simply because the republicans say no. >> do you agree with the secretary? do you think the president needs to do something more bold? you look at the polls now, they're neck and neck and i think that governor romney is coasting along being the other guy thus far.

how do you see the polits? >> i agree with your analysis and i like bob reich's ideas. i think that's precisely the kind of thing the president should talk about. now, he doesn't need to introduce necessarily a bunch of nethings. he can say absolutely correctly, i've got ideas that i've been trying to promote on capitol hill now for well over a year and some of them are just really good common sense. for example, we know the last month we shed 14,000 jobs in local education. 23 out of the last 25 months the public sector has shrunk. you should say folks, these are your teachers, police, firefighters, and one of the programs that was most effected in erm thes of getting medicine into the system quickly and helping communities retain those jobs was fiscal relief to the states. then and you were both kind of getting at this. then it's absolutely the case

for the president to have to explain to people who is standing directly between them and a better economy, better opportunities and more jobs and that would be the congress. >> i'll be curious to see whether he makes this a campaign against the congress, meaning you've got to give me control back the house. crossroads is up with a new commercial going after the president's economic record. >> america's jobless rate is still too high. barack obama's got lots of excuses forrer in bad economy. >> head wind coming from europe. we've had a string of bad luck. an earthquake in japan. an arab spring. you don't go to a bank teller. things we could not control. you go to the airport and are using a kiosk. we've been lazy over the last couple decades. >> but obama never blames washington's wild spending and skyrocketing debt. for real job growth, cut the debt. >> mr. secretary, react to that spot. there is this narrative that the republicans i think have effectively woven together of

all the debt having been incurred on his watch because of the big spending. >> first of all, it's factually incorrect. a lot of the debt comes from the bush tax cuts, the drug benefit created by george w. bush and a lot of it comes from cleaning up the mess the republicans created and wall street created. but beyond that, mitt romney is in absolutely no position to talk about whittling the debt down when he's advocating a gigantic tax cut for the wealthy that he's not going to even pay for. he never showed what loophole he said he was going to close. so it's a both dishonest and hypocritical message. i think democrats ought to be sustaineding up saying this is hypocritical. and blaming romney for having not a single new idea for bringing jobs back. not a single idea. >> what i see feeding that narrative, whether it's fact or fiction, we can discuss, is the supreme court's decision having been upheld constitutionally as

taxing authority of congress. i can tell you, i can answer the phone for a living. i host a radio program where i hear from people who say s that, i knew i was going to get whacked with a tax to pay for obama care. and largely the people who are calling and asserting that have health insurance and won't be subjected to a penalty. >> i heard the same thing from a friend of my sister's. at this point, you need to do an information campaign and just like bob was saying, it's not that we should have a discussion about whether it's fact or fiction. it is fiction. the fact this, the congressional budget office, nonpartisan, very clear on this point, said this penalty it's really a free loader penalty for people who can afford to get insurance but don't and shove those costs on to the rest of us. they are expected to hit 1% of the 307lation and if you have insurance, it's not going to ding you one bit. >> the sales job by the white house has been terrible on that point. i don't think that the white house has carried the ball in

that regard. >> no, i don't think so. at all. i mean, i think that the white house has basically allowed the supreme court's tax discussion to carry the day. i mean, mitt romney was saying that this is not a tax until recently and romney care in massachusetts has exactly the same mandate. again, what the white house needs to do it seems to me and democrats and others need to do is call it for what it is. it is -- this is about paying your fair share. it's about participating in a national health system. you will get it back. if younger and healthier people have got to pay into it, they are going to get it back when they are older and less healthy. i mean, this is all of us in it together rather than the republican view of all of us basically separate and apart. >> allow me to show you something the president said. the paid laid into mitt romney for his health care mandate

language this week. the president questioned romney's principles. >> the fact that a whole bunch ofepublicans in washington suddenly said this is a tax, for six years, he said it wasn't and now he's suddenly reversed himself. so the question becomes are you doing that because of politics? are you abandoning a principle that you fought for for six years simply because you're getting pressure for two days? >> jared bernstein, quick final thought from you on what you just watched. >> we are deep into the silly season. this is one of the most inane debates we've had so far. look, if people who don't pay this penalty, people who can afford to get insurance but don't are placing an implicit tax on the rest of us who have to cover their uncompensated costs. romney understands it. it was part of his romney care and now it's part of the health care plan. so this is very, very simple and it shouldn't be nearly as confusing as it's been. >> with regard to flip-flopping, mitt romney is not jusa flip-flopper. he is a double somer salt triple double dip flip-flopper. this guy has been all over the map on every single issue.

i think that is an important quality to bring out to make people understand. and it is an aspect of character. >> mr. secretary, thank you, coming up, republicans are increasingly worried that mitt romney is blowing what could have been a winnable election. and there are a lot of people on the right who never liked romney on the right saying see, i told you so. that's ahead. this is "hardball," the place for politics. to a little girl who saw flames reach her home as her family pulled out of the driveway, this isn't just a teddy bear.

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welcome back to "hardball." it began with a few tweets from rupert murdoch advising mitt romney to shake up his staff and admonishing him over his safe campaign approach. yesterday, "the wall street journal" which is owned by murdoch, published a blistering editorial saying romney was slowly squandering an historic opportuny to unseat obama. conservatives like bill christol and laura ingram added on. here was ingram taking romney to task for his vacation in new hampshire. >> advisers telling him, it's fine, take a week. there's no week to spare. we have a country to save. should romney call the cease fire or get out there on the trail and get off the jet ski. >> what's going on and how concerned should the republican candidate be? ed rendell was the former governor of pennsylvania and msnbc political analyst and stephen moore is on the board, the senior exhibition writer. governor, if the criticism for

coming from salon.com, you and i wouldn't be here having this conversation. >> right. no question about it. go ahead, michael. >> i was going to say, of what significance if any is this in showing problems that persist with romney's base? >> i think first of all, we've got to keep things in perspective. in terms of voters, this criticism has no meaning at all. first of all, it's in the dead of the summer when no one's paying attention to politics except us. secondly, it's inside baseball. voters will be concerned with the campaign from september on. voters will be concerned about convention speeches and the free debate performances. those are opportunities where mitt romney, if he does great in his convention speech, the debates, all this will be a thing of the past. in term of voters, it doesn't have an effect. where it could hurt mitt romney is among contributors. particularly conservative based

contbutors. >> it didn't hurt him last month. he had a $100 million month. >> i agree. but the criticism has really reached an apex right now. that's the only place it could hurt him. i think right now in terms of the voters, the outcome all inside baseball. >> stephen, i'm sure you saw today's "new york times," which reports on romney east relationship with murdoch. or lack thereof. listen how "the times" describes one of the earliest encounters when he met with the board. quote, despite being prepared and animated, particularly on s love for data crunching, mr. romney failed to connect with either mr. murdoch or the journal's editorial page editor instead of articulating a clear and consistent conservative philosophy, he dwelled on charts and executive management president at one point, mr. romney declared i would probably bring in mckenzie, the management consulting firm, to help him set

up his presidential cabinet, a comment that seemed to startle the editors and left mr. murdoch visiblyaken aback. tell us what the relationship is between the editorial board and governor romney. you would think this is a natural constituency for his campaign. >> we've been tough on mitt romney. i know mitt romney personally, i like him. we found a lot of faults in some of his position. we didn't like romney care too much. and what you're doing this story on right now is the editorial we had the other day where we basically said, look, governor romney, the game is on. let's get going. it's time to really take the gloves off and start hitting. i think one of the weaknesses of mi romney's campaign so far has been that he's allowed these attacks against bain capital, against his business act and what he did when he was running that company, this should be an asset. this is a guy who created whole new industries. who provided the finances for companies that have created tens

of thousands of jobs sh unlike the president who's never created a private sector job ft he's on the defensive on this, obama's running ads against him and there's been little positive response on that. you know, governor, i agree with you that this is kind of a slow season for politics. a lot of people aren't paying attention to this kind of day-to-day combat, but i do think the major issue as you know is going to be jobs. we had a lousy jobs report today. and what mitt romney has to do in my opinion is really go after obama much more aggressively on his miserable jobs record. >> for those who missed the editorial, this is just part of it. this is criticism from "the wall street journal" yesterday. the the romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the white house and say it's mr. obama's fault. the message is obama isn't working. thanks, guys, but americans already know that. what they want to hear from the

challenger is some understanding of why the president's policies aren't working and how mr. romney's policies will do it better. governor, is there a candidate problem? a staff problem? is there neither? how do you assess that? there's now a call for some shake up in the ranks of the romney campaign. >> well, i can't ever remember being associated with a campaign where there wasn't a shake up during the campaign. that's the nature of the beast and stephen, no offense, i read the "wall street journal" editorials. >> music to my hear. >> probably goes over the head of the average voter. >> you read it and i think the mitt romney people do. i think we got our message across to them. >> i agree. i agree. but guys, remember, you want to save your best bullets for when the nation is focused. and i agree you can't let the summer go by and he certainly can't coast in saying obama

hasn't done a good job, vote for me. he's got to do more. what i would really start doing more is after the democratic convention. i'd come out with guns blazing is for those remaining nine weeks and really hit it hard. >> if i could just insert this. i think what stephen's looking to do is wake their candidate up. so by labor day, he's back driving the car. am i rht? >> let me just say one thing. >> stephen's point is exactly right. what governor romney has to do is spell out what he would do differently. that's very, very important. it's not good enough to say the other guy's no good. people want to hear what he wants to do. >> that's true. now, he has a 57-point economic plan. you've run many campaigns, governor. you know this. you don't want a 57-point flat form. >> 54 points too many. >> i think we agree on that.

it's got to be focused. i think one of the areas where governor romney and the campaign fumbled a bit was in the aftermath of the obama care situation. they couldn't even answer the question was it or not a tax. >> let me show you bill crystal. quote, the romney campaign's belief that it's about the economy and only the economy and they need to keep telling us stupid voters that it's only about the economy has gone from an annoying tick to a dangerous self-delusion. i think u're starting to answer the question of does he need to do more than being the other guy. governor rendell. >> there's no question about that. he shouldn't, sure, the economy's a central issue, but he should be heard on other stuff as well. there's no question about that. and i think for example, regulations were overregulated. that's a very good theme. but he has to be specific. he's got to be willing to say what regulations are bad, how he

would change them and how he would speed up. i think the problem with regulations is they take too long to enforce. i think we have to have a mechanism to speed u all of the things layered into our regulation. that would get the economy going. but he's got to be specific about that. >> he has to take on obama care. this is now as you both know, going to be one of the two, three big issues this this campaign and the message from the romney campaign has been a little muddled on exactly how romney care is different from obama care. i know in this debate, when those two debate, the first thing obama's going to say is governor romney, how is romney care different from what i did on a national level? he's got to explain that to the american people. >> my final thought if i might, rick santorum got this right. mitt romney's the worst suited person in terms of his credentials to make that case and i think that's what's about to unfold. anyway, gentlemen, thank you. >> one thing if i could -- sorry. >> hurry. >> if he can come up with a

coach replacement plan -- >> there you go. amen. i agree. totally agree. >> thank you both. >> thank you. up next, the joe walsh ashley banfield highlight reel he sure loves saying her name. and you can follow me on twitter so long as you can spell smerconish. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪

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could've had a v8. time for the sideshow. when you think brad pitt, you probably don't think conservative value there's a reason. in addition to being a big time hollywood a-lister, pitt has been a big supporter among other things, of gay marriage. but get this. the actor's mother wrote a letter to a local missouri newspaper in response to an op-ed advising christians not to

vote for romney. because of his mormon religion. mrs. pitt then wrote, quote, any christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for romney's opponent, barack obama. a man who sat in my church for years did not mark the national day of prayer and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage. i guess that's why it's a good rule of thumb to steer clear of politics at family get togethers. right? and this one has the added touch of going viral. finally, illinois congressman joe walsh is drawing criticism for blasting tammy duckworth for using her military experience in her campaign. walsh spoke with ashley banfield yesterday and gave new meaning to the concept name dropping. >> because she's a war hero, ashley, that demands our respect, but that doesn't demand our vote. ashley, this wasn't a slip up.

i don't know about you, ashley, but right now, ashley, i can tell y. i'm not going to back down, ashley. that's not what i said, ashley. ashley, no. >> for the record for everybody -- >> ashley. >> look, ashley. ashley. ashley. ashley. ashley. what's not respectful, ashley? oh, ashley. ashley. hey, ashley. ashley, i'll say it again, ashley, this is what happens when you've got a congressman that's always out in front of people talking. >> the final tally, walsh said ashley 90 times, but let's flash back to a year ago. joe walsh was on "hardball" and had quite a strategy for avoiding the specifics about a tea party backed debt plan. you see where this is going? >> hey, chris, do you support that, chris? what's the president's plan, chris? we have to stop that, chris. come on, chris. chris, hey, chris. chris, chris, chris, chris.

chris, chris. i love it, chris. >> 61. 61 name drops for chris when walsh was on "hardball", so he broke his own record. tammy duckworth will be in later to weigh in on walsh's recent comments. up next, voting rights and wrongs. a new study shows that 3/4 of voters say that people of pennsylvania don't have the proper identification to vote this november. and most of them are likely democratic voters. that's ahead. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. [ stella ] here's me. and here's my depression. before i started taking abilify, i was taking an antidepressant alone. most days i could get out from under and carry on. but other days i still struggled with my depression. i was handling it...

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here's what's happening. george zimmerman posted bond earlier and left a florida jail wearing a monitoring advice. he's pleaded not guilty to

second degree murder in the shooting death of trayvon martin. the oppressive heat baking the central midwest is breaking records. and colorado firefighters expect to have the waldo canyon wildfire contained today. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." when pennsylvania's republican-led legislator passed one of the toughest voter i.d. law, they said it was designed to keep minorities and the young and poor from 234e polls. but tom corbett's administration said it would affect just 1% of eligible voters. new data released by the state puts that quite a bit higher. nearly one in every ten registered voters is lacking the

primary form of i.d. required. that's a driver's license or state i.d. president obama you'll remember carried pennsylvania in 2008 by 11 points. now, the the counties he won are in blue. according to the new data, the highest concentration of registered voters without i.d. are in philadelphia, it's circled. that's to the east. and allegheny county, that's pittsburgh to the west. both were democratic strongholds in '08. penda hair is codirector of the advancement project and david ferdoso. of the washington examiner. sometimes, you hear a story and it's taking place far from where you live and you're not quite sure of what to make of it because you're not on the ground this is not that story for me. i went to the community where i was born this morning and got the local newspaper and it speaks of how 70,000 voters in two counties, bux and montgomery county where i spent my entire family.

born in one, living in the other, are now in jeopardy. and we have absolutely no history of voter fraud that would justify jeopardizing 70,000 people from exercising the franchise. what do you make of all this? >> well, i would start by backing up and looking at the larger picture here. first of all, the state is sending out letters to just about everybody in this category that you mentioned that would be effected to explain what the new law does and what sorts of voter i.d. are acceptable. college i.d.s are generally acceptable in pennsylvania. even if they don't have expiration date, the school can put one on them in the form of a sticker. >> i don't think these are college students we're talking about. >> now, hang on. i'm just starting here. any sort of military i.d., any driver's license in alternative form. but the idea is anyone can get one for free. if they weren't doing that, i think it would, the fears might be more justified.

they're making things as easy as possible here. and look, you don't need a history of people you know, marching in on and the numbers in the thousands going in and voting under other people's names in order to realize that yes, it's just common sense that people should show who they are when they vote. [ overlapping speakers ] >> i don't have a problem with that. let me respond if i might and penda i'll come to you. i don't have a problem with showing an i.d. before you vote, but you've got to be reasonable and take into account the community you're serving and say hey, what kind of an i.d. might the folks who reside here possess and when i look in my hometown newspaper and see in the county where i was born, 25,449 lack a driver's license or state issued non-driver's license and then the country where i live now, 44,952. it really brings it home for me. penda, what's going on here? >> well, what's going on is that the state of pennsylvania has

passed one of the most onerous barriers to voting i've ever seen. as you said, they've knocked out three quarters of a million voters or more. that's registered voters. in one fatal swoop. and for example, we're suing over this law and our case is going to court in a couple of weeks and we are very, very hopeful that the court will strike this down because we have a 93-year-old plaintiff who marched with martin luther king, who cannot get her birth certificate and therefore can't get the i.d. this law disenfranchises students. it's not true that their college i.ds are acceptable. it disenfranchises people who don't drive who are mostly low income. 85% of the pennsylvania colleges do not have an expiration date. >> all they need is a sticker. that's what the law says. >> and you have to do that for so many people in such a short amount of time. this law was passed in march. there's no way you can get an i.d. for close to a million

people in this short of amount of time. >> let me get this in if i might. it seems awfully coincidenta and i'm not a fan of coincidences. that as the country faces the re-election of the nation's first african-american president, you've got in excess of two dozen states going in a direction they've never gone before. >> in fact, these laws go back more than a decade at this point. they've been passed in various places. my home state of indiana put one into effect i believe sometime the middle of the last decade. i don't believe in conspiracy theories. >> i don't normally. you know, i think we went to the moon and i don't think much happened in area 51 and i think that, you know, kennedy was killed by lee harvey oswald acting alone. but this is pretty darn compelling. >> it makes sense. the first time i heard it wasn't required i wondered how in the world was it not required. every voter in the mexican election had to show a photographic i.d. everyone in europe whootes --

in fact, in the pennsylvania law, there are some cases where people have religious objections to being photographed. they don't have a photo i.d. >> the amish. critics say the laws are a solution in search o after problem. and that the real agenda is tamping down democratic turnout. pennsylvania house majority leader mike turzai took some heat last month when he included in a laundry list of republican initiatives. watch this. >> we are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we've talked about for years. pro second amendment. first pro-life legislation abortion facility regulations in 22 years. done. voter i.d., which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania. done. >> voter i.d., which will allow governor romney to win pennsylvania. penda, that would seem to bring down the balance, wouldn't it, that this is all about voter suppression and not ballot security. >> absolutely. we know, he admitted why this

was enacted and we know there is a right wing group associated with the republican party that sent out these laws to the states and they were rammed through for partisan purposes. i'm a nonpartisan organization. i'm concerned about the voters and about democracy which is being bulldozed in an effort to gain a partisan advantage. we know that president obama won pennsylvania by 500,000 or 600,000 votes in 2008. and now three quarters of a million people to a million people, we think, just of registered voters not even counting the new people that will be trying to get registered are obviously locked out of voting unless they can balance all of these hurdles quickly. >> thank you for being here. up next, republican congressman joe walsh is still trying to make the case that his opponent tammy duckworth isn't a real war hero despite losing her legs in iraq. she joins us next.

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illinois tea party republican congressman joe walsh continues to face criticism for comments this week about his opponent, iraq war veteran tammy duckworth. here's a portion of what he said sunday. >> understand something about john mccain. his political advisers day after day had to take him and throw him against the wall and hit him against the head and say senator, you have to l people know you served. you have to talk about what you did. that's what's so noble about our heroes. now, i'm running against a woman who -- my god, that's all she talks about. >> though walsh has since said he believes duckworth is a hero, he told cnn this yesterday about those remarks. >> this wasn't a slip up. i don't regret anything i said. >> here to respond to her opponent is tammy duckworth who continues to serve in the

illinois national guard following the loss of both her legs when her helicopter was hit in iraq in 2004. if i were to see you on the campaign trail, at an event, as part of your pitch or speech about your candidacy, how much would i hear you talking about your military service versus your platform and that which you're looking forward to doing? >> i actually start all of my discussions with constituents about you all know about my military service, but let me tell you about the time my family was on food stamps and how my dad lost his job and how important it it is for us to focus on our economy right now. if i talk about health care, for example, the fact is my wounds give me an insight into the need for good health care because my family would be bankrupt had i been in just a car accident. there's no way we could have afforded my health bills.

>> you lay out your position on at least ten different issues. there's a jobs plan as well. the criticism that he offers is this is the only thing you discuss on the campaign trail and you're here to tell us that's absolutely not the case. >> that's correct. i think mr. walsh is being irresponsible, his usual irresponsible self. he last week cast some bad votes and he was trying this past weekend to distract voters away from that. you're talking about the high wheel earlier, that was one of the votes he cast that was so bad. he's the only member of the bipartisan delegation of illinois to vote against the highway bill and he also voted to allow student loan rates to double. he's trying to distract people away from his failures as a congressman. >> this really was problematic, i think, his comments were appalling, absolutely appalling. i was really disappointed that people who were sitting in the

audience had an audible reaction, chuckling with him or agreeing, muttering under their breath. you know what i'm talking about. we just rolled the clip. >> i think that he repeats things so much that even if they're not true, they start to sound true. and really, it's again, focusing people away from the real issue, and in the case of veterans talking about their service, i think it's important that this generation of veterans who are coming home, who have high levels of unemployment, high levels of post trumaumatic stre, of homelessness and suicide, they should hear so they can get the help they need and talk about the great leadership skills they developed in combat, so i hope iraq and afghanistan veterans are not muzzled the way strevietnam veterans were. >> these comments are not new for joe walsh. in an interview he did with

politico this past march, he said this about you, quote, i have so much respect for what she did in the fact she sacrificed her body for this country, ehhh, now, let's move. what else has she done, female, wounded veteran, eh, she's nothing more than a handpicked washington bureaucrat. they picked her up and dropped her into this district. i think that's even more offensive than the audio that we rolled. >> this is not -- you're right. this is not the first time that she's attacked my military service. this is probably the thifrd tim. i have been silent the first two times. it's enough that she's going after veterans. it's one thing to insult me, but there are 23 million veterans who have sacrificed so much. the heroes are walking point in afghanistan or laying in their beds at walter reed right now and it's unfortunate he chooses to go down the route but it's typical of his irresponsible way of conducting himself. it's just not appropriate for a member of congress.

>> i agree with you. we have 30 seconds left. what's the number one issue on which you're running? >> jobs and the economy. we need to make sure that we go ahead and transport that highway bill into jobs in the district so we can fix our roads and get goods and products to the market. get people employed and get tax cuts for our businesses that keep jobs here and hire ones who have been unemployed for more than six months. >> thank you for being here. >> when we return, allow me to finish with separating fact from fiction about barack obama. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. to a little girl who saw flames reach her home

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let me finish tonight with this. i just finished reading david mareinous's new book, barack obama, the story. when i recently interviewed him, he told me he spent four years searching and writing the book, during which time he logged 50,000 miles, conducted close to 400 interviews, and researched libraries on four different coninants. it ends with his acceptance to the harvard law school, meaning there's a lot more to the story. while he told me his goal was not to vet the president's own memraur, many will be focused on the dwincifference between the y and revelations from my father. time and again, where mere

contentions have become the stuff of internet lore, mariness uncovers never before revealed information, including about the president's birth. not long after his mom delivered the future president, he writes an obstetrician/gynecologist dined with a friend who asked, well, dr. west, tell me something interesting that happened to you this week. dr. west was a colleague of david a. sinclair who delivered barack obama and he responded with a quip, he said, stanley had a baby. now that's something to write about. well, he went on to explain that stanley in this instance was a young woman, of course, no miracle birth. stanley was white, the baby was black, the father was an african with an interesting name, too. the friend at lunch was barbara, a journalist with the star bullturn. she shared that funny story in a letter she sent to her own father. we never heard that in the

birther debate. in the polarized world in which we live, many will part the vyt in the book. the take away on which all of us should agree is that the volume of coverage of the political debate should not be mistaken for quality. if the two were synonymous, he would not have so much to write about with a second volume in the works. bottom line, we're all paying a price for eviscerated newsrooms. that's "hardball" for now. thank you for being with us. "the ed show" with michael eric dyson in for ed schultz starts right now. >> good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show." i'm michael eric dyson, in for ed schultz. the jobs report is out, and believe it or not, congratulations are in order. this is "the ed show," and as ed would say, let's get to work. >> this kick in the gut has got to end. >> mitt romney is taking a

victly lap on weak jobs numbers, but he forgot the mengs the people who made this day possible. >> richard wolf on the politicians of obstruction and what today means for the president. >> which candidate's policies will create more jobs right now? >> are you abandoned a principle you fought for for six years? simply because you're getting pressure for two days? from rush limbaugh or some critics in washington. >> the president is hitting mitt romney where it hits on health care. >> the guy i'm running against tried this in massachusetts and it's working just fine. even though now he denies it. >> the big panel weighs in on the president's offensive. >> and cookie gate returns to the headlines. >> i'm not sure about the cookies. >> as a potential running mate goes down snooki style. >> there's no spin necessary for the june jobs numbers re