i'm veronica de la cruz. after a lot of rumors, representative jesse jackson says he will be treated add the mayo clinic. and a school bus monitor bullied on the job announced

she's retiring after receiving more than $700,000 in donations. i'm veronica de la cruz. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." u.s. congresswoman michele bachmann, who was invented here i think, calls to look whether the muslim brotherhood is infiltrating our government here. she has created a battle within the republican party those who think the accused including top hillary clinton aidehuma abedin are fair game. and those who do not think this is fair at all. this comes in the face of new polling shows the majority of americans are not willing to say obama is christian. it also grows depending on ideology. no surprise there. reverend c. welton gaddy is president of the interfaith alliance, one of more than 40 organizations that have written bachmann and her allies to

protest their calls for an investigation. patricia is here, writer for "newsweek" and for "the daily beast." reverend, i want to get to the heart of this thing. here you have michele bachmann, a member of the house intelligence committee zeroing in on one of hillary clinton's closest aides and saying that she ought to be investigated because she has relatives that are questionable, and therefore she is questionable. a lot of good republicans on this point. john mccain, john boehner, lindsey graham, scott brown, marco rub beau, rubio, ed collins have all said this is bad. we shouldn't be doing this mccarthyite stuff in this country. a number of politicians like rush limbaugh, john bolton are are all defending this scurrilous attack on this woman who has worked for her country and for secretary clinton. what do you make about what is

going on right now? >> well, i think you pegged it, chris. the way you described it going into this segment. we're talking about politics. we're not talking about religion. we're not talking about security. we're talking about a very questionable kind of patriotism that would risk scaring the people of the united states, trying to undercut their confidence in the security provided by the united states government in order to attract a few votes. they also know that this figure that came out today about the number of people who think that the president is muslim, it is a way to play in demonizing a religion to the extent that they think they can win an election. everyone knows that according to the constitution's religious freedom provisions, it shouldn't make any difference whether the candidate is a mormon, a muslim, or a christian. but they know because they have been involved in financing a well structured campaign to convince peoplthat the

president is a muslim, they know that if they can get that belief, then they can play on a prejudice, and it is nothing but a political strategy. >> okay. i agree with that. so i'm already well spoken here by the reverend. i do believe that less than half the american people accept obama at his word that he is a christian, is part of an overall strategy that is relentless. people like donald trump over and over again raising the birther questions, questioning this man's word. it's gotten to the point where more people disbelieve him than believe him. i've never heard a person say i'm jewish, oh no you're not. or i'm catholic, no you aren't. you accept people in this country for what they say they are. >> i think there are two different things going on here. on the one hand, there are probably republicans for whom this is just a partisan answer. it's a way for them to signal their contempt for him, their general refusal to take him at his word about anything that he

says. >> see the numbers? only 49% accept him at his word. 17% actually call him a muslim. but all the rest with the cute don't know. and we know darn well they know what they're talking about. they just want to stick it to him. >> some want to stick it to him. some probably just believe what a lot of their leaders are telling them. if you have somebody like michele bachmann saying the obama administration is come police it in a muslim infiltration of our government, you have this stuff on radio laws. >> sharia law in effect. >> right. have you these books coming out. so i think we know well enough not to take michele bachmann seriously, but she is a serious politician. she is the second biggest fundraiser in the house. she has a huge following. and we can't be surprised that people -- that there are people out there that take her at her word. >> to make your point. back to you, reverend. this makes the point. the percentage of people who say president obama is a muslim rise as you move toward the right on the political spectrum. 30% of republicans. 34% of conservative republicans believe he is a member of the islamic faith. just 8% of democrats do. it really does move absolutely with correlation here. as you go from left to right or center left to right, it just goes higher and higher percentages of people believe

that he is a muslim. if you went to nazi i suppose you would get 50 or more percent. it's unbelievable how this is. >> but chris, these are people who are judging a man's religion who don't know much about religion. and in fact, what they know some politician has told them. i actually think that there is a bright spot in this whole thing with what ms. bachmann has done. when interfaith alliance put out the word about us getting together a letter protesting what has happened, you look at people on that letter. the national council of jewish women, the aclu, the interfaith alliance, people all across the political spectrum as well as the -- yeah, the national council of catholic bishops. so you've got both diversity across the religious spectrum and diversity across the

political spectrum. my hope is there is a lot of people who are saying ms. bachmann, enough of this. let's have an election on what the election should be about and get politicians off of trying to do political stump speeches that turn out to be sermons and not hide your prejudice under a cloak of religion. >> and why don't we take a look when people do join on the opposite side, michelle, and join in this witch-hunting of people like huma abedin. and look at the witch-hunters, -- who are the witch hunters. rush limbaugh, no surprise there. he makes money doing it. this newt gingrich has tried to stay in the game with the far right. eric cantor, he is the new nixon, he doesn't believe a word of this, but he rides this horse better than anybody. >> and he knows better than to stand up to these people. >> right. he is nixon. and john bolton, who wants to be

secretary of state. imagine a secretary of state of this country who engages in this kind of witch-hunting. >> i think somebody should ask mitt romney whether he agrees with john bolton that these are legitimate questions. one of the things that was fascinating was there was this moment when it seemed as if finally michele bachmann and her ilk were going to be marginalized in the republican party. we had this very rare outbreak of republican decency. and there has been such a huge pushback. the tea party has come out in support of michele bachmann, the religious right, the religious research council came without with a statement of support. talk radio has rallied around her. and these are really important forces in the republican party. and eric cantor knows that. so his statement of support for her today i think is a sign that, you know, that unfortunately the john mccains and the eric boehners who are trying to kind of marginalize this kind of thing are not going to be successful. >> you speak well and true. thank you very much. i don't mind to be condescending. i agree with everything word. it rang with me. thank you so much reverend welton gaddy. and thank you michelle goldberg. up next, oops. they did it again. the romney campaign takes more president obama words mildly out of context in a new ad. we've got the ad, by the way.

watch and see how they lie here. it's really sad. and this is "hardball," the place for politics. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today.

mitt romney and other republicans have tried to downplay president obama's role during the mission that killed osama bin laden, but the admiral

who oversaw the operation is telling a very different story. admiral bill mccraven, head of the joint special operations command, called the president fantastic, and quote, at the end of the day, make no mistake about it, it was the president of the united states who shouldered the burden of this operation that made the hard decision. back in april, mitt romney belittled the decision to launch the raid, calling it a no brainer. we'll be right back.

we're back. remember the romney ad that twisted president obama's you didn't build that into a condemnation of small business owners? well the romney campaign is at it again.

let's watch this web ad they released yesterday. hitting obama on the economy. >> we've tried our plan and it worked. that's the difference. that's the choice in this election. that's why i'm running for a second term. >> you know, i had to file my own personal bankruptcy. i had to close my business. >> i've been looking for a job for two years. >> you know, it's difficult to find employment. >> a year ago i was laid off from my job. >> i have to work part-time in order to make ends meet. >> well, now let's look at what obama actually said at a campaign stop in oakland, california, the original words. >> i'm also going to ask anybody making over $250,000 a year? to go back to the tax rates they

were paying under bill clinton, back when our economy created 23 million new jobs. the biggest budget surplus in history. and everybody did well. just like we've tried their plan, we've tried our plan and it worked. that's the difference. that's the choice in this election. that's why i'm running for a second term. >> when you watch the whole thing, it's obvious that president obama was talking about the booming economy under president clinton. not today's economic climate as the romney ad would have you believe. with me now is david corn msnbc political analyst and author of "showdown" and ron reagan also analyst and author of "my father at 100." is there any room for wiggle there, david corn? i was reading something today saying there is a case you can find there that the romney ad was true. i don't see it because clearly

if you look at that paragraph, it's about the clinton experience with tax rates that they just want to get back to. >> there was a piece in the washington post that tried to make a case, but i think that was an instance of someone bending over backwards to be overally fair to someone that was ripping yet again. if you go back to if first ad out in november, they had barack obama on video saying if we talk about the economy, we're going to lose. and they sliced out, that was the 2008 speech, the sentence before that in which he said, john mccain said, if we talk about the economy we're going to lose. so again and again and again they keep doing this very creative editing. you have been this this business a long time. ron has watched this a long time. there's a certain amount of spin and interpretation that you can get away with, but i think these guys are really far over the line. and it's too bad there's no

referee to call them out. >> here's the problem, rod. just thinking of this, we are not aiming these ads at the 46% to 47% on the left/center on the left or the 44% on the right-center. we are aiming that at the center. and those have not made up their mind because they have not watched enough, therefore they will fall for this stuff. >> that is quite possible. i was reading an article in "the washington post" this morning, but here's how this can work for romney. ironically the article was about how this could work for romney and inadvertently the author made his own point for himself by demonstrating how it would cork. not once in the article did the author do what you did, chris, and call this what it is, a lie. he did not explain the context of barack obama's remarks. he said only that critics would allege that mitt romney was

twisting barack obama's -- he's not an allie. critics will allege that because it's true. we'll have to see whether mitt romney will be in the getaway as you put it, very aptly lying about what barack obama says. >> i think in normal conversation you wouldn't along with the president much longer. every time you said something about him, they took out two sentences and dumped them or make a point you never made. >> i go back to this, they are going for the fresh meat out there. the voter who has not paid attention and the owner worried about the other guy because he is a politician. >> losing the comedy is bad. both sides will be disappointed that barack obama has not done something better. some argue he saved us from the depression but it's not where we want to be. the ads that take the lines out

of context, you didn't build that. the private sector is fine and all this stuff. it plays on that. and ron is exactly right. the real problem here is that you can get aways with this. a lot of people won't say in the major media you're lying, this is wrong, this is unfair and we're going to treat you as we would a child who lies in this way. and send you to your room and not pay attention to you seriously. so the voices don't counteract us. it's just the campaigns doing it again and again. >> it's like the old joke about the older woman who says i'm not voting for goldwater because he's going to take away my tv. and the accommodation says, no, he'll get rid of the tv-a. she says i'm not taking any chances. anyway, matt lauer questioned him about the negative turn this campaign is taking.

especially by him. let's watch. >> it seems like one wave of negative ads after another are. you proud of the campaign? is this a campaign you would like to run? >> i'm very proud of the fact that my campaign is focused on the economy. we are not focused on personal attacks but focusing on policy differences and where we think the president may have gone wrong and where we think we can do better. >> yeah, ron, except a lot of guys are calling him an islamist. he doesn't have to do the dirty work. >> the mainstream media is doing the fair and balanced thing. everybody is running negative ads. i don't remember barack obama running an ad about mitt romney where he actually lied about something mitt romney said. maybe i just missed it but i have not seen that yet. >> you're a good man so you didn't miss it. you're have or good man, you didn't miss it. we have to go. it's friday night.

we can take a break for two nights. thank you, david corn and dan reagan. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ zzzquil, the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil.

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let me finish tonight with this. remember all the conversations we had about the difference between a businessman and a successful politician? you know, how one person has to focus on making profits. the other on leading lots of people. well, the idea was the two jobs are very different. calling for different kinds of

competence. one person has to be good at numbers, the other all kinds of people. once has to be sensitive to market movements, the other sensitive to moods and sensitivities. we're hearing the shout of indignation from the streets of corners of london exposing the differences between a good businessman and a good political leader for all to see. i don't know why mitt romney told brian williams that he saw the preparations for the london olympics as disconcerting. i don't know who he was addressing there? was he speaking to the british host? to the americans back home? even the people of utah who might feel some satisfaction their guy is saying their brits aren't up to what he helped them get done back home. anyway, this may be just what we're talking about this year. the difference between a guy who can make a lot of money and a guy who can lead a patriotic people, a super power. well, no big harm done. you can say that. you can also say we have just witnessed a nice little harmless example, the difference between a leader in the money business

the difference between a leader in the money business and people business. that's "hardball" for now. have a great weekend. you are looking at a live picture of london where the 2010 o l 2012 olympics are under way. kicked off the start to highly anticipated match-ups today we'll tell you the can't miss moments on first full day of competition. mitt romney has left the uk for israel, it is the next step for foreign diplomacy. how much will his long time friendship with netanyahu help him. we're learning the alleged colorado shooter was being treated by a psychiatrist. might that play into his defense? good morning, welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we begin with news from london

and the 30th olympic games, michael phelps and ryan lochte will face off in the 400 individual medley. it is a tough race encompassing all four strokes, qualifying heats began this morning. police arrested more than 100 cyclists near olympic stadium. scotland yard says the procycling rally brow through the security corps done. and 80,000 spectators packed into the olympic stadium for the opening ceremony. there was an unexpected cauldron lighter and appearance by the queen and song by sir paul mccartney. let's go to nbc's michelle kosinski live in london. good day to you, it is an exciting day as we get things going. what's happening today? >> reporter: hi, alex, you mentioned the swimming heats taking place as we speak and last