patriots who just want to get our country back on the right track and defend our republic. the tea party patriots who came from all over the country recognizing that ted cruz is the man to not just embrace status quo in washington but will engage in the sudden and relentless reform of our big centralized federal government, trying to shrink that government and allow more states rights and allow individual rights and opportunities. they recognized ted cruz was the man. >> wow, republicans across the country have been called not right wing enough have fallen victims to the tea party. here are just a few examples. former six-term congressman bob inglis of south carolina. senator mike castle fell in delaware. senator bob bennett was taken down in utah. senator dick lugar in indiana just a few months ago. and of course yesterday's loss by david dewhurst in texas. and then there were two who went running for the tea party before they suffered losses from

tea party primary challengers. longtime pennsylvania senator arlen specter who went to the democratic party. and florida governor charlie crist who turned independent. well, there you have it. i want to start with john hileman. you talk about a game change. i'm watching people with the language of save our republic. you know, the language almost sounds like seven days in may, like a military coup. this is different than just conservative. >> yes. i like that sound effect, the dropping in the water thing. you think about the irony. if you had said four or five years ago, even two years ago that the endorsed blessed candidate of rick perry the governor of texas who is as right as you can imagine in american politics would be dismissed -- >> outflanked on the right. >> -- as too liberal by a gop electorate primary, people would have thought you were crazy. if you have a candidate who's not actually certifiable and as

long as they have a little bit, enough money, the candidate who's the furthest to the right wins. >> always. >> always. it's like now a golden rule. >> or you cover these. people like john mccain go down, basically, what's his name j.d. hayworth, they will pretend they're one of them or chuck grassley in iowa are going so far right to hope they're not picked off next time. >> that's right. you had mccain fix the dang fence over there when he was running against j.d. hayworth. i think there's an appetite among republicans for something new and something fresh in the way that obama represented something new and something fresh. >> no! >> in 2008. and i also think there is a sense among republicans that they want an ideological counterweight to obama. they see an obama a big spending liberal. they want somebody who's equally on the far right. that's why -- >> we watch this election and you're covering this every day like we do here. you watch romney who is the spear carrier, the champion of this right leaning republican

party. and we're hearing from people from freedom works, they're all -- i just heard a few minutes ago, before on air, they're making sure romney does what he's told. basically you have a well-trained, you know, canine kind of performance here by romney. he has to do what this right wing shift is demanding of him. >> well, yes. look, for romney, in order for him to win in november, he must drive conservative turnout. he has to have enthusiasm in the republican base. >> is this invasion of the body snatchers? >> i think one of the great questions about romney and i think he's run much further -- he governed further to the left in massachusetts than he actually is. i think now he's running further to the right as he actually is. but that's the problem. there's no fixed point. >> how do you know he ain't going to stay stuck on the right? >> i think the bigger issue, the question that arises is, because he seems kind of uncertain and coreless, we don't know he has

firm beliefs about a lot of things is his policy agenda, if you want to be fearful of him his policy agenda will be driven in just the way you're suggesting, by an increasingly right-wing republican party in congress. >> you're learning this. politicians make these campaign promises, i'm going to be 100% against taxes. i'm going to be with the religious right. i'll put the gown on, i'm with you at liberty university. they're afraid to switch once they get in. they saw what happened to george bush the first. they saw he switched and they killed him for it. >> that's right. that's right. flip-flopping on taxes. but i think romney is in some ways running as a vague candidate because he knows that if he is tied too close -- >> if you're taking notes, the right wing is. >> no, no. he knows that swing voters see some daylight between him and the republican party. >> i know, but that's the illusion. >> that's why -- >> i'm not sure. but let's look at this. here's ted cruz. he found support. he just won the texas primary for the united states senate. he got some support from sarah palin, the awful glenn beck, the

disdesperate rick santorum but also with power and well-financed groups like the club for growth. here's an ad they put out this year attacking cruz's opponent lieutenant governor david dewhurst, the candidate of rick perry. here's the charge against him. wait for this. it's a dirty word. they said he's a moderate. >> the dallas morning news says dewhurst has served as a moderate republican. >> the "houston chronicle" says dewhurst is generally considered a moderate. >> a moderate at heart says the texas observer. >> and the "wall street journal" says dewhurst supported an income tax for texas. >> moderate tax raising david dewhurst, wrong for texas. >> moderate is a curse word. >> it's a four-letter word, unbelievable. >> that's worse than a four-letter word. it's an eight-letter word. four-letter word times two. and again on the policies, they're actually not far apart. >> that's right. >> cruz is only mostly

stylistically more to the right. d dewhurst is a very republican. the interesting thing about cruz is that he does combine this very, very far right, very purist ideological -- he's a law school graduate. and he's hispanic which is hugely important. >> very, very important. >> you answer me this question. i don't know if either of you know the question. do mexican-americans who are big in this country, we used to call them chicanos, latinos, now they're the word of choice. they're all over the place. they're a huge part of the immigrant population in this country now and most of them vote. you have the cubans down in florida. you have puerto ricans mainly in new york and florida. they tend to be democrats. mexican-americans are somewhat split but two to one roughly democrat. they're in play. will the mexican-americans who are in play, will they vote for a guy because he's from a spanish background? a cuban? >> i think in texas, for instance, it's 75% of those latinos, 30%, 40% are democrats. i don't think there's

necessarily going to be a transfer of hispanic love. >> are they attracted to a guy because he has a hispanic name like cruz? >> i don't think so. >> they're still playing with rubio in their heads. >> there's not much evidence because part of the reason rubio would not appeal to the hispanic voters. you know, you look at the other big news in that front this week is the choice of julian cruz the incredibly impressive democratic hispanic mayor of san antonio who -- >> hjulian castro. >> sorry. cruz. "mea i meant castro. >> i wouldn't know unless somebody just told me. >> i met the guy. he's incredibly -- >> let's take a look at this. >> could be the hispanic obama. >> here's what i want to look at. is this hard right shift, is it going to hurt the party. this is polling right now. look at the republican party now. 34% positive rating. that's one-third of the country saying they're pretty good.

43% they're not really good. on the democratic side it's a pick 40/40 positive/negative. that's not great. neither party -- nobody is in love with anybody here. but what do you think of republican -- is this right-wing lurch with all these tea party people like that woman, the witch, and palin and bachmann, is this whacky stuff hurting the brand, the old party brand? >> i think what's hurting the brand the most is it's associated with congress. the institution of congress is in a bad state because of the public opinion -- the congressional party sucks. >> you see obama trying to tie romney to boehner to ryan. >> what do they get paid for on the hill? what do republican members of congress who don't want to legislate, do anything, do you really make 170 a year to say no all day? >> thank you. it's a good gig if you can get it. >> thank you.

i think of this on broadway. a good gig if you can get it. coming up, polls in three big swing states seem to be swinging, right now at least, in president obama's direction. could it be that bain and romney's silence on his tax returns hiding them to himself is finally hurting him where it matters most, in the states that have to be carried to win. and by the way, playing chicken ahead of the chick-fil-a chain. the left is boycotting the right in celebrating this whole question. is this good for anybody this kind of fight? we'll debate that issue. should they be fighting over this? dick cheney by the way says sarah palin was a mistake. palin says cheney has been influenced by -- she's an original -- the lamestream media. by the way the lamestream media was influenced by cheney in the last war we got into. judy miller, you listening? a food fight now between two republicans whose best days are behind them? finally up in the air. which mayor of one of the world's greatest cities got himself stuck in a zip line. hint, there will be no olympic medals for this event.

this is "hardball," the place for politics.

so where's president obama the strongest right now? according to gallup 13 states and the district of columbia give him approval rates over 50%. the highest d.c. with 83% approval for the president, followed by his home state of hawaii, 63%, with rhode island, vermont, and new york rounding it in the top five. as for the states where he's least popular, utah takes the top spot at 26%. and that's where president obama has his lowest approval in the country, followed by cheney country, wyoming, and then alaska followed by idaho and west virginia. by the way, most of those states are barely populated. we'll be right back.

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welcome back to "hardball." for mitt romney the last week has been full of troubles at home and abroad of course. he returned to the united states just yesterday after a trip overshadowed by his series of embarrassing campaign gaffes. here's the news he woke up to this morning. signs of trouble for him in this race. a new poll from cbs, "the new york times" and quinnipiac. some say that state could no longer be called a tossup since it leans so far for obama. on the question of personal favorability, the president dominates up nine in florida. up 11 in ohio, up a whopping 14 points in pennsylvania. in other words, it's not just the rest of the world who aren't falling for romney. it looks like he's got problems here. debby wasserman schultz chair of the democratic national committee and eugene robinson, a columnist with "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst. congresswoman, i want to talk you about this race.

it is it very tricky, very bumpy. i read numbers here every night and i wonder if there's any continuing theory to them. your job which you've accepted is to win for the party. now here's the question. are these numbers indicative of where this election's headed or are they short term? >> look, it's still, you know, just the beginning of august. we have 97 days until the election so i know the obama campaign certainly isn't counting their chickens or ready to throw the victory party. we're working very hard, but i think those numbers in the battleground states are reflective of two things. one is that we are running a very effective significant grassroots campaign, and i think the numbers are also reflective of the fact that president obama has laid out one vision and one path. and mitt romney and this is what i think is starting to sink in and why the battleground states' numbers are showing the way they are. look at the report that came out today the nonpartisan tax center

came out with a report showing that romney's tax plan would actually cost the average middle class family with children another $2,000 in additional taxes. and that's because they're not going to be able to take a mortgage interest deduction. they would not be able to get the credit on their health care premiums any longer or charitable donations. and the average millionaire in mitt romney's tax plan, according to this nonpartisan study, would actually get an $87,000 tax break. so i think that that is starting to sink in. >> that's smart. that's smart politics because of complaining about the rich being rich, you're complaining about how it makes the middle class poorer. let me go to gene robinson on this. the topic that would lose for obama and win for romney is the economy, of course. the numbers we've got show he hasn't closed the deal with the voters. in ohio obama's up by a point. and in pennsylvania the president actually leads.

so given the kind of frustrating state of the economy, it isn't booming, the stock market is, but unemployment is still in the low 8s, he's still doing okay. if he gets a break and it drops below 8% in november, it looks like he could win this thing on the economy, if that happens. >> yeah. if you extrapolate, you could say if it drops below 8, maybe the election wouldn't even be that close. >> no. >> but what i think these numbers are telling us are not just that romney's economic message hasn't penetrated but that the obama campaign's message which has been to define mitt romney as this unattractive, selfish, rich guy -- >> what hurts worse, that he's a selfish rich guy or he's very secretive about the tax returns? it's not the crime but the cover-up. >> it's all part of a piece. >> let me go to congresswoman wasserman schultz. i always argue if it's better than it looks they'll tell you.

any politician left right or center, if their pr is bad but they got a better truth out there, they'll tell you the truth. romney's hanging fire on this damn thing. everybody knows he's hiding something. if he's hiding one year of not paying taxes, that's one thing. how bad does it have to be to really sting him for him not to show his taxes? >> it's got to be pretty bad. to not release your tax returns after you're getting pounded by regular folks, by the average working family that simply believes, rightfully so, that if you're running for president of the united states, you should release your tax returns because we need to get a good look, just like mitt romney's father said when he ran for president, that one year of tax returns for a presidential candidate isn't enough because, you know, it might just be for show. he released 12 years. so it's got to be pretty bad. and we've gotten a glimpse. we know he has a swiss bank account. why does he have one? most american businessmen don't have swisz swiss bank accounts unless they're trying to avoid taxes in the united states. >> i love the way you get that in, madam chairman. >> well -- >> i love the way you put it in

there. >> but we don't know. >> but we fwhoe he has a swiss bank account. anyway, the romney campaign is out with a new web ad. here's one you'll love knocking president obama on a topic that you might find surprising. the president's auto bailout. which is killing romney in industrial states. but for some reason he's returning to the scene of the crime, romney is. take a look. >> grew up here in lynnhurst, started in 1972 selling cars. >> in 2009 under the president's bailout of motors, ohio dealerships were forced to close. >> i received a letter from general motors. they were suspending my credit line. we had 3700 employees out of work. my wife and i were the last ones there. it was like the dream we worked for was gone. >> romney blamed the president for auts toe industry-related job losses. according to the treasury department the bailout created 115,000 jobs. according to treasury.

regardless, the ad is only the latest in a very convoluted series of messages coming from romney over the years when it comes to the auto bailout. he's very unclear in this. in 2008 he wrote an editorial for the "new york times" under the headline "let detroit go bankrupt." romney wrote then, if general motors, ford and chrysler get their bailout their chief executive asked for yesterday, you can kiss the american auto industry good-bye. it won't go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed. well, that's really future telling there. that was wrong, of course. and earlier this year he had a very different response. he took credit for the auto bailout. let's watch romney this time. >> my own view was that the auto companies needed to go through bankruptcy before government is help, and frankly that's finally what the president did. i pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy and finally when that was done and help was given, the companies got back on their feet. so i'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry's come back. >> can you translate that into english? >> no. but it's not true.

i mean, it's not true that the president did what he said he would do. he wrote -- he didn't just say -- he wrote let detroit go bankrupt. the president did not. the president invested our money in general motors and it paid off. it saved the auto industry. we're going to make money on the deal. it's -- look, if i were mitt romney's campaign, i would never utter the words "auto bailout" again. >> gene, you're so right. this is born of worth arguing about, congresswoman, because it's not just points scoring by one party or the other. the democratic party believes in industrial policy. when you can do something to help the market do the right thing, you try to do something actively. you don't sit back and believe in laissez-faire. let the chips fall. romney is a let the chips fall kind of guy. he's a real conservative on business. letting the chips fall would have meant the loss of our auto industry potentially in this case. >> letting the chips fall also known as just leaving people in the cold. that web ad, let's take a closer look at it. it doesn't pass the straight face test on any level.

the ad focuses on a dealership in ohio. there are actually 2200 more jobs in auto dealerships in ohio now than there were when president obama took office. so to suggest the auto bailout caused the demise of jobs in auto dealerships is wrong. absolutely not true. we're talking about a state where one in eight jobs is associated with the auto industry. in 80 of 88 counties, there is an automobile facility, an automobile-related facility. in 80 of 88 counties in ohio. so the reason the ohio unemployment rate is below the national average is because barack obama had the courage to rescue the american automobile industry and that's why they've had a resurgence in their economy. they've got a long way to go like the rest of the country, but if left to mitt romney, we would have lost 1.4 million jobs in the automobile industry, including those in the supply chain, many of which would have

been in ohio. and ohio's economy would have been decimated. those are the facts. >> great to have you. see you in charlotte pretty soon. >> yes, a few weeks! >> thank you. chairwoman of the democratic party, debby wasserman schultz of florida. gene robinson, all you have is pulitzer prizes. she has a convention coming up. up next, the birthers won't quit. wait until you heard steve king dismissed the evidence that president obama was born here. these people are nuts. nuts. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] we got a real mom

and the family car to do an experiment. we put a week of her family's smelly stuff all in at once to prove that febreze car vent clips could eliminate the odor. then we brought her family to our test facility to see if it worked. [ woman ] take a deep breath, tell me what you smell. something fresh. a beach. a clean house. my new car. [ woman ] go ahead and take your blindfolds off. oh!! hahahaha!!! look at all this garbage!!! [ male announcer ] febreze car. eliminates odors for continuous freshness, so you can breathe happy.

give it up for all of our outstanding american athletes who are competing in london right now. when i'm watching, you know, when people run track, you know, i understand that i know how to run. they're just much faster.

these gymnastics folks i don't understand. how do you not bust your head every time you're on that little balance beam? i couldn't walk across that balance beam. >> that's president obama giving a shout-out to the u.s. olympic team at an event in ohio today. the president also made some calls to u.s. athletes like michael phelps the great swimmer and the women's gymnastics team to congratulate them on their bigs big wins. i love it when they win. as for stephen colbert he can't get enough olympic dressage. mitt romney's family horse rafalca is competing in dressage in london. here's colbert relishing all things rafalca. >> mitt isn't the only romney wowing them on the international stage this week. so is rafalca, the romney family horse, who is at the london olympics competing in dressage. the sport of the summer for

those who use summer as a verb. rafalca is poised not only to take the gold, she could have a jor impact on the u.s. presidential election. there will be no vp announcement until after rafalca is done competing. dressage is full of normal folk like prince abdullah al saud of saudi arabia and sara phillips granddaughter of queen elizabeth ii. ♪ these are the people in your neighborhood in your neighborhood ♪ >> it's been widely suspected that there will be no vp announcement until ann romney returns from london after rafalca's dressage events are completed. also last week london's mayor boris johnson who looks like me made headlines after talking about romney saying london may not be ready for the games. there he is above the crowd.

he was left hanging before reaching the other side. >> can you get me a rope? get me a rope. okay? we need to test this on somebody going a bit faster. get me a ladder. >> his crowd wasn't fully prepared. anyway, johnson was eventually pulled to safer ground. later on he reflected on the experience. >> i thoroughly recommend it. i wouldn't want to be up there all afternoon, but i think loads of people are going to enjoy it. it was wonderful. i thoroughly recommend it. >> great looking guy. brushing it off like a pro. next, could it be another birther theory. apparently so. republican congressman steve king participated in a teletown hall meeting last week and one caller started with the birther nonsense. at fist at first it sounded as if king was finally putting the issue to

rest. >> we went down into the library of congress and we found the microfish there of two newspapers in hawaii. only two published the birth of barack obama. it would have been hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of barack obama being born in hawaii and get that into our public libraries. >> so far so good. then he kept talking. >> that doesn't mean that there aren't some other explanations on how they might have announced that by telegram from kenya, the list goes on. >> insanity right there in the united states congress. so president obama's young mother telegramed her son's birth announcement from kenya to the local newspapers in hawaii just on the off chance that he'd make a bid for the presidency some day. the name barack hussein obama obama of course being hand-selected for the perfect name for a presidential candidate. the more likely scenario, congre congressman king realize d he better not disappoint those crazy birthers whose votes he's

counting on. jeez. what a country this has become. up next a game of chicken. the ceo of chick-fil-a is against same-sex marriage. you're watching "hardball," the price for politics.

hello, everyone. i'm lynn berry. here's what's happening. president obama campaigned in ohio on wednesday. he told supporters that mitt romney wants middle class americans to pay more in taxes so people like him can get a big tax cut. san antonio international airport was evacuated earlier following a phoned-in bomb threat. no suspicious devices were found. syrian president bashar al assad hasn't been seen publicly since mid-july but has written to the military asking to step up the fight against the rebels. now back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." chicken sandwiches and waffle fries might seem like an unlikely source of controversy, but the executive behind the fast food chain chick-fil-a launched a firestorm last month when he said he was, quote, guilty as charged when it came to supporting a traditional family and marriage between a man and a woman. dan cathy told the baptist press, quote, we are very much of supportive of the family, the biblical definition of the family unit. we are a family-owned business, a family-led business and are married to our first wives. we give god thanks for that. we know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the lord we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles. well, supporters of gay rights have since called for bans, boycotts and protests where conservatives like mike huckabee

rallied behind the chain and declared today chick-fil-a appreciation day. so everybody is in this now. with me is chicago alderman joe marino and art cooper who leads up the gay republicans who are also very important, committed businesspeople as well. thank you for joining, clark, as always. you can smile. thank you for being here with me. >> thank you, chris. >> i don't know about you, alderman. i just don't know about you are you using aldermanic privilege to decide who does business in your district? i mean, that's a legal action by you. do you think that's appropriate when you don't agree with somebody's politics or sexual politics? >> absolutely not and that's not what i'm doing. it's not what a ceo says it's whether it translates into their policies. i've been working with chick-fil-a, chris, for eight or nine months trying to clarify if they have antidiscriminatory policies. until their facebook page went up, i didn't have clarity. that post helped in our discussions moving forward.

and i'll remind your viewers that dan cathy also was asked if he would hire a gay individual. he paused for a long while and then says, it depends on circumstances. i want clarity. is that circumstance if the gay individual walks in and is proud of being gay? those are against the law in illinois. and i need a clarification that the policies of the company -- >> what would be your standard on whether to use your aldermanic prif levilege to stoe construction of a chick-fil-a? >> it's my responsibility to have responsible businesses and part of the businesses responsibility is not have discriminatory policies. so if the -- >> what's your definition of discriminatory policies? help us out here. >> fraior instance, prior to th facebook posting i did not have a commitment from the company that they were open to not only hiring but serving those of different sexual orientations. >> did you have complaints that they were not? >> they've been sued 19 times. >> 19 times for sexual discrimination or what?

>> for discrimination against a minority group. and that was from 2009. so i'm sure it's happened more. currently there's a case on the books where a woman has sued the company because the manager told her she was fired because she should stay home and cook and not cook at chick-fil-a. these things are disturbing, chris. i want clarification from the company. i'm not saying that the ceo has to believe something or state something that i believe in. of course not. i would protect that even if i disagreed with him. that's not the debate. >> let's stop there. i agree. what i don't like is people -- and the council in new york is doing this. up in boston, i really like is doing this. rahm emanuel's been in this a lot. they're putting their feet out there then pulling back and saying i didn't mean i was going to stop them. it's bonfire of the vanities here. this is a very tricky issue. the country's divided on same-sex marriage. every time we have an election, 32 states have voted on it and voted it down. yet when you ask people in the polls, it's very even.

i don't think you did discriminate against someone because of what he thinks. >> that's right. you talk about polling. it's not marriage, it's relationship recognition. this the isn't just the average voter but includes conservative voters. if you break it down to civil unions, legal status, more and more americans an overwhelming majority are in favor. including self-identifying conservatives. but this issue in chick-fil-a, there are serious constitutional concerns, chris, when you have municipal leaders in chicago, in boston, new york and philadelphia even suggesting some kind of or wellian process of denying business or business access to the community. i ma joimagine in places like co you probably have local chamber of commerce members saying, hey, are we next? are our head next on the chopping block? most if they're not in the private sector they are small business owners. while our members may not be buying those chick-fil-a waffle fries or pat ronizing the business, they don't want their business to be threatened with a potential government ban. there's an impediment upon first

amendment rights when you start picking and choosing businesses that can be in a present place. >> i'm one of those guys, alderman marino, who believes you should, like jane fonda in the movies, even if you don't like her politics. >> i agree. >> i can separate those things. >> we've never said, chris -- they're mischaracterizing the debate. i have never said anything about beliefs or orwellian -- what i have said is the civil rights movement and you know this better than i do, you never led from the front you led from the back. we're saying clarify your position. from day one i said -- i've done this for eight or nine months without public fanfare. clarify your policies. work with a local lbgt group. >> alderman, call me up when you have an example they rejected a good job applicant looking for a job, a good person. and they say, sorry, you're apparently gay, we don't like you. >> what i'm trying to do, chris,

is prevent that from happening. i'm trying to be progressive instead of backing off. >> just don't start preemptive wars. >> i'm not backing off. >> i know what you're doing. i guess i agree, but it has to do with behavior not thinking. >> individual liberty. vote with your wallets. you don't have to go to a particular business. you can go to a particular business. this is what we value as americans. this is part of our american exceptionalism. we have that freedom of speech. >> and i value the laws in chicago and state of illinois. >> i hear you, alderman. >> i'm going to protect those. >> slippery slope in chicago. >> anybody who is prejudiced against gay people is a fool. in business terms, moral terms, whatever. you're a fool. god made those people and they're customers. >> well said. >> thank you, joe marino and thank you, clarke cooper. i'm beginning to like you more, a man of the business center. up next, darth vader versus the grizzly mom. did you expect sarah palin to remain quiet when cheney called

her a mistake? forget about it. she's back. this is a great fight. root for which one? i don't know. this is a tough one for me, clarke. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

[ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. 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. nbc news has now learned or confirmed a reuters report that president obama has called a so-called intelligence finding authorizing covert aid to the syrian rebels. this is big news. white house officials are declining comment on the report, but the administration has been under constant criticism for

months from senator john mccain and others who say the administration should be arming the rebels. we'll be right back. big story there.

i like governor palin. i've met her. i know her. she's an attractive candidate. but based on her background -- she's only been governor for, what, two years -- i don't think she passed that test. >> being ready. >> of being ready to take over. and i think that was a mistake. >> wow.

welcome back to "hardball." sarah palin did not take kindly to those words from dick cheney. she saw them as fighting words about her readiness for office. last night palin proved she can give as good as she gets. let's watch. >> well, seeing's how dick -- excuse me, vice president cheney -- never misfires, then evidently he's quite convinced what he had evidently read about me by the lamestream media having been written what i believe is a false narrative over the last four years, evidently dick cheney believed that stuff. >> joe conason, of all the things to say of the "new york times" or the lamestream media as if they're leading cheney around, as i recall cheney through scooter libby and miller were leading the "new york times" around. so the idea he got tricked into knocking palin because of the "times" -- by the way, before

you start, this is the real cheney back then talking about his support in praising palin in 2008. let's watch. >> welcome to our say hello to our republican party 2012 cheney and palin duking it out, the extreme right taking control. joe, what do you think? susan milligan joins us, writes for "u.s. news & world report." joe, this is ludicrous. he's dumping on her, and she's dumping on the guy she claims to be manipulated by the lamestream media. >> she doesn't see the humor in that, for whatever reason. the difficulties in the republican party now, because this is sort of the hard right versus the kooky right. in the present moment, it shows the difficulty that mitt romney

faces in choosing a vice presidential candidate simply because he has to both fire up the base, the tea party, which wants somebody like sarah palin, that extreme, and yet, you know, the rest of the country wants somebody who is qualified to be president. at least notionally, and that's, i think, what cheney was talking about. cheney was right now, he was wrong back then. he's right now. but then you also have to put that in context because cheney's solution to the problem in 2000 was to pick himself. and we know how that worked out >> that got us into war. let me ask you, susan, this craziness, a lot of people, women especially, root for her, palin, despite her right-wing ideology. they think she's being beaten up by the lamestream media. but you know what i noticed? she's fighting for a slot at the convention in tampa. what is romney going to do? >> it puts him in an awkward position because not only does she certainly have a hold over

part of the party on a national level, but you have all of these senate candidates that could make a difference of whether the republicans take control of the senate, murdoch and now cruz and deb fischer. >> what happens if she gets a primetime slot in tampa? she's handling this like a great fisherman, by the way. let's take a look at what she said. >> we've left it in their hands. about a week ago, we were approached, asking if we were interested, if i was interested in attending. of course, there's some interest there, but we kind of want to know more details, what they have in mind. we haven't heard back. >> do you like the way she gets almost cuddly. there's some interest, meaning i'm interested, but we want to know if we're going to speak at 4:00 in the afternoon, 9:15 at night, nights that nbc is doing full coverage. she's angling here. >> she is. she wants to be king maker and i guess cheney wants to be queen killer or something.

>> he's going fishing, talking about the angler. he's hiding, he knows one thing, people don't like him. >> he knows people don't like him and he knows the base of the party doesn't like him. they don't love him. he's concerned about what level of enthusiasm he's going to generate from the real hard core in the party by november. and she will fire them up if he can entice her into his camp without getting bitten by the mama grizzly, which is a big risk. >> don't you like it he's such a partisan, more than anyone i know, yet he acts like he's some sort of judge. well, you know, let me see, jeff, you have to look back, was she a good pick or not. he always steps back to that spencer tracy role of his, which he's above it all. he's the meanest insider there's ever been. look at him there. he still has to answer -- joe, he still has to answer for scooter libby who got him disbarred, convicted of five or four felonies. he never came forward and defended him. he tried to get him a pardon at the end but never explained what he had told him to do in the first place. now he comes back to the big

adviser to america. >> right. he let scooter libby swing for his misdeeds indeed. and it's ironic because cheney, you think of all that now because romney and the republicans are talking about leaks from the white house. you know what they leaked from the bush white house was the identity of cia operative working on weapons of mass destruction, which they supposedly care about. >> he got us into the same area over and over again?

is.

let me finish tonight with this. this weekend i saw for the third time the best play about politics, today's politics, ever written. it's called "the best man." it's about a candidate for president who has to choose between his ambition and his principles. his opponent is about to dump a bad story on him, that he had a nervous breakdown years ago. he knows the story will destroy him as a candidate, especially right there at the opening of his party's national convention. an aide comes to the rescue. he's dug up a witness who says his rival engaged in a gay relationship back during world war ii. it may not be true, but our hero knows it could do consider abab damage enough on his rival. he knows it could stop him in his tracks. there's the dilemma. does he play dirty against dirty politics? does the end justify the means? does doing something nasty come with the business of running for high office? does it? i just saw the new construction with john lore aket and james

earlier jones as stars. his performance reminded me why i was drawn to politics as a teenager. he was the noble politician we'd all like to have running our country, the person who does the right thing when nobody's watching. i just learned that the playwright who created "the best man" has just died. i met gore vidal in my college days. he came to give a lecture we used to have. if vidal is known for one thing, let it be "the bestman," a play that reminds us of a person we would like in public life, someone who would not eat the crap politics urges you to eat, all the while saying, don't worry, you aren't what you eat. well, i've noticed that you are. and nothing benefits a great country like ours than to remind ourselves every so often what the gold standard is. in this play "the best man," it means everything for us who love politics. great thanks for being with us. "the ed show" starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show."

i'm michael eric dyson in for ed schultz. today, the president called america's olympic heroes just before he destroyed mitt romney for his gymnastics on taxes. this is "the ed show" and as ed would say, let's get to work. >> how many of you want to pay another $2,000 to give mr. romney or me another tax break? >> tax breaks for the middle class, tax breaks for the wealthy. mitt romney's camp is spinning hard after the president hammers him over brand new analysis of his tax plan. bob shrum and michael steele are here with their reaction. today, the obama care birth control mandate is in full effect, and let's just say republicans are overreacting. >> i know in your mind you can think of the times when america was attacked. one was december 7th, pearl harbor. the other is september 11th. that's the day the terrorists attacked. i want you to remember august 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. that is a date that will live in infamy. >> the panel weighs in on a new era in women's health.

and d.l. hughley's new book about politics is causing quite a stir. he joins me live tonight. governor mitt romney's tax plan went to that strange foreign land called independent analysis and came back looking like a loser. unfortunately for mr. romney, the truth is out. his tax plan would slash taxes for the very rich and raise taxes on the poor and middle class. the independent study by the tax policy center bent over backwards to view romney's plan in a favorable light, but concluded that the net effect of romney's plan would be this. millionaires would get an $87,000 tax cut, but 95% of americans would suffer a $500 tax increase on average. it could be worse for families. the study shows that making governor romney's tax plan revenue neutral would require eliminating tax preferences for middle and lower income families, reducing their after tax income by an average of $2,000.