>> they're fearful of anything that changes the clubby way washington does business. >> you never told me that elephants were cannibalistic. >> i'm going to use every procedural means, including filibust filibuster. >> how do you respond to those who say this is a fool's errand? >> i am ignoring all of the slings and arrows. >> you speak to your fellow republicans. are you confident they'll stay together? >> i don't think filibustering a bill that defund obamacare is the best route. >> the votes are fluid. >> america will know exactly who to blame in the senate. >> it's the votes on friday that matters. >> it's why we look to the future not with fear, but with hope. ♪ we begin with the president on the world stage at the united nations. back in washington, his

republican congressional opponents pushed the government ever closer to a shutdown over his health care law. indeed, the convergence of crucial national and international priorities could hardly be overstated. a week away from the launch of the president's signature policy initiative, coming right as the president faces historic diplomatic tests and opportunities with syria and iran. today, the president devoted the bulk of his general assembly address to those countries, and the volatility in the region, making clear that despite a decade of war in the middle east, now is not the time to turn our backs and disengage. >> i believe america must remain engaged for our own security. but i also believe the world is better for it. some may disagree. but i believe america is exceptional. in part, because we have shown a willingness, through the

sacrifice of blood and treasure, to stand up, not only for our own narrow self interests, but the interests of all. >> the president added the united states is, of course, more likely to invest our energies in those countries that want to work with us. and there may be a similar principle at work in the president's engagement with washington. later this hour, he will join an open conversation about the affordable care act, with former president bill clinton. the guy the white house unofficially calls the secretary of explaining stuff. they actually use another word for stuff, but we get the point. and it's part of a parade of friendly faces, including the first lady, and the vice president, who will promote the law ahead of the start of enrollment, exactly one week from today. and in case you were wondering, the president has not rushed to engage the likes of, say, senator ted cruz, who, this afternoon is filling the senate chamber with a full mouth and hopefully an empty bladder, talking until he drops in an

effort to defund the affordable care act. >> madam president, i intend to speak in opposition to obamacare. i intend to speak in support of defunding obamacare until i am no longer able to stand. >> and one can only hope the senator doesn't rupture his bladder or tear a vocal cord, requiring medical assistance. oh, wait, that's all right. he's got celebrity medical coverage. i guess he might be concerned about his fellow republicans, though, in what appears to be a bit of a strategic rift. >> i just don't happen to think filibustering a bill that defunds obamacare is the best route to defunding obamacare. if we're going to repeal obamacare, we're going to need some democratic votes to do it. that's the only plan i've seen in this debate that will actually get us to our common goal of undoing the law. >> good luck with sorting that out, guys. let's get to our panel. with us from president is msnbc political analyst, david corn of

"mother jones" magazine and analyst professor michael eric dyson. david corn, plenty of conservatives have suggested this president couldn't negotiate a traffic jam, and has been humiliated over his approach to syria, and is now fighting to save taffordable cae act from being defunded and you say, and i'm quoting you, obama is the shrewdiest since johnson. >> i was using grahamic license there. but i was trying to make a point. if you look at his two most bothersome foes of recent times, not that i would lump them together, it's vladimir putin and a guy named john boehner. and in the last month or so, i think the president has gotten the better of both. on syria, after athletening to attack syria, which may not have been the smart move, he got putin involved. and basically, putin came in as the garn guaranteer to put

weapons under international control. and it's very unlikely that while these negotiations were under way, syria is going to use chemical weapons again and perhaps take off, if not embarrass putin. so the president really got what he wanteded out of that, which is to prevent assad from using chemical weapons again and put putin on the hook. as you see with boehner and the republicans, they have formed a circular firing squad as the president stepped back and let them go at it. and so you have mitch mcconnell coming up with tortured language to try to, you know, act if he's not being pushed around by ted cruz, while the house republicans are just lying there, waiting for the democrats to throw the bill back at them and saying, hey, guys, shut down or no shut down. and i -- again, you see the "wall street journal" and others attacking the republican party. this all comes about because the president i think has been kind

of tactically wise in the past few weeks in dealing with both these problems. >> okay. well, professor die son, the president may be letting the gop bicker amongst themselves. but he's clearly ready to fight for his law and for his legacy. you yourself were present at the congressional black caucus dinner saturday. i would like you to take a listen once again to what the president said. >> this is an interesting thing to ponder. that your top agenda is making sure 20 million people don't have health insurance. and you would be willing to shut down the government and potentially default for the first time in united states' history, because it bothers you so much. >> that's about the size of their opposition, isn't it, professor? >> absolutely. it's the anatomy of their opposition, and the problem is that the no extraneous doctor is there to tell them, look, it's not healthy for the nation for you to try to wager your future

based upon the denial of health care to these millions of americans. and i think the president is really smart and shrewd, as mr. corn has indicated, to put it in those terms. that you're making a down payment on your future by depriving millions of people of what you can take for granted. as you said, martin and alluded to, when mr. cruz would stand there and then would have health care. so i think the president is really getting support here and trying to go whole hog at these republicans and trying to prove them again to be the most unamerican people who are willing to legislate themselves out of popularity and potentially out of office. >> yes. well, david, we are now looking at the great senator self emulating on the floor. senator barbara mikulski adeptly pointed out today the irony that at the very moment the president is at the united nations, trying to project united states' influence, goodwill, power, whatever you want to call it. ted cruz and the like are

desperately trying and working to make sure the government has no power whatsoever. do you think they think this is a game in some way? >> and that's surprising, because? >> well, because -- >> i mean, this is what they have done from the very beginning, delegitimizing obama, did he legitimizing his health care bill, law, anything else he's associated with. but i will say this about ted cruz. i don't think he's self emulating right now. you don't. >> i think the republican party is. but i think he has now leapfrogged over rand paul. rand paul had the drone filibuster. that got, you know, conservatives going. now he has the health care filibuster which when it comes to 2016 is going to be worth a lot more than the drone filibuster. so this is really about what's happening in terms of competing for the yahoo vote in the republican base, and guys like mitch mcconnell and john mccain and the "wall street journal" editorial board are aghast at this. but this is where they have all

kind of led their party and what they're stuck with right now. and ted cruz is just, you know -- he represents the housification of the u.s. senate. up until a year ago, the house was the purview of this wing of the republican party. but now it's made in-roads into the senate and this is great for ted cruz, marco rubio and rand paul, but not great for the rest of the party. >> no. we should point out, david, this isn't exactly a filibuster. >> no, it isn't. >> right. professor, during ted cruz's conversation here, it's worth us reminding ourselves that texas, obviously, the state he represents, has the highest rate of uninsured in the nation. the largest number of uninsured children. and the highest rate of poor adults with no insurance whatsoever. i guess they must be proud to have a man like that representing them. >> well, whenever has the extension crisis of the populus been of concern to republicans, even those republicans who are from states where natural

disaster has struck them in unmerciful fashion. they have been willing to argue for their particular state, but against the interests of others. but in this case, they're not even willing to listen to those who are most vulnerable and those who are uninsured. so if they're going for the yahoo vote, as david corn said, maybe somebody ought to go for the google vote and figure out how we can, you know, ratchet up -- the intensity of understanding that these senators are vulnerable. yes, david corn is right. he may not be self emulating, but he's destroying his party and if his party is destroyed, he doesn't have a platform to stand on. there are not enough independents out here of conservative ilk who will be able to support ted cruz of his merciless and mercenary mission. so i think what happens here is obama's strategic genius has to allow them to have a kind of moral jujitsu. let them kick themselves. let them hurt themselves as they're trying to figure out what to do here. but, again, the fact that these people are poor and hurt does not move ted cruz.

>> there was a good example -- >> very quickly, david. >> what republicans did care with the plight of the masses. that was mitt romney. massachusetts. and romney care. >> absolutely. >> and it wasn't that long ago. >> it is possible. >> it's a great idea. and it's been applied nationally. david corn, professor michael eric dyson, thank you. the president lays out diplomacy over destruction. and we, all of us, will raise a glass to that. to all those here in new york and around the world who helped sustain the united nations and to the spirit that we need the cooperative effort of the whole world. cheers. the american dream is of a better future,

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. the general assembly of the united nations today, the president laid out the core interests of u.s. foreign policy. he spoke about global efforts to dismantle terrorist organizations and repeated america's resolve to feet against tyrants who would use or would try to obtain weapons of mass destruction. in the near-term, the president said the nation is focused on two complex and intractable challenges. >> america's diplomatic efforts will focus on two particular issues. iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and the arab israeli conflict. while these issues are not the

cause of all of the region's problems, they have been a major source of instability for far too long. and resolving them can help serve as a foundation for a broader peace. >> and joining us now is democratic congresswoman elliot englishel of new york and steve clemens, editor at large for "the atlantic." congressman, given that the u.n. has often been did he resided as a mechanism for doing nothing, used by the president, is it not encouraging that at this general assembly, we are on the verge of rah problemman with the iranians and potentially placing syria's chemical weapons under u.n. control? >> yes, i think it's a very positive thing, but i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we're hoping that there's a potential for iran. we don't know nor for sure. it's worth reaching out if the time is right. we have to understand that iran

needs to get rid of its nuclear program. the president was very clear about that. i thought his speech was very, very good. i thought he stated clearly what american goals are. he did it without being provocative. but he was firm. and i think he was well-received. >> steve, let me play for you what the president said when he talked about a difficult history between iran and the united states. take a listen to this. iranians have long complained of a history of u.s. interference in their affairs. and of america's role in overthrowing iranian government during the cold war. on the other, americans see an iranian government that has declared the united states an enemy, and directly or through proxies taken american hostages, killed u.s. troops and civilians and threatened our ally, israel, with destruction. >> steve, in last year's speech, the president chastised iran for, i'm quoting him, violent and unaccountable ideology.

today there's this concession on both sides of a difficult history. is that tonal shift principally because iran has elected are you rowha rowhani, considered much more moderate? >> it's not just the election of rowhani. that's an important moment. it's the elevation of gentleman vad zareef, the foreign minister, put in the doghouse because he was essentially too much of a supporter. >> he's now back in? >> he's now back in a big way. was ambassador of iran here. and he's someone that we know in 2003 was the principle author of an effort, a white paper effort, secret effort by iran to reach out to the united states then. it was dismissed by the bush administration as not being real, as being swiss freelancing in that particular case. this is a remarkable set of components that collectively show, this isn't just one man. it's -- and -- none of this could be happening with -- without the supreme leader essentially giving his blessing to an effort. it's remarkable time.

>> it is. congressman, much of this speech was clearly directed at men like's syria's president al assad. and, you know, he's talked about sovereignty cannot be a shield for tyrants to commit wantton murder. how much of the syria portion was also directed towards our allies to remember our joint moral obligations? >> well, i think it was directed at our allies. i think it was also directed at russia. i mean, we -- we're hoping -- i look at the situation with iran now similar to the situation with syria. you can pick apart the agreement that we think we have with the syrians and the russians, but i think it's very important to keep trying. understand wlee, we're not going to allow them to continue to play us or delay. it's the same thing with iran. i think that it's worth it to reach out, it's worth it to see if this is real. we'll know in a few weeks whether or not it is. but i do think it was directed

mainly to syria. but also to our allies and to russia and same thing with iran. >> indeed. were you surprised, steve, final question, the president didn't go into much detail with regard to what's been happening in k ken kenya? because al shabaab has become a much more potential force, and publicly announced it was working with al qaeda. >> a quick mention. we don't know where that's going to go. i think the president was able, with what's going on in syria, completely agree with elliot englishel, that right now the syria has complied with the first step. the language the president used to send signals, not just to assad but to russia. much of the speech written for vladimir putin. when you look at the speeches globally, you're not going to raise this horrible situation in the mall in kenya. and i think that while that's out there, and it's -- it reminds someone of the chaos and horrors that are out there, this president is saying, we have an opportunity like we haven't had for many years to begin

reassembling, getting people back on the same track, getting russia and the united states back on the same page. ending a three decade-long conflict. i don't think he wanted to rise it up to being something that could derail these efforts. >> remarkable time. thank you gentlemen, so much. >> thank you. coming up, cruz lightning. it's striking on the senate floor, even as i speak. now, don't get tongue tied, mr. senator. if you read the papers, it's all sorts of confusing culture on the motion to the whatta, to the whicha. [ male announcer ] house rule number 33.

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these terrorist killers. >> thank you. >> i see our president criticized for playing golf. i don't. i think he ought to play golf. >> why is that? >> i know what it's like to be in the bubble and the pressures of the job. and to be able to get outside and play golf with some of your pals is important for the president. >> now watch this drive. ♪ ♪ calling out around the world are you ready for a brand-new beat ♪ [ male announcer ] susan writes children's books. when she's happy, she writes about bunnies. when she's sad, she writes about goblins. [ balloon pops, goblin growling ] she wrote a lot about goblins after getting burned in the market. but she found someone to talk to

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or yale. >> wearing my harvard tie. can you believe it, my harvard tie. like oh, sure, he went to harvard. >> is there some resentment among your colleagues? >> viewed as a snobby, overcredentialed, jerk. >> ignoring all of the slings and arrows. >> the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. >> it's not personal about anyone in washington. >> it's not personal. it's strictly business. >> it's about our doing our job, listening to the american people. >> i didn't go to harvard or princeton. >> i believe i'm still a member of this club. >> but i can count. republicans say that you are pushing them into a fight that you don't know how to finish. >> a lot of people have been in washington a long time that are fearful of change, fearful of anything that changes the clubby way washington does business. >> revealed this weekend that republicans are -- >> so angry at ted cruz. >> ted cruz should stay in the senate and be quiet. >> i have civil relations with

every one of my colleagues. >> he is as much a preacher of the american elite as any single politician in america today. >> no matter what insults others choose to hurl at me -- >> i won't study with anyone that didn't go to yale, harvard or princeton. >> how about like the brother from the community cloej college? >> some have been pretty amusing. >> that's some of the elitism that doesn't get he can exposed. >> and she stepped on the ball. >> let's get right to our panel. i'm delighted to say we're joined by joy reid, managing editor of the grio.com. joy, from being amomented by his father, his ministerial father to worshipping at the throne of margaret thatcher, we understand more about ted cruz, aren't we? >> it's fascinating, because a party who that is created their natural leader, rush limbaugh, who speaks into this grandiose style, they don't like when it when a person in congress does

the same act. and i see ted cruz as taking the rush limbaugh act and into the united states senate. he is essentially running to replace limbaugh as sort of the talk show host leader of the conservative movement, with this grandiosity that is actually turning off and offending people in the -- on the house side of the republican party. >> right. "gq" magazine exposed the elitism of ted cruz. you yourself went to harvard as a post grad. there is also testimony from one of his college classmates at princeton who recalls mr. cruz being, and i'm quoting the individual, an immense a-hole during his undergraduate years. so how is that for a tea party populist, a man of the people? is that who he is? >> well, anti these. comes out saying, look, i'm here to level the playing field, allow every american a fair shot. >> too much clubbiness. >> sure. and shocking, he's lying. that's not who he is fundamentally. and i think that's -- that's one of the reasons why the

republican club, their own club, are so angry at them. they were helping elevate him. let's not forget, he was one of the people. and all of a sudden, shocking, he's not who he claims he is. >> oh, dear. now, joy, mr. cruz has won the rare filed support of sarah palin. and take a listen to her appear loej i can't for ted cruz. here it comes. >> america was built upon those willing to say politically speaking, hey, i'm going to do what's right for freedom, for liberty. and if i die, i die. that's what senator ted cruz is doing right now. >> is that a valuable endorseme endorsement, or would you say that is a playing version of the insane posse? >> talk about an odd couple. >> he's there right now, live on the floor of the senate. >> talk about odd couple. the only thing that ties together ted cruz and sarah palin, the current iteration of conservative i am, the republican party, is sort of this worship of the 1%, people earning a lot of money is their calling card to greatness and to

giving to the -- this is what we have given you. i've giving you me, i've given you my success and wealth. what more do you want? why do you want health care, just worship my wealth. this is what conservatism is, and he represents that stylistically, i think the randy version. they think it's great. they think he's putting in the line of fire his republican colleagues in the house and that's why they're angry. >> and to joy's point, maria, this hypocrisy is deep in this man's veins, he said this week this country works better when we work together. i remember him forcefully accusing chuck hagel during nomination hearings of taking moneys from nations that are hostile to the united states, untrue. he's also attempted to teach the constitution to a senior senator like dianne feinstein. this man says he's into unity. is he the union fire? >> he knows he's not. he likes the point he's a flash point in the senate. why? it keeps him in the press and prepares him for 2016. and what he really wants to do

is, he wants to be the 2016 presidential nominee. and the only way he does that is that he continues to be the flash point, pretends he's talking to the little guy. >> so you're telling me, maria, he denies 30 million people health care in order for him to become president. that's fantastic. >> well, what he's trying to do is trying to create, saying i'm here for the little guy. let's defund government so you have a shot at whatever your dream is. that's false. and he's actually preaching a false doctrine. and unfortunately, there's so many people that are so unfortunately not -- don't have access to health care, the education they need. they need someone that actually speaks a language they feel is accessible and right now he's providing that. >> shocking truth, isn't it? maria teresa kumar, joy reid, thank you so much. the president joins president bill clinton for an open conversation about the affordable care act. but first, one of the wealthiest nations on earth and yet so many stuck at the poverty line. ain't it rich? ♪ [ sneezes ]

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now that's what's important to us. take all of these into consideration, and you find that it's much worse than just stagnating wages. it's basically middle class families, often with two wage earners, working harder and harder and harder. and getting nowhere. >> that was a clip from an important documentary entitled "inequality for all" which demonstrates the dangers of america's vast disparity of wealth and the ever-widening income gap and release couldn't come at a better time, opening just a week after the house of representatives voted to cut nearly $40 billion of nutritional aid over the next ten years. most beneficiaries of this program, of course, are made up of children, the elderly and the disabled. perhaps professor cornell west put it best when he described

the cuts who put it as morally obscene and spiritually profane. yet the republican leadership in the house insists, the bill is designed to promote work. >> most people don't choose to be on food stamps. most people want a job. most people want to go out and be productive. so that they can earn a living, so that they can support a family. so that they can have hope for a more prosperous future. they want what we want. >> they want what we want. us and them. and we wonder why there is inequality. for more, i'm delighted to say that i'm joined by the star of that documentary, former labor secretary under president bill clinton, professor robert reich. and the film's director, jay cooper cornbluth. professor risch, last year mitt romney told america that the nation is not endangered by an income gap, it's endangered by

47% of the population who are fr freeloaders and moochers. who is right, you or mr. romney? >> well, unfortunately, romney is absolutely wrong. and he's dangerously wrong. i mean, one of the reasons we have so many people on food stamps is because their wages are so low. most people on food stamps would be in dire poverty if they didn't have additional help. we're seeing the gap widen, and 95% of all of the gains -- 95% of all of the gains that this economy has scored since the recession, since 2009, have gone to the top 1%. median households are actually on a downward escalator. we have not seen this degree of inequality in this country by some measures in a century or more. and, you know, the republican view, and the conservative view is, well, people are going to work hard if they're poor, if you take away the little bits

that they have, but if they're rich, you've got to get them tax breaks. >> of course. >> so that they will work hard. >> of course, yeah. >> it's the most bizarre doctrine that has no basis a empirical reality. >> why not make a romantic comedy or a film about shark fishing? why partner with professor risch on this subject? >> well, it's the issue of our times. and it meant a tremendous amount to me personally. the financial insecurity and threats to the middle class are something that i live with every day. and i'm 40 years old. my whole life has been the story of this widening income inequality. we're at an emergency point in our country, and that's what this film is about. >> professor risch, your critics have called you many things. and bill o'reilly has referred to you as a communist. you wrote about this, this week for the "new york times." and here is mr. o'reilly responding to your column. take a listen to him. >> why is he doing this again? i mean, what's in it for him? attention? >> i think robert reich is trying to make a bigger point

about the culture. >> are you? and if so, what is the bigger point you're trying to make? >> the bigger point is that we are at logger heads in this culture in this society now, a lot of anger, a lot of bitterness. mainly because people are not getting ahead. but it's being fueled, that anger and bitterness, is also being fueled by the name-calling that we find -- likes of bill o'reilly saying i'm a communist. and that name-calling, that kind of vitriol in which one side is basically talking to its audience, the other side is talking to their audience, well, it's splitting america at a time, honestly, when we have to come together. if we're ever going to solve these problems, we've got to just stop all of the bickering. >> could i add to that? >> you grew up, jay, in a family where you received state support in terms of free school lunches and so on. was your mother a moocher? were your parents free loaders who were fraudsteres, trying to

steal from the government? >> my mother was a hard-working, wonderful person. >> no, she wasn't. she was taking benefits. according to them, she is a feckless free loader and fraud officerster. >> i was lucky she could turn me into a responsible adult so i could make a movie. i want to get back to the previous point that professor risch was making about bill o'reilly, which is one thing we study in the film, as widening income inequality grows, we see society start to pull apart, and partisanship in our democracy goes up. we feel sort of less cohesive as the economy becomes more stratified. now, when you step out of the 24-hour news cycle and you see the larger story of what widening income inequality means, that's what the movie does. that's what it contributes to the discussion of widening income inequality. that big picture view that everything everybody needs. >> professor risch, you talk

about this partisanship. i also was the recipient of free school meals. i also had a brother who had a severe disability that was no fault of his own. without government support, our family would never have survived. why is it now acceptable to treat people in need with rank contempt and to impugn every single one of their motives as if helping two people who are on minimum wage jobs and still can't get by with a little bit of food stamps assistance, that's somehow wrong? >> it's not only that some conservatives want to demonize the poor, martin. it's also that they have been on a rampage for years, telling the middle class that the reason the middle class is having so much difficulty getting ahead is because the poor. distracting attention from what's really happening in this country, which is that almost all of the economic gains are going to a very tiny group of people at the top. >> indeed they are. professor risch and jacob cornbluth, thank you so much. we'll look forward to seeing the

film, "inequality for all." coming up, my colleague ed schultz joins us to help set up two presidents at the affordable care act at the clinton global initiative. check it out. nice! at&t's samsung galaxy s4 active. what's active? it's like the s4 but it can get dirty and it's water resistant. so i can take it to the pool and the beach? yeah. awesome! get a $40 gift card when you buy a samsung galaxy s4 active on at&t. walmart. the coffee you drink adds up over the years... causing deep, set-in stains. crest 3d white whitestrips go beyond where most toothpastes can reach, safely removing stains below the enamel surface to whiten as well as a $500 treatment. crest 3d white whitestrips. not double-talk. if you have the nerve to believe that in a puzzling financial world, clarity is king. [ man ] if you believe nothing beats a sit-down

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current president quite fiery and animated. >> we will not negotiate over whether or not america should keep its word and meet its obligations. we're not going to allow anyone to inflict economic pain on millions of people just to make an ideological point. and those folks are going to get some health care in this country. we have been waiting 50 years for it. >> and joining us now is my colleague and friend and co host of "the ed show" ed schultz. good afternoon, ed. i know you're coming on air slightly earlier than usual. ted cruz, right at this moment, ed, is on the floor, railing against affordable health care. he said, i'm using his words, he said he wants to speak for 26 million texans and for 300 million americans. nearly one in four texans have no health coverage whatsoever. why doesn't he speak up for them, ed? >> well, mr. cruz is proving that he simply has no

credibility and what we're about to see is two people with immense credibility, and that's former president clinton and current president barack obama. who is the authority on this bill. and can speak to all the lies. it's ted cruz who has manufactured negativity, ted cruz who has scared a lot of americans and created some confusion. they want us to be confused. they think we're stupid, martin. they think that we can't go to a website and read options available to uninsured americans. this is outrageous, and this is a very unique opportunity for the president. and bill clinton, to bring the best out of barack obama in a long sit-down conversation that i think is only going to be productive for every consumer. >> ed, for many years, you've been arguing there audit ought to have been a public option as part of this, but is proving look at the opposition we already have to this, which does not contain a public option. and yet republicans like ted cruz stand up and say they'll

defund the government -- sorry, they'll defund the affordable care act in order to continue resolution and pay for the budget of the nation. but i have to ask you this. what's their alternative for the 30 million americans without health care? >> very simple. two-word culture. the private sector. private sector. that's what they're all about. that's what they're trying to protect. >> the private sector already exists, and these people don't have health care. >> it does. but the competition is not there, martin. there's -- i believe a tremendous amount of collusion in the insurance industry, and that's quite a charge. but look at the rates. look at what has happened in this country with health care costs over the last 15 years. the obamacare -- this law, martin, is not about just cost. it's about access, and it is about denial. and when you tell somebody because they're sick they can't get insurance, all of that is going to be wiped away.

and ted cruz doesn't talk about that. ted cruz never talks about i've got a better plan. i will make sure that americans can afford health insurance. he never talks about how we're going to make sure that we do something for those out there who are sick and being denied. this is the fallacy and this is the false presentation of a guy who is trying to hoodwink this country. i tell you what. this is today one of the most important days that president obama will have since signing the law into law. and it's a law. >> yeah. >> there's a tremendous amount of conversation about, well, is the white house selling it? well, what do you want him to do? have 42 votes in the senate to pass it 42 times, to counter what these idiots are doing over on the house side? the fact is, in one week from now, we are going to have uninsured americans who are going to have freedom. they're going to have freedom to go to a website and freedom to see exchanges in every state, every state in this union will

have exchanges. they're either going to be set up by the state or they're going to be set up by the federal government. and this is going to happen. and i think, martin, it's a low number when we say 30 million americans are going to be helped. rates are going to come down. competition is going to get better. delivery service is going to get better too. and that's another thing that conservatives won't tell you. do you think doctors want to give bad care? no. just like teachers don't want to do bad jobs in the classroom. the exceptionalism of this is that we as a country and a people have voted. we have decided to do something about the health inequality in this country, and i think it's a great step forward. >> and you know, e, i was listening to you yesterday on your broadcast, and you were talking about the absence of morality. you were talking about the rank hypocrisy of people who parade their so-called religious convictions when it suits them, but when it comes to caring for people who don't have any health care, for example, those on food

stamps, they think nothing of simply removing $40 billion over the next ten years. yet most of these households include a child, an elderly person or a disabled person. >> well, they have just passed a farm bill that affects 170,000 veterans, and they run around the country wrapping themselves in a flag saying they support the troops. that's another one of their lies. bottom line here, they are attacking the poor. that's what they are doing. they are manufacturing a falsehood. >> no, ed, that's not what they say, ed. what they say is, they are addressing fraud. they say the only reason they decided to cut the food stamps program, by 5%, is because they believe at least 10% is fraudulent. >> well, it's not. and they haven't been able to prove that. just like they weren't able to prove voter fraud. now they're saying it's food

stamp fraud. it's simply not there. what the republicans have done is they have told single he moms in this country with kids that if you make $6.73 an hour, you make too much. and that you're a free loader and you're not working hard enough. and what they're doing is the same thing they're doing in education as they're picking and choosing neighborhoods. they are now picking and choosing families as to who is going to eat and what kids are going to go to school with the proper nourishment the so they can learn properly. the bottom line here is, we are really on the fast track to two americas. >> okay. >> it is unbelievable. >> ed, i want to go back to president clinton with david letterman last night. take a listen to this. >> if she is running, to your knowledge, blink twice. >> i blinked once. >> oh-oh. >> ed, i believe that mrs. hillary clinton is about to take

the stage at the global clinton global initiative. there she is. so we're going to go live there for a moment. and, of course -- >> thank you, martin -- >> and, of course, ed, our viewers will be able to join you immediately at 5:00. >> we're about having to a conversation concerning health care. and i thought hard about how to introduce these two men. and the more i thought about it, the more i realized how much they have in common. they're both left-handed. they both love golf, a game that does not often reciprocate the love they put into it. they both are fanatic sports fans. and go to great lengths to be in front of the tv or on the side of the court or the field. they both are master politici