also with us tonight, msnbc host me his as a harris-perry, whose new show, melissa harris-perry premieresruary 18th. >>> lieutenant, good to have you with us, and you too, melissa. lieutenant, how big a victory is this and do you think it will stand the test of time with the supreme court if it goes there? >> well, it's an honor to be with you, ed and doctor, such an honor to be with you. i love your show because you're not afraid to be loud, and that is the reason why this is a victory today. because there was some people in california who were not afraid to stand up loudly uncompromisingly for full dignity. that is why it's a victory greater than what a court alone could say but strengthens the backbone of many gay people especially young gay people growing up. so i don't think we can under estimate the social impact, as well as the fact that if this does, as you say, go up to the supreme court, we have a great advantage knowing that the supreme court has ruled 14 times already marriage is a fundamental right. >> melissa, where does this fall in terms of civil rights advances in my e am

and melissa's new show, "melissa harris-perry" begins right here on msnbc this saturday and sunday at? >> that's all for now. we love the blue. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific when i am joined by national communications director for the santorum campaign, becky quick, sam stine, gene thrush, phil mooser, and the nation's jeremy cahill. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. hello, andrea. >> hi, there. thanks so much. >>> we're all looking for to melissa's show. coming up here, former utah governor jon huntsman, a big surprise for visitors touring the white house today, a former iranian nuclear negotiator, and a fourth gener a fourth gener all that cing up here on ♪ [ woman ] when i ow, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

i believe that love is really something that's worth fighting for. >> dan choi, melissa harris-perry, great to have you with us. melissa, you know having your own show that time flies when you're having fun. >> of course. >> i wish we had more problem. >> we'll talk about it when it goes to the supreme court. we'll do it again. thank you to much. scott walker goes to national tv to literally beg for money. while his legal problems back home continue to mount. more developments today. john nicholls from "the nation" will join me for the latest. >>> coming up next, john nicholls has latest from wisconsin after a scott walker aide pleads guilty. more explosive developments in the susan g. komen controversy. it looks like someone is lying about who made the call to defund planned parenthood. we'll play you the sound and let you decide. stay tuned. >>> more trouble for governor scott walker in wisconsin. with a recall election looming, he's going to national tv literally begging for money. >> my hope is people can come and join us at scottwalker.org. to count the money from washington we n

well, joining me now is melissa harris-perry, soon to be host of msnbc's "melissa harris-perry."morrow morning at 10:00 a.m. she's also professor of political science at tulane. and also joining me is e.j. dione, columnist for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor. melissa and e.j., thanks for joining me tonight. >> absolutely. happy presidents' day. >> right. >> now do republicans really think that this war on birth control is politically smart, e.j.? >> well, i don't know if they think it's politically smart. i think it's basically about a war on the affordable care act. and an effort to make an argument that big, bad government can do anything it wants. i just have to go back to that clip you showed from rick santorum at the beginning of this show which really bothered me because he said the press didn't make anything of jeremiah wright. my word, the press broke the jeremiah wright story. that went on and on. >> and stayed with the story. >> i'm sorry? >> and stayed on the story for a long time. >> correct. correct. then senator obama had to give a big speech which was v

. >> joining me now is melissa harris perry, soon to be host of msnbc's "melissa harris perry." and she's also a professor at -- of political science at tulane. and steve kornacki, political columnist for the salon.com. thank you both for joining me. can republicans win with the message built solely on attacking president obama? >> maybe. this ow, and that's part of why choice. one of my dear colleagues, john aldridge, his theory about why political parties exist is a pretty straightforward theory. and it goes like this. political parties exist in order to elect candidates to office. full stop. and so the republican party at this point when it says our number one goal is to get this president out and to elect a republican is not doing something inherently bad. in other words, it's doing what a party does. i think the problem is exactly as you pointed to in the introduction. if they are willing in the work of, you know, saying we have better ideas. we think we have better candidates, what you can't do is, one, actually work against economic recovery which we've seen this republic

this will energize young people. >> melissa harris-perry. thanks for your time tonight. d, remember, you can watch melissa on her show, "melissa harris-perry" saturday and sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on msnbc. >>> ahead -- rick santorum's latest conspiracy theory. the president wants kids to go to college so they can be indoctrinated. mr. santorum, educating you makes my head hurt. but first, our ongoing series, "here are the jobs." we'll talk to a businessman looking to hire thousands this year. everywhere you go, america, i see your cup of joe goes with you. how nice of joe to, how you say, have your back. try something different. a delicious gevalia kaffe, or as i like to say, a cup of johan. will johan power walk the mall with you? i don't think so. but he will spend time rubbing your feet, discussing your feelings. ♪ joe may have your back, but johan has your feet. gevalia. meet me in the coffee aisle. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certi

believe in god's command to love thy neighbor as thyself. >> joining me now, eugene robinson and melissa harris perry. thank you both for joining us. the title of your show is "melissa harris perry". >> it is. >> you titled it -- >> i did not. but i call it mini me. >> i, of course, take every word out of a politician's mouth and sometimes people forget for some reason that barack obama's a politician -- every word out of a politician's mouth while in a campaign to be political. >> sure. >> and, sure, he's at the prayer breakfast. but he knows romney has just said this thing the day before. but he also is framing things in a very strong religious frame because he's comfortable doing it, he's comfortable talking about his religion, and he may now in the face of running against a mormon be eager, more eager to talk about his religion. >> look, it may be hard to remember now after all the years of the kind of -- he's a secret muslim narrative. but in 2004 when he did his "there is no red america, there is no blue america" one of the things that liberals got excited about was the fact that this might fin

melace harri melissa harris-perry. we called it melissa harris-perry. joining us tonight. we're looking forward to your show with a whole lot of excitement. >> coming up from planned parenthood to the walker recall, how progressives are rolling back the gop's radical agenda. >>> plus, huge, huge job numbers out today. you won't believe what republicans are saying now. >>> but president obama is on message. . >> don't muck it up. keep it moving in the right direction. >> and mitt romney says he misspoke on those poor comments. no, you didn't, willard. we'll show you. >>> you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. today my journey continues across the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon. cheers! i mean, who wouldn't want a piece of that? geico. ah... fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent oh dear... or more on car insurance. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years,

joining me now is melissa harris-perry, soon to be host of msnbc "melissa harris-perry." sciences at tulane. thanks for joining me. what is rhetoric like this really all about? >> well, you know, i've been trying to figure this out. i try to take very seriously the pro-life position and not just write it off as politics and say, okay, for some people there's a real ethical, moral question here and take that seriously. so when i first saw these billboards starting to pop up in the u.s. south, in communities that were predominantly black i said, okay. maybe this really is the attempt, a problematic one, on the part of people to reduce abortions. but here's when i started to figure out it wasn't. when it shows up, for example in soho. if you have a -- >> soho downtown new york. i was part of those that protested that. chicago, as i said. this is not the deep south now. it's black communities all over the country. >> that's right. and soho is a lot of things but it's not really where you would go find a bunch of african-american women if you wanted to have a conversation with

>>> tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., msnbc will debut a new program hosted by longtime contributor melissa harris-perry the weekend mornings you'll get two more hours of great discussion about national politics and culture. and our new team member just so happens to join me now, melissa harris-perry, welcome to the squad, how you doing? >> i'm doing pretty good. i don't know that anyone would have told me i'm this tired the day before the show premiered, but i'm doing great. >> get your caffeine fix. let's talk about your show. what will be the central focus on your show? and what do you hope viewers take away from it? >> well, you know, i am still a college professor and i spend that time during the week doing that. so, i think we've been calling the -- the staff has been calling the show nerd land, because what we're going to try to do is think about the political questions of the week, but we're a little less driven than daily shows about sort of what happened just yesterday. we can take a longer view look at the entire week, breathe a little bit and try to figure out what's important. so, you know,

now it is my very, very special privilege to rs for the first time, ask for a preview of "melissa harris-perrys-perry. >> i so excited about my first show. i'm a little nervous. we have the first guest, george romney. we're looking at how his legacy relates to mi s tto hit thmi tt. i found myself dusting off a lot of history books and reviewing case law to prepare for today's show. it's definitely nerve land on the eighth floor. >> we're extremely excited. we will be watching it. the premier of "melissa harris-perry" coming up next. >>> what do we know now that we didn't know last week. republicans define women's health as a religious freedom issue and don't see why people who give birth should be on a panel about birth control. five men to testify about women's access to contraception in the first round of hearings prompting democratic congresswoman carolyn maloney to ask, where are the women? we know her question went unanswered. we now know that rick santorum's multimillion their faster freeze has. >> contraceptive thing, my gosh, it's such inexpensive. back in my days, they use bayer aspir

melissa harris-perry, whose new show starts february 18:00th at 10:00 a.m., great to have you with us>> thanks. >> did the president do the right thing? >> absolutely. in fact it was a classic sort of presidential moment, in that he listened to a very relish -- real issue, it's not irrelevant, not unimportant, our understanding of who we are as an american people. he listened and found a solution and offered it. >> i don't see any losers in this. everybody wins, the catholic church gets what they want, they don't get the mandate, doesn't go against their doctrine, even though most catholic women go ahead and practice contraception anyway, politically why would the republicans fight this? >> because right now anything the president does has to be bad. as you pointed out earlier the economy is slipping away, look, this is in part an economic decision. not only is it cheaper for insurance companies to provide coverage for contraception than pregnancies or pregnancy terminations both of which are far more expensive, but because birth control pills also manage things like irregular menstru

melissa harris-perry debuting her show tomorrow.hat time slot, after "up with chris hayes" the new shows i could not be more excited about. >> i have long been proud to work alongside but know that these two, two of the smartest people i have ever known in any context in my whole life, these two folks are now going to be hosting cable news shows at this company, i got to say it makes me very happy about this field that i work in. makes me happy about this part of our national media, really hopeful about the direction and future of cable news and what cable news has to offer america and our understanding of who we are as a country. not to be too sappy, chris hayes, 8:00 to 10:00, followed by melissa harris-perry. really exciting and awesome. me lisa, break a leg. [ tom ] we invented the turbine business right here in schenectady. without the stuff that we make here, you wouldn't be able to walk in your house and flip on your lights. [ brad ] at ge we build turbines that power the world. they go into power plants which take some form

melissa harris-perry debuting her brand new tv show this weekend. yay!ts tomorrow, saturdays and sundays here at 10:00 a.m. it means it's right after "up w/ chris hayes." i am excited about these shows. two of the smartest people i have ever known in any context in my whole life, these two folks will be hosting cable news shows at this company. it makes me happy about this field i work in. it makes me happy about this part of our national media. it makes me hopeful about the direction and the future of cable news and what cable news has to offer america and our understanding of who we are as a country. so not to be too sappy about it but chris hayes, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. eastern, followed immediately by melissa harris-perry. really exciting and awesome. melissa, break a leg. so, this is delicious okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie

melissa harris-perry has written about the pour trails of -- portrayals of african-american women. it is called sister shame and sister citizen. that is hard to get. i couldn't even get a copy. >> thank you for coming in. please don't go away. we have answers to your pet questions when we come back. first a look at events going on around town this weekend. >> welcome back. joining us now to answer your pet questions, dr. kim hammond. we have hope. hope is a special case, not just a special guest. >> she was found with an injury to her leg and she had to have that leg amputated just three weeks ago, so she has three legs now, but she is doing just fine. she is getting around very well without it. she is recovering. >> you say the leg had been injured sometime before she was rescued. so she had already figured out how to get around without the use of her leg. >> exactly. she is doing very well. >> is she up for adoption? >> she already has a home. she is a lucky girl. she is doing just fine. >> she does not look worse for the wear. >> no, indeed. she has a wonderful temperament. >> s

and i also didn't know that i am going to be a conversation with melissa harris perry, talking about n the 16th. >> awesome. melissa harris perry is a wonderful colleague and starting her new show next week after us. finally, richard, what do you know now you didn't know at the beginning of the week? >> we know i'm just a little bit of american pride from jeremy lin. beyond that seriously a year after the fukushima nuclear disaster, the first nuclear power plant is going to be built and loans guaranteeing this was provided by the department of energy and that ten activist groups are going to court to stop the building of these n nuclear plants. >> richard kim, thanks so much. my thanks to john and rebecca and michaela and richard for joining us this morning. richard kim is the executive editor of thenation.com." thank you for joining us today. coming up next is weekends with alex witt. join us tomorrow when i will have john sarbanes and jared bernstein as guests. thank you for getting up. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first te

melissa harris perry had a very interesting program talking about "the help" the book and movie and whateans in terms of historical accuracy. butmovie. that's another whole story. what about the best actor award. did you have any problem with that? >> well, i think "the artist" is a great movie. i was hoping for brad pitt or george clooney. it was a fun speech. it was a good performance. it's oscar. that year they tended to go away from the mainstream. they weren't going after the stuff the masses were attracted to and held embraced. >> i'm with you. thanks so much. very good to see you. >>> what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next right here. to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ tha

we will have michael steele and melissa harris perry and bloomberg business week josh te tearengle and mitchell reports" is next. hello andrea? >> thanks so much, alex. and i agree, that is not a dog. more to come. we are watching the latest of course on a more serious subject from iran. plus, the republican showdown in michigan. we will be talking to rick santorum's new press secretary and joining us gabby giffords aide who running for her seat. that i could smoke de for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a seriou

i'm melissa harris-perry. thanks for sharing what i hope is the first of many weekend mornings with me. now, be honest. two months ago when you were decking the halls and lighting the candles, did you think the republican primary contest would still be competitive in mid-february? did you think rick santorum would be the leading candidate? yeah, me neither. and certainly those of us in cable news appreciate the republican party giving us the rati ratings gift of a long, unpredictable -- no, i don't mean unpredictable. the word i'm looking for is absurd. yes, we appreciate the absurd primary season. but, as an american, i'm not excited about the republican disarray. i'm worried about the strength and identity of the republican party. in fact, i can think of few things more important politically than a healthy gop. now, relax. i am not advocating that president obama serve one term. but i do believe that president obama, the democratic party, and our country need a strong republican party. the recent cover of "t

thank you, michael, brendan doherty, politics editor of business inseeder, msnbc's melissa harris perrynew show starts next weekend. we could not be more excited up on the eighth floor. salon's steve kornaca, and maria melissa kumar. coming up next, lock-up.

i'm melissa harris-perry. today on the inaugural weekend of mhp, i'm proud to be joining industry that prides itself on always taking a measured and thoughtful approach to political coverage. in particular, when covering the gop primary season. that usually takes a measured and thoughtful approach. maybe that sometimes takes a measured and thoughtful approach. seriously, it's getting embarrassing. the truth is there's a dirty little secret that those of us who cover horse race politics, don't want you to know. we're suffering from premature speculation. headlines like these and these expose the media for its secret desire to skrip the foreplay and get to the main event. it's all left me very frustrated. what's the rush? why can't we just let democracy happen? now, i know we're servants to the insatiable appetite of the news monster. the beast demands its pound much political flesh and there's no choice but to obey. we have to keep you watching and reading our lives and livelih d livelihoods depend on it. let b

at 10:00 eastern, melissa harris-perry. stay with us.e ur cup of joe gos with you.g different. a delicious gevalia kaffe, or as i like to say, a cup of johan. will johan power walk the mall with you? i don't think so. but he will spend time rubbing your feet, discussing your feelings. ♪ joe may have your back, but johan has your feet. gevalia. meet me in the coffee aisle. so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, take the lead

you know melissa harris-perry, who will be starting a new weekend show next weekend.e excited about that. also, steve and maria. we are expecting results from maine to be announced in about 45 minutes. it was also a big day at conservative political action conference in washington where mitt romney won the cpac straw poll and sarah palin gave the convention's keynote address. we'll get to all that in a moment. let's begin in portland, maine, and nbc's ron allen. what do we expect to see tonight? >> reporter: well, we're at ron paul's headquarters, and they're very optimistic and very enthusiastic here. they've been that way all day. we've been to a number of caucus sites. because the numbers are so small here, remember, we're talking about at the end of the day about 5,000 republicans will participate in this process. so you don't need to mobilize millions or tens of thousands of votes. you need to mobilize a small number of people. ron paul, more than any other candidate, has worked this state from the bottom to the top for many weeks now. they think this is really t

. >> melissa harris perry, we also want to congratulate you on being named one of the 100 class of 2012hot out shout out to my mother who wanted to name your show. and she said did you see foster friess on andrea's show? and the backlash has been surprising. and patty murray of washington state had this to say. take a look. >> one of the chief financial backers for rick santorum, the republican candidate that's now surging towards the nomination suggested that contraception was once as simple as a woman putting aspirin between her knees. really? shocking. appalling. an insult. >> told you, my mom calls and she says we're not talking about it enough on television. >> it's funny you bring up your mom here, i have been thinking precisely the same thing, there's a generational oddity about this. like i'm surprised. my mother was a young woman very active in the sort of reproductive rights movement in the early 1970s because women didn't have the right to choose, because birth control was not as widely available. and i think she thought she fought that battle that that was over and sort of w

answers to all of this when john podesta and melissa harris perry join us in a mere 180 seconds. ♪ ♪rolling and tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ [ mom ] hi, there. why do we always have to take your mom's car? [ male announcer ] the security of a tiguan, one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪ ♪ side by side, one, two, three ♪ ♪ count the birds in the big old