conversations with great minds i'm joined by chris hayes chris is a political commentator and host of up with chris hayes which airs saturday and sunday mornings on m s n b c is also the editor at large of the nation magazine and writes on issues central to the progressive community including what is heard in the democratic party and how the labor movement is changing chris is a graduate of brown university with a bachelor's degree in philosophy he's also the author of the critically acclaimed newly released book twilight of the elites america after meritocracy chris joins me now from our new york city studios chris welcome. oh it's great to be here tom thanks for having me great to have you with us chris before we get to the book i'm curious about you what got you into politics what what what is the core of your passion for these topics and how did you get to where you are. you know i grew up in the bronx my father was a community organizer my mom was an educator she taught in the south bronx and you know i was very lucky to grow up in a world you know my parents were very working cl

please welcome chris hayes. [cheers and applause] hey, chris. >> how are you?n: thank you so much for coming on. >> thank you for having me. >> stephen: let's talk about the elephant in the room. you are not wearing a tie. >> i'm not. >> stephen: okay. did you at least wear underwear? >> i did wear underwear i'm terrible at tying ties. >> stephen: really? how old are you? >> i'm 33. it's the sort of thing that at a certain point in life i gave up on and decided to commit myself to other things. >> stephen: you are a newsman now it's called gravitas. >> we engineered the show around the fact that i can't tie a tie. >> stephen: sounds like a great program. you are editor at large in the nation magazine. >> right. >> stephen: you got the show up with chris hayes but what are the odds. >> yes. >> stephen: you have a new book here called twilight of the elites, america after merit ok crassy. what do you mean of the twilight of the elites, speaking to you as an elite. >> twilight is aspirational title. >> stephen: really you? want it to be over for guys like me? >> m

chris hayes, the host of up with chris hayes on msnbc.led "twilight of the elites." >>> we're going to be right back. stay with us. is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy with a new starbucks refreshers™, in three ways. natural energy from green coffee extract, only from starbucks. [ children laughing ] ♪ ...is the smell of salt in the air. ♪ it's the sound a seashell makes. [ seagulls calling ] away...is a place that's beyond your imagination, yet well within your means. find your away. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you, visit gorving.com. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you, mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to

the last time we talked to chris hayes on a friday night, remember what happened? nts after we talked to chris, the whole news cycle blew open with a friday night leak about who the vice presidential nominee was going to be. that's what happens the last time we talked to chris on a friday night. let's see what happens this time. why not use all your vacation days this year? get points you can easily redeem for your vacations, with chase sapphire preferred. trick question. i love everything about this country! including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this great land of ours has to offer like demolition derbies. and drive thru weddings. so if you're one of those people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day, block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. [ mget two times the points on dining in restaurants with chase sapphire preferred. is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in

chris hayes, what do you have on tap?out the amazingly long intellectual linage of the concept behind todd akin's gaffe, which goes back to one of the first recorded doctors in history in rome. the idea that rape -- that procreation was impossible under circumstances of rape is an idea that's actually 2,000 years old and was the dominant idea in medicine until around the 19th or 20th century. todd akin has history and tradition on his side in repeating this idea since disproven by modern science. we'll also talk to the one and only author of an essay in "the atlantic" called "fear of a black president" about race in the obama era, how things have changed and how they haven't. >> a timely moment for that given recent statements and back and forth between the obama and romney campaigns on the birther question. on the todd akin thing, gives a lot of credence to the theory that the republican party's position on women's health care is positively medieval. >> in the sense we have quotes that we will show tomorrow from medieval

>> joining me now is chris hayes, host of "up with chris hayes" here on msnbc. he's also the author of the new book "twilight of the elites." and crystal ball cohost on msnbc. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having us. >> chris, do you buy mr. ryan's response to all of this today? >> i don't know. look -- i mean, look. there are two different channels. people have offices in districts and then in washington, d.c. he said it came through the district offices. what's revealing to me is this is a pretty big request. >> $21 million. >> $21 million. >> not quite a constituent service is it? >> also if you're the penny pincher you're saying and you think there's all this money flying around which is the sort of soul of the critique of the stimulus, then you should put into practice your -- you should put into practice in your own office a process of very intense forensic scrutiny of these requests if that is the thing that you think is the problem with the stimulus to begin with. you shouldn't just be passings letters out the door with your signature saying $2

and the host of "up with chris hayes," chris hayes, the man himself. in dressage a full pass maneuver is when the horse is bent forward like it's in motion but is instead only moving sideways. last night, in a packed room of screaming conservatives, governor romney tried to delicately trot sideways towards the middle to appeal to independent voters. his speech offered few specifics on policy or how he might lead as president but it did aim to humanize the as yet largely unknowable republican nominee. >> but if you ask ann and i what we would give to break up just one more fight between the boys, or wake up in the morning and discover a pile of kids asleep in our room, every mom and dad knows the answer to that. those days were the -- [ applause ] >> taking on his rival there was little vitriol directed towards the president. his demeanor was more disappointed. >> i wish president obama had succeeded because i want america to succeed. but his promises gave way to disappointment and division. this isn't something we have to accept. >> whether or not romn

joining me now is the host of "up with chris hayes" and author of "the twilight of the elites." mr. hayes, good to see you. our friend chuck todd has an interview with mitt romney today in which mr. romney said he wanted his business record to be off limits in the campaign. how did this happen? >> the entire argument, he got up in the primary, at primary debate after primary debate in terms of his comparative advantage against other people in the republican field, when he was trying to distinguish himself against the lifelong politician of rick perry and other folks he was competing with, newt gingrich, et cetera, that was his comparative advantage there. then when he got in the general election his comparative advantage was barack obama has never been in the private sector, don't know how to create job,s, i'm in the private sector and know how to create jobs. it is preposterous to say the entire justification of why you're running for president of the united states was you had the private sector experience now out of bounds. >> do you think that it is fair to relate his personal fin

joining me now is chris hayes, host of "up with chris hayes" on msnbc.ilight of the elites." chris, thanks for your time tonight. >> good to be here. >> this convention comes after a very tough contentious primary season and here we are with chris christie. where is the gop brand today? >> the reason that chris christie is attractive to the gop establishment is he manages to fuse two things together which is a hard trick to pull off. as we are seeing in the era of todd akin and paul ryan and hr 3 which is this. the establishment of the gop, big money people, want the party to talk about economic issues and focus less on social issues. right? they understand that inseaingly to her the wrong side of the american public on a lot of the cultural issues they have been pursuing for years. chris christie offers that model and yet the problem is most people that have those sorts of politics don't do enough to satisfy the base. but because chris krissy such a bully, because he's so combative, that affect of his, way of conducting himself endears him to the base e

joining me now, msnbc's alex wagner and chris hayes. alex, rush limbaugh magave the order yesterday, do not take any questions, answer any questions about not having any exception for rape and the abortion position of the party. mitt romney is certainly following that order. >> don't ask, don't tell. it rears its ugly head again. this is the point the republican party has sunk to. there are four days till the republican nomination. and the vice presidential nominee is talking about rape. they're in the talking about job creation and obama's record as commander-in-chief and chief executive of the country. they are talking about rape and their position on abortion in the cases of rape and incest. this could not be more uncomfortable for mitt romney. not only that, but the whole week has exploded this position the republican party has had on issues of choice, on reproductive freedom. it's extreme and has been for years. mitt romney got into bed with dr. james wilke, this theory that women couldn't get pregnant if they're raped. and now rom

joining us now, the host of up with chris hayes and author of "twilight of the elite. "mr. ood to see you. our friend chuck todd, our colleague here, had an interview with mr. romney in which he said he wanted his business record to be off limits in the campaign. how did this happen? wasn't that going to be businessman verses obama? >> the entire argument. primary debate after primary debate, in his comparative advantage over other republicans in the field, when he was trying to establish himself against lifelong politicians such as rick perry, newt gingrich, et cetera, that was the comparative advantage there, and then in the general election, this was this is someone -- the argument in one sentence was president obama has never been in the private sector. he doesn't know how to create jobs. i know how to create jobs. it's preposterous to say the entire justification for the entirety of why you're running for the president of the united states that you have experience in the private sector, is out of bounds. >> do you think it's fair to relate his personal financial history

coming up next, we have "up with chris hayes." 's announcement live at 9:00 a.m. we'll bing you an early addition tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. and then again from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. great to be here. great news coming up on "up." [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. until i show them this. the new oral-b pro-health clinical brush. its pro-flex sides adjust to teeth and gum

but straight ahead, smart political talk on "up with chris hayes." wa e 'sdr red e. nte he

young people today are not facing a better world than we came up in, and certainly the reference chris hayesll these guys and women talking about their grandparents and great grandparents and how these immigrants came to america and did so well, starting with nothing, these are old stories for people in their 50s or 60s talking about their grandparents. what are the kids today 20 years old, that has no relationship to them. they're facing a world where they're trying to catch up to where their parents have gotten. i think that's something that would really sell with the republicans, this sense that america is not the opportunity society it was in their generation, and they can play that, it wouldn't be fair, but it would be powerful. i never heard them talk like that last night. maybe chris agrees with me and maggie. they're younger. this message of generational challenge is really there for all the generations. the parents root for their kids, kids wish they could catch up to their parents and they don't think they will. this is really new america that we don't like. >> both parties are fac

i'm chris hayes. tropical storm isaac has strengthened, as it dumps heavy rain on haiti. officials issued a hurricane warning for south florida and the keys. and in a conference call with southern baptists on friday, former governor mike huckabee lashed out at leader to try to force todd akin out of the missouri senate race. i'm joined by michelle goldberg, author of "the means of reproduction, sex, power, the future of the world." and w.kamaau bell. thursday night on f x. and katha pollitt. and ester armah. great to have all of you here. the presidential campaign turned to the subject of abortion this week, not because of the candidates, but because of this exchange during a local tv interview with missouri senate candidate republican todd akin. >> if an abortion could be considered in the case of a tubal pregnancy, something like that, what about in the case of rape? what do you think? >> people want to make that as one of those things, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. it seems to me, first of all, from what i understand from doctors, t

i'm chris hayes. we are awaiting word later this hour from mitt romney with his official announcement of wisconsin representative paul ryan as his running mate. news of romney's choice of the 42-year-old ryan came overnight and comes as a surprise to many observers who expected him to make a safer choice like former minnesota governor tim pawlenty or ohio senator rob portman. ryan who entered the house in 1999 has risen quickly through republican ranks becoming chairman of the powerful house budget committee last year. he began his career as an aide to then jack kemp. ryan surged to the front of the v.p. pack in recent weeks on the strength of his popularity among grassroots conservatives. his esteemed right wing activists as a visionary and is considered an intellectual leader for the proposed budget. safety net programs like food stachs, cut hup dretds of billions of dollars and end medicare as we know it. the choice of ryan then would seem to be an attempt to bolster romney's standing among conserv

the video was unearthed by msnbc's chris hayes. >> what we're trying to accomplish is to pass the kind of legislation that when they passed in the past, have grown the economy and got people back to work. we want to make it easier for employers to keep people employed. we want to make it easier for employers to invest in their businesses, to invest in their employees, and to hire people back to work. and for those who have lost their jobs, we want to help them with their unemployment insurance and with health insurance. what we're trying to accomplish is the fact that in recessions, the unemployment lags on, even well after recovery has taken place. >> republican legislator running for the senate in missouri has sparked national outrage for comments on rape and abortion reid asked by reporter why he opposes abortion, even in cases of rape, a can said in instances of what it called tictac legitimate rape" women can somehow block a pregnancy from taking place. >> what about in the case of rape? >> people want to try to make that as one of those things, how do you slice this particularly

run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. [ cheers and applause ] >>> i'm chris hayeswrence o'donnell tonight. two new national polls show president obama widening his lead on mitt romney as the

chris hayes a couple months ago, memorial day, the day of memorial day on the air saying he couldn't military people who died in action, couldn't call them -- he felt uncomfortable falling them heroes. >> bob: what about the right wing mily is that militia? >> eric: he didn't say the right. he said usa. all of us. >> andrea: this is what is taught in liberal universities across the country. multiculturalism. he said in his carl, he felt guilty about america's greatness. that we can't be just great but the greatest. what is wrong with that. our greatness -- >> bob: this is one writer. in a rag on the net. >> greg: what he was saying is i'm more important than the olympics. i'm the conscience of a nation. if sangty mowny is junk to get a -- sanctimony in is junk he would have won five medals. on the left, not you, bob, don't want to support the country for fear of being mocked by grad student. >> bob: i agree. i have been mocked by a little man on the end of table about my weight. sorry, sweetie. >> kimberly: this is the worst state in the the whole thing. ensuing red, white and blue,

. >>> good morning from new york, i'm chris hayes. president obama paid tribute to neal armstrong last night. spirit of discovery lives on in all the men and women who devoted their lives to exploring the unknown. legacy sparked by the man who taught us the power of one strong step. he died yesterday at 82 years old. >>> the first night of the republican national convention, which was set to begin tomorrow has been canceled because of tropical storm isaac. the official nomination of republican presidential candidate mitt romney is now slated for tuesday. we'll be talking about romney and his party's platform in just a moment, but with florida now in a state of emergency, we want to get the latest from bill c e karins. >> heading for key west overnight tonight. overnight it hasn't strengthened, and that is good, but has plenty of time to do that. here's a look at it on radar this morning. you can see all the spiraling bands and the black line on the bottom of your screen is the center of the storm. not really a high-impact event today

i'm chris hayes. secretary of defense pressed president karzai to tighten up the vetting process for his military recruits after recent attacks against u.s. forces and nato troops. new video of paul ryan heaping praise on the power of stimulus to create jobs when george w. bush was president. we'll have that video late. joining me we have sam seder, mia wiley. judith brown and my colleague arnie berman. fantastic to have you here this morning. on thursday a new "boston globe" analysis showed republican in a end registrations in toss up states are far outpacing those of democrats. a new university usa poll shows a large number of people who are sympathetic to president obama are also unlikely to sfroevote him. 43% would vote for obama compared to 14%. and 43% of registered but unlikely voters would vote for obama compared to romney. that's why the campaigns are engaged in a battle on who gets to vote. groups are planning to appeal a judge's ruling in pence to let a strict voter i.d. to take effect. it

. >>> i'm chris hayes in for lawrence o'donnell tonight. two national polls show president obama widening his lead on mitt romney as the romney campaign uses a new television ad to try to make nice with republicans. but first, we have new details, i suppose about the famous unnamed source that allegedly told senator harry reid that mitt romney paid no federal income taxes for ten years. here is reid's deputy communications director jose parra. >> all we can say is that we're comfortable with this person. this person is an investor in bain capital. a republican also, and somebody who, you know, who has been dealing with mr. romney's company for a long, long time. and he had direct knowledge of this. >> after that sound bite fopped up on the huffington post, he released a retraction saying i do not know the affiliate of the source or how long he invested with bain. democrats and the obama campaign are intent on making him pay the full cost of this secrecy. mitt romney's secret tax returns are the subject of a just released tell advice ad from

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saturday i joined "up with chris hayes" where our own rachel maddow took out the nearly 100-page ropemanfuture with one fell swoop. >> find your nearest old person and ask them, do you like men care? would you like it to be replaced by a coupon or a prayer. >> on the other hand -- >> ask a 54-year-old what's about to happen. >> right. so with ryan as v.p., every voter born after 1958 in every state in the nation has a very specific proposal to vote for or against in november. to help assess the political impact of this roadmap, i'm joined by congressman chris van hollen of maryland, the ranking member of the house budget committee chaired currently by paul ryan. good to have you with us. >> great to be here, melissa. >> does this choice for ryan now make it a national one in the sense of each and every state down tikd, now congressional races, in part will been the ryan plan? >> absolutely. earlier romney had said that the ryan plan was, quote, marvelous. now he's fully embraced and endorsed it, and he's going to have to live with it and live with the specifics, and as the debate goes on

this has been nasty, chris hayes is promised if linda mcmahon wins, he is not supporting her. >>> inen hottest advertising markets, remember it is all about saturation it is all about iowa. four of the ten aets most saturated, des moines number three, quad city, sioux city, seven, eight and nine, you see the other states there, virginia market is back on top. roanoke, lynchburg at number one. unbelievable, you look at the amount of money being spent, team romney is outspending team obama by 2:1 this week. the romney campaigning the rnc and outside groups spending $25 million this week compared to team obama at $11 million. still, an unbelievable amount of money in august. >>> all right. next, we have got more of my candid conversations with retiring senators. today, it is kay on not being a moderate. her one-time white house dreams. and why she says governors don't make the best president. you're watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] >>> many of you know, the senate is not going to look the same next year, many faces stepping dow

. >>> i'm chris hayes in for lawrence o'donnell tonight. two national polls