i'm chris matthews. with me today, john heilemann, erin burnett, kelly o'donnell and howard fineman. democrats say they will take up the bush tax cuts right after labet. but that gay marriage ruling this week could be a wild card. will it distract? >> we don't take more from the private sec and grow government with it and that's exactly what obama has in mind. it's idiotic t othink about increasing taxes at a time like this. chris: for his part president ob a ishitting the familiar democratic line, that republicans cater to the rich. >> they want to extend the bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. i don't understand. how do you get up here and talk about how you care so deeply about the deficit and yet you want to perpetuate a tax cut that cost $700 billion. chris: is the president right? is it good policy to raise taxes on the rich to fight the deficit? >> i don't know that they're going to use it to fight the deficit. last year the number of m ears and billionaire in america up 13%, average

[captioning made possible by nbc universal] >> this is "the chris matthews show" >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> the time for change has come. >> mr. lucky. chris: and boy is he blessed. he won his senate against alan keyes. will the obama luck hold again? next time republicans get to run against in 2012, g.o.p. goes on offense and w. could be forgotten. two, four, six, eight, who do we investigate. if the republicans win this fall, they could hold hearings, subpoena witnessesarst, t each day with a prayer and end it with a probe. i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. we have john heilemann, norah o'donnell and kelly o'donnell and "newsweek"'s howard fineman. barack obama has past his 49 birthday and he is president and he is one lucky guy. remember obama won his first race in the u.s. senate just six years ago. republicans ended up with alan keyes. mccain who had been a strong candidate faded in defending the bush record. and this year, while the numbers don't look good for the democrats. the g.o.p. could be split between the tea party candidates and the regular pa

i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us joe klein and katty kay and kelly o'donnell. and reihan salam. quho is driving the -- who is driving the division in the country. what is the motive on the march on washington? what is the up roar about the mosque near ground zero? the critics are unaccountably worked up. >> the people that want to build this mosque. they're maybing a case about supremacy, the nazis don't have a right to put up a sign in the holocaust museum. we wouldn't have japanese putting up a site next to pearl harbour. chris: wh wins from a talk like this? >> this is about restoring honor in our ownselfs. we will never fix or country, ssunle george washington and abraham linken. >> no more rights can they take away with us. what is wrong with us, america? why are people not in the streets? your republic is over. chris: joe klein, do you feel this? the question is the motive behind this. you and i have groanp u in american politician. this language, even from newt gingrich. tier -- they're talking like this. >> newt should be embarrassed. glenn beck is diff

. >> this is the chris matthews show. >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> i can hear you. >> the time for change has come. >> no obama, who is behind the war of anger about the mosque. who is exploiting a washington august to ignite more anti-government fury. who are the winners on the assault of islam? is this about obama? if all this noise is about the economy and the deficit, why so much hea onlyhe mosque? if it is a partisan divide, why do they bring it back to race? and finally, the call of the wild, could the g.o.p. win too many election this is fall and land too many from the far right in congress? could they bring themselves down and reelect obama, just by flying wild with zany candidates? i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us joe klein and katty kay and kelly o'donnell. and reihan salam. quho is driving the -- who is driving the division in the country. what is the motive on the march on washington? what is the up roar about the mosque near ground zero? the critics are unaccountably worked up. >> the people that want to build this mosque. they're maybin

[captioning made possible by nbc universal] >> this is the "the chris matthews show." >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> the time for change has come! >> channeling j.f.k. 50 years since he took own nixon, barack obama faces many of the same hurdles. even though he one in 2008, has obama matured? will he seem more seasoned by 2012. >> ties that bind. 50 years ago, the pope had some americans feared that the church would rule the president. some critics say the first african-american president favors blacks. in 1960, richard nixon's center right campaign opened the door to barry goldwater and the extremists. will we witness a similar republican split heading toward 2012. >> hi, i am chris matthews. we have dan rather, gloria borger, michele norris and richard sting el. first up, 50 years this summer, the historic battle between john f. kennedy and richard nixon. the highest turn out in history. enormous rallies. that campaign was the last to rock for the old application of parades and circus conventions and the beginning of modern media politics. it has parallels for barac

>> this is "the chris matthews show." >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> tear down this wall. >> i can hear you. >> the time for change has come. chris: this week the case for war sprung holes. is pakistan really with us? is karzai corrupt? can this fight be won? this summer mutiny. key democrats in congress now question the war. does barack obama who ran against the iraq war truly have his heart in this one? wi his bet on a surge a world away loosen his party? and finally, pin the tail on the elephant. democrats are out there trying to tie all republicans to the craziest of the tea partiers but in this nasty environment, could even some of the craziest actually win? hi. i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today, hdnet's dan rather. the a.p.'s kimberly dozier. "the new york times'" helene cooper. and "time" magazine's rick stengel. the leaks from afghanistan showed the difficulty of our mission there. president obama in playing down the tharm done from the leaks again took ownership of the war. >> we've substantially increased our commitment there. insisted u

. >> reporter: then in 2005, he told chris matthews on "hardball" that, quote, i don't believe in gay marriage. but by 2008 when i interviewed him on the day the state supreme court struck down the ban on gay marriage, he said he supported the court's right to make that decision, but clearly did not want to elaborate. >> i don't have a problem with it. i'm against it but i have no problem with it. >> reporter: so you're against it smi it. >> i have no problem with it. >> reporter: are you for or against gay marriage. >> i have no problem with it. >> reporter: you won't answer the question. >> i have no problem with it. >> reporter: a few months later voters passed proposition 8 amending the constitution to ban same-sex naerj california. the republican governor did not support prop 8 but wasn't until judge vaughn walker's decision this month legalizing gay marriage that the governor publicly changed his opinion. saying judge walker's decision, quote, affirms the full legal protections and safeguards i believe everyone deserves. at the same time it provides an opportunity for all califo

. >> reporter: then in 2005 he told chris matthews on "hardball" i don't believe in gay marriage. by 2008, when i interviewed him on the day the state supreme court stick down the ban on gay marriage, he said he supported the decision but clearly didn't want to elaborate on it. >> i have no problem with it. >> are you for or against gay marriage? >> i have no problem with it. >> reporter: a few months later, the voters passed proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage in california. the california governor did not support prop 8, but it was not until judge vaughn walker's decision this month legalizing gay marriage that schwarzenegger said judge walker's decision affirms the full legal protections and safe guards that i believe everyone deserves. at the same time it provides an opportunity for all californians of considering our history of leading the way to the future and our growing reputation of treating all people and relationships with equal respect and dignity. >> that was diane dwyer reporting. this landmark case which could end up in the supreme court is called perry versus

-- and on to chris matthews, predicting in april that the democrats want to lose, we are here.se people are absolutely out of their minds. host: have you ever voted for republican? caller: have i ever? certainly, i have. guest: how many states have you been in the last 12 months? caller: we have been in at least six. guest: i have been in about 35, 38 something like that. i am out there a lot, 150 nights, 200 nights per year. i am out there a lot and poring over data. we are not sitting behind a desk in washington, i assure you. host: can you talk a little bit about what goes into doing your job? because that is part of the series this week. and what goes into politics, the industry of it? guest: jennifer and david are meeting with candidates all over the country. how many house candidates have you met so far? guest: close to 100. guest: jennifer, how many have you met? guest: 50, 60. host: why is that important for you to meet with the candidates? guest: any candidate could do their own polling income of with their own conclusions about the race, but in terms of accuracy in pa

you to explain to the television audience of the bias of nbc news and the fat that msnbc and chris matthews and all those people are just rooting for obama and want him to succeed. this poll, your pulse have no credibility at all. this poll, conducted by peter hart and a democratic pollster, it has no credibility. to think that people actually believe what you people about on msnbc is just laughae. host: is there any survey or pulled you would believe? caller: i believe the gallup and rasmussen. anything with nbc news attached to it is just ridiculous, and everybody knows tt the ceof ge is in the pocket of obama. nbc news is out every day campaigning for the obama administration. they neglect to report news that is worthy of reporting. and they put their bias and a spin on just every word they other. host: i will give mark murray a chance to respond. it is a survey conducted by peter hart, but it is also conducted by a republican strategist working side-by-side in conducting this survey for nb news and "the wall street journal". do you trust the "the wall street journal"? caller: i do trust

chris matthews joined the peace corps. i am so proud of you. am so sick of these people on these networks beating up a hero. in our lifetime, we will not know that many. you want to talk immigration? he did not change his immigration thing right now. after it did not work out, he came to arizona and he goes, i did it. it was in 2007. i did it, i understand we need to close our borders and stop it. i get what you guys are saying in arizona. he was trying to work with president bush. i will tell you, all america, you did not think this immigration thing is big? they know that 300 drug cartels are set up through our country. drug distribution centers. they know the cartel in setting up here. when you laugh at arizona and put us down, let me tell you something. it is coming, america. >> we're going to have to leave it there. thank you for your call. >> i think that what the caller mentioned about senator john mccain's biography, it is one that any candidate in the country would relish and certainly it is one that he talked about throughout all of h

you to explain to the television audience of the bias of nbc news and the fat that msnbc and chris matthews and all those people are just rooting for obama and want him to succeed. this poll, your pulse have no credibility at all. this poll, conducted by peter hart and a democratic pollster, it has no credibility. to think that people actually believe what you people about on msnbc is just laughable. host: is there any survey or pulled you would believe? caller: i believe the gallup and rasmussen. anything with nbc news attached to it is just ridiculous, and everybody knows that the ceo of ge is in the pocket of obama. nbc news is out every day campaigning for the obama administration. they neglect to report news that is worthy of reporting. and they put their bias and a spin on just every word they other. host: i will give mark murray a chance to respond. it is a survey conducted by peter hart, but it is also conducted by a republican strategist working side-by-side in conducting this survey for nbc news and "the wall street journal". do you trust the "the wall street journal"? caller: i d