hi, i'm chris matthews and welcome to the show. with us today, "time" magazine's joe klein, nba tv's norah o'donnell, nbc's becky quick and "the daily beast," andrew sullivan. why is taxing the rich so hard? americans know we're all going to feel the cuts and what our government can do, no matter what plan is signed. why is ending the bush tax cuts for the wealthy a stumbling block? ending the tax cuts would bring $700 billion over the next 10 years, that's substantial. roughly the same amount obama would get from all his domestic spending cuts. the top tax rate now is 35%. but back in the new deal in the 1930's, it was 79%. understand ike in the 1950's it was 91%. under richard nixon, the top rate was 70%. then things began to come down under reagan, when the top rate was 50%. under george w. bush, down to 35%, where it is. becky, what is this historically low? why is it so hard for the congress, when they get together, to actually raise the top rates back up a bit for the rich? >> because the tax code is a mess right now. if you

[captioning made possible by nbc universal] >> this is "the chris matthews show." >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> tear down this wall. >> the time for change has come. chris: does hope spring eternal? history shows upbeat beats down bate. will the optimism work again? will the winning message of 2012 be hooray for hope or enough of this audacity? how much has the president changed in his two last years? have the attacks gotten to him? and finally, no comment. skipping the networks and big newspapers, the republicans won -- can they do it again big time in the coming presidential race? welcome to the show. with us today, bob woodard, helene cooper, john heilemann. first up, the audacity of hope. barack obama ran on it. what it is replaced with now? wisdom? >> you ran as somebody who was going to change it and as with your predecessors it ended up changing you. >> it hasn't changed my ideals. when you are campaigning you are liberated to say things without thinking about how am i really going to practly implement this in >> do you think you were vieve? >> -- naive? >> no,

. >>> good thursday evening, i'm chuck todd in washington sitting in for chris matthews, who's on assignment in israel. >>> leading off tonight, the democrats blink. if the budget battle were a game of chicken, the democrats would already be in the ditch. they appear to be to the republicans' initial proposal. still, the democrats somehow managed to make the republicans look like they're the obstructionists today. >>> plus one group making sure the republicans don't blink in this game of chicken, the tea party. they rallied in washington urging the republicans to hold the line. but it comes as a second poll in two days shows the tea party steadily losing some popularity in the middle of the electorate, is that party ending? >>> also, let's face it, in one week donald trump has transformed himself into the nation's leading birther, which he doesn't like that term, by the way. he's jumping into a cesspool where a lot of republicans have been lurking. we'll ask strategists what the party can do to climb out of that mess and what democrats do if they want to to try to exploit that madness. >>> a

crowd like that and get pummeled without getting a scratch on your face or a hair out of place chris matthews for media matters for america misinform or of the year has that obama thing go up your leg reach your brain. ed schultz the worst kind of hypocrites please tell me the obama administration put you on the payroll is the biggest cheerleader for the war in libya. from my fellow libertarians on t.v. john stossel judge as you know pilots on a question. are you aware that your mustache makes you look like an eighty's porn star judge is thoughts still going to let you invite me on your fellow after this people to get worked on now that you're watching our team you're at least enjoying a different perspective on the world but if you want you can always go back to. the low and keep. the pretty easy living people are saying let's see she's older you know she says she's a star. so if that's what our corporate media wants us to be distracted by we can still count on the first amendment to protect our freedom of speech right well it's more like you're free to talk about what we tell you the top of

i'm chuck todd in washington sitting in for chris matthews on assignment this final day in israel. leading off tonight, there are some jobs. republicans have been asking where are the jobs? well, for the fourth month in a row they got their answer. the economy added 216,000 jobs, unemployment rate developed by a tenth of a point going down a full point in the past four months. and republicans were a bit flum oxed on how to respond. how far does it have to fall before voters give the president credit for an economic recovery? it's probably the 2012 $1 million question. also, the backlash against the backlash. the assault on union rights is turning some traditional friends of the republicans into antagonists like cops and firefighters and increasingly likely that the restrictive law in ohio will be put to a vote in november 2011. have the republican governors gone too far? >>> plus, remember that pastor, that extremist pastor in florida threatening to burn a koran? apparently he did it and a mob in afghanistan killed at least 12 people, most of them united nations workers. what may b

. >> reporter: and we'll see what happens when chris matthews counts donald trump's other favorite phrasese me, excuse me, if he -- excuse me, that's another -- excuse me. >> reporter: for the record, in one interview, there were-- >> 18 excuse me. >> reporter: excuse us for yet another trump hair joke. >> donald gets home at night and sits down. all of a sudden the hair goes, oh. how are we doing today? [ laughter ] >> reporter: he's riding high in republican polls, but trump is getting pulverized by conservatives, like radio host mark levin. >> reporter: levin. >> is this guy stupid or what? >> he is nbc's charlie sheen. >> trump is the al sharpton of the republican party. >> reporter: one name donald trump was called we're pretty sure he's never heard himself called before. >> he is what's called a blaster skype. >> reporter: and actual real, dictionary word. >> that was a word my grandmother was fond of, someone who blatters proceed miss promiscuously. >> reporter: trump offered to build a new wing at the white house to replace a tent they have to use for big events. >> instead of a c

chris: let's put it to the matthews meter. will the paul ryan big budget cuts be a plus or minus for all republicans running in 2012? eight say it's going do be a big minus. four no. gloria, i believe it's a negative. >> i do. first of all let me say that i think the congressman deserves credit for putting something serious on the table. however, i think it will be very, very easy for democrats to have a knee jerk reaction. chris: what is the mainstream republican thinking on going after programs like medicare? >> the mainstream thinking of someone like ryan is not a political calculation. he is a very earnest man. he honestly believes that 80 million baby boomers now starting to make their way through our entitlement strurp is going to destroy that structure. is choice is not being doing ryan and doing nothing. the choice is doing ryan and something else. i think what he's done is drawn a divide. people who oppose his plan have to have proposals of their own or their not serious. >> one of president obama's responses to risin