congressman dennis kucinich will join me to talk about it in the bottom of the hour in the "battleground" story. >>> and coming up, "club ed" lizz winstead finds common ground with sarah palin? plus, michele bachmann has just been named to the intelligence committee. l lizz will have something to say about that but this is the story that has me fired up tonight. the hostagetakers of the republican party got $9 billion in ransom and now let's see if they will have the character to let the american people free on the job front. now the party of no just got everything they wanted when the president signed the tax compromise bill into law earlier today. >> both houses of congress have now passed a package of tax relief that will protect the middle class, that will grow our economy, and will create jobs for the american people. the legislation i'm about to sign is a substantial victory for middle-class families across the country. they're the ones hit hardest by the recession that we've endured. they're the ones who need relief right now. and that's what's at the heart of this bill. >> you go

. -- dennis kucinich. he is a wonderful guy. he was on our daughters wedding. is gave our son in law his nomination to west point. we invited him and he said he was coming. i jokingly said, this is not the west side of cleveland. the people think like i do. we had some relatives who were liberals and now they like me a little bit better now that they know that i am friends with dennis kucinich. host: a viewer tweets in -- last question from nile, michigan. dave on the republican line. caller: i would first like to defend for george bush. i get tired of the democrats. f it was not for clinton's negligence, he would not have had those two words he was confronted with. i know they want to blame on iraq. that was the front he chose to fight the al qaeda gang. no army ever won in afghanistan. he knew where he could win the war. also, these democrats keep calling up back talking about the rich. i will tell you one thing. they never got a job. they should be happy that the rich are working hard and providing jobs for the democrats who want to tax the hell out of them.

i would have to split between bernie sanders and dennis kucinich, both of whom i have been admired for a long time. i would like to see them both on a ticket in 2012. thank you very much. host: an election gone wrong in kabul. nato and american officials had pushed strongly for parliamentary elections in september, gambling that a successful vote would show progress in the war and new growth in afghanistan's democracy. instead, insecurity, the disaffection, and fraud, particularly in the south, left the country's largest and most important ethnic group, with sharply reduced representation. the president there has tried to stay aloof from the dispute under pressure from the election commission preannounced that the parliament would be seated as planned on january 20. they reduced his support in parliament. columbia, missouri, scott on the line for democrats. caller: i was going to suggest somebody a little bit off the map, i guess. cicero. the reason would be that he came into power at a very critical time. . that is how she got good things into her house and she deserved it. i think sh

dennis kucinich has put his name on here. ron paul has put his name on this website and walter mondale has put his name on this website. this website is not a bunch of guys, you know, folks running around wearing tinfoil hats, saying that 9/11 needs to be reinvestigated. one other website i would like to make you aware of is a website that i have where you can read and download a book that i code-wrote that is entitled "divine 9/11 intervention." is a true story, which is hard for a lot of people to accept. guest: let me respond to you because we are running out of time. i do not believe there was an alternative conspiracy to carry out the 9/11 attacks. i believe the conclusion of the 9/11 commission and the u.s. intelligence authorities repeatedly affirmed the fact that there were 19 hijackers, 18 of the word from saudi arabia, one from egypt, who carry out the attacks with instructions given by osama bin laden. number 2, all the buildings that collapsed were destroyed by jet fuel and the crash and implosion of the attacks b

mounting a challenge to the democratic incumbent, dennis kucinich, george overcame tough odds and wonthe race. determined to turn the city around and bring cleveland out of the economic ditch, george organized a series of coalitions and public-private partnerships to bring cleveland back from the brink. more importantly, i think george would tell you he helped restore confidence and pride to the city. his motto was "together we can do it." and they did. he went on to serve as mayor for an entire decade and helped close an ugly chapter in cleveland's history. it was a harkable feat. once called the buckle of the rust belt and the butt of a lot of late-night television jokes, cleveland underwent a renaissance under george's leadership. it paid down a $110 million debt, added thousands of jobs, brought new development and businesses downtown and saw struggling sports franchises transformed into contenders. for george, it was never about him. he would never take full credit for the growth and prosperity cleveland enjoyed or the fact that he was named one of the nation's top mayors. it was