candidate and put his own favorite into the big run for the pivotal senate seat that is exactly what joe ricketts did with a pile of money at the last minute ricketts flooded the airwaves in nebraska and move dead fisher from being an obscure hard right candidate that nobody took seriously to be seen both of the more established hard right candidates that have been supported by other millionaires and billionaires and now the plan to drop last minute cash on a low blow was presented to billionaire joe ricketts as part of a similar strategy to destroy president obama's reelection chances documents leaked to a new york times reporter show a fancy expensive full color glossy presentation done by a hot shot advertising a p.r. firm titled the defeat of baraki hussein obama the ricketts plan to end his spending for good what is a plan to swith both the president using clips of old jeremiah wright speeches in comments the plan itself says according to new york times the world is about to see jeremiah wright and understand his influence on barack obama for the first time in a big attention arresting way a

has joe ricketts been impugned in this controversy?, i think he learned a lesson, you talk about corporate money coming into politics. this is why it's not going to. these guys touch politics and get burned so badly. he's apologizing to the reporters in new york, the only thing anybody's going to know is this. it's dangerous for people who have other interests to get into politics like this. i mean perhaps fairly. their customers care a lot about it, but that's what he learned here. >> he made a rookie mistake and he was playing with fire and got burnt. >> robert traynham is speaking the truth. >> you don't see a lot of publicly traded companies making racial attacks on the president. >> he was playing with fire. this is what happens when is a lot of people have a lot of money and want to play in politics. it's despicable to bring up the president's race and whether he was born in this country or not. he was born in this country. he's just as much an american as anyone else on this stage is. however, it is fair game to talk about his p

joe ricketts has released a statement. he said not only was this plan mere eight propose ball reflects an approach to politics that mr. ricketts rejects and it is never a plan to be accepted but only a suggestion for a direction to take. meanwhile, it is called the ricketts plan to end his, meaning president obama's spending for good. tell me about joe ricketts here. >> the timing couldn't be worse here in chicago. joe ricketts actually lives in nebraska and certainly it was part of his money that bank rolled the cubs. it is his two sons and daughter who actually run the cubs that are considered the owners. not him. so the cubs today are very much trying to say, wait a second. that is our father. that is not us. because what's going on politically here in chicago, mayor rahm emanuel, former mr. obama's chief of staff, is trying to help lobby for a huge renovation of wrigley field, some $100 million, trying to get all the politicos in place to say yes, good idea. this would not help in any way, shape or form to say we're go

joe ricketts' son, cubs' chairman, tom ricketts said i repudiate any return to racially divisive issues in this year's presidential campaign or any setting like my father has. meanwhile, daughter laura ricketts, an lbgt activist and obama bundler said she will continue to do all i can to help get president obama re-elected. the timing couldn't be worse for the ricketts family. they are currently in negotiations with former chief of staff rahm emanuel to work on wrigley field. that's right. they are hoping the taxpayers will pony up to the bar. emanuel is absolutely livid over joe ricketts' attack ads and refused to speak to the family. >> you can have disagreements without being disagreeable. if that's the nature, america is too great a future for the content they're talking about. it's insulting for the president and the country. >> let's turn to msnbc analyst richard wolffe and political analyst reporter, sam stein. the plan, is this the real deal or a fake, what do you think? >> a plan if not done by ricketts, done by someone else. does prove you don't have to be smart to be rich. he

for what it's worth the reason i'm closing my account is because of your chairman joe ricketts. you know who that is? oh, okay. well it's sort of everything. just when you see joe by the water cooler, just let him know he made a mistake. >> all right. last thing. at the end of the day was this hurt or help president obama? michael you go first hastings. >> if they can paint romney and his supporter as radical nut jobs, that will be able to help the campaign. this didn't stick. it's ugly. no american out there doesn't know who president obama is at this point. so i doubt this really sways this against obama. >> that's right. four years ago he is an unknown quantity. it didn't work then, and it is not going to work out. it will be a swing and a miss for the right. >> it's a shame they didn't waste that $10 million though. now they will probably do another attack. all right. when we come back really good news, a law gets declared unconstitutional. >> i am full of joy to be a plaintiff in this particular case. why? because we're at a turning point in the history of this nation. we n

again, i never heard of this guy joe ricketts. i'm sure the people of chicago will be surprised when they find out what the owner of the cubs is up to. bob is in palatine, illinois. what do you say? >> todd ricketts is his son, not his brother but he's -- he appointed -- but this isn't new for rick. in the last election cycle he formed the pac and he put $600 million in it and he gave it all to sharon engel running against terry reed then a month later tom ricketts asked the taxpayers of illinois to cough up $150 million to fix wrigley field. >> bill: oh, really? after he put all of that money into sharon engel. thank you, bob. we're -- and joey. we're finding out more and more about the ricketts family in chicago. joe ricketts is the guy who is behind this. he's the money behind it. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." it's go time. >>every weeknight cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the guys in the middle class the guys in the lower end got screwed again. >>i think you know which one we're talking about. the ov

brian baker, the president of ricket's political action spending said joe ricketts is a registered independence, a fiscal conservative and an out spoken critic of the obama administration. he is not an author or funder of the ricketts plan. his proposal was one of the several submitted, but an approach to politics that mr. ricketts never suggests. it should be noted that on page 46 of the proposal, with your preliminary approval in the new york meeting. so ricketts apparently presented some kind of preliminary proposal. we have not yet received a response. meanwhile, mitt romney denounced a plan after a campaign event in flr florida on thursday. >> i want to make it clear i repudiate that effort. i think it's the wrong course for a pact or a campaign. >> so here's what i find fascinating about this. i find it fascinating for a number of reasons. the first reason i find it interesting is that what we saw during the primary was one of the unintended consequences of citizens united, which i found really interested. all of the sudden, you've got these billionaires -- i guess he said he wasn't a bil

. >> joe ricketts. would bank roll the initiative. >> he's a billionaire. >> with $10 million. >> to argue the president misled the nation. >> what are the words metrosexual black abe lincoln mean? >> portraying himself as -- >> metrosexual black abe lincoln. >> john mccain's lead media stratist. john mccain nixed the idea. >> this is not a winning idea. >> fear mongering. >> it's insulting. >> it is nasty. >> this is hate porn. >> gutter politics. >> how does mitt romney respond to this? >> haven't seen the papers this morning. >> it's a lack of courage on the part of mitt romney. >> it takes attention away from the key issues. >> i'm not familiar with exactly what i said but i stand by what i said, whatever it was. >> overall this is terrible for our democracy. >> whatever it was. whatever it was. >> we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems. >> i stand by what i said. >> either black, white, latino, asian. >> whatever it was. >> but rather problems that confront us all. >>> the d

and now we have joe rickett who is is doing something which obviously the romney campaign has repudiated. has this been a citizen's united impact? >> it is. and we have seen this week most dramatically that this is a real to use the cliche double-edged sword for the campaigns. because on the one hand these are untold amounts of resources that can be thrown into the campaign. but the candidates don't get to control the message. so even as mitt romney keeps trying to talk about the economy which by the way is the issue that remains on the top of all the voters' concerns that day he was planning to talk about a big speech in florida and what did he talk about is an attack that never happened who was planned by people were not associated with his campaign. these outside sources are really sort of taking away from the candidates, the ability to control their own destiny in many ways. >> what's the difference though about the role of those outside forces in this campaign and what we saw say eight years ago when veterans for truth went after john kerry and independent of the bush campaign. >> p

the plan was commissioned by billionaire joe ricketts.eloped by fred davis who suggested a similar ad to the mccain cam contain in 2008. "new york times" reporters secured a copy of the campaign plan from, quote, a person not connected to the proposal. under the title "the defeat of barack hussein obama," the rick it's plan to end his spending for good, it is slimed calling president obama quote: out to change that and make the president unlikable to independent voters, and i quote: though campaign also called for a quote: conservative talk radio host larry elder was contacted to fill the role. brian baker president of the ending spending action fund insisted the plan was and i quote: which doesn't explain why the plan's authors wrote they had received quote: preliminary approval and were ready to jump into action when plan approval came through. and mitt romney tried to have it both ways. >> i want to make it very clear i repudiate that effort. i think it's the wrong coarse for a pac or a campaign. i have been disappointed in the preside

. >> as political strategists go, joe ricketts is a great businessman. that's what he is. and he has the right to spend his money any way he wants to. but i think frankly, his political advisors pushing this line are trying to fleece him frankly. the big money bags, he hates obama and they're appealing to his id. chris: throw the red meat out there and he'll buy it. zpwhrm if you want to win. the primaries are over essentially. you want to win, you got to reach swing voters and they aren't scared of reverend wright like the right wing is. also, it's old news. if you want to attack campaign and name willie horton or any other you want to bring up, they bring something new. there's some newness to them. jeremiah wright is old news now. chris: kathleen, obviously it got blown out of the water, the obama people clearly love the coming out this week, right? they love -- >> absolutely. chris: and everybody jumped on it. but there are people on the obama side afraid that in the end, you can play the ethnic card, that foreign card, are they afraid that it will work against him? >>

romney condemned this yesterday as the wrong course after first kind of waffling on the topic joe ricketts the guy who was supposed to put up the ten million bucks has walked it back apparently it didn't go over well with cubs fans among other things and but have we seen the last of this plan or is it going to is this going to become an issue if so how and when and and if so does that open the door for the democrats to play the mormon card and talk about mitt romney and his his long lineage of ancestors who are polygamists. and the oh yeah. and i think that's exactly right i think that romney and his campaign does not want to get into a discussion about religion or various sects of christianity and i think that in terms of what we see more of this thing with super pacs it's anyone's guess and the thing about super pacs is that in the immediate impact we've seen is that the majority of ads are going negative attack ads normally you kind of would lead with kind of a getting to know you bio spot and then you would go in and kind of get into me versus the opponent but with super pacs you don't

now pressure was so great that not only did joe rickettes said he rejected such approaches to politicsut mitt romney in an interview with an online publication said he would repudiate it even though he has no control over it technically. >> what's so interesting is joe rickettes didn't have to spe a dime. he has all the publicity he wants, he's bringing back jeremiah wright, tying him to obama, bringing up a 2008 story. if you remember in 2008 would be president obama said i am outraged at all of the comments that jeremiah wright made. so it's bringing it all back from that campaign four years ago. but no one paid a penny. >> suarez: and it reminds you of how quickly these things happen now. that document in the old days would have been described to viewers, leners, readers and now you can read it for yourself if you have the stomach for it >> i think people become more engaged when they have the document themselves. it used to be only the gatekeepers had the document now it's placed on twitter, on facebook, on the "new york times" web site, everybody can take a look at it and start al

ricketts i did not think it was worth consideration. joe was not at the meeting.ke to him about it. what i said was it was so far afield to what we wanted. i pointed him to i know you wanted something related to spending and we are giving you something related to character. it's one of many proposals. i meant we would not be doing it. i could have been clearer, yes. when i said no decision has been made, that meant we are not moving forward. >> you communicated no decision was made about what you would do. you tried to convey the plan would not be considered? >> what was your personal opinion? i said listen, my personal opinion said we know you asked for something related to spending and we gave you character. i discussed the bipartisan work. i have been on "morning joe" talking about our work and democrats doing spending and going after them when you don't. our work and mr. ricketts support. i went into great detail showing them we wanted nothing to do with reverend wright. the key issues in this economy, this election today are jobs and the debt and the debt cri

it is clear why folks dwhoenlt like obama or joe ricketts would go down this route. quite frankly it's a way to gin up fears against this president among people who already don't like him and already don't like the fact that, quite frankly, there's an african-american in the white house. >> senator mccain has responded to "the new york times" story. his spokesperson has said senator mccain is proud of the fact he ran in the 2008 campaign and stands by his decision and would make them again if he had to do it all over. this campaign ad is to go out and take president obama in this direction. would that consume the race? forget economy and the job. everything that mitt romney said he's after. would it just make everything all about jeremiah wright and then really the wheels would be off the bus so to speak? >> no. i mean it wasn't all about jeremiah wright when it was all about jeremiah write. wright. no matter how good the cause there's always somebody who agrees with you that you wish didn't. this is something mittny's campaign doesn't want to deal with. that's the n

we told you about joe ricketts plan to smear president obama.l black abe lincoln. buzzfeed came up with what a metrosexual black abe lincoln might look like? not bad. he's pretty style-ish. that got us thinking. how about if they tried to smear me. what would a metro sexual turkish george washington look like? they came up with that. i kind of like that one. she came up with me and an ma. are you ready for this, anna? she looks good. i look like a disaster. then this one is really metro sexual. look at the next one. okay, it says, you know how hard it is to find a pic of george washington blow-drying his powdered wig or getting a manicure. another one from tammy. you can see the ads. i got my jeans on. i'm feeling it. then one from our own current production team, stylein' and high-profilein'. turkish washington and lincoln who were apparently metro sexual sexual. >> i offer you $150 today as an opening offer for the box. we won't spin it. we will just show what is in the box. >> cenk: what in the world is in the box.

. >> joe ricketts is a registered independent, an outspoken critic of the obama administration but he'sama that the "new york times" wrote about this morning. >> a developing story. two people shot and wounded at a subway sandwich shop on the far south side. we're live at the scene with more. >> one of the victims a 22-year-old female employee who was working inside this subway restaurant when she was shot along with another victim. police say that the shooting happened at 8:35 p.m. here at the subway restaurant at 112th. the gunman simply walked into the store, opened fire and ran away. again two victims tonight, a 17-year-old male. he suffered a gunshot wound to the back rushed to christ hospital. and a 22-year-old female who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and back. we're told that she is in good

joe ricketts, founderer of td ameritrade and the owner of the cubs who "the new york times" said was willing to $18 million to finance the campaign, wked away from it. romney said at first that he had not seen the story and later in the day he said this. >> i want to make it clear i repudiate that effort. it is the wrong course for a pac. i hope our campaigns can be about the future and issueand a vision for america. i have been disappointed in the president's campaign to date which has been focused on character assassination. we are wiser to talk about issusues othe day and what we do to get america workinggain. >> he is talking aboutut the obamama ads painting romneney and bain capital as a job killers. it buries mitt romney's message for a full day, mark. >> it is s must've of reflective of the influence t that per pacs have. they are spending more than political partie this was an act of greed on the part of the proposed yours -- proposers, and stability, because the idea of running against president obama on his association wi rev. right, which did not turn out to be an issue in

joe ricketts, founder of td ameritrade and the owner of the cubs, who "the new york times" said paid $10 million to finance the campaign, walked away from it. romney said at first he had not seen the store, and later he said this. >> i want to make it very clear, i repudiate that effort. it is the wrong course for a pac or campaign. i hope that our campaigns can be about the future and issues and a vision for america. i have been disappointed in the president's campaign to date, which as been focused on character assassination. we are wiser to talk about issues of today, what to do to get america working again. >> he is talking about the obama ad painting bain capital as top killers. -- job killers. >> it is reflective of the influence that super pacs have. they are spending more than political parties. this was an act of greed on the part of the proposers and stability, because the idea of running on -- against president obama on his association with rev. right, which did not turn out to be an issue in 2008 -- to make it an issue in 2012 is analogous to a decision by the money a cam

as david said, it can be your name here, joe ricketts. you can be the proud owner of this hate porn that goes after the president in these hot button horrible ways that get you excited. i mean, really. you read that thing. it is disgusting to us but you can just imagine someone reading that and thinking, wow, i'm the man with the guts to do that. he takes a swipe at romney. they take a swipe at john mccain who was old. these are also, let's remember these are the people who brought us demon sheep and kristine o'donnell i am not a witch. they've brought down other republicans with their idiotic ads. they came from jon huntsman campaign. that was a profile in excellence. they're out raising money and it is a ridiculous ad but we'll see more of it. >> what seem most ridiculous about this particular play book is that we've seen the president close up for the best part of four years. have you ever heard him promote black liberation theology? have you ever heard him make any kind of incendiary reference, sorry, i'm going to have to stop. here's

we didn't know who joe ricketts was.trade, and people with a lot of money are going to play a very big role in this presidential election. >> speaking of people with big money who wanted to play a big role and are not, third-party americans elect, it's dead. we'll talk about it after the break. trivia time we ask who was the only vice president to be pictured on u.s. currency? i didn't know this answer. friday tough one. thomas hendricks. he was the vice president >>> let's bring back our panel. americans elect mark murray, you look at our nbc/wall street polling, never a higher aspiration for a third party. both parties under water for a longer period of time since we've seen since '98. our pollsters were convinced if there's going to be a year for a serious third party candidate, it was this one. it's fallen on its face. >> they couldn't find a candidate. part had to do with the fact you'd have to have one person, top of the ticket would be of one party. the vice presidential nominee would be the other party. that crea