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we'll here from jonathan capehart on sirius xm radio. >>> and mitt romney tries and fails to rewrite his mandates on health insurance. just might rewrite the entire health reform law. >>> and later, how his opponents hope to make mitt romney seem very strange. it's an old story of a man and a dog. follow the wings. [ ringing ] hello? [ sea ] hello, this is the sea calling. [ laughing ] [ sea ] what's the last romantic thing he did for you? ohh, i don't know... ummm... did you have to do that to me? what counts as romantic? is somebody watching me somewhere? like emptying the dishwasher? [ laughing ] is this your mother? ♪ ♪ to those who say... [worker 1:] we need to produce our own energy. [announcer:] and, to those who say... [worker 2:] we need environmental protection. [announcer:] conocophillips says, you're right. find out how natural gas answers both at powerincooperation.com. florida law that you could not believe was actually enacted in the 21st century has been protecting the man who shot and killed trayvon martin. coming up, we'll have a federal prosecutor here who will rev

i want to bring in jonathan capehart who has been covering this closely.e's joining us by satellite. he has some questions for you, too. >> hi, mr. oliver, thanks for being here. so you've said that you've known george zimmerman for six years. >> yes. >> and one of the things that we know about george zimmerman is that he's wanted to be in law enforcement, as you said in the beginning of the interview that he is a criminal justice major, right? >> correct. >> so did he ever talk to you about his desire to be in law enforcement? >> yeah. we talked about it briefly, about what he was majoring in and what he wanted to do with his future. and basically, he generalized it in that he was a criminal justice major, and he wanted to do something in law. >> but did he specify what exactly? because law enforcement is a very large field. >> yeah. i mean, he specified that, you know, he wanted to try and get into police work and possibly become a lawyer. >> mm-hmm. and so possibly get into police work. did he try? >> i don't know if he did. >> to get into police work?

msnbc contributor and my colleague at "the washington post," jonathan capehart, he's an editorial writert "the post," he was there. jonathan, your style, i can imagine while you made the invite list and not me, pocket squares and what not. tell me, first of all, this is not an event that most people get to go to. set the scene. what's it like to be at a state dinner, in particular, last night's? >> well, excuse me, being invited is one of those, one of those thrills, when you get that ivory-colored envelope that just has a simple return address, "the white house." but getting there, going through security, being announced to your own colleagues, but being announced to the press, and then actually being able to be at an event that is so grand, so, sort of, symbolic of your country, and then having it be accessible, being able to -- i'm seeing the video for the first time. being able to walk up to harvey winestein or john legend or george clooney or any of the other invited guests and just say, hi, my name is -- and have a conversation with them. that's what's so special about last night's

msnbc political analyst, alex wagner, host of msnbc top rating now with alax wagner show and jonathan capehartor the washington post. good afternoon. karen, we couldn't think of what to buy mr. romney for his birthday because what do you buy for a man that has everything and $250 million. if you look at the washington postpolling, it has romney ahead of the president. do you think he will get two belated birthday presents from alabama and mississippi tomorrow? >> it sounds like me might get one. the pander fest that's been coming out of his mouth has been pretty stunning. cheesy grits and southern belle hugs. having jeff foxworthy there along with him, he should have just shut up. what he is is not what the voters want. that's why he hasn't been able to seal the deal. the problem he's gotten is, he may pull out a win. the problem will continue to be even as we have seen over the last week, every one of these instances reenforces the thing that they don't like about him. he changings his stripes based on who he is standing next to. he's still not going to be able to seal the deal with the party

for reaction, i'm joined now by msnbc contributor in washington, "post" opinion writer, jonathan capeha capehart. this happened over the last hour, probably the most personal line from the president, saying if i had a son he would look just like trayvon. >> i was watching it live, listening to mike mike vick viqereis, listening to the officials down in sanford, florida, quite frankly, was lacking. the president, you know, did not wade into the legal complexities, the nuances, or even the specifics of the stand your ground law or any of the legal questions down there, because, as he said, the leader of the executive branch and the justice department is investigating. but he took it to the 37,000 foot level by talking about it as a parent. and speaking as the, you know, number-one parent in america, the president of the united states. when he said, my message to trayvon's parents is this, and then saying if i had a son, he would look like trayvon, on twitter i'm hearing from people, i have the same exact reaction. it was -- it was something that hit you in the gut in a wonderful way. that the pres

jonathan capehart, you wrote this. this week, the obama administration might have done just enough to keep the affordable care act from being rul ruled unconstitutional. if obama care is struck down, the implications are uncertain. conservatives may be buoyed by a mid year victory. the long-term consequences, however, are obvious. sooner or later, it will be inevitable. i am talking about a single payer health care system. if the supreme court strikes down obama care, the singer payer system will go from being politically impossible to being, in the long run, fiscally impossible. >> gene, in politics, there's always the law of unintended consequences. republicans could see this health care bill struck down and see an even more far-reaching one passed after the election. >> well, look, this is -- as lawrence said this is kind of halfway health care reform. this is health care reform light. it leaves out a lot of people. it's based on this sort of rube goldberg employer-based system that evolved here and ended up being,

back with us karen finney, jonathan capehart and julian. was that a yawn from you? haven't started yet. >> it wasn't a yawn. it was more of sigh about mississippi. >> how would you rank romney's y'all? how much gravy to drown out the taste? >> i thought his y'all was fine. what i have a problem with is it's not cheesy grits. it's cheese grits, man. i love cars. >> do you have any cadillacs, jonathan? >> i have a couple at home. >> this is the point. martin, this is the point because romney's leading with his chin. the biggest crack is his lack of authenticity. they say he needs better political consultants to get past this problem. i think he need a psychiatrist because he seems to have multiple personality disorder. bill maher likens him to mannequin at jcpenney he has more positions and identities than a game of twister. he has no core like a mannequin and he is inauthentic. >> what does a win for romney mean if practice? does he have to win in mississippi and alabama or would a gingrich win spoil santorum enough for romney still having trouble with conservative v

mike barnicle and jonathan capehart are still with us.able, political analyst and host of pbs's "need to know" jeff greenfield is back with us. nice to have you. >> good to be here. >> good day to have you as well. joe and i have been talking about the jeb bush endorsement. we want to get your take on that. joe, rank and file republicans are rallying around mitt romney as their likely presidential nominee coming off that decisive victory in illinois. and he did get finally yesterday the endorsement by former governor jeb bush. what do you make of it? >> well, i think rallying around, the term you use, may be a bit strong. this is -- as we said the last hour, it just may be that the 18 kids on the baseball field realize that they all got there without a baseball or bats or gloves. and the nerd in the stands wants to get on the field to play, and he's the only one that allows the game to go forward. so i don't know that anybody is, quote, rallying around mitt romney. but he's got the money. he's got the organization. and he looks today like

jonathan capehart, karen finney and michael eric dyson. karen, given mitt romney's current poll rating, ahead of rick santorum by 37 to 31% according to a new fox chicago poll. is this the ultimate proof that being inauthentic and uninspiring really doesn't matter in these primaries. it's about being organized, and if you're organized, you can win? >> it certainly shows that if you understood the way the calendar works and the way the math works and you have the money to be organized, sure. it means you can get yourself to the nomination. although, again, we'ved talked about this before. part of the reason that mitt romney hasn't been able to do better is, again, he's just not able to connect with all of the different parts of the party. still going to have a problem in the general election. it seems he's been able to out organize his opponents. >> professor dyson, romney went after the president in his own backyard of chicago claiming his policies would hinder innovation. take a listen. >> the reality is under president obama's administra

>>> time now for the daily rant are jonathan capehart. jonathan, the floor is yours. >> trayvon martin was shot by a gunman on february 26. the ensuing outrage 20 days later has swept the nation. in a series of interviews on msnbc the past few days, city manager bonapart has exhibited all the compassion of a stone. >> has anything changed on that? >> no, nothing has changed at this point. >> at this point. is anything about to change? are you considering a suspension, a firing, some other sort of temporary leave or status for the police chief? >> i think it's fair to say that yesterday the city commission took a vote, as you pointed out. that's something i take very seriously. >> bonaparte failed to answer the questions about the stas us of police chief bill lee. not until later did he express sympathy for trayvon's family. he did say, what we want here is justice, but he said it with all the warmth of a bill collector. his coldness would be explained a few hours later when the policeman announced he is temporarily relieving himself of th

eugene o'donnell, jonathan capehart and melissa harris-perry. >> you can have the last word on our blog. you

joining me "washington post" post eugene robinson and jonathan capehart. what a lineup.h of you have been so strong and so personal. i just want to say the reason we wanted you here today is you have just led the pack of brilliant writing. jonathan, you've been taking apart zimmerman's defense point by point led by lawrence o'donnell and others on our air. what do you find most dispositive about the tape that emerged, the police tape even though it is fuzzy and you don't see everything but he certainly does not appear to be terribly injured. he's walking. >> that's it. we had been hearing until this tape was revealed that he was in a life and death struggle, that they were rolling around in the grass, that his knows was broken, his head had been bashed several times into the sidewalk. and then out comes this video where he doesn't look like he was in a life or death struggle but someone who may have been arrested for illegally driving a golf carton the highway. his shirt is tucked in. he just looks unbelievably presentable. that will to me was literally eye opening to di

eugene o'donnell, jonathan capehart and melissa harris-perry.

jonathan capehart, opinion writer for the "washington post" and karen finney, and also an msnbc politicalyst. and robert costa, political report he for the national review and a contributor to our friends at cnbc. i want to stick with 2012. jonathan, we know that it seems the romney folks are trying to have a field day with santorum because they're hoping that pay no attention to what happened with the ballot box in louisiana saturday night. but do pay attention to what they're trying to create a hash tag. are they having any luck? >> well, thanks to rick santorum and his anger at our colleague and friend jeff, it might work. the romney campaign has been single-minded in its determination to win this nomination. they're not so much concerned about states. as much as they would love to win states. i'm sure they would have loved to have won louisiana. time and again we hear the romney campaign about, it is all about the delegates. anything they can do to knock rick santorum off his message. we're about his expletive and about not anything that rick santorum wants to do as the republican nom

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jonathan capehart?went through and the administration went through to get health care done, to get dodd/frank done. remember, the hispanic community was upset with the president, the gay and lesbian community was upset with the president for not doing what he said he would do within the first year of his administration. >> jonathan? >> yes, jose? >> jonathan, i think it's all about political capital. and i think that if in 2009 or 2010, and this is just my opinion, he had presented, for example, a dream act, not in a lame-duck session, but a dream act which would incorporate young people, many who don't know any other country than the united states, that were brought here when they were 4 and 5 years of age, many don't even know they're undocumented until later on in life. and that, i think, would have been a very strong statement to the hispanic community, and yet, politically, very little cost involved. before you tackled some of the bigger issues that do have a huge political cost involved. >> telemu

joining the panel now is msnbc contributor and columnist for "the washington post," jonathan capehartvernor rendell, we were discussing in the last block, pete williams who we will go to in a second, he's not a betting man but this thing could get overturned, the individual mandate. what does that mean? you were talking during the break where in the national health care plan might go. >> quickly, ironically, this could pave the way for thing that conservatives hate the most and that's a single payer system. essentially, medicare for everybody. and that's the thing the conservatives hate the most. but businesses don't mind it because they're off the hook, he they no longer pay for health care for employees. secondly the idea that john kerry put forward in the '04 campaign, stop loss, where the gfrt ensures any catastrophic care over $50,000 the government pays 75% of it, that levels out and smooths out the cost. let me say one other thing, though, if this gets overturned i think the democratic base is aroused in a way it isn't aroused right now because i think they all of a sudden real

we'll be joined by charles blow, jonathan capehart, u joean -- eugene o'donnell to look at all this evidence[music plays] ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays] i've been fortunate to win on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit, even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. because enbrel, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores,

. >>> welcome back, "washington post" writer jonathan capehart rote a piece about trayvon martin. jonathan, this trayvon martin story has the whole country really focused in on things that you and i just know naturally. >> right. >> we're here where you -- one of the homes you grew up in, tell us where we are. >> we're on meeker avenue in newark, new jersey. i was 16 years old. >> you were a year lounger than trayvon was when he was killed in sanford, florida? >> yeah, a year younger. so i moved from this environment back to an urban environment. and the rules of living in an urban environment are different. i had to learn how to get from home to the bus stop, what buss to take to get to school. >> so you would go to the bus stop to get to school? >> yes. >> so i would leave the house and walk down this hill to the bus stop. i would do this every day. >> so you learn these don'ts. >> yes, and they were lessons that were tough to hear at 16 years old. don't run in public, someone will find you suspicious. don't run in public with anything in your hands, someone will think you stole

i know we'll be back with jonathan capehart. thanks for your great work on this. it's been an honor to keep dylan's chair warm wil he's been out. he will be well rested and ready to go on monday. "hardball" begins right now. >> president obama wants the facts. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris matthews. tonight the president weighs in. president obama was asked about the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. mr. obama said, all of us have to do some soul searching now to figure out how something like this could happen. and then he said this. >> my main message is to the parents of trayvon martin. you know, if i had a son, he would look like trayvon. >> wow. well, the last time the president was asked about a racially charged police incident, the moment backfired on him when he sharply criticized the cambridge, massachusetts police officer. this time i think he got it just right. >>> plus, yet another sign that republicans see a winnable election slipping away from them. peggy new man told mitt romney today in her column that comes out tomo

unless you play and fill out those brackets along be way the joining us is krystal ball and jonathan capehart and david corn. good day to you all. we have a lot to talk about on this thursday. when we look at romney, he may not want to see saturday. we're going to missouri. we're going to see a high evangelical vote again. struck out on two major states this week. >> didn't we already have missouri, which we did. they have a strange caucusing and voting process. we saw how this played before. rick santorum resonated in missouri and did well. march is a very tough month for mitt romney not just because of the basketball and people recognizing just how much he doesn't relate, but because this is a string of challenging states. i think going in to illinois next week, he has very little momentum and that's going to be a critical state. >> talk about string of difficult states. david, we have louisiana and texas. two other states over to see evangelical votes. so far this year, nbc news has found he has not. romney has not won any state where evangelical votes have been above 50%. >> that would be

back with us now, jonathan capehart and david corn. an, i'm going to call you jonathan which i know is odd because martin usually calls you john. john. he's not here so i'm calling you nth jo. the president is out on this tour. he is trying to get the upper hand. the white house calls this all of the above strategy. there is this reality that gas prices, in d.c. it's like $4.65. he's going to suffer from that. whether that's fair or not, we're going to have to deal with that, correct? >> correct. no president, whether the gas prices go up or down has any control over gas prices. it's the world commodities markets that have control over gas prices. so the president gets blamed when they go up. the president gets blamed when they go down and there's nothing they can do about it. the only thing that a white house and administration, a president can do is to try to make decisions and do things that at least give people the confidence that the president is trying to do any number of things to bring, you know, ease the pressure at the pump. w

krystal ball and jonathan capehart. we've been following the contraception battle in congress.out sandra fluke who was courageous enough as both of us know to testify in favor of the need for contraception. just a few minutes ago rush limbaugh doubled down on his own thoughts by saying this. so miss fluke and the rest of you, here is the deal. if we're going to pay for your contraceptive and pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. we want you to post the videos online so we can all watch. that's a direct quotation. krystal. i'm speechless. >> it's despicable and disgusting and coming from a loathsome individual who has no idea the class and the courage that it took for her to testify. don't forget, he obviously, did not listen to her testimony or doesn't care what was in her testimony because what she spoke about is a friend who lost an ovary because she could not afford birth control. this isn't just about contraception. this is about women's health. he should keep it up because he's making our case for us about how extreme and ob noxious the republican position is.

coming up, we'll play more from that new interview of george zimmerman's father in florida and jonathan capehartlissa harris-perry and charles blow have been waiting to react the all of this. and now we have the latest developments from his father. that's coming up. ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. ♪ i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service. >>> we've more breaking news from the news interview with george zimmerman's father. we'll play more of that interview

the police report includes -- jonathan capehart pointed this out -- includes trayvon martin's full name, date of birth, his redacted street address and phone number. however, trayvon martin -- and that report was filed and closed, according to the report, on the night, february 27th at 3:07 in the morning. but the family says that trayvon martin's body was tagged as john doe. both those things can not be true. if you have all of his information, where he lives, his telephone number, he's not a john doe. now, the other thing -- the fishy part about that, there's a part on the police report that says, "is there a juvenile involved?" if you know that he is born on february 5th, 1995, you know he's 17 years old, that box should have been yes. it is no. i asked the family if they could verify somebody else, independent of them, could verify whether or not he was listed as a john doe because the medical examiner would not do it and the funeral parlor, out of ft. lauderdale, florida, said they could not pick up that body for three days because it was listed as a john doe. >> so listed as a joh

i'm joined tonight by natalie jackson an attorney for trayvon martin's family and jonathan capehart, an msnbc contributor and washington post opinion writer. great to have you with us. what's your response when you hear someone saying we should stop covering the case until the investigation is finished snd. >> we've talked about this among our team. the family is very tired. they feel that they need this press. they need the media because without the people or support they would have never got tennessen the special prosecutor. they were told your child is dead, george zimmerman claimed self-defense. case closed. >> isn't the story spreading out to iowa, minnesota, massachusetts where the stand your ground laws are getting some serious scrutiny and not flying through the legislative session and getting the signatures they have gotten in the past? are we seeing a review of what we're doing with gun laws? >> we are seeing that. we're seeing a review and understanding of what the gun laws say. in this case people have purposely misconstrued the justified use of force law. it's for an inn

msnbc contributor jonathan capehart, opinion writer for the "washington post." and political analyst, former dnc communications director, karen finney. in minneapolis, ana marie cox. since so much of these candidates appear to have problems we have loogs, isn't this race really the survival not of the fittest but the survival of the richest? and that man is mitt romney. he doesn't appear to be winning for any other particular reason, does he? >> i suppose that's probably true. look. people keep blaming the process but you're right, he who has the most money at this point seems to be the one who has been able to make the best case in order to win. he still has this fundamental problem that i think we'll talk about for some time in that he has not been able to really win broadly within the republican party. so i guess what question you have to ask yourself is in the general election, is money going to be enough to buy love. >> that's a good question. john, when you listen to mitt romney's latest awkward outing, this time with george h.w. bush and his wife barbara