last night on "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell, republican strategist david frum explains what he meant when he tweeted that the media, specifically fox news, could end up costing the election. >> the economy remains very sluggish. we're getting close to that decision moment. the numbers continue heartbreaking. and the american people, they have a decision mechanism. did the incumbent deliver? the incumbent who doesn't deliver may have a lot of excuses. he may have tried his best but he doesn't. then they turn to the alternative. if the alternative does not discredit themselves, the one issue that may save president obama from a pad economy is the ability to run on the medicare issue. if republicans are driven by media voices into a stampede of unanimity where everybody has to say, yes, we're signing up for this ryan plan, that is going to be our ballot issue for 2012. there is no need to cooperate with that narrative but that does cooperate with the core obama narrative. the republican message should be a vote for republicans for economic recovery for jobs, less regulation and

. >>> last night on the last word with lawrence o'donnell, he asked former michigan governor how she feels about mitt romney funds-raising in his state. after his opposition to the bailout back in 2008 of the auto industry. >> we would have seen 1.4 million people unemployed. in michigan alone a 20% unemployment rate. now this has just worked out pretty well and the auto industries are paying back their loans, has put them on a path of profitability and hiring, interesting that when chrysler said that it was done paying back its loans last week, he said they're followed what i suggested. it's an incredible -- the guy is shameless. i just can't believe that people are going to buy this fellow. this there are a whole string of flip flops that you know about. i think that people who want to donate should be looking at when auto industry was asking for a donation, what he was saying, i think they should give him the same answer. >>> here's your "first look" at other news going around in america today. the north sky over northern rhode island turned orange after an eight-alarm fire. fire

msnbc's lawrence o'donnell grew up nearby. >> you would not be asked questions about what your brother does, because too many people have brothers doing things they couldn't explain. >> reporter: but those pesky questions never went away, even at a 2003 congressional hearing. >> i do not know where my brother is. >> he was respecting his brother by not telling him where he was. >> everybody knows everything and kept people, same old, same old. >> reporter: you think billy knew? >> yes. >> reporter: billy did release a statement after the arrest late last night saying i wish to express my sympathy to all of the families hurt, but also said he will not comment any further. >> by the way, lester, it's important to remember, whitey bulger was an fbi informant. many believe he actually had accomplices with the fbi, people who still work there, so if he cuts a deal with prosecutors, it could open a whole new can of worms. >> many people in boston were surprised that whitey bulger was finally caught, but perhaps no one was more surprised than the people who had been living right next to him f

people like rachel maddow people like lawrence o'donnell everyone on fox news that was covering this nonstop yesterday do you think that they really care about the story is that what they want to be talking about or is it some executive sitting in a room saying we got to run with this yeah it's tough to say i mean you know when you look at the entire donald trump you know the kind of opera that he was doing as a presidential run i mean i found that disturbing you know because it went on and on and on for so long it was somebody who clearly wasn't going to run who's a master showman and charlatan seem to be that sucked a lot of energy out of you know what is that was a more serious question which is who who's going to be the nominee for the president of the united so a presidential race in two thousand and twelve something like this is you know it's a side show for sure but at least i find this one more entertaining than a lot of the drivel that the media continues to cover and think it's really important i don't know i find this one a little demeaning for the media personally i can t

the scandal is that it may have all originated right here on hannity according to m s n b c s lawrence o'donnell there's a perfectly good reason congressman weiner is keeping things they are the longer you look at the picture especially the pixellated version the more you begin to understand why congressman weiner might not want to deny the fact there's a picture of him in fact the longer i look at it the more i don't want to deny that it might be a picture of me jealousy aside this is a hard hitting investigation no one is giving up on because you haven't answered a question about whether the photo is you or not you realize that now everybody thinks the photo is you and so where there's smoke there's fire there must be a real scandal here you must've been doing something creepy here well let me ask you whether or not you want to answer that question and then let me ask what the answer to it is when you're named wiener it kind of goes with the territory. it goes with the territory and you know we hear it r t we're curious about this how americans really feel because this story deserves the hype

lawrence o'donnell there's a perfectly good reason congressman weiner is keeping things they no longer i look at it the more i go on of than i did it might be a picture of me jealousy aside this is a hard hitting investigation no one is giving up on you realize that now everybody thinks the photo is you and this is a close range i'm certain you can't tell me to findlay that is a photo of you or it is not a photo of you have you ever taken a picture like this of yourself is this or is this not representative winner's chief of staff when you're named wiener it kind of goes with the territory all right so we here at r.t. we're curious about this how do americans really feel as this story deserved the hype that's been getting our producer lindsay garfield hit the streets of washington d.c. i any answers. the past few days the news networks have been covering what's going on with this wiener gate scandal it did the mainstream networks care more about this than the people do you find out i honestly don't really care much about it it seems like more of a distraction than anything. i think it'

"last word with lawrence o'donnell" starts right now. >>> on january 27th, 1992, a political sex scandal became a chaotic media circus at a press conference in a new york hotel. atmospherically similar to what we saw yesterday in a press conference in a new york hotel. i wasn't the only one who was certain then in 1992 that the politician at the center of that scandal was finished in american politics. he went on to become the 42nd president of the united states. >> i think, he's going to come under i think a lot of pressure to resign. >> the man should resign and we should move on. >> republicans want anthony wiener out. democrats are a little more forgiving. but just a little. >> what anthony weiner did as far as i know up to now didn't hurt anybody other than himself and maybe his good wife. >> i wish there was some way i could defend him, but i can't. >> it's a loose rope around their ankle. >> republicans are going to keep this in the media as long as they can. >> last thing we need is emeshed in a discussion about congressman weiner and his twitter activities. >> what will the hous

"last word with lawrence o'donnell" starts rite now. >>> where can you have a sex scandal without any actual sex? only in american politics. >> i am deeply regretting what i have done. i am not resigning. >> that was quite an amazing press conference. >> extraordinarily titillating and stimulating sexual content. >> to be clear the picture was of me. >> a tearful and emotional weiner. >> right wing blogger reveals more photos than anthony wiener admits he lied. >> my primary apologies is to my wife, huma. >> when all else fails the truth. >> this was a very dumb thing to do. >> new photos, shirtless photos, the area below his waist. >> somebody ask you if that's a picture of your penis, you say no or you say yes. >> i think it was really great. i think he didn't make his wife stand up there with him. >> while congressman weiner was preparing his apology, brightbart claimed he was a victim. >> essentially hijacking the press conference. >> i'm here for clarification. >> things that are much more cons kweshl than a man's penis. >> sarah palin is still victimizing american history. >> sp

they coordinate and put talking points from media matters into the mouths of free zachariah, lawrence o'donnell coordination is stellar. it's impeccable. if people were to analyze what's going on at the white house in terms of their talking points, and what goes on at msnbc. >> bill: the democratic machine gets their message to msnbc. now, of course, it's been -- fox news in articles, even last week have been accused of the republican, we're the republican machine. i have never -- i have been doing this 15 years. never heard from a republican. never gotten anything from them. but that is the accusation against this network which i think is patently false. but, i'm very interested. the "new york times" used to be, used to be where all this stuff emanated from. that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. >> no. they have so many, you know, organs that are working for the same purpose. the huffington post was created to become the drudge report of the right. >> bill: that succeeded in doing that. >> that's exactly what they wanted to do and what they want to do is try to make sure that stories don't

msnbc's lawrence o'donnell grew up nearby. >> you would not be asked questions about what your brothermany people have brothers doing things that i couldn't explain. >> reporter: but those pesky questions never went away. even at a 2003 congressional hearing. >> i do not know where my brother is. >> not telling him where he was, i look at it. >> everybody knows everything. and same old, same old. >> reporter: you think billy knew? >> yeah. >> reporter: billy bulger released a statement expressing sympathy to all of the families hurt, but said he will not comment any further. by the way, remember whitey bulger was also an fbi informant. many believe he actually had accomplices inside the fbi. so if he cuts a deal with prosecutors, lester, and talks, a lot of people are worried it could open a whole new can of worms. >> all right, jeff, thanks. talk radio host and boston herald columnist howie car was once a target of whitey bulger's. his new book about bulger's enforcer is called "hit man." great to have you on. >> great to be on, lister. >> how did you get on whitey bulger's bad side?