advantage. >>> welcome back to "politicsnation," i'm al sharpton in los angeles, and this is melissa harris-perryi'll be back later, but melissa will pick up our coverage from here for a minute. >> thank you for letting me sit in the seat tonight. i will be talking with senator barbara boxer about the president's historic announcement on marriage equality and the very hard to understand choices that republicans are making on issues like student loans and food subsidies. >> folks, stick around, i'll be back later in the show. by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. >>> for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and af

, host of "melissa harris perry."ent who has served almost a full term. the country knows everything about this man and here we see michelle obama going back to the politics of personal biography. >> and both her biography and the president's. so just before she began to re-it rate president obama's, she had talked about her own and what it meant to grow up on the south side of chicago. she talked about her father making a contribution to her college education, even though most of her college education was paid for with student loans sochl generating that sense of empathy between the first family and american citizens who are in this moment of economic struggle. so i don't think it's about we don't remember the obama's biographies, but that they are trying to re-emphasize in the context of the campaign that even though they have been in the white house for the last four years that the white house is relatively new. they are much more so the up from family. a family that has made good on what the american promise is su

want to bring in now melissa harris perry, the host of "the melissa harris perry show" right here onng rogue. when we look at the democrats at there and we talk about the cory bookers, ed rendell, why have they gone off script? they've been cast in certain roles. why are they finding themselves off message so frequently? >> i think in this case, it's a very specific case of the relationship of these individuals to private equity, big money and maybe potentially even to bain. i think part of what's interesting here is seeing how much sort of the democratic party has done two things, one, democrats like republicans are as beholden to big money interest for their personal reelection and sort of personal income interest as both harold ford and cory booker and ed rendell all are, so in this case, it was actually their political interests against their financial interests. but the other thing is, remember, the moderate wing, the dlc aspect of the party really emerges quite powerful in the 1990s. looks like there's going to be a bit of a battle here about what the party's message is going t

joining us now is the host of melissa harris perry. melissa harris perry. >> funny how that works. >> why is this coming back? what do folks feel the actual upside is going to be? they didn't have much to attack him on, so they had to find things. here he has a record and he's been president for a little while now. >> i think that's part of what, if i wanted to tell the most reasonable story, a story that didn't include my own version of this sort of narrative of people being out to get you then my story would just say, look, the fact is that the economy is getting better in ways that point toward re-election. he's moving down toward that 8% unemployment which he himself set out, and the romney campaign set out. he's had significant foreign policy successes. when looking at the domestic and foreign policy successes of this president, they figure better to kind of go on the attack of him being scary and foreign. but that is really me being the most charitable that i can possibly be. in fact, i suspect it is a little worse than that. ther

. >> somewhere joining me is melissa harris-perry, and katherine crier. r joining me tonight. >> melissa, this divisive line of attack seems to be the new one what do you make of it? >> right now i'm just loving collin powell. you have surrogates on the republican team, and here you have general powell making it very plain and clear that no, this is a president who ran very much on a kind of method and goal of unifying the country, and was met with what will be described as massive ri distance from day one. there has been nothing but massive resistance, a just say no program on republicans. they using their tactics. it's really an incredible projection, a psychological projection of the gop on to the president. >> katherine, last night congressman paul ryan complained about president obama's devicive politics. he said it is not just undermine social solidarity, it brought it to a stand still when america was desperate for solutions to a devastates financial crisis fp. >> when you look at the record whether it was maintaining wall street, and not getting a

joining me is melissa harris-perry, and ej dion of the washington post. he is a columnist there. thank you for being here tonight. >> goo to be with you and melissa. >> how does day one of the projected romney presidency sound to you. >> i think we have to take very seriously his point that he would introduce tax cuts. now, i appreciate, first of all, that the president does not actually set tax policy, right? we want to the be clear that he understands how all of this works. that would have to happen for the congress. >> let's assume he does. >> that said, this has been a party, the republican party, has been on a deficit hawk scenario now for, really, since about ten days into president obama's presidency. they have been saying our single biggest burden and problem isn't jobs, the economy, it's the deficit. and what we have mitt romney saying, is from the moment i am president, i will add to the deficit. i will make this worse. i will introduce legislation that will create a bigger deficit. >> and he is doing it at the protection of the wealthy, and the protection of the tax cut

you're working, melissa, don't forget i will be watching, melissa harris-perry, weekends from 10:00 a.mnbc. ahead, can you feel the excitement building for willard romney? neither can i. more proof, the republican party just doesn't like their own guy. and nobody comes close to president obama when it comes to popularity and likeability, but he loses in his own house. why michelle obama could be the secret weapon for the president. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is you

melissa harris-perry is here to refind congresswomen of the actual record and the record of the republican party. another fight at fox news. karl rove and sarah palin don't see eye-to-eye on how to best attack the president. the weirdest ronald reagan story they've heard in decades. not only advocating from the legalization of marijuana. he lights up on the campaign trail and is promising to do so on the steps of the capitol if he wins. whoa. right? get. out. exactly! really?! [ mom ] what? shut the front door. right? woop-woop! franklin delano! [ male announcer ] hey! there's oreo creme under that fudge! oreo fudge cremes. indescribably good. >>> remember the season of dallas that was all a dream? republican women in congress are waking up and now trying to forget their own party's records on women's issues. the birthers and reverend wright conspirators are staging a comeback. and a vile of reagan's blood is reportedly up for auction. will we have a brokered republican convention after all? today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's numb

melissa harris-perry is here to refind congresswomen of the actual record and the record of the republican party. another fight at fox news. karl rove and sarah palin don't see eye-to-eye on how to best attack the president. the weirdest ronald reagan story they've heard in decades. not only advocating from the legalization of marijuana. he lights up on the campaign trail and is promising to do so on the steps of the capitol if he wins. emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. [ laughs ] whoo. ♪ oh. nice! great! [ laugh

well melissa harris perry, than thanks for weighing in.er show every saturday and sunday at 10:00 a.m. here on msnbc. >>> john edwards defense attorneys right now are asking the judge to throw out the corruption case. the defense says prosecutors have failed to prove that edwards intelligencely violated any laws. joining me now is professor of law. good day to you. this trial has been going more than a couple weeks now. the jury is not in the court. can you put perspective on what's happening today? edwards is on trial for using campaign funds. not whether he's a liar or adulter adulterer. those have been proven. >> they're asking to take the case out. the jury really is part of the democratic system. the judge is probably going to give it to the jury, let it decide. >> what about what prosecutors did yesterday. they ended the case by showing the nightline interview with edwards where he admitted to his affair but denied he was the father of the child. he claimed he didn't know of any money being used to hide her. how can they believe anyt

i'm joined by the literate, lovely, melissa harris mer perry.nd comes tonight land. >> it's nice to be here. >> mitt romney claims president obama has a leadership problem but it appears he's the one. he can't get his own party in order. he can't get his own campaign in order. >> let me give the most fair reading of romney that i can on this. it's two things. it's not surprising to me that somebody has come out of primary is not in control of their party. it doesn't say anything about his leadership per se. there will come a point post-gop convention where romney will be much more a leader of the party where he can put his own voice forward. the second thing is even among some of the most progressive voices in american history, we have had people, leaders who have walked away from gay and lesbian supporters because of the ways in which we as a country have made it possible for that to happen. we will talk tomorrow on my show about martin luther king jr. walking away because of rustin was openly gay. what i want to push on here is romney, to me t

and i will also be talking about my book in upcoming weeks, and coming up is melissa harris-perry. >> near your number, and we have the resurrection of jeremiah wright, and we are going to be joined by otis moss who is the senior pastor of the church of christ in chicago, and also theologian as well as i attended jeremiah wright's church for a while, and i have a lot to say on that. >> that is melissa harris-perry who is coming up next. thanks for getting up "up." >>> time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. mariah is the founder of it is rus lane. subscribers sign up for a subscription, and once a month get a surprise package of baby products. she did her own research and focus groups to test and fine tune the packages. to find out more go the yourbusiness.com/msnbc. for three hours a week, i'm a coach. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a f

. >> melissa harris-perry, i'll see you tomorrow morning. >> glad to have you. >> you can catch the show saturdays and sundays from 10:00 to noon eastern. thank you for being here. >>> still ahead, nobel prize winner will be here. plus a real live republican senator. stick around. ♪ how are things on the west coast? ♪ ♪ i hear you... ♪ rocky mountain high ♪ rocky, rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ all my exes live in texas ♪ ♪ born on the bayou [ female announcer ] the perfect song for everywhere can be downloaded almost anywhere. ♪ i'm back, back in the new york groove ♪ [ male announcer ] the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. rethink possible. >>> mitt romney, let me introduce you to how things in the economy really are. things in the economy, let me introduce you to mitt romney. that's coming up next. blan with the spark miles card from capital one, sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day!

coming up next is melissa harris-perry. what do you have for us today?we will push back on the gop backlash and whether they are making themselves more and more irrelevant because of their behavior about this. we are also going to have arlen specter on to talk about the death of moderation in our current government both at the national level, the congressional level, but also the state level, and then you and i perhaps as parents are on the same wavelength, and we are going to talk about "where the wild things are" and the citizen education we learned from this text. >> amazing, amazing book. and arlen specter, nice booking, mhp crew. and i'm so happy that you will be bringing that to you next right after us. we will see you tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. thanks for getting "up." see you tomorrow. [ sneezes ] ♪ got it all. here. have a good day, honey. i love you, ok. bye, mom. [ female announcer ] sam's mom is muddling through her allergies. what can she do? she can get answers at walgreens. with guidance and information to help her make informed choices

up next is melissa harris-perry. what have you got for us?into the education plan and in particular romney's education plan and take the opportunity to jump back and say, wait, are we even asking the right questions? we have a great panel of education reformers and also ask the president obama is a big spender or a frugal fannie and i want to ask about the question of the issue of the new black politician and all of what was made of the cory beeskocory boo and also, i will have say gaa cigar. >> wow. i don't know if they allow that in studio 3a. melissa harris-perry, thanks for getting "up." solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like i

>>> good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry. in just a little bit i will take you to liberty university in virginia. seriously, i will take you to liberty university in virginia because former governor mitt romney will be delivering the school's commencement address and it was founded by tell va evangelist jerry falwell and it is a stop for those looking to polish the christian conservatives, and romney who has struggled with the conservatives is trying to score points with those who have so-called traditional family values, and also, they want to give him a message about nontraditional families and that is same sex couple, and they are believed that mitt romney does not believe should marry and also cap off a week of uproar over the same-sex marriage, and in a lot of ways it is much ado about nothing. seriously, if you are a woman in america hoping to get married to a man or woman of the same sex, literally nothing changed for you. one state where same-sex marriage was illegal voted overwhelmingly to make same-sex marriage ille

melissa harris-perry, up next. stay tuned for that. for watching this weekend, as always, we'll see you next week here on "up." for three hours a week, i'm a coach. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. [ facilitator ] what do you smell? takes me outdoors. sort of a crisp, fresh feeling. [ facilitator ] go ahead and take your blindfold off. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the febreze set & refresh. breathe happy for 30 days, guaranteed. splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart ways to sweeten. same great taste. sp

coming up next is the one and only melissa harris-perry.s morning. >> >> i've got bill bradley. i'm skeptical. we're going to see. also we're going to talk to a group of teenaged girls. i have a panel of young women who are going to talk about what this current vitamin looks like for kwung women thinking about voting for the first time and ai'm excited about the civil network decision yesterday. i'm so very excited. >> i'm, too, very excited. >> that's melissa harris-perry coming up next and we'll see you here next week here on "up." ♪ surf's up everybody get your boards and your wetsuits ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com's gonna direct you ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. and people. and the planes can seem the same so, it comes down to the people. because, bad weather the

joining me for soundoff is melissa harris perry a professor at tulane university.country though in seattle. good to see you. >> hi. good to see you. >> we have the first lady at virginia tech today. she's at north carolina there. and tomorrow the president delivers an address monday. joe biden's wife will be in iowa. and mitt romney tomorrow. why college commencements, melissa? is this a political two for one? go to a battle ground state and reach out to youth there. is that what this is about? >> it's not exactly reaching out to the youth vote in terms of the students in the audience. the students rarely hear the commencement address. they are too excited. this is really a moment for them and their families celebrating their achievements. so there's really another audience that these candidates and presidents and first ladies are speaking to. and that's, you know, we go and look at -- we televise these speeches as a way of understanding how are these candidates speaking about the future that these young people will enter. it's kind of their opportunity to set out

good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry. now i want to start this morning by thanking my hosts and the graduates of the all women's college wellesley where yesterday i had the privilege and the high honor of delivering this year's commencement address. while i provided those graduates with some words of wisdom as they go forth into the recession e k economy they face, i also willed them to take note that the degree they received confers upon them significant privilege, the privilege of an elite education, opening doors to more than employment and education and more education means better health, and greater civic participation and more esteem and influence, but quality education is not easily accessible nor are the privileges that go with it. the wellesley graduates are the recipient of the system that is a failure at the worst of the majority and the greatest at its best. so i was pleased that mitt romney was addressing similar concerns to the latino coalition's national summit. >> here we are on the most prosperous nation

. >> reporter: melissa harris perry is a professor of race, gender and politics at tulane universityave to give our kids the social tools for how to push back against racial bias when they experience it, because it's not a natural thing to be able to do. >> reporter: hoping for a learning experience, these moms have agreed to be a part of a "dateline" demonstration. they're watching on hidden cameras as their teens are asked to eliminate one of three players for a game called "smart, smarter, smartest." >> elijah? >> seneca ball. >> correct. >> reporter: the girls don't know the kids next to them are actors we've hired to discriminate against this boy, elijah, who is also working with us. how will they react? >> yeah, i think elijah just doesn't look smart. >> doesn't look -- >> whoa. >> doesn't look like he -- >> oh, my goodness. >> -- cares about this. >> yeah, probably wouldn't even be a good team player. >> reporter: they laugh at some of the racial stereotypes but look uneasy. >> look like he might go to inner city schools or something. >> reporter: especially now, decision time

m melissa harris-perry, what is coming up next? >> the picture of the teardrop is epic.poster? that was great. and also, a lot of conversation this week about president obama and sort of his angst about the lessons, and i was so happy to learn that he had a copy of the "inv "invisible man" that is apparently as dog eared as mine, and so we will talk a little bit about that and we will go the north carolina and have a conservation about the anti-marriage amendment one which is up for vote tuesday and talk about the democratic party's core constituents and we will talk about waltzing before a blind audience, but you have to tune in to find out what that means. >> blind audience and "invisible man." thank you, mrp. we will see you tomorrow morning at 8:00 and thanks for getting "up." i'm al ways looking out for i'm al small ways to be more healthy. like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. splenda® essentials™ are the first and only line

i'm melissa harris-perry and the jelly beans are back. this tuesday, mitt romney will make it official. and he's finally going no get what he always wanted. the republican nomination for president. so currently romney has 1,084 cinderella gates. remember, we've been counting them in the jar? and mitt's delegates are represented by the jelly beans you recognize. he is so close to the 1,044 delegates he needs to cinch the nomination, the red line here. texas will vote on tuesday, so one can assume that romney will get a pretty good portion of those texas jelly beans. once he does, romney will have his 1,144 delegates and that's when he's going to pivot. the pivot we've talked about here before. he'll have all of the delegates he needs, but now he needs the voters, and the romney machine is in full effect. after his speech to a latino group on wednesday, where he called education the civil rights issue of our era. he then visited a predominantly black charter school in west philadelphia. and that wasn't the romney campaign's only message bro

i'm melissa harris-perry. yesterday in the afternoon a little cheer went up here in nordland when we got the news that the ncaap joined the growing chorus of equality and voted on a resolution in support of marriage equality. finally. the organization focused civil rights, is supporting the rights of everyone who wishes to marry. it's quite a show of character and i'll have a little more on that later in our show. but actually character seems to be in the news a lot but not always in a good way. lately we've been hearing about character assassination and i'm a nice guy, which makes me feel like i'm about to watch a soap opera like this. >> as sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. ♪ >> okay. the reality is that these accusations of character assassination are not part of a soap opera. they're about the angst that mitt romney feels about how he perceives president obama's campaign is treating him and in recent days he let everyone know about it. >> i've been disappointed in the president's c

. >>> coming up next, melissa harris-perry. >> i can't hear that question about are you my mother withoutthis mother's day we look at president obama's momma and mitt romney's mom and what they can tell us about their governing. also, a look at the sad and growing crisis of moms in prison and broken families they leave behind and what happens to the children of moms in prison. and we're going to continue to talk same sex marriage because mitt romney, even though he said he didn't want to talk about t he talked about it. >> that's up next. see you next week on up. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. soluti

i'm melissa harris-perry. i was going to start the show with a different story today.hought we had heard both sides of the same sex marriage issue. then yesterday mitt romney, who could have given a speech about his love of family and his plans for the economy added this remark, and drew a line in the sand. >> as fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debate from time to time, so it is today with the enduring institution of marriage, marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. >> did you hear that reaction by the audience? and given the reaction by the audience to romney, would president obama's mid week announcement be enough for those on the side of equality? at the same time, romney was speaking to students in lynchburg, virginia. the first lady was giving her own commencement address in greensboro, north carolina. >> i know that all of you know the story of the greensborough for and how they changed the course of our history. but since we have the nation watching, let's talk a little bit. >> so both romney and the fi

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