joining me today former rnc chairman, michael steele, melissa harris-perry, a columnist for "the nation" and also an msnbc contributor, former d.c. mayor, adrian fenty is on set with us and meghan mccain, the newest msnbc contributor. welcome, meghan, there will be a commemorative tote bag when you leave today. luke russert always is with us. welcome to the show. >> always a pressure. >> david axlerod is a fan of the phrase kabuki theater as a description for the political maneuverings in washington. is this something we can use to describe what's been happening on the super committee for the last two weeks? was anybody serious about cutting a deal? >> when the whole process started, i spoke to members on both sides of the aisle, there

i want to remind you to stay tuned for "soundoff" with melissa harris-perry. she'll join me with her thoughts on the scandal in a little while. >>> will governor rick perry's brain freeze at the presidential debate looked a little like this. >> agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education and the, uh -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> all right. so governor perry's camp says it was a stumble of style, not substance. we take a look at the substance next. we're talking the economy with jared bernstein, vice president biden's former chief economist. what's better than gold ? free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus. rewards with no blackout dates so you can redeem anytime. and it's easy to redeem your points online. already a gold member ? just select gold plus rewards in your profile and start rewarding yourself now. just go to hertzgoldplusrewards.com to join. hertz gold plus rewards. journey on. gu e hse pw. y w. gu e hs

. >> tonight, congresswoman jan cha causeky and melissa harris perry on the real class warfare. >> i stood up to the big banks and their army of washington lobbyists. >> here comes elizabeth warren. alan grayson on how a warrior and the fight for fairness has republican scott brown running scared, and a wisconsin showdown. democrats launch their battle to take down union-busting governor scott walker. we'll go there live. plus, another herman cain moment. >> would you favor collective bargaining for federal employees? >> they already have it, don't they? >> oh, brother. "politics nation" starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead. in just 59 days something has changed in this country. before dawn this morning police officers in riot gear raided occupy wall street, evicting and arresting hundreds of protesters. a judge ruled late today that the protesters may not bring their tents and gear back into the park. it's a shrewd move by mayor bloomberg, but i disagree with it. protest is allowed but staying in the park is not? but no matter what happens

i will ask joe kleine, melissa harris-perry and later, the racial politics of the republican presidential so much better than their blacks. a lot of patients are using toothpaste to clean their dentures. you really want to be careful, you can't use something as abrasive as a toothpaste because it will cause scratches. as a result of those scratches, bacteria will get lodged in that denture and as they multiply in the mouth the odor can get stronger. i always advise my patients to use polident. it has specific agents in it that can kill bacteria. using polident daily, you definitely will not be creating the scratches. you're going to have a fresh bright smile, and you're going to feel confident. >>> these accusations and others that may come up, they will continue to find out that they are baseless. we are going to leverage this momentum by continuing to stay with the message. >> herman cain will never be president, but it won't be because of the sexual harassment allegations made against him. one successful presidential candidate faced much worse. less than three weeks before the new hamp

i will ask joe kleine, melissa harris-perry and later, the racial politics of the republican presidentialmuch better than their blacks. we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. >>> these accusations and others that may come up, they will continue to find out that they are baseless. we are going to leverage this momentum by continuing to stay with the message. >> herman cain will never be president, but

melissa harris perry. you stay with us for a minute. we'll take a break.ing up, is there anything to be thankful for when it come to american politics? >> i'm thankful that they're still there. and maybe we can fix it one day. i don't know. the system hasn't completely cracked, right? [ male announcer ] all over the world, there's a battery that's relied on to help bring children holiday joy, and while it doesn't travel by sleigh or reindeer, it does get around... in fact, every year duracell sends loads of batteries to the mattel children's hospital, u.c.l.a. of course, children here and everywhere don't really think about which battery makes their toy run... but, still... you'd never want to disappoint. duracell. trusted everywhere. let's do it, let's go to vegas. vegas baby! maybe we should head back to the dealership first? vegas! no, this is a test drive. vegas! [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineeri

melissa harris-perry, tulane university professor and msnbc analyst. thanks for being here. be right back with today's latest on the elections. >>> on ohio's issue 2, a vote would have upheld governor kay 6's appeal and a no vote would have overturned what say kick did. reinstated the union rights. and the associated press called it the no winning 61-39%, a decisive margin. in maine, deciding whether there will be same day voter registration in maine. the associated press called that. voting overwhelmingly 61-39% to bring back same day registration to undo what republicans had done to change maine's voting laws. >>> in mississippi, the romney supported person hood by defining a fertilized egg as a person, that has lost in mississippi and lost badly by 16 points, the ap calling that for the no vote. so far, 58-42%. connecting to a big national story, the intern credited for saving gabby giffords' life, he appears to have won a school board seat in arizona tonight. >>> and a stunning recall election. russell pearce and the anti-immigrant papers please law appears to have been

melissa harris-perry, tulane university professor and msnbc analyst. thanks for being here. be right back with today's latest on the elections. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair. i have to be a tree in the school play. good. you like trees. well, i like climbing them, but i've never been one. good point. ( captain ) this is your captain speaking. annie gets to be the princess. oh... but she has to kiss a boy. and he's dressed up like a big green frog ! ewww. ( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. [ chuckles ] you think that is some information i would have liked to know? i like tacos. you invited eric? i thought eric gave you the creeps. [ phone buzze

joining us now is melissa harris perry, professor of political science at tulane university and an msnbc contributor. melissa, thanks for being here tonight. >> yep. absolutely. good to be here. >> do we have totally separate political tracks in this country right now, the sort of governing and electoral politics track and what's happening in the streets, or do you see these things speaking to each other yet? >> well, they are. and it's all these bridges, right? as you were introing and thinking about bridges, i keep thinking about the fact that it's the edmund petis bridge which is the moment, the turning point moment in the civil rights movement where finally you get a majority of the country on the side of civil rights protesters because as they're coming across that bridge they're turned back by the violence of local police. now, in this case what's been happening is that the occupiers are connecting with these local municipalities, with the mayors or with the police officers. and as fraught as that has been, as much as that has energized the movement and i think gotten even more peo

joining me now are christina bellantoni, the associate editor for "roll call," and melissa harris perry, msnbc contributor and professor of political science at tulane university. melissa, this secret meeting, which is no longer secret, and was really kind of obvious, that christian conservatives really want to find an anybody but romney candidate, aren't they just kind of getting in a room and doing together in a relatively small group what all the rest of the larger republican electorate has been trying to do? >> well, yeah. that's certainly what it feels like, watching this gop primary season thus far. is that there has been a pretty solid romney vote. those supporters. and then there is the very powerful, and in fact, vast majority of gop voters at this point, who in expressing their press conferences in polls, they haven't actually voted or caucused yet, but they're basically saying, not romney. and they've been moving around, trying to figure out, who is the right not-romney candidate. is it bachmann, is it perry, is it gingrich? so we have to ask, how powerful is that? is that po

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joining me now is msnbc contributor melissa harris-perry, a professor at tulane and columnist for "the nation" and richard wolf, msnbc political analyst. the president was in the briefing room, i did an exclusive interview for my syndicated radio show with him and i thought about, in august he was sort of, appeared to be back on his heels when the deficit talks broke down but he seemed like a very confident man in his stride both when i talked with him tonight for the radio show and what i saw of him in this statement in the briefing room. >> right. well he holds some important cards in his hand, doesn't he? he not only has performed pretty nimble jujitsu here. we've been used to seeing the tea party republicans saying they're the party of no and that's a good thing. here he is the guy who is going to stop them backsliding out of these cuts. that's a nice piece of jujitsu politics for the president but he also holds the important cards in his hand which is to say at the end of the election year, the bush tax cuts expired, the sequesters, automatic cuts kick in and unless they come up w

he ran against walker in the governor's race and msnbc contributor melissa harris-perry, a professorhe nation" and "ebony" magazine chose as one of the top 100 blacks in the country. mayor barrett, do you think scott walker will be recalled? >> well, i think that when you have right now is experts on both sides, democrats and republicans, who believe very strongly that based on the activity we've seen just in the last 12 days that there certainly will be a recall election that's forced. as you noted in your introduction there, there have already been over 300,000 signatures that have been collected. that comes out to 1,046 signatures per hour over the first 12 days. it is breath taking to see the number of citizens throughout this entire state who are out on weekends and evenings collecting signatures. i have never seen anything like it in my entire life. >> can you believe this guy defeated you, i mean, this guy? >> well, it was a different year. 2010 was a different year, and what we have now is we've got ten months, 11 months of people seeing how he would govern, and it really has

melissa harris-perry, tulane university professor and msnbc analyst.ncluding our first results on the mississippi personhood amendment. whoa. whoa. how do you top great vacations? whoa. getting twice the points on great vacations. whoa! use chase sapphire preferred and now get two times the points on travel, and two times the points on dining and no foreign transaction fees. whoa! chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. apply now at chasesapphire.com/preferred n:ayarcabens to sney,tseale'cs f ..apodupnow at chasesapphire.com/preferred t em n:ayarcabens 'sware?e. to sney,tseale'cs f but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. >>> happy election day on ohio's issue 2,

for those tuning in for the one and only melissa harris-perry, she will be joining us in a bit. >>> if the first two months of occupywall street was gains, they struck back. on tuesday, the mayor ordered police to clear the occupiers out of zuccotti park in an early morning raid. police destroyed the occupiers personal belongings, including 5500 or so books in the people's library on site. one city councilman, rodriguez, was thrown to the ground, beaten and arrested at the scene. mayor blook berg and police made sure it was done away from the eyes of the press supposedly for their own safety according to the city. on thursday, protesters organized a day of action to mark the two-month anniversary of the movement. 1,000 protesters gathered near the new york stock exchange in an almost entirely nonviolent demonstration. there were a few exceptions. thursday night, thousands marched over the brooklyn bridge, a peaceful protest. i was there. we will talk more about that later. also, thursday, protests and arrests in los angeles, st. louis, portland, oregon, and other cities around the coun

msnbc contributor, melissa harris perry, and was also here yesterday, and veteran, bob herbert, now a distinguished senior fellow at the think tank. thank you for joining me. >>> first off, all candidates met in a church last night for a debate. it was sponsored by the christian group. the six candidates sat shoulder to shoulder around a table direct directed for thanksgiving. rick santorum, and herman cain was asked about a moment that led them to the path of god which i found effective, and then newt gingrich jumped all over the occupy wall street protesters. this is the biggest applause line of the night. take a listen. >> all of the occupy movements starts with the premise that we owe them everything, and they take over a public park they didn't pay for to go nearby to use bathrooms they didn't pay for, and to beg for food and obstruct those to go to work that are sustaining the park so they can self-righteous lisa stain they are the paragons to which we show everything. that's a simple as to how much the left has collapsed and why you need to reassert something like go get a job

. >> melissa harris-perry and richard wolffe on the gop still captive to the tea party. >> the most significant jobs package since the g.i. bill. >> back in the real world, a jobs bill finally passes, but republicans still don't get it. >> senate democrats have spent most of the time trying to make republicans look bad. >> and the penn state sex scandal. coach paterno's out, the new coach speaks out. and we'll have all the latest. plus -- >> he has to respond to hearsay. >> shocking threats from herman cain's lawyer to potential accusers. and what happens on the campaign trail doesn't stay there. >> i can and will be much crazier. >>> "politics nation" starts right now. >>> tonight's lead, the real fiasco in the republican party. everybody's talking about rick perry's brain frees at last night's debate. i get why. it's good tv. >> it's stwlee agencies that are gone when i get there -- commerce, education, and what's the third one? the third agency of government i would do away with, education, the -- commerce, and let's see. the third one i can't. cory, oops? >> because i wasn't bothered by wha

thank you, melissa harris-perry.thenation.com. >>> we have the presidential pardon, and we have a look at some other rescued birds on the flip side. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪ but you've got a meat and potatoes guy? pour chunky sirloin burger soup over those mashed potatoes and dinner is served. four minutes, around four bucks. campbell's chunky -- it's amazing what soup can do. >>> oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. >> -- even in the face of extreme cuteness. the mom behind this youtube sensation footage says her kids got into a 5-pound bag of flour while she was in the bathroom. results as you say,

i'm melissa harris perry. rachel has the night off. if you were watching the republican party's foreign policy debate in washington last night, you may have caught what happened at the very end of the evening. the last question of the night was, which national security issue do you wish we'd ask you about. what's the thing that worries you the most that hasn't been discussed tonight? the responses given by the candidates to that question were sort of weird. rick perry, for instance, reelly wanted to talk about the pressing issue of abortions in china. newt gingrich wanted to talk about the dangers of electromagnetic pulse attacks. herman cain wanted to discuss his former career as a ballistics analyst. mitt romney and rick santorum both wanted to talk about the prospect of radical islamists invading latin america. we sort of found those answers a little puzzling, because if you asked us that question, there are all sorts of foreign policy issues that we here at the ma dough show would have had on the agenda that weren't touched during

joining me now msnbc contributor melissa harris perry, a professor of political science at tulane andter for "washington post" and an msnbc contributor. melissa, youç saw the tape and let me say this, again, you and i have agreed that we don't know what happened. we're not accusing him. >> right. >> but it's this inconsistency of reaction, and let's remember, melissa, they were given ten days to respond to politico, not 12 hours, and they never came up with a consistent response, so i think that is what's troubling is with a ten-day notice and then after those ten days you still get different answers at different hours, it just doesn't fit right. >> there are a lot of troubling aspects of this, and as you and i were talking about on the radio earlier today, it's certainly truly we do not have enough facts of this case to adjudicate whether or not an act of sexual harassment occurred. as you know, the women have not been able to come forward apparently as a result of the way that this settlement agreement was structured, so we have not heard fully their side of the story, but, you kno

melissa harris perry is a columnicolumn istist for the nation.ll this delay a bold surrender to business pressure, an act of political pandering and a cold-blooded portrayal of a loyal constituency. does this come as a surprise that environmentalists would fire back in that kind of tone? >> no, it's not a surprise at all. this is the ultimate lie that business has sold to communities, to politicians on both the left and the right. this idea that business is hurt and will stop creating jobs or shed jobs as a result of regulations on things like clean air and water. and when we look at fence line communities like those here in louisiana or communities in northern california or in new york, what we see is these polluters do not create new jobs for these poor and often african-american and native american communities where they sit and pollute. instead, they make that claim. they hold people hostage. what they do is create higher cancer incidents, asthma incidents. this is a horrible decision and one the democratic party ought to be pushing back agai

i'm melissa harris perry. rachel has the night off. if you were watching the republican party's foreign policy debate in washington last night, you may have caught what happened at the very end of the evening. the last question of the night was, which national security issue do you wish we'd ask you about. what's the thing that worries you the most that hasn't been discussed tonight? the responses given by the of a head-turner last night when newt gingrich said it would be wrong for the supposedly pro-family gop to tear families apart and ship people who have been here for decades back to their native countries. in other words, amnesty. in today's republican party, that's heresy. that's either the white cap on newt's wave or another twist in his unpredictable rise to the top of the gop field. and here's the biggest reason newt is getting so much attention. after about five years of campaigning, roughly three-quarters of republicans still want little to do with mitt romney. romney is lining up endorsements but where's the love? can newt