i mean why can't new york mayor mike bloomberg drive a bus? if he sits on a stack of old phone books i bet he can see over the steering wheel. (laughter) so corey booker-- (cheers and applause) >> stephen: corey booker, for running into a burning house and making the fire engine chase you, you, sir, are my alpha dog of the week. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: now ladies and gentlemen, for years i have been warning you about the growing threat from mexico. it's a lawless, crime ridden hell scape run by vicious drug lords that prey on innocent bystander was could never imagine the horror of a pool side margarita for $18. come on! and now this mention macichaos is spilling over to our border. tonight i'm exposition the most terrifying scourge to cross the rio grand since-- why can't he say it out loud? this is the enemy within. >> the mexican border. gateway for smugglers of dangerous contraband that threatens our wholesome american values. >> mexico's deadly drug cartel violence is spilling over the border not united states. so is anyone payi

norm shotski, and mike bloomberg who is the founder of seed fund venture fund, and nice to have you bothnorm, another seed venture? >> yes, the gold rush of the 21st century in south dakota and a kobiashi, a japanese restaurant venture. >> and people care, and they care enough to go out to support a small business, so how do you harness the caring? >> well, i totally agree that the pendulum has swung so far in one direction and so transactional and disconnected with the things that they buy that my kids think that the food shows up in the super market, and we order things on line and we show up at the front door and the days of going into the shop where they knew their name and what you wanted to buy, you have to capture it again, because people miss that, and we are human beings and we need that interaction, and there are businesses that are able to really, and the local coffee shop, and the local store that can help you the fit sneakers the way that just so that you can't do online and you can't do any other way. i think that there is a trend back towards that direction of a b business

in new york city, would mike bloomberg go rogue and run for president as an independent third-party guy? >> only mike can answer that. michaeke always told me he wouln if he had a realistic chance of being elected. my guess, mike would not do it honest honestly, no reflection on mike. no chance of being elected president. this will come down to the democratic states, republican states, and if mike would pick up a state or two, at most, he could throw it into the house of representatives. i don't see how he could take back any -- any of the republican states from mitt. maybe he would have a little success with a few democratic states. with obama. >> all right. let me shift to obama on this. when you ran new york city, you had a lot of crisis, step in, be responsible and accountable. i want to ask you what is your opinion of how president obama has handled the gsa and most specifically and importantly, the whole secret service sex flap? he is accountable? shown leadership? what is your take on this? >> i have a slightly different stwruft of them. i think the secret service thing is not so

. >> "late night with mike bloomberg." >> jimmy: no, come on! no, no, no! come on! please!at do you think is going on with the -- with the gop stuff? do people asking about that or do you have to be tightlipped about that? >> no, i mean. you know, if you remember, every year -- every four years, these campaigns are exactly the same. everybody fights. everybody shoots themselves in the -- in the foot and then, afterwards, they all recover and the country makes a decision and we've had a democracy for 235 years. it'll go on. >> jimmy: yeah. i feel like that too. 'cause i -- you know, when people say, like, "oh, well, you're -- you're biased against this or that," like, for our jokes. but it's like, "no. the republicans are the only people running right now." >> that's right. but if you go back four years ago, everything was very different and, you know, if you remember, barack obama and hillary clinton were at it. both wanted the job and that's the political process. >> jimmy: yeah, and those were all the jokes back then. i mean, that's -- 'cause that's all the material. >> w

mike bloomberg had an amazing op ed. he came from very humble beginnings, he's a billionaire now. but he said everybody is going to have to pay more because we've got the false promise of something for nothing. >> right. look, i talked to the president today and i listened to his comments today. and he emphatically said this isn't enough by itself. not even a meaningful small amount. but $47 billion is a first step. look, i think the problem is everybody is sitting on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to go first. well, somebody's got to go first to show some courage here. and demonstrate some shared sacrifice. who better to demonstrate shared sacrifice than the very wealthiest people in this country who right now are paying the lowest tax rates we've ever paid. >> whitney, i wanted to ask kelly while she's there with you, kelly, what's your tax rate? >> i'm taxed -- i'm in the 30 -- >> 33.4%. >> 33.4% tax rate. >> that's your headline rate. your effective tax rate is probably somewhere around 15% after deductions. >> no. this includes payroll taxes but using apples to apple

about guns essentially in the aftermath of trayvon martin and a lot of the other conversation, mike bloomberg lid the way on mayors trying to fight against guns. this president signed legislation permitting guns to be carried in national parks which is one of the big achievements for the nra. but mitt romney is clearly an anti-obama convention the national rifle association. do you recall mitt romney back in the last campaign, i think it was april of 2007 trying to prove his. >> shooting varmints. >> his street credit with the nra. let's watch. >> i'm not a big game hunter. i've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter, small varmints if you will. and i began when i was oh, 15 or so and have hunted those kinds of varmints since then, more than two times. >> well, i'm not sure he's going to be talking about those varmints or them varmints or whatever you call a varmint. >> whatever those are. >> but clearly he, when you talk about edge issues, guns are an issue for generally republican candidates. and clearly mitt romney is going to try to fire them up. >> yes, and this really. >> no pun intende

or that the national democrats at another level, chuck schumer in new york city, mike bloomberg in new new jersey? >> they are concerns for voters, democratic, republican. mitt romney went to shore up his right wing base or his conservative base. i don't think he was speaking to the broad swath of american voters. he is always reminding us that people are concerned about the question. he tried to frame a conversation on guns around the economy, perhaps to hide his bad voting record with the nra or perhaps because he wants to focus on the economy as well. >> he is in this juggle, governor romney is, as you know. he does have his sceptics. in 2002, when he was running for governor and when he was governor. he was not a darling of the nra. is he viewed as credible or is that one of his question marks. >> he promised to juphold the massachusetts gun law and now he is promising to hold up the nra's agenda. they are an organization that is pretty splart. they don't say you should have a gun or let's force guns in everybody's hands. they basically say, you cross this line, come into our terri

>> because mike bloomberg, like most people who have made that amount of money, only wants to run for think they can win. bloomberg has looked at this race in two consecutive races. his policy has always been in the president's approval is below 38%, you can see a path. with barack obama's approval rating north of 45%, and the race now the way it looks, there's just not a path for bloomberg to win. it's very hard to actually win. if you want to get in and just influence the dialogue, fine. he could run, be in the debates, have an effect. but there's no way with obama where he is right now. >> but that's friedman's point. why not get in and affect the debate like perrott did? he had a huge impact on policy. >> he would have a huge effect. but from bloomberg's perspective, he only wants to run if he can see a path to winning. and right now, there's not a path for him to win. >> scarborough, jump in there, man. >> you mean sing along to this song? i'd love to. "cripple creek" is one of my favorites. if willie got in the race because of his positions, he would help barack obama. well, act

you say third party candidates, even if they have billions of dollars like mike bloomberg, you claimof the states, almost all of them, are winner take all. you look at ross perot, who is sort of the modern high water mark for independent candidates, he won 19% of the popular vote in 1992. got zero electoral votes because he didn't win any states. so that is a real hurdle and so i can sympathize with the idea that you are stuck with one of the two party nominees. but that's what the campaign is about. we have party primaries. we didn't used to have those. we used to have the back room deal, horse trading defenses. so we have a real open democratic process that yields, i think, good candidates. >> gretchen: i have to get this in. why are we seeing more than ever -- i think it's something more than 40% of all people are registered now as independents. >> i think that's a terrific development because what it says is -- i think it was jack kemp who said, sometimes party asks too much. people feel like the party has constrained them and therefore, they don't want to sort of give their endo

mike papantonio weigh in on that next. the trayvon martin case has put stand your ground laws on scrutiny. now michael bloomberg and others are calling for reform. ben jealous joins me for that discussion. >>> and congressman allen west's red scare. she says there are communists in congress. >>> he is troubled by everything that has happened. and i could not imagine living in george zimmerman's shoes for the past number of weeks. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was george zimmerman's attorney, mark o'mara. george zimmerman has been officially charged with second-degree murder and is in police custody in florida. florida state attorney angela corey clearly dealt with the possible claim of self-defense in her decision. >> all murders are homicides, but not all homicides are murders. and florida's law clearly says that if there is the affirmative defense of, for example, excusable homicide or justifiable homicide, that should be determined before you go to the degree of the crime. this case is just like many of the shooting deaths we've had in our circuit. if stand your ground becomes an issue, we fight it.

mike papantonio weigh in on that next. the trayvon martin case has put stand your ground laws on scrutiny. now michael bloombergs are calling for reform. ben jealous joins me for that discussion. >>> and congressman allen west's red scare. she says there are come ewie con congress. ear. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal worker's union. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. >>> he is troubled by everything that has happened. and i could not imagine living in george zimmerman's shoes for the past number of weeks. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was george zimmerman's attorney, mark o'mara. george zimmerman has been officially charged with second-degree murder and is in police custody in florida. florida state attorney angela corey clearly dealt wi

mike papantonio weigh in on that next.ç the trayvon martin case has put stand your ground laws on scrutiny. now michael bloombergre calling for reform. ben jealous joins me for that discussion. >>> and congressman allen west's red scare. he says there are communists in congress. ok! who gets occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. a simple way to make dinner fresh and new again. just stir it in. now it only takes a moment to make the moment. ♪ spread a little joy and see ♪ need a little happiness to be ♪ ♪ living the life >>> he is troubled by everything that has happened. and i could not imagine living in george zimmerman's shoes for the past number of weeks. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was george zimmerman's attorney, mark o'mara. george zimmerman has been officially charged with second-degree murder and is in police custody in florida. florida state attorney angela corey clearly dealt wit

mike barnicle and donny deutsch are still with us, unfortunately. and joining us from washington -- >> you are lumped in with the bad kids. >> columnist for "the washington post" and bloombergoining us. >> finally, a serious person on the show. >> yes. and he is not wearing his double breasted 1980 suit jacket as well. >> try this on. >> it won't fit. you're the size of -- >> i knew this was coming. >> davy jones. i mean, i'm not going to be -- >> i'm 5'10". i said it the other day. you guys are just exceptionally tall on this show. that's why. >> i think willie, 6'4" is the median height on this show. >> that's right. you're an outlier my friend. >> but i'm like the boston red sox. just punching my way through. >> the little engine that could. >> fourth or fifth place at best. >>> what have we got, mika? >> well, you don't need to count delegates to see the general election taking shape with president obama and mitt romney exchanging opening shots in their likely showdown for the white house. just a day after the president tore into romney's support for the republican budget, the former massachusetts governor hit the very same stage in washington and fired right back. >> t