mr. hancock? >> no, i don't know that.t seems very clear though is the people who are coming out and some of the things they are saying not to mention the weapons they are carrying really are reminiscent of the central ideas of the militia movement that the government is evil, it can be in no way trusted. it is perfectly willing to murder your grandmother. you know, or any person who has too many guns or in some other way flouts orthodoxy. >> mark potok of the southern poverty law center it is always terrifying, illuminating, and necessary all at the same time. thank you, sir. >> thank you, keith. >> and the threat to the president. people like the viper militia represent. when rachel joins you at the top of the hour the thoughts of her special guest frank rich of "the new york times." a woman shouts at barney frank for supposedly supporting the hitleresque policies of president obama. he portrays her accurately as a lunatic. rush limbaugh and fox news defend the antisemitic lunatic. worst persons ahead. and then which of

mr. hancock told us, quote, i don't know which role he played. i know he got blamed. so when a dozen people openly display firearms near the president, again, not police officers, not secret service officers, but citizens, and they're organized by someone with this kind of background, what's the next thing that we talk about in our political discussion in this country? joining us now is the "new york times" columnist frank rich. his most recent piece on sunday gives some historical context to the gun toting protestors showing up at these town hall events. nice to see you. >> nice to see you. >> in your column this weekend you talked about similarities between the political climate today and the political climate in the early '60s, of course, with looming large in that political climate the assassination of john kennedy in 1963. were you intending to make that explicit allegory because you're worried about assassination attempts? >> the truth is i've been worried for sometime even before the events surrounding these health care town halls. it began during the campaign

mr. hancock is good enough to join us now. how are you, sir? >> i am fine, thanks, mr. sanchez. is that you in that video that we were watching right there? >> i am not seeing the video. i would imagine so. i was there and i interviewed the gentlemen named chris this morning for two hours. we had him on my radio show. i am also broadcast under a public broadcasting network. so a lot of people heard it. >> let's listen to some of that interview that you were doing yesterday now that we have been able to get it on the internet. here it is. >> is it your advocacy that by having guns here, we are all safer? >> absolutely, absolutely. >> one thing, how often and you ride a motorcycle. also, when you travel and such, i never even noticed, are you usually armed? >> i am almost always armed. sometimes when i take a shower, i set it out on the sink. other than that, i'm pretty much armed at all times. >> why? >> i think it is a dangerous world we live in. i can't carry a cop around with me. >> there is a lot of -- go ahead and come back to me, dan, if you can. a lot of leafity there. ? d