mr. o'donnell. >> you can have "the last word" online at our bl

mr. o'donnell. >> joe, you support the cain 9-9-9 plan? >> i like a lot of it. what do you think?lan, what do you want to propose? right now the tax system's broke. don't you agree? >> it's a complicated tax system that we have now, joe, obviously. but what herman cain's finding out is changing it is as complicated as trying to add to the ridiculously complicated version we have now. but let me ask you about it because what is the median income in that district that you'd be running in? do you know? i don't mean it as a gotcha question, but do you know that? have you looked that up? >> well, actually, i do. i was having some things with the school board. right around $40,000 a year is the median income. >> yeah, it's 43. and every estimate of the herman cain 9-9-9 plan indicates that people in, say, making around $43,000, families with that kind of income, would actually pay $2,000 to $4,000 more in taxation, especially because of that very heavy new sales tax that he would introduce. and i'm not asking you to figure out tonight exactly which one of these estimates is right. but i

mr. dennis o'donnell. give it up for him. he did a fabulous job. >> every time i lose a bet it involves dinner and beverages. >> i cleaned up on that one for you. >> thank you very much. >> roberta has to do sports as a result of the bet. that's coming up later on. >> i can't remember the last time being so nervous. >> all right guys, we'll see you both in a minute. >>> meanwhile, a new york blogger says that she will file a complaint with a tsa over a note she found in her luggage. joe says that the screener at the newark airport found a sex toy inside her bag and scribbled on an inspection note, quote, get your freak on, girl. the woman says she found the message wildly inappropriate, but she did say she died laughing about it in her hotel room. tsa says there's no evidence the note was left by a screener, but they're going to investigate. well, who knew that it was going to be that. but just not this bad. how many people have abandoned the netflicks ship after the price hike? >> and how about a cup of joe to go with that s

mr. o'donnell. >> you can have "the last word" online at our blog, the last word.msnbc.com. you can follow my tweets, @lawrence. "the rachel maddow show" is up next. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, lawrence. thank you. and thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. do you believe that fluoride is a communist mind control plot? by any chance. has it ever occurred to you that fluoride might be the means by which our communist overlords are controlling our tiny little drug-addled minds? if you believe that, you are the intellectual inheritor of the john birch society, the cockamamie right-wing conspiracy theorist group that was pretty popular in conservative circles when it was founded back in the late 1950s. john birch society was well organized. it was well funded. it threatened to have a pretty big effect on conservative politics and republican politics for a while, before the republicans realized that, freaked out about it, and shut them out. the john birch society advised their members to run campaigns like stop fluoride. how to defeat fluoridation

mr. cain, who is lawrence o'donnell to tell you how to be a black man? >> it's an absurd thing to try and do, isn't it? i mean, for lawrence o'donnell to try and challenge me what was i doing during the civil rights movement, that's about as ridiculous as me asking him, what were you doing when you were in end kindergarten? the two don't elt relate to one another. his attempt to do that failed in my opinion. >> this is the part of the interview the questioner was referring to. i'll leave it to you to decide if i was telling herman cain how to be a black man. in your book, you write, the book you're selling down there at barnes & noble today, you write "the civil rights movement was a few years in front of me. i was too young to participate when they first started the freedom rides and the sit ins. so on a day-to-day basis, it didn't have an impact. i just kept going to school, doing what i was supposed to do and stayed out of trouble. i didn't go downtown and try to participate in sit ins. counter to our real feelings, we decided to avoid trouble by movi

norah o'donnell was with the president's point man on the economy. the secretary of the treasury tim geithner, when mr. geithner vis sited a fiber optics plant in north carolina today. >> reporter: our poll shows that 85% of americans think the economy is getting worse or will stay the same. that is a deep lack of confidence that i asked the treasury secretary about today. is the economy getting worse? >> it's still very tough out there. i think people are very frustrated and still hurting a lot. >> reporter: but is it getting worse? >> the economy as a whole, the economy is just not growing fast enough. >> are you convinced we've hit rock bottom. could there be a second recession? >> the strength of the economy right now depends over whel overwhelmingly on two things: how successful europe is in resolving the financial crisis and what people do in washington. again if congress does not act on these proposals on the president's jobs act then taxes go up for all americans, most americans, they go up for most businesses. growth will be weaker. more americans will be out of work longer. >> reporter: but

mr. cantor to come down here to dallas. >> nobody gets everything they want. >> i got 98% of what i wanted. i'm pretty happy. >>> good evening. i'm chris hayes in for lawrence o'donnell. the dream is dead. once again. chris christie the man that many republicans have been pining for to enter the race, their much wished for savior, once again took time out of his busy schedule as governor of the state of new jersey to loudly in front of the cameras with great relish put to bed speculation that he will run for president. >> in the end, what i've always felt was the right decision remains the right decision today. now is not my time. i have a commitment to new jersey i simply will not abandon. so new jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. >> increased national profile for christie surrounding his decision seems to have conferred some local political advantages in the governor whose declining poll numbers have sharply reversed as he's become the target of cascades of valentines from conservative donors and activists. christie's approval rating in new jersey stands at 54%. during christie's press conference today he also provided his thoughts on the cur

he said this to lawrence o'donnell last night defending the remarks he made. take a look. >> mr.d if you're poor, blame yourself. would you like to retract that now? >> my comment was directed at the people who were choosing to demonstrate against those on wall street rather than demonstrate against the white house, which is responsible for any effective policy that will impact this economy. that's where they ought to be demonstrating and that's where my comment was directed. not at the people who are unemployed for no reason of their own. >> all right. reverend, i have heard people saying why aren't they on pennsylvania avenue? having said that, does he have a point? >> it depends what day he's talking. he clearly said if you're unemployed and not rich, it's your fault. now he says it's the white house's fault. i don't know which day you're talking. i don't have the facts to back it up, but i think he's talking out of both sides of his mouth. but having said that, i think that clearly there are those that are concerned about the policies. i agree with mark haleprin. i think in t

mr. gerard, good to have you with us tonight. leo gerard. >> my pleasure. ed, you called it right, buddy. >> thank you. i appreciate that. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "the last word with lawrence o'donnellt. >>> chris christie's big secret is out. he