to america's military, vice president joe biden made an exclusive appearance last night on the rachel maddow show and rachel asked how he feels about the role he played in help to go bring one of the country's longest wars to an end. >> i tell you, i feel like -- i feel like i did something that -- or participated in something being done that i can be proud of for the rest of my life. had i stayed as chairman of the foreign relations committee, no matter how engaged i was, i don't think i would have been in a position to be able to effect events on a day to day basis to bring us to this point. our troops brought us to this point, our diplomats brought us to this point. but i'll be plunt withblunt wit. after i made that speech in the palace with maliki to iraqi and american assembled troops, i left, got on the phone and called the president and said thank you. thank you for giving me the opportunity to do something that meant a great deal to me personally and to the country. to end this war in iraq. >> be sure to check out rachel maddow's unique take on politics a and all the day's top storie

"the rachel maddow show" starts right now. rachel, did you know the republican party, i was stunned yesterday watching "meet the press." it's you and me. they're concerned about us. >>> ed, i very rarely feel a warm feeling toward the republican party. i feel it's smart and sweet of them. >> i knew they were concerned about you. now they're concerned about me. >> they have great taste. thank you, ed. thanks to you at home for staying with us the next hour. happy monday. what did poor children do to deserve this? what could poor children have done that was so wrong that earned them the role that they are now playing in american presidential politics? the current front-runner for the republican nomination for president, the man leading in three of the four early voting states, as well as in the national polls, has now made his third in a series of policy pronouncements about what he wants to do to poor children. i ask you again what they have done to deserve this. first, the candidate advocated making poor children janitors at th

stop talking smack if you can't back it up. >> but is rachel maddow tough enough to face down a midwesternamily man who likes to watch hockey fights? just ask the fish. 12/5/11. pawlenty, maddow, v. push comes to shove. see your local listings or just don't change the channel. >> that's why there are special rules taped up on msnbc on the doors of the editing rooms that ban the rachel maddow show staff from the editing rooms at peak hours. that's the kind of thing we do. that's why we can't have nice things. joining us tonight for the long awaited interview on this program is the former minnesota governor and former republican presidential candidate, tim pawlenty. at last we clash, governor. >> well, rachel, i was having a little fun with you when i made the remarks and you get serious on me, you go rhetorically postal. you kind of lose it. then i come on your set a week or so ago and you brush me off. i had to come back. i've been trying. here i am. i'm ready. >> you know, you must have a different definition of postal than i do. if you think that was me losing it, oh, sir. >> no, i was j

. >>> last night on the rachel maddow show, charles schumer was barely able to hide his glee with the house republicans payroll ax cut move which he thinks is already back firing on them. >> the republicans have had bad day after bad day after bad day. today was a terrible day for them. first speaker boehner promised to put the bipartisan 89-10s pass senate bill on the floor. he couldn't because he knew it would pass. he knew there were 50, 60, 70 republicans who would join the democrats to vote for it. so he puts together this subterfuge which is send to a committee. well, you you don't have to be in washington to know that if you want to kill something without fingerprints, you send to a committee. republicans continue to desert boehner. today three more major senate republicans said he ought to just pass our senate bill. grassley and whitaker, and senator mccain said this is hurting the republican party. and third and probably worst of all for them, i think they were hoping that president obama would sit down and say, yes, let's negotiate. you but the president saw what we're all s

last night on the rachel maddow show guest host melissa harris perry asked george washington university professor jeffrey rosen why the supreme court has agreed to hear these politically charged cases. take a listen. >> in the arizona case, they certainly didn't have to take it. and because justice elena kagan is recused, that means you could have a 4-4 tie. four conservatives against four liberals. if that happens the lower court decision stands which means the obama administration wins and the law doesn't go into effect. but, nevertheless, the fact that four justices wanted to hear the case, presumably four conservatives, suggests there might be four votes to actually rule in favor of arizona. the health care is different. you have such a division among the lower courts. the obama administration was begging the supreme court to resolve the uncertainty. so the court had little choice but to take the case. but the fact that two conservative federal judges, very respected conservatives, have upheld the health care law recently makes some people optimistic or at least cautiously optimisti

"the rachel maddow show" starts right now. we'll see you next year. >>> good evening. thanks for staying with us the next hour. i'm melissa harris-perry. rachel has the night off. the day before the 2008 democratic primary in new hampshire, one day before that election, there was a legitimate bona fide game-changing moment on the campaign trail. barack obama had just won the iowa caucus and hillary clinton was probably at the lowest point in her entire presidential campaign. then this happened. >> you know, this is very personal for me. it's not just political. it's not just public. i see what's happening and we have to reverse it. and some people think elections are a game. they think it's like who's up or who's down. it's about our country, it's about our kids' futures. and it's really about all of us together. i have to many opportunities for this country. i just don't want to see us fall backwards. no. >> that moment, make not that moment, alone, but that moment helped hillary clinton come from behind and win the new hampshire primary in 2008. she was a little bit d

if you wonder if the rachel maddow show staff is as nerdy as they seem, the answer is yes.es, they are. >>> a quick programming note. rachel is back tomorrow night with an exclusive interview with vice president joe biden. that's tomorrow right here, 9:00 eastern. only coricidin hbp has a heart, right here. it's the only cold and flu brand that won't raise your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. powerful cold medicine with a heart. >>> the occupy wall street movement morphed into occupy goldman sachs today. protesters left the parks and took their argument for economic justice straight to the investment bankers at goldman sachs. it was the beginning of a long day of direct action. on the west coast they targeted ports where they had financial interests. they moved in by the hundreds. demonstrating at the shipping terminals in several cities. in houston and in oakland, california. and long beach, california. and portland, oregon and seattle, washington, and long view, washington. in some places, port management and labor unions agreed to send the union workers home to protect th

if you wonder if the rachel maddow show staff is as nerdy as they seem, the answer is yes.. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, 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. >>> a quick programming note. rachel is back tomorrow night with an exculusive interview wih vice president joe biden. that's tomorrow right here, 9:00 eastern. >>> the occupy wall street movement morphed into occupy goldman sachs today. protesters left the parks and took their argument for economic justice straight to the investment bankers at goldman sachs. it was the beginning of a long day of direct action. on the west coast they targeted ports where they had financial interests. they moved in by the hundreds. demonstrating at the shipping terminals

if you wonder if the rachel maddow show staff is as nerdy as they seem, the answer is yes.at's why i recommend crest pro-health clinical gum protection. it helps eliminate plaque at the gum line, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. crest pro-health clinical gum protection. really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! >>> a quick programming note. rachel is back tomorrow night with an exclusive interview with vice president joe biden. that's tomorrow right here, 9:00 eastern. slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i kn

we'll have a real race in a week. >> don't miss rachel maddow, weeknights at 9:00 p.m. on msnbc, the place for politics. >>> the democrats' hopes for maintaining senate majority took a blow yesterday when nebraska senator ben nelson announced he's decided not to run for re-election in 2012. he made the announcement in a youtube video in which he explained he wanted to spend more time with his family. he faced a tough re-election battle against a large group of republican challengers. >>> a funeral procession for north korean leader kim jong-il has begun in pyongyang. tens of thousands of north koreans lined snow-covered streets today as the late leader's son and successor kim jong-un led the hearse carrying his body. >>> with outside monitors now in syria, demonstrators made sure their voices would be heard. amateur video shows tens of thousands taking to the streets reportedly calling for the execution of president bashar al assad. critics debated whether government tanks pulling back was just an attempt to mislead monitors. >> reporter: government security forces appe

firm believer in choice, and you--again, you will know--you know, john king does it this way, rachel maddow does it that way, somebody on fox--maybe it's hannity--does it that way, and you might say--i hope over time if you watch you would say, "left, right, middle." that's my mission. if i fail that mission, you will let me know. >> and, steve, you know what's interesting here is we get all carried away about whether the nightly newscasts are gonna die and how huge--with all due respect--youtube is. the 3 network newscasts, though they are way, way down from where they were 10 years ago, still are getting more than 20 million viewers a night on average. >> but what is the average of that newscast? i think it's around 60 or 65, right? so you have a whole new audience-- >> you got something against 60- or 65-year-olds? >> i don't at all. >> stand up and say that in the newseum. >> i just saying the 20 million you're referring to are the 20 million that still are into the pattern of consuming news in that way, right, and i think that the pattern of consuming news now online does speak to diff

"the rachel maddow show" starts right now. >> good evening, ed, that was remarkable. thank you for doing that interview, man. that was amazing. >>> thanks to you at home for joining us. in 2004, a man named barack obama was a state senator from illinois who was just running for a u.s. senate seat. way back then, in july 2004, people across the country started talking about barack obama as a potential future presidential candidate. and it was because of this speech. >> there is not a liberal america and a conservative america. there is the united states of america. there is not a black america and a white america and latino america and asian america. there's the united states of america. the pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states. red states for republicans. blue states for democrats. but i've got news for them, too. we worship an awesome god in the blue states and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. we coach little league in the blue states, and, yes, we've got some gay friends

"the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. >>> good evening, ed. thanks a lot. thanks to you at home for staying with us the next hour. some presidents are better at giving speeches than others have. the bad at speeches presidents have professional speech writers who can make anybody sound good. all presidents i think in part because of the professionalization of the whole speech writing thing, all presidents now use some of the same tricks. they follow some of the same patterns. even some of the same cadences in giving their good presidential speeches. so, for example, every year at the state of the union, or any speech where there's an invited formal audience with dignitaries, like maybe including the first lady, pretty much all of these in modern times now, from any president, you can expect a little anecdote about one of the invited guests at that event. it will be an applause line. so like wesley autry, the new york city subway hero, or daniel hernandez, congressional intern who helped save the live of congresswoman gabby giffords. the speech

are you equating that -- >> having rachel maddow and ed schultz discussing the debate afterwards for two hours isn't exactly ideal. >> the republican party has a lot more to worry about than me and rachel doing debate analysis in postgame. they're getting walked all over by a modern day snake oil salesman. trump used the party to promote his reality show last spring. now he's using them again, but this time for another reason. >> donald trump, ceo of the trump organization, author of the new book "time to get tough." >> i wrote about it in my book and disclosed my financial numbers. in my book which comes out today, i actually disclose the financial disclosure. >> a-ha. donald trump figured out the secret to the gop, like sarah palin did before him. he learned the party has no serious ideas about government or helping anyone get a job in america. or health care. or public education. it's just a platform for hucksters to sell their goods. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question. is donald trump making a mockery of what used to be a national party? te

you can catch melissa on the rachel maddow show. chris hays is up on the weekends. we will be live at 7:00 aim and 8:00 on sunday. >> it is a very good year for business and a bad year for workers. we talk about the economy in 2011. [ coughs ] what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how to walk. she is taking up valuable cart space. aren't you, honey? [ male announcer ] it's our biggest clearance event of the year where our prices are even lower. save money. live better. walmart. >>> republicans had a simple explanation for continuing economic doll drums. they are obama's fault. how can you have a private sector recovery without a president who understands and respe

>>> there are about four minutes of rachel maddow's show left in 2011, which this makes a very good timend say something we could not say enough and that is thank you. i know i speak for rachel in thanking our boss, bill griffin, for letting us do this every night. i want to say thank to you rachel for giving me a chance to sit in. this is a pretty hard but undoultedly the best job in the world. many things are due to the gifted and hilarious folks who work on this show. most important, we thank all of you, the folks that watch us all year. without you being here every night, we are just a group of news geeks in a cubicle pod in an office building. because of you we get to be the "rachel maddow" show on msnbc. from everybody here, thank you so much. have a safe and happy new year. we'll see you monday night 2012. ♪ ♪

the rachel maddow slow

vice president joe biden speaking last night to rachel maddow reflected on the end of the nearly nine year conflict. >> i feel like i participated in something that i can be proud of the rest of my life. no matter how engaged i was, i don't think i would have been in a position to be able to effect events on a day to day basis to bring us to this point. our troops and diplomats brought us to this point, but i'll be blunt with you. after i made that speech in the palace with maliki, the president and prime minister to iraqi and american assembled troops, i left, got on the phone and called the president and said thank you, thank you for giving me the opportunity to do something that meant a great de deal, to end this war in iraq. >> when asked how he would respond if they ask for troops to stay behind. >> no, i don't think that would have ever, i don't think we would respond to that. had they said leave troops to help us train, that we would consider. but the idea of keeping 20,000 troops there, no. >>> leon panetta made an unannounced stop yesterday. he told u.s. forces the coming yea

sharptonn ed shultz, chris matthews, rachel maddow, and lawrence o' donnell. >> williams: correct.can't name five on fox, sean hannity >> williams: go ahead, keep going. smith:bill o'reilly >> williams: keep going. &-van susteren. will you consider greta van susteren, you don't consider her in idealogue in the same way? >> williams: no. smith:you consider her to be more centrist than the people i named on msnbc? >> williams: i'll let you be the judge, but i don't think that anybody who.i mean clearly, again, she's oo fox but i don't think she's an ideologue. i just don't think that. i don't think shepard smith is an ideologue. i don't think bret baier is an ideologue. >> smith: you don't think brit hume? >> williams: brit hume, i think, is a very strong conservative, but again i don't put him in the same category that i would put sean hannity, no i do not. >> smith: you don't. >> williams: i think brit hume is quite a good journalist. done the work.t say, he'' brit hume's been around washington >> smith: right. >> williams: .-nows thh players, knows the dynamic. thhre's a different

next up, "the rachel maddow show." rachel, great to have you with us tonight. good to see you. >> thanks very much, ed. i'm going to be covering a little bit further on that story you that just covered tonight about michigan. i agree with you that i think this is probably the biggest story in the country. >> look, if michigan gets away with this, if they get away with this, then the next radical governor's going to try it, and you know where it's all going to go. it's just absolutely amazing. >> more ahead on that subject this hour. thanks a lot, ed. really appreciate it. >> thanks, rachel. >> and thanks to you at home for staying with us through the next hour. let's just level with each other about this because we all know the truth, and that's that polls are boring. i mean, i realize that polls less than a month out from the iowa caucuses are important in terms of understanding what's going on in the race for the presidential nomination and the presidential nomination is a really important thing. but polls are boring. especially when there are important minut

this lump of lefties included schultz, rachel maddow, bloggers too boring to mention and the lady fromom was bigger than the collective audience. the only group more progressive than this wore mouse suits to work. they tackled the strategy to fight the candidates and fighting corporate influence. it was occupy the white house without evangelized port-o-portie. if you need to know where the president is coming from, you coulded find better stable. these people are left of the left. obama is comfortable around them because he is them. i don't know what they said to each other. but things that weren't said mr . president, we will hit you with tough questions. and wow, the five is kicking our butts. bob, i don't know what you are doing on your phone there. >> bob: sorry. >> dana: taking a call from the white house. >> greg: were you complaining they had lightweights at the white house and you weren't there? you should have been there, bob. were you listening? you didn't even listen. >> bob: i always listen. i can multitask and trying to get the horse in before the race went off. i'm only k

the executive producer of the rachel maddow show.nals, there's no level. it's just pure lifetime dedication for all of them. >> bill's right. we're here to announce we're buying the blues. st. louis blues. >> i want to say this. we're here to talk about the payroll tax cuts. >> is that why we're here again? all i talk about. >> this is part of it. but last night the mighty ducks of los angeles, anaheim, irvine wherever they're from had a game. >> formerly the arena. >> st. louis 4, anaheim 2. bring it. we settled that score. >> i was up all night watching that game. >> no doubt about it. >> so albert's gone. how much of it do you think as a fan should be laid on the doorstep of the manager of the cardinals? >> i think they made the best play they could. they got him for 11 amazing years. they went as far as they could go. now they're out. >> i completely concur. i thought when they were offering him $22 million a year for ten years that it was probably a deal that was going to hurt the team starting three or four years from now. and