we're moving this country forward. >> richard wolffe, he seems to strike the note in there, satisfied, no, while he's trying to suggest there has been progress, it is not satisfactory progress. >> right. and the hard thing is that, well, for starters, he's trying to be honest here. if he drew the parallel of president bush in 2004, he never actually said in 2004, you know, our security is not all it might be. you know, iraq could be going better and bin laden is still out there. what he actually said is, we are more secure now than we were four years ago. we are better off than we were pre-9/11. i have kept you safe. we have not been attacked again. this administration is trying to tell the story as it really is. and the truth is, if you take the reagan question, are you better off than you were four years ago, the answer is yes. the economy is not falling off a cliff. we're not losing 800,000 jobs a month. we're actually gaining them, albeit in smaller numbers than you'd like. the stock market has rebounded from its lows. there are lots of things that are better than they were four y

it's barely a pac at all. >> richard wolffe, that's going to have to be tonight's last word. us, richard. you can have the last word online. the last word @lawrence. "the ed show" is up next. >>> good ing, americans. welcome back to the show from new york. republicans are resorting to the dirty tricks to win the 201 2 election. early on they are. but now election officials in florida are standing up against governor rick scott's attempt to purge the voter roles. this is the hottest story in america. we'll show why you florida is the focus of the gop's voter suppression plan. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >>> the republican party in florida admitted there is a problem with this system.

it's barely a pac at all >> richard wolffe, that's going to have to be tonight's last word. rd. you can have the last word online at thelastword.msnbc.com. johnny comes marching home again. let's play "hardball." >> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with the edwards trial and this waste of time, money, and i believe public attention. he has not been found guilt on one charge, the jury deadlocked on all the rest. i have questioned this case since day one. this is what we see in developing countries. i don't like the fact that a republican prosecutor, a hold over, brought this case against edwards and then went to run for

it's barely a pac at all. >> richard wolffe, that's goin

potential to pass with all the bipartisanship squabbling on hill to discuss more i'm joined by richard wolffe author of occupy the economy challenging capitalism. hey richard so is this movement really about just drawing a little higher dollar bills no i think this is a serious movement it is quite a few years old it was basically invented by a nobel prize american economist professor james told in of yale university who was my teacher when i was getting my ph d. in economics and the idea is simple just like we have a sales tax when you buy a candy bar or a bar of soda or a cigarette tax or a gas tax it's long past due that we have the same kind of tax on the financial transactions made by hedge funds and stock brokerage is and big banks across the world it's gaining traction in europe leaders in europe have already come out in favor of it the united states is behind the curve it would have be oh very good way to tax those who have done best over the last thirty years who had a lot to do with bringing us with the financial crisis who've escaped this tax for a long time and who now ought to be

richard wolffe, you got to help me with this. >> lawrence, i'm here to help you.king about saying something that i just hate to say and i'm just going to try it with you and -- >> okay. >> tell me if you think i should actually say this, you know, in the segment we're going to do in a second. >> be careful. >> i think what newt just said, i think newt has a point. >> you know, lawrence, are you feeling okay? i mean, are you feeling all right tonight? >> it's a first time event for me, newt having a point. >> do you know, lawrence, you're only a couple of step as way from agreeing with donald trump about something. >> no, that's a whole different thing. this thing about accountability of the money he's got a point here because now we've got all this money flowing with super pacs and they can do whatever they want and the candidate can claim i didn't know anything about it. newt is saying, if all the money is going to be there, why not make it accountable? >> well, okay, let's say that this was spoken by someone called bob gingrich and put it to one side. disclosure

>> richard wolffe. >> yes, it will be here.ait till it goes further and buy it. >> that's true. we have to leave it at that. thanks again to curt, richard, jodi and jonathan. that's all for "now." i'll see you back here monday at noon eastern/9:00 a.m. pacific. when i'm joined by the nation's ari berman. till then, you can find us at facebook.com/"now" with alex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. happy friday to you. >> thanks so much. coming up, a devastating jobs report dragging down the marks today. maria bartiromo will be joining me on what it means for the economy and we'll talk to chris cillizza about the election. plus, what's next for john edwards with an all-star trio? and we'll celebrate queen elizabeth's diamond jubilee we msnbc's martin bash here and th" yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they sa

msnbc political analyst richard wolffe, "the new york times" jodi kantor and msnbc contributor jonathanington post." if you're president obama or mitt romney, there are five dates to circle on your calendar. july 6th, august 3rd, september 7th, october 5th and november 2nd. those are the five remaining monthly jobs reports from the department of labor. and if they're anything like today's assessment which found that just 69,000 jobs were created and the unemployment rate increased it could be a tough road for president obama. for republicans, the script writes itself. >> this is terrible. i mean these job numbers are pathetic. i think it just really cries out for us to actually try something new now. >> i'm not going to go down the path of i'm not an economist. all i can say is that they would have taken our advice and worked with us, the economy would be better. more americans would have better jobs, more americans would have better incomes. that's clear to us. >> i guess the only news this morning is that 3 1/2 years lauter, the president's policies are still failing. >> richard wolff

let's bring in richard wolffe.elcome to the show. >> thank you. >> what did you make of president obama's comments on the security leaks? you know him. he was kind of piping mad in a calm and cool way. >> yeah. those of us that have seen him mad, no that wasn't terribly cool for him. he's steamed about this for good reason. let's split apart what people are talking about. we hear senator mccain talking about these things, he's mixing together new stories. what they call the tick tocks about what the president said to who and when. the legal disclosure of classified information, they are two different things. we may all them leaks, but they are different. i suspect was the president was most steamed about is the story in the new york times about the psy cyber attacks. this was a covert plan. we assume it was executed by the united states against iran using computer technology. that opens up a whole different area of worry and concern for the united states. both in terms of the techniques and the challenge that iran

joining me now is the host of nbc's now alex wagner, richard wolffe, the author of "renegade -- makingf a president." julian, the ruling was striking today in so many ways, obviously using the power to tax to sustain the mandate.ç but yes, justice scalia's broccoli example is accepted by the chief justices and a majority of the court as knocking out the individual mandate under the commerce clause. it seems that this opinion is trying to write a very strict limitation on any future expansions of the commerce clause. >> that is the conventional wisdom as people read it. but as you and i and so many people got wrong the arizona immigration ruling, they're drawing the distinction between activity and inactivity. if you didn't want to buy health insurance, the federal government couldn't make you. that was the decision on which they said it didn't affect interstate commerce. i think that impact is going to be minimal to nil. because i can't for a minute think of another example in which this activity-inactivity distinction would be made. if you read the roberts' opinion, roberts chipped a

richard wolffe, thank you. next, a picnic at the white house.he national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. >>> the president is in a pitched battle with mitt rom my and the republicans in a bitter and polarized election year. the ruling his health care law is expected tomorrow and contempt vote looms against his attorney general. so what better time than now to host the white house picnic? welcoming members of congress from both sides of the aisle. who better to let us in on the politics thanning the silver fox himself. the loudmouth luke russert on capitol hill. gentlemen, it appears there will be something to celebrate at the picnic. the house has followed the senate in passing a transportation bill that could create over 3 million jobs. luke, what happened? >> how about th

let's turn to howard fineman and richard wolffe.e show. >> thank you. >> howard, let's start with you. is the romney camp handling this teacher, policeman and firefighter issue well? >> they need to be careful. you have to be extremely careful on and that you have to make sure if you're a republican or if you're a conservative that you don't look like you're against the teachers, the firefighters and the police. today on his radio show rush limbaugh was trying to argue that those these categories of workers are not public employees. i couldn't quite figure out his logic in terms of the facts but politically what he was trying to say is let's be careful and i don't think mitt romney has been. >> richard, to howard's point, when the american people are polled on this topic, they overwhelmingly want federal money to be spent on teachers and first responders. how in the heck account romney campaign get around that? >> they can't and that's why they're trying to shift the topic of discussion here. romney's comments today with a strange i

political analyst, richard wolffe. politico executive editor, jim vandehei, melinda hennenberg and john chait. this is day four of the every town counts romney bus tour and he has so far made nine stops in four states. but is every town really counting? their campaign is having a hard time getting out of the shadow of president obama's announcement on immigration. in wisconsin this morning, romney spoke alongside congressman paul ryan, and governor scott walker. he said the president is creating distractions to hide his record. >> because of his failed record, his campaign's having a hard time deciding what to talk about, because they'd like to talk about the economy and they'd like to talk about his record, but you know, they know the last time his campaign slogan was hope and change. this time they're going with we hope to change the subject. >> it is not often that we get jim vandehei in the flesh and not on a remote cam in the politico offices. it's a great day in america. i will go to you first with this. the immi

different visibly the democratic party in this country either i suspect you're absolutely right richard wolffe dr will thanks so much for being with us tonight thank you again and glad to see you again thank you whatever the pain a euro exit might bring to greece and can't be worse than five years of recession and austerity that have pushed the great greek people to the brink and literally forced many of them to commit suicide it's time to just rip off the band-aid see greece move out of the euro and go back to the drachma and abandon the insanity of austerity. coming up if mitt romney takes over the white house in november bashes will be running the show in washington d.c. across america i'll tell you why and i was fairly taken and bigger government documents were leaked today this time revealing startling new information on president obama's free trade policies why is the white house standing up for foreign companies instead of look you know for american jobs and american workers. heat. down the official ante up location. called touch from the. one show on t.v. lights on the go. video on dem

this is a game-changer for american society. >> richard wolffe, with your book, you've taken us insidema decision making up close, including this difficult decision he had on how he was going to vote on the confirmation chief justice roberts. and as you write, çit's very clear that he would like to live in a political world where he actually could have voted for a learned legal scholar like this. but the political practical side of it came down on him and he realized that the rulings that the chief might do over the years would be things that he might regret. but apparently, this is not one of them. >> it's ironic. he wanted to vote, as a new senator, he wanted to vote for -- actually, this was when john roberts was just nominated for the supreme court. before he was elevated to chief justice. and he was convinced otherwise, the new senator, senator obama was convinced otherwise by someone as frankly mainstream and nonfire brand like as pete rouse, his senior adviser, on the basis that he would be held accountable for everything john roberts did over the next 20 years. the base, democ

america isn't that land of opportunity we thought it once was and help me break this down as richard wolffe author of the book occupy the economy challenging capitalism. lolo there richard on let me get your take i mean do you agree with this notion that it matters much more who your parents are than how hard you work. yes i agree it's becoming worse but you know it's been true here in the united states for quite a while we have a very elaborate misawa gee about people having all kinds of chances but when you look hard at the statistics you really don't see that you are pretty well constrained in the united states by where you're born and who you're lucky to have as parents are not so lucky but the but stiglitz is right it is getting worse as the gap between rich and poor in the united states keeps widening beyond that we were that we've ever seen before for at least one hundred years yeah it's so interesting i mean i see these new stories and read these articles about people especially you know higher income people in new york city and other cities around this country fighting to get their

. >> jonathan alter and david corn and richard wolffe, stay with us. stay with us. >> if, in fact, we were able to pull this back in the iranian nuclear facility, somebody walked that in there. >> right. >> that did not just get into their system. >> that's right. my cut hurt! mine hurt more! mine stopped hurting faster... [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com. i'm making my money do more. ♪ i'm consolidating my assets. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions. i'm making the most of my money. and seven-dollar trades are just the start. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. and i'm loving every minute of it. [ rodger riney ] at scottrade, we give you commission-free etfs, no-fee iras and more. come see why more investors are saying... i'm with scottrade. >>> scandal fever is sweeping capitol hill today thanks to the investigation into the intelligence leaks. john mccai

msnbc political analyst richard wolffe, "the new york times" jodi kantor and msnbc contributor jonathanington post." if you're president obama or mitt romney, there are five dates to circle on your calendar. july 6th, august 3rd, september 7th, october 5th and november 2nd. those are the five remaining monthly jobs reports from the department of labor. and if they're anything like today's assessment which found that just 69,000 jobs were created and the unemployment

senay joi us along with richard wolffe.> emily, how's it doing up there? what do the people of massachusetts think of mitt romney's individual mandate? >> you know, they like it. it worked. the people in massachusetts, if you go there and talk to them, by and large, very much in favor of the law. the polls show pretty clearly that somewhere between 60% and 75% of people approve of romney care. when you parse out individual mandate, it's not quite as high. >> right. >> but if you are just using what the law intended to do as your yard stick for whether or not it worked, it worked. >> which is -- what did it do and what did it succeed? >> two things. very simply the law was intended to make sure that everybody in the state of massachusetts had health insurance. number two, the way to get there was to sort of share the risks, share the responsibility. >> let's start with number one. what do you have? 95%, 96% of people with health insurance? >> probably 98% of people in massachusetts. absolutely amazing. somewhere between 88%

. >> there you have it from who of the best in the business, howard fineman and richard wolffe. >> a kkk group in georgia wants to clean up a highway so they can clean up their image. but they'll have to clean up a whole lot more than a highway. the latest next. >> up next, the kkk is looking to clean up their image by adopting a highway in georgia but they've hit a roadblock. details ahead. and did gwyneth paltrow cross the loon when she tweeted the "n" word? russell simmons will weigh in. we'll be right back. >>> a ku klux klan group in georgia is trying to clean up their image by cleaning up roads. believe it or not, i say let them go for it. the international keystone knights of the kkk filed an application last month to join georgia's adopt a highway program. they want to adopt a one mile stretch of highway 515 in north georgia. the program enlists volunteers from groups to pick up trash along the road. each group that participate gets a sign on the road with their name on it. the klan says this isn't for publicity, they just want to keep the road clean. earlier today the georgi

. >> richard wolffe and alicia mendes, thank you for your time tonight. >> thanks. >>> ahead, when it comes to the president's health care law, all republicans want is repeal, repeal, repeal. today more evidence that the law is working, working, working. plus karl rove's group apologizes after mocking the secretary following an ugly car accident over the weekend. breaking news on friday, voter suppression plan. the governor of that important state is making a big move today, and you can be sure the obama administration will respond. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. high schools in six states enrolled in the national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. >>> folks, have you checked us out on facebook? the conversation is going all day long. today the flood of voter purge was the story. pat says despite what an

. >> there you have it from who of the best in the business, howard fineman and richard wolffe. >> a grouch in georgia wants to clean up a highway so they can clean up their image. but they'll have to clean up a whole lot more than a highway. the latest next. ♪ then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. ♪ now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. >> up next, the kkk is looking to clean up their image by adopting a highway in georgia but they've hit a roadblock. details ahead. and did gwyneth paltrow cross the loon when she tweeted the "n" word? russell simmons will weigh in. we'll be right back.

the deputy communications director for the obama administration, richard wolffe and jp fayre. i want to start with you. the national messaging from the romney campaign as president obama is going to be plagued by his "doing fine" comment about the private sector most likely until there is a gaff from mitt romney. can he make a statement during today's economic speech that can wipe friday's message off the political board? >> you mean can the president? >> yeah. >> well, yeah. the president can because he is great at giving these kinds of speeches and framing the story line. the gaff is part of the critique against him. that doesn't rely on the gaff but on unemployment remaining stubbornly high and a global economy that is still struggling. the question is, if you're the opposition you can harass the other side. you can land your punches but what have you got to offer? because you need to be hired as well as try and firing the other guy and that is something romney hasn't explained any more than let's do what we did before. the problem is most voters still blame the old guys, t

joining me today live from washington, d.c., msnbc political analyst, richard wolffe. and john chait. this is day four of the every town counts romney bus tour and he has so far made nine stops in four states. but is every town really counting? their campaign is having a hard time getting out of the shadow of president obama's announcement on immigration. in wisconsin this morning, romney spoke alongside congressman paul ryan, and governor scott walker. he said the president is creating distractions to hide his record. >> because of his failed record, his campaign's having a hard time deciding what to talk about, because they'd like to talk about the economy and they'd like to talk about his record, but you know, they know the last time his campaign slogan was hope and change. this time they're going with we hope to change the subject. >> it is not often that we get jim vandehei in the flesh and not on a remote cam in the politico offices. it's a

joining me today, msnbc political analyst, richard wolffe.cations director for president george w. bush, senior advisor for the mccain campaign and author of "it's classified." patricia murphy of citizen jane politics and a contributor to the daily beast. and mr. sunday morning himself, the "new york times" magazine's hugo lindgren. ronald reagan's legacy is causing a bit of fracture in the gop as party leaders debate what role the herolded republican president would play today. jeb bush is taking flack for saying republicans today have moved too far right for reagan to be accepted in the party. meanwhile, this morning, tim pawlenty said mitt romney embodies reagan's principles. >> say the republican party currently wouldn't endorse ronald reagan or something like that, we just nominated mitt romney or presumptively nominated mitt romney, who is in the reagan tradition, a conservative with a conservative record, governed effectively in a blue state, working across the aisle, somebody who has produced results. >> but as republicans make compar

joining me today, msnbc political analyst, richard wolffe. nicolle wallace, former communications director for president george w. bush, senior advisor for the mccain campaign and author of "it's classified." patricia murphy of citizen jane politics and a contributor to the daily beast. and mr. sunday morning himself, the "new york times" magazine's hugo lindgren. ronald reagan's legacy is causing a bit of fracture in the gop as party leaders debate what role the herolded republican president would play today. jeb bush is taking flack for saying republicans today have moved too far right for reagan to be accepted in the party. meanwhile, this morning, tim pawlenty said mitt romney embodies reagan's principles. >> say the republican party currently wouldn't endorse ronald reagan or something like that, we just nominated mitt romney or presumptively nominated mitt romney, who is in the reagan tradition, a conservative with a conservative record, governed effectively in a blue state, working across the aisle, somebody who has produced results. >

policemen and firefighters and also said that romney quote, needs a vision and quote, a message, richard wolffe, which is not exactly what you want to hear. we know romney has a surrogate problem but that's not the greatest message to be hearing over the weekend and during -- >> this is a governor who is -- who just got a new lease of life in a state where president obama remains popular, right? also, the economic messages don't match up. if you go to a place like ohio as they have been on this tour, unemployment has actually been coming down. it's now lower than the national average, lower than it was in january '09 when obama took office. so the economy is terrible message, doesn't really resonate in these places. that's an irony when you're thinking about the rust belt, traditionally, and also where you have strong energy jobs. whenever you hear candidates debating a message or slogans, they're really not dealing with their own substance. it's too processy. we make talk about this here, but you don't want the candidate to engage in political strategy, at least not on a podium. i think that's