roland martin joins us. >> i could wear phillip see more hoffman just walked onset. >> will kain is a columnist for the blaze.com. we're talking about shoes because it focuses on your feet. if you're trying to figure out a stranger's personal characters, what information might you need? their gender, income, age? might want to know details about their personality. no, look at their feet. scientists say you can judge 90% of someone's personality traits by looking at their shoes. they found that people could pick out somebody's age, gender, political affiliation and anxiety issues just by -- you can save so much money in therapy bills, just by knowing the style and color and cost and condition of someone's shoes. researchers asked volunteers to fill out a personality questionnaire and provide the shoe they wore most often and

roland martin, thank you so much. eric erickson, great to see the both of you. >>> singer and actress beyonce knowles is getting a break at the airport. but she's not alone. the homeland security said to stop patting her down through airport security. take a listen to his reasoning. >> there are certain people that are so well known, that you've just got to use common sense. if you start patting them down, people are going to say, they're patting down beyonce. i mean, she's not going to blow a plane up. >> he also said people like donald rumsfeld and henry kissinger should get free passes as well. what do you think? should well-known celebrities be given a free pass? let me know what you think. send me a tweet and i'll read some of your responses. >>> and baltimore has come up with a unique solution to resolve the housing crisis. we'll tell you what it is. >>> presidential candidate mitt romney once wrote an op-ed saying let detroit go bankrupt. now the city of detroit could actually go broke. that's according to mayo

john avlon, roland martin, wry aham salon with me. going to bring it up to pennsylvania. john, this is the new law, it says all voters will be required to show photo i.d. before they vote. that is what this law is about, quoting directly from the voter i.d. law. democrats say this hurts turnout among minorities, elderly voters. republicans say it's to prevent voter fraud. >> erin, everybody wants fair voting without fraud, but this guy, the head of the republicans and pennsylvania state legislature pulled the curtain back because all of those high-minded reasons, principled reasons allegedly for passing this law, he just said, we're really about partisan gain. and about the pursuit of power. and this is why people are sick of politicians. because they use all this -- supposedly principled reasons and it's nothing about except power and partisan gain. >> roland, this brings me to the tough issue. i think most people would say, look, you should be able to have an identification who you are and where you're from to vote. that is intimidating to some people. why and to whom?

roland martin joins me by phone. land, what are your thoughts on the -- the sad end to a difficult life on behalf of rodney king? >> obviously, it's stunning. you think about beyond the beating and subsequent arrest that came after that, substance abuse, all those different things, just a very, very difficult 47 years of his life. but i think clearly when you talk about his place in history, you think about that flash -- really what came out of that beyond just i mean -- look, obviously the riots and of course all of the different conversation that led to it in terms of what happened throughout the country, but also the enormous spotlight that was put on police brutality and what happens in this country, what happens to african-american men in particular when it comes to the police. and so rodney king really for years and years, any time we have any kind of conversation on police brutality, on of course, you know, to capture those thing, rodney king is going to live on in that way because he is going to be always brou

steven moore, roland martin and john avlon. this is genius.cuts for the middle class, republicans don't want to vote against tax cuts. >> erin, i don't think we can wait till january to get this resolved. you have a lot of issues out there right now. every business in america don't know what the capital gains tax is going to be -- >> yeah, but, what about this specific issue. >> holding back the economy right now has to get resolved as quickly as possible. if it doesn't, it hurts the president's reelection prospects. who wants to invest in this tsunami of -- >> hold on, stephen. would the strategy work where you let them go away for everybody? that's playing roulette for the democrats. >> i don't think that republicans quite rightly are going to go ff any deal that doesn't cut the rates for everybody -- keep the rates where they have because they're all scheduled to go up next year. i'm not so sure that that strategy is so smart because i don't think it's going to get through congress. by the way, the problem with that theory is we don't know

roland martin has been following this situation for months and is outfront. good to see you. >> my pleasure. >> the bottom line here, are you surprised the president has chosen to remain silent on this issue? >> well, it's been interesting how this has really come down. as you say it, he was in chicago a couple of weeks ago. and you had funerals taking place while he was at a wedding. now, a lot of folks and i put this out on facebook and twitter. and it stirred lots of people up and he should say something, some say he shouldn't, i believe he should speak out. but i think it should be for a different reason. i don't think it should be just about chicago. i believe the president should return to his roots as a community organizer and call on the very people living in neighborhoods, call on the people who actually stay there. the preachers, the pastors, the people of community centers and say you have to be able to take charge of your own community. also, i reach out to the white house today, erin, they sent an e-mail today, the department of justice, awarding

you know, i admire my friend lowelland ma roland martin. but i'm going to disagree.t's nonsensical and clumsy is this administration allowing under its attorney general for 2,000 guns to walk into the hands of the mexican drug cartels. and then they lost track of them. as you pointed out, carol, a border patrol agent was killed, and he was white. then we had 300-plus mexicans who were killed. how is this racist? and then to roland's point, we do have evidence. cbs news has obtained emails that atf agents were exchanging during fast and furious, and you know what it showed? not only did they want the gun shops to illegally sell these 2,000 guns to the drug hordes. they said and we're going to use this to build a case for tougher gun laws so roland is just wrong on this. >> no. >> and all i can do is laugh when the naacp and the urban league comes out and says this is racist. this is the same attorney general -- excuse me, roland -- i didn't interrupt you. this is the same attorney general who thought it was a good idea to let 9/11 terrorists who killed 3,000-plus amer

not even roland martin could pull that off. >> what would you expect from the queen. sent or congratulations over that way. >> historic occasion of your diamond jubilee, michelle and i send you and all of the british people and members of the commonwealth the heart-felt congratulations of the american people. >> and the queen, herself, put out a little video thanking the british people for their support. >> the event did i have attended to mark my diamond jubilee have been a humbling experience. just touched me deeply to see so many thousands of families neighbors and friends celebrating together in such a happy atmosphere. >> isn't it funny that like in this country right? we scorn and criticize those who live totally on the public dole and on welfare. right? and in britain, they celebrate them. >> she is the head of state. >> honor them and they give them, you know four days, big celebration. and let them live in their lifestyle. >> i don't get the feeling that she is not really humbled by all of this. when she talks about her neighbors. what neighbors does she have

. >> if only roland martin were here. >> looks like something roland martin may take seriously. >> polka >> tell charlie, good work. >> still ahead on "starting point", brand-new biography on president obama is out. pretty startling revelations that the president's own story in his own auto biography doesn't match up. we'll talk about that as well. >>> and i'm sorry, who won the game? it was the heat. yes. yes! miami heat led by lebron james. who was that? lebron james. >> you have to give her one. come on. >> thank you. >> i hear good music in the background, that must be me. >> it's the sound of miami heat winning. >> that is. that's correct. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. 14 clubs. that's what they tell us a legal golf bag can hold. and while that leaves a little room for balls and tees, it doesn't leave room for much else. there's no room left for deadlines or conference calls. not a single pocket to hold the stress of the day, or the to-do list of tomorrow. only 14 clubs pick up the right one and drive it right down the middle of pure michigan. your trip b

cnn contributors roland martin and john avalon on here. >> what up, carol? , here's my first question. can president obama really make the point that mitt romney is out of touch? roland? >> who cares? are we somehow shocked that there are fundraisers with people who are either celebrities or folks with lots of money? no. not shocked at all. plus, you know what, i am so sick of this regular guy narrative. i don't want a regular guy president. i don't want a regular woman president. i want somebody extraordinary. we need to stop thinking that these folks are just like us. they are not. and they'll never be just like the average american out here. >> ok. john, why do they keep saying they are just like us? >> roland, look, if mitt romney was hosting a fundraiser with anna wintour you'd be teeing off on it talking about -- >> actually, i wouldn't, john, because i don't care. i don't. seriously, i don't. >> it's ridiculous. i'm shocked by how dumb this is. because really, how this gets out of the development stage is a real question. here is a campaign that knows

. >> let's bring in john avlon and roland martin into the conversation.that issue of you have two -- 22 state that would do it, john, let me go straight to you on this. a lot of people are saying that the vote in wisconsin maybe wasn't so much about the collective bargaining but people saying a recall is supposed to be about did the guy break the law. so maybe the vote is not this mandate on collective bargaining or anti-union and more straight down the middle about did the guy do something illegal? >> to that point, we've had recall fever in this country. in 2011 there were 155 instances of recalls on local races. so i do think that there's generally a rejection of this. i think it's pretty healthy. they're not only expensive, but they're destabilizing our democracy and relitigating the election results you don't like. that clearly was a part of this. but the fact that walker won with more votes than he did in 2010 also speaks to a certain strength. then, of course, the money differential, you can't discount that. >> roland, what do the democrats take aw

cnn contributor roland martin and republican strategist hole land gibly. 31 democrats last year signed a letter to president obama expressing concern about the administration's response to fast and furious. of those 31, 29 have received donations from the nr i mean i don't want to draw conclusions where it would be unwarranted or anything. >> oh, but you can. the bottom line is the nra is an extremely powerful organization and they basically have threatened members of congress here. you can call it that when they say we're going to score this and use this when it comes to our evaluations of who we support and give money to. trust me, those democrats -- you have a lot of blue dog democrats, conservative democrats, they do not want to have to feel the rath of the nra when it comes to television ads over the next four or five months. we might as well go ahead and just say it. >> hogan, why is the nra getting involved, this conspire see of theories, this theory of conspiracies is a little bizarre. >> roland, let's be honest. maybe the nra is very popular among that constituency. that's the

john avlon, roland martin are with us. i know you don't like this idea.'t understand when someone goes to the polls and you're a citizen, could you prove you're a citizen right there and this could eliminate the problem? >> no. the reality is when i go to the polls, i bring my voter registration card and have a driver's license if i need that. the real issue here is that you have clerks, supervisors, election supervisors who told the state, hey, this list has problems. let's not move forward with it. they also waited far too late to push it forward. the d.o.j.'s job is to protect the voting rights of people. florida screwed up and the government needs to admit it. >> they're doing this too close to the primary -- >> absolutely, that's the problem. >> is there another way to accomplish this, to have people who are citizens be the ones voting without racially targeting certain groups of minorities and people who are lower income? >> there's been a big controversy across many states, not just in the american south but particularly in the american south regar

roland martin is political analyst at cnn. erick erickson is also. but also the editor of red state.com. great to have you with us. ben, let me start with you. obviously, quick to have victory laps going on both sides. republicans are trying to say, oh, look the supreme court gets you off, obama, only because you're raising taxes on the middle class. will that stick? >> no, this isn't an issue romney can fight and win. i think both he and the president are going to want to stop talking about this after the holiday weekend. the winner is john roberts. who really set up the court and set up himself for this much increased stature. i think the political campaign is going to move away from this fast. >> erick, it may be that roberts was the only real winner today. >> oh, i think roberts was probably the only real winner today. the republicans are going to make the democrats own this. let's not forget the big issue here isn't just republican races but ballot races in the house and the senate where the democrats still have more seats at stake in the senate

cnn political contributor roland martin is here to help us parse this out.ll cain too, who leans right, but he must have had some sort of emergency and couldn't make it. we are left with you, roland, and we're happy you're here. >> likewise. >> ok. so you heard what i just said. i mean, what is really behind the actions being taken against eric holder and fast and furious? is it real concern about this border agent who was killed? and i'm sure there's real concern there. but is it also about the gun control issue? >> of course. it is about shameful politics. it is not about this border patrol's death. here's the deal. if you look at the documents that congressman issa is requesting, whatever the last name -- >> issa. >> he asked for the documents after the agent's death. if you truly want to get to the heart of the issue, you would be investigating this whole issue from the beginning. have we had any public testimony of the former head of the atf in phoenix? have we had any public testimony of the agents in that phoenix office? no. issa wants to go after the

will cane, roland martin's on his way. >> he's coming. >> welcome. good morning.ess who's here today? first, my favorite singer ever. margaret hoover's playlist has u2, "beautiful day." you're watching "starting point." >> it is a beautiful day. >> it really is. [ woman on radio, indistinct ] ♪ bum-bum ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum ♪ - ♪ ai, ai, ai - ♪ bum-bum - ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum - ♪ [ ice rattles rhythmically ] ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum ♪ ♪ [ imitates guitar noise ] ♪ [ vocalizing up-tempo heavy metal song ] ♪ [ vocalizing continues ] ♪ [ all singing ] the redesigned, 8-passenger pilot. smarter thinking. from honda. welcome to hotels.com. summer road trip, huh? as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com. ♪ no matter what ♪ got money on my mind ♪ i can never get enough >>> all i do is win, win, win. roland's awake. it's 7:26. most of us are like -- will cane's just nodding his head, columnist joining us. notice how i segue right into the introductions. she worked