sam stein, john harwood, michael medved. john harwood, no one knows more about this in the senate than kent conrad. no one in the house of representatives understands senate parliamentary procedure. very few senators do. kent conrad's one of them. are the rest of the senators and the democratic caucus listening to him about this? do they understand how complex and how much it could misfire? >> i think they are and i think certainly harry reid is cognizant of that. i'd be interested in your view, though. what i think i learned covering you, and i wish i had e-mail then because you were hard to get on the phone, was that senators and particularly senators involved in financial stuff, can sort of figure these things out and make it work and delay things and phase in different provisions to try to work out whatever they want to dor. so i'm a little skeptical that they can't do it this way. you tell me, can they make it happen? >> no, i agree with conrad. what happens is what they will do is raise a budget point of order saying,

. >>> for more, let's bring in jamal simmons, sam stein and john feehery. let's consider the politics of this. pretty big republican vote against her. it seemed to me to be motivated in many cases by republicans who fear being challenged on their right in primaries coming up in the next cycle, but what does it do to national republican candidates? what does it do to the next republican nominee for president? and the next one away that? >> you know, lawrence, this is a problem with the republican party when they get into some of the politics, particularly around hispanic and ethnic politics. when it comes down to social values, republicans ought to be able to make the case for many voters. many are catholic, pro-life, have traditional families, but then it comes down to a question like whether it was english-only in california, or judge sotomay sotomayor. the republicans can't seem to cross the final barrier to say we're all in this together, we're all americans and all earthquake, if they could reach that point i think they would be in a better position, bu

nancy, thanks for joining us, sam stein and michael medved. earlier we asked you if president obama can overcome the right-wing lies about health care reform, here's our results. that's "the ed show." great to be back with you. for more information on "the ed show," go to ed.msnbc.com. "hardball" with chris matthews is next on msnbc. >>> death wish -- let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris matthews in boston. leading off tonight, killing it loudly. let's face it. the people who said they're opposed to this provision of health care reform or that one, aren't looking to improve the bill, they're trying to find a way to kill it. they argue against federally-funded abortion or make up stories about government-sponsored euthanasia for old people. but they never say, take this out of the bill and i'm for reform. no, they want this dead, and they want to destroy barack obama in the process. we've got one of the people organizing those town hall events, and we're going to play "hardball" with him tonight. and check out this startling "wall

political health reporter for "the huffington post" sam stein.al assistant to president george w. bush ron christie with us tonight. nancy, starting with you. the patience of the american people, where is it right now on afghanistan? >> i don't think it's there. i think as the casualties keep mounting and as the financial and human cost of the war keeps getting bigger, i think people are getting frustrated. i keep going back to thinking, though, that it's the war that is eight years late. if we had stayed in afghanistan back in 2001-2002, when we had osama bin laden at tora bora, we could have made some progress. now i feel like barack obama inherited this mess and the timing is just extraordinarily bad. as you said earlier, we've got financial woes here. we've got health care reform -- >> we don't know how much finances. that's the thing. secretary gates is saying a few more years. that could be billions and billions of dollars. ron christie, it appears to me that president obama is rather hawkish on afghanistan. what's your take on his position

. >> sam stein of the huffington post today posted an interview with you in which you said democrats who vote against a public option for health care reform shouldn't count on any support from labor when they were up for re-election. is the public option a do or die for labor? >> absolutely. without the public option, this bill instead of being health insurance reform, it will become health insurance company grab number two. look, insurance companies' profits were up over 1,000% the last five years and working families have had their premiums increased 300% over the last couple of years. three times, they pay three times as much. this is about holding them accountable to the working families of this country and get ago bi ing a bill that actually works. and without a public option in this bill, it's no longer health insurance reform. >> do you agree with my dumb premise involving how to order pizza that -- >> i sat here smiling because it was perfect. that's what they always do. they say, we want reform. but what is their option? what do they put forth? they have not given a single c

sam stein, what's the tightrope that the president walks right now with all the town hall meetings taking place and there's an image, an outcry and a push-back, that any kind of reform isn't good reform. what do you think? >> first of all, welcome back. and secondly, you deserve the $102,000 an hour salary. >> why, just because i have you on all the time? >> i don't know what they're paying you for that. one thing that i was in the white house today, at a briefing. and they're very acutely aware that there is a tightrope that's being walked. they don't necessarily like the idea that they're getting heckled or that the democratic lawmakers are getting heckled. at the same time, there is a sense that, it's not the worst thing in the world to happen. there is division within the democratic caucus over what the proper route to reform is. and as long as the attention is being paid to people like sarah palin, talking about death squads and euthanasia, then the attention is not being paid to the frictions within the democratic party. one of the things that robert greenwald sz video is exactly wh

stein -- $18 billion. thanks to the agreement thousands of americans are expected to voluntarily now expected to disclose holdings to the irs. >>> sam'sis offering coupons to some customers. they are offering it to those who pay $100 for a yearly membership. members can get them electronically or print them out at a kiosk in the store. sam's doesn't accept manufacturer's coupons. >>> jetblue's all you can fly promotion has all the passengers it can handle. jet blue suspended the offer . the company said it didn't want to sell so many passes that finding suits would be a -- seats would be a challenge. >>> coming up on "good morning america," back-to-school shopping tips. you could save hundreds of dollars on everything from clothing to textbooks. that's on gma and that is your "moneyscope report." i'm vinita nair. >>> good morning, i'm meteorologist susan schrack. dawn starting to light the sky. looks pretty pleasant. checking in at westminster, winters mill high school, 74 degrees. still a couple of raindrops left over on the cameras. taking a look at annapolis, 73 degrees. no rain there. things look pretty good otherwise. mainly clea