importance of hiring more public employees, namely teachers. >> the point is, teachers matter. one study found that a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. a great teacher can change the course of a child's life. so the last thing our country needs is to have fewer teachers in our schools. >> the obama campaign is not taking this one lightly. a new web ad highlights state and local officials in massachusetts, questioning the job cutting policies of mitt romney, when he was governor of the state. >> local government was cut dramatically. we lost police, firefighter, teachers, at rapid rates. people that directly impact the lives of every citizen. our cities were less safe, not as clean, larger class sizes. >> republicans want to pretend government job losses don't hurt the economy, but the facts are not on their side. we are currently experiencing the only time in the last 30 years in which public sector jobs have not been part of the post recession recovery. and they wonder why the current recovery is sluggish. even ronald reagan added public sector jobs coming out of the recession. public employment was up 3.1% under reagan but down 2.7% under president obama and the republican congress. those jobs make a difference in the overall unemployment picture. according to the "wall street journal," unemployment would be a full percentage point lower with those public sector jobs factored in. it all has an effect on the economy. the center for budget priority and public sector says, quote, private and public sector workers who are laid off or who see their pay reduced by less and further reduced economic activity. today the romney camp remains steadfast in its denial. here's romney supporter john sununu on msnbc. >> you have cities in the country in which the school population peaked 10, 15 years ago and yet the number of teachers that they have maintained has not changed. i think this is a real issue and people ought to stop jumping on it as a gaffe and understand there's wisdom in the comment. >> sununu sees wisdom in the idea of reducing the number of teachers in this country. even though the census numbers show an increase in school enrollment every year. by 2015, enrollment is projected to be nearly 10 million students higher than it was at the beginning of the last decade. of course, it wouldn't be a full-court press from the gop without words from the real leader of the republican party. >> nobody's opposed to cops or firefighters or teachers, but they aren't private sector jobs. they do not contribute to economic growth. >> i guess rush limbaugh doesn't think teachers, firefighters, or police officers ever spend any money. it's frustrating enough to have republican spokesmen push this bill of goods but it's even worse when the people responsible for public job losses try to do the same. vocal obama chris christie is a walking billboard for slash and burn governance at the state level. he ordered 1,200 new jersey public employees laid of in 2010. the consequences were immediate and devastating. take the campaign, city of camden, new jersey. after 168 police officers were laid off in 2010, violent crime spiked 20%. the city needed $2.5 million in grant money to rehire 50 officers. the story is no different this year. camden is one of 29 cities that received fema grants to adequately staff fire departments and emergency services after cuts at the state level. the federal government is still on the hook paying for jobs governors like chris christie did away with so recklessly. i can understand the mentality of these governors and mitt romney, especially when it comes to education. you see, i attended the same boarding school as mitt romney for a year and a half in the mid-'70s. i won a scholarship to the prestigious school. i saw the small classrooms, individual attention paid by teachers. the constant nurturing of students and the freedom to range widely in academic pursuits. this was unlike the experience at the school i eventually graduated from in detroit's inner city. we had secondhand textbooks, dilapidated facilities and overcrowded classrooms. the contrast was dramatic. limited economic investment did not allow northwestern high school to provide the same service as cranbrook. but i believe the teachers at northwestern high school were even more inspiring. because they had to transcend their resources, often paying out of their own pockets to make sure the students were protected. they have to do more with a lot less. these teachers, like most people who go into public service jobs, provide great value to our society. i understand why mitt romney and others from his background have a hard time seeing that. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, does mitt romney really believe that public servants are the problem? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639. or go to our blog ed.msnbc.com. i'll bring you the results later in the show. joining me now is e.j. dionne, msnbc contributor, "washington post" columnist, fellow georgetown professor, and author of "our divided political heart." welcome to the show, e.j. dionne. >> good to be with you, colleague. >> all right, my friend. look, is the romney camp way off track with their message on this one? they seem to be ranging far afield of the facts and the truth. >> well, i think that they are very much on the line of the republican party and modern conservatism which has turned itself largely into an anti-government creed. conservatives didn't used to be quite this dogmatically anti-government, but they are now. i think one of the reasons this happened is that progressives weren't tough enough in actually defending government's role. i mean, conservatives say all the time, government doesn't create jobs. the answer to that is, yes, government does create jobs. there was a report from the cbo that showed without the stimulus, we probably would have had something like 3.3 million fewer jobs and we might have fallen into recession back in 2010. so it's not just that these jobs are important, they're important as in the case of teachers, to economic growth, so are the construction jobs government creates. but as you suggested, they're very important for the money that people spend and put into the rest of the economy. the republicans, right now, the republicans along with conservatives in europe are arguing for austerity and saying cutting government is the key to everything. but that sort of -- that goes right against all the lessons we learned, for example, in the great depression. >> yeah. well, look, e.j., if you get that message and if you understand that as a prominent political columnist and professor, why can't the democrats really make that message very clear and visible? why aren't they more articulate about that? >> well, i think there's a lot of fear because, first of all, we went through periods when people lost faith in government, all the way back beginning with vietnam and watergate. and the conservatives have been at the anti-government message for 30 years. and so it's not that they're inarticulate. i think they're constantly trimming a little bit to play to the anti-government sentiment they know is out there. so, yes, yes, we like government, but i really love the private sector, or, well, yes, i know there are problems with government, but -- and i do think that there should be two halves to this message. you know, the first half is government has done and can do good things. and one of the points of my book is to look back to people like alexander hamilton, henry clay, and abraham lincoln who saw a very robust role for government in building the country then that has to be accompanied with a message of government reform. we care about government so much that we want it to work even better. i think that's the kind of message progressives and liberals have to put out there. >> absolutely. wisconsin governor scott walker responded to romney's comments on "face the nation" yesterday. >> i think in the end, the big issue is that the private sector still needs more help and the answer's not more big government. i know in my state, our reforms allowed us to protect firefighters, police officers and teachers. that's not what i think when i think of big government. >> do you think romney made things difficult for republican governors who have always trieded to make the case that they're cutting nonessential services? that's clearly not the case. >> first of all, i think when you find yourself to the right of scott walker you might want to reconsider your position. you know, i think republican governors are split on this. i think there were some who really welcomed the stimulus assistance. governor mcdonnell out in virginia who's very conservative recently said the stimulus was helpful. i think there are others who really are ideologues and want to cut government and are going to stick to the party line, but it is amazing that scott walker is somebody you think of as a very, very conservative governor, but he realized the costs of coming, of looking like you're against cops and firefighters and teachers. >> all right. e.j. dionne, thank you so much, my friend. >> good to be with you. thank you. >> remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow. we want to know what you think. republican congressman darrell issa is on a political witch hunt with attorney general eric holder his target. that's next. and later, go back to kenya? the supreme court busts a birther lawsuit. but the believers are alive and well. we'll be right back. whoa. right? get. out. exactly! really?! 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[ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. coming up on "the ed show," congressman darrell issa wants to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt over the justice department's fast and furious program. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton is calling it a political hit job, and she's next. mayor michael bloomberg is defending new york city's controversial stop and frisk law. critics and proponents agree. it's racial profiling. so why is it allowed? that debate is ahead. the justice department is now officially suing the state of florida over its planned voter purge. the latest on that breaking news is ahead. share your thoughts with us on twitter using #edshow. we'll be right back. so did the country that came in 17th place. let's raise the bar and elevate our academic standards. let's do what's best for our students-by investing in our teachers. let's solve this. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you and your money deserve. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair. welcome back to "the ed show." the republican chairman of the house oversight committee, darrell issa, wants to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt. today, issa announced his committee will consider a contempt resolution on june 20th. he claims it's not a political witch hunt. >> but ultimately it's not about going to contempt. it's about getting cooperation and legitimate discovery and in this case they're not asserting privilege, they're simply not giving the documents the american people deserve. >> this revolves around the justice department's fast and furious operation. today the deputy attorney general sent chairman issa a letter calling the contempt resolution premature. chairman issa wants to grandstand as he did last week. >> i want to ask you, first of all, today, have you and your attorneys produced internally the materials responsive to the subpoenas? >> we believe that we have responded to the subpoena -- >> no, mr. attorney general, you're not a good witness. i appreciate there was hostility between the attorney general and myself. >> can i just make -- >> i'd like to yield to the attorney general at this point, please. >> well, i -- with all due respect to chairman issa, he says there's hostility between us. i don't feel that. you know, i understand he's asking questions. i'm trying to respond as best i can. i'm not feeling hostile at all. i'm pretty calm. i'm okay. >> thank god for calm, black men. here's part of the justice department's official response. "chairman issa's latest maneuver is unfortunate and unwarranted, particularly given the ongoing discussions. from the beginning, chairman issa has distorted the facts, ignored testimony and flung inaccurate accusations at the attorney general and others. and this latest move fits within that tired political playbook." let's turn to eleanor holmes norton, congresswoman from the district of columbia and another georgetown colleague on the house oversight committee. congresswoman, eleanor holmes norton, thank you for coming on. >> of course. good to be with you. >> the ranking democrat on your committee, elijah cummings, said, "holding someone in contempt of congress is one of the most serious and formal actions our committee can take and it should not be used as a political tool to generate press as part of an election year witch hunt against the obama administration." what are your thoughts about that? do you agree with congressman cummings? >> wholly. moreover, it shouldn't be used as a negotiating tactic. chairman issa virtually admitted that in the clip you just showed. he said, oh, it's not about going to contempt, it's about, quote, getting more cooperation from the attorney general. the documents subpoenaed pertain to ongoing criminal investigations or part of a fishing expedition to see if there's anything there. and what's really important i think to know here, the american people must think fast and furious is all about stone throwing between republicans and democrats. i bet you the 99.9% wouldn't know what fast and furious was all about. so i would like a minute on that. because this is a double tragedy. the first and foremost, by far, tragedy, was the killing of an agent, a border control agent when some guns kept coming from the united states. the second tragedy, to be sure not nearly as tragic, but it's important to understand, the bush and the obama administration felt compelled to use what are called gun walking tactics. because they -- that is to say, trying to let the guns go in a sting operation because the republicans bought and paid for by the gun lobby refused to fill a gaping hole in federal laws that makes it impossible to prosecute people who engage in purchases, mass purchases, of guns or gun running. the law simply doesn't allow that so that they try to follow these guns. one of these guns killed a devoted agent. we had heard nothing about that in committee. and i'm on the committee. that's because they've been trying to see who struck john. and in something that began, tactics that began in the bush administration and continued into the obama administration. >> sure. that's very clear to make that point that this began under the bush administration with a different name. it's continued under the obama administration under this rubric of fast and furious. here's chairman issa recently calling the obama administration corrupt. >> but, again, we're very busy in washington with a corrupt government, with a government that i said more than a year ago was perhaps, because of the money, because of the amount of t.a.r.p. and stimulus funds, was going to be the most corrupt government in history and it's proving to be that. >> now, chairman issa has tried his best to create corruption where it doesn't exist, hasn't he? >> he does. when you use a word like that -- i thought chairman issa had moved off that kind of language. you better be able to come up with a fast and furious or other evidence to back that up. we don't throw around words like that especially when we're talking about the attorney general of the united states. nobody has ever tied him to fast and furious or to any subpoenas or to knowing anything about this. it's a reckless charge that leads the american people to say, who cares. they're looking at the economy to see if anything's going to happen to it and paying no attention to this. i wonder if the subpoenas will ever go to the house floor. no, never has a cabinet official been -- has a contempt citation against a cabinet official been enforced by the courts of the united states. do you really expect the courts to come forward now and be dragged into partisan subpoenas? i don't, eric. i don't. >> i don't think we're going to see that at all. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton, thank you very much. >> always a pleasure. new york mayor michael bloomberg is out defending the city's controversial stop and frisk policy. is it racial profiling? donna lieberman and heather mcdonald weigh in on that. later, united health care promises to keep key provisions in place even if the president's health care law is overturned. is it a goodwill gesture or a pr stunt? stay tuned. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new dentyne split to fit pack. it splits in to two smaller, sleeker packs that fit almost anywhere so you can take them everywhere. dentyne split to fit. practice safe breath. 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>> you bet it is. you know, the mayor says this is all about stopping criminals. well, do you mean to tell me that the nypd, new york's finest, is wrong 90% of the time? 90% of the people that they stop are so innocent that in an era of zero tolerance, they walk away without even a summons for disorderly conduct. so the nypd isn't stopping suspected criminals. they're stopping suspected black and latino people. and that's racial profiling and it's illegal. >> miss mcdonald, what do you say? >> race has nothing to do with the way the nypd developed its tactics. it's going into neighborhoods where people are being most victimized by crime. that crime is what drives where the police go. and nothing has had as large an effect on saving minority lives as the new york proactive policing. you mentioned the statistics, michael, about the proportion of people who have been stopped and their race. what really matters is the proportion of people who are being victimized by crime. blacks and hispanics are 96% of all shooting victims in new york city. but they also commit 98% of all shootings. whites commit 1.4% of all shootings. brownsville, brooklyn, is a particular target of critics now because it has a high stop rate. what you never hear is the per capita shooting rate in brownsville is 81 times higher than bay ridge. what does that mean? last october a woman was shot to death picking up her child from elementary school by a thug shooting from the roof at groups of people. >> all right. let's let miss lieberman respond. all right? >> you know, how on earth does it make us safer to subject innocent young people to be stopped by the police, detained by the police, patted down by the police, subjected to a full-blown search up against the wall? that doesn't prevent crime. that simply terrorizes honest, innocent people. >> heather, what about that argument, in this sense, that the disproportionate concentration on black and latino people as a result of racial profiling could be a circular argument. that is to say, duke university study just proved many more white people do drugs than black people yet they're not racially profiled. had they been racially profiled the number of arrests would be up. what about the consideration racial profiling is a predictive pattern of going after a population rather than a resolution of the problem? >> homicides and shootings don't lie. that is where people are being killed. they're not being killed on the upper eastside by gunshots. i agree that being stopped and frisked when you're innocent is an extraordinarily humiliating experience. >> has it happened to you? >> it has not. i don't live in a high crime neighborhood. if there were 34-year-old mothers being shot while picking up their kids in my neighborhood, the police would be there. but just because somebody has not been arrested or issued a summons after a stop does not mean that that stop did not prevent crime. if you're on a drug set and you're casing, you're not going to have any evidence on you that would justify an arrest. you could have been casing the area for robbery. you're not going to find any evidence -- >> look, you're presupposing the black person is more likely to have the potential to commit that crime and some crime could be averted because they were potentially removed from the ability to do that. that's a classic example of racial profiling. >> and not only that. it's not just in communities of color. unfortunately, black and latino people are profiled wherever they go in the city. park slope, which has a vast majority of white people, blacks and latinos constitute way more than a majority of the stop and frisk. the same is true in the west village in new york -- in manhattan. so this isn't about communities with high populations of color. this is about a policy that follows black and latino people wherever they go in the city and it's about stopping them and throwing them up against the wall. whether they've done something wrong or not. >> we have 30 seconds. heather, the last word. >> police have to be courteous. they have to explain their actions. they're trying to protect people. 10,000 minority males are alive today who would have been killed -- >> that's such a baloney statistic. don't throw around fake numbers. >> it's absolutely true. >> it's absolutely not true. look at the numbers and -- >> 1990, and we have -- >> when did -- >> we're going to have to continue this conversation. >> come on. >> we better stop and be not frisky tonight. donna lieberman, heather mcdonald, thank you so much. there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour on "the ed show." stay tuned. the supreme court refuses to take the alan keyes birther case. >> it's not alan keyes' opinion that matters. >> why won't this issue just die? >> a lot of people don't think it's an authentic certificate. >> the big panel weighs in next. the biggest health insurer in the country says they'll keep provision of obama care even if obama care is struck down by the supreme court. but is it really change you can believe in? and republican royalty rips his own party for disgracing ronald reagan. joan walsh on the reagan deevolution ahead. those surprising little things she does still make you take notice. there are a million reasons why. but your erectile dysfunction that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. free-credit-score-dot-com'sur boargonna direct you ♪ts ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. liberty mutual auto insurance. sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? 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[ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice. welcome back. the u.s. supreme court dealt a critical blow to the birther movement today. the court refused to hear an appeal challenging the president's citizenship and his eligibility to serve as commander in chief. these are the men who challenged the president's citizenship. and got denied today. former presidential candidate alan keyes, his running mate wiley drake, and their party chair markham robinson. while their birther lawsuit is dead, their belief seems to be alive and well. in tennessee, 45% of republicans polled said they do not believe the president is a citizen. 38% of republicans polled in georgia say they don't believe mr. obama was born here. and in ohio, it's 37% of republicans polled. and then there's texas. oh, yes, texas. where the republican candidate for lieutenant governor is fighting for his political life. he's the end of his convention -- here's the end of his convention speech on friday night. >> we won't stop fighting until we send barack obama back to chicago. [ applause ] >> or kenya. okay. fine. ladies and gentlemen -- wherever he wants to go. that's fine. >> congo, kenya, zair, what difference does it make? let's bring in radio and tv talk show host, armstrong williams, joanne reid for the grios.com, and kelly goff, author of "the gq candidate." what's it going to take to end the birther allegations? is this not enough, joanne, kelly? >> i think for a certain part of the republican base their sort of hatred of barack obama, really their disappointment at not having had their preferred candidate, really sarah palin, win the last presidential election has caused a lot of people to decide barack obama really isn't president. it just didn't happen. he isn't president. he isn't legitimate. there's really nothing you can do to argue against the birther thing. what's really disturbing is the leadership of the republican party hasn't done more to tamp town this sort of irrational -- it's a combination of fear and hatred of the president of the united states. i mean, alan keyes for him it might be a bit personal. he did get beaten by barack obama for united states senate. >> we happen to think for president obama in a sense. >> miss goff, what do you think? >> if there's anyone more brokenhearted that this didn't make it to the supreme court than alan keyes it would be me. i'm for alan keyes to have as many platforms as possible, for no other reason, it's entertaining. i would have absolutely loved to seen him make his case before the supreme court. it's a bummer for me on that end. all seriousness, you know, we can joke about something like this in this cast of wacky characters including our friend orly, can't get enough of her either. the reality is the southern poverty law center released a study that shows the hate group membership has skyrocketed under this president. when you hear someone from my home state of texas, again, always making us look good. first it was the last president, then it was governor perry then, you know, it's jokes about kenya and the congo and our president. in all seriousness, there's something very serious where this is all connected. this is not disconnected where you have people making jokes about where the president's from and the rise in hate group membership, white pride groups. there's a connection there. >> right. armstrong, i'm interested in your perspective. you're a conservative prominent host. do you find the birther business all much adieu about nothing? do you think there's a legitimate hook here? or do you think it's time for us to move on? >> definitely it's time to move on. the supreme court's decision today was unanimous. i wouldn't dare demonize americans who continue to push this birther issue as being hateful to the president. >> why not, why not? >> i just think they disagree with his policies. they were hateful toward clinton, hateful toward bush. >> he asked where john mccain was born, the potential he wasn't born in the united states. >> and he wasn't. >> right. why the cloud of suspicion over obama more legitimate than it is over anybody else? that's all i'm asking. >> professor dyson, it's a nonissue. he's a president of the united states. he was elected by plurality and they will begin decide his fate. >> mr. williams, you don't want to hold your fellow conservatives accountable? >> this is a free country. people have a right to free speech and express themselves -- >> do you think they're right? >> it's not my decision. i don't think it's right. i think he's definitely legitimate. i think he's an american citizen. i have no doubt about that. >> somebody might pull papers out on you and me and ask where we came from. if the president can't get in, we can't get in, either. the florida voting purge. justice department sent a letter to the secretary of state asking to stop florida from purging. it says it has imperfections that could confuse voters. meanwhile, governor rick scott says florida is suing the department of homeland security to get access to a database so it can keep purging voter rules. the attack on holder on the one hand then this move. the state has been using florida driver's license records so far. why does governor scott keep pushing this issue? can anybody tell me? >> you know what, i think we have two issues here. we have an election issue and we have a political issue. i think it's very legitimate for any state to want to make sure they purge and make sure that everyone who's voting is legitimate, that if people have died they're off the rolls. i think that's a legitimate issue. the political issue is neither side wants to give up an inch in the state of florida. ever since bush versus gore, florida has become a very controversial place for voter fraud. with an election this cycle where florida can decide the next president, the republicans don't want to give up an inch. that's why rubio and many of the party faithfuls are not supporting it. it's become a political issue. >> joanne then kelly. >> just having spent the last 14 years in the state of florida, i can tell you when kurt browning the former secretary of state, was asked, he put together this 182,000 person purge list. how many cases of voter fraud have there been in the state of florida that back up the need to do this? he had to answer none. in the current purge that's going on in florida, the number of people who actually admitted to not being citizens as a result of the purge is exactly two. the number of people who could have been disenfranchise d if they had not returned the letter, literally because they had a hispanic surname, was in the hundreds. this is literally republicans reacting against a demographic reality. they're not able to win over his panic votes so they're trying to keep hispanics from voting. it's an insidious form of voter suppression. i think it's a big problem for the republicans image-wise with hispanics. >> getting back to your original question, professor dyson, you asked why is governor scott pushing this so much? the answer is pretty simple. there were 5 million new voters in the 2008 presidential election. overwhelming majority were voters of color. >> it's a purge of the obama re-election campaign? >> it is. absolutely. 2 million of the voters were african-american and latino, 600,000 of them were asian-americans. you do the math on who we're looking at in terms of the data, the green card data and other data they're seeking from the federal government and see a lot of overlap. >> listen, the republicans -- >> we have to end it here. jump in real quick, armstrong. >> the republicans are not supporting governor scott in this effort. governor scott is on his own. >> some are. marco rubio happens to be latino and recognizes -- >> you know, the reality is the diminishing return on cuban-american voters who tend to lead republican in the state. younger cuban-americans are trending democrat. now half of hispanics in florida are the kind of hispanics that don't vote republicans. >> armstrong, kelly, joanne, thank you very much. the supreme court is set to rule on the health care law later this month. but major health insurance companies have already made their ruling and it could be a pr stunt. we'll have the latest, next. to help you talk to your doctor about reducing your risk. that's afibstroke.com. thought they were dead. huh? [ male announcer ] should've used roundup. it kills weeds to the root, so they don't come back. roundup. no root. no weed. no problem. there it is ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is. up next, three major companies are vowing to keep key provisions of the president's health care law. even if the supreme court overturns the law. but is it all a pr stunt? in the "big finish" find out why jeb bush says his father would have had a hard time winning his party's nomination if he were running in 2012. don't forget to tweet us using #edshow. we'll be right back. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. morning, boys. so, i'm working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. no way! i'm like, what is this, a drainpipe slipknot? wherever your business takes you, nobody keeps you on the road like progressive commercial auto. [ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. welcome back. later this month, the supreme court could roll back parts of president obama's health care law. the three major insurance providers say they will keep key provisions in place. regardless of the court's decision. however, this could be just a bait and switch. united health care and humana announced today they plan to let customers keep children on their plans until the age of 26. keep free preventative care. do away with lifetime benefit limits. eliminate retroactive termination of coverage. and continue independent appeals of coverage decisions. edna plans to do the same except for benefit limits and early termination. they will not uphold the most popular provision that bans discrimination of children with preexisting conditions. a recent "new york times" poll shows 85% of americans believe insurance companies should cover people with pre-existing conditions. we here at "the ed show" are a bit skeptical of large for-profit insurance companies who have not shown goodwill to their customers in the past. we reached out to a former vice president of cigna and noted whistleblower wendell potter. this is what he had to say. "this is a carefully orchestrated pr campaign to get lawmakers to think they'll do the right thing without the affordable care act. what they are doing is anticipating the supreme court will rule the individual mandate unconstitutional leaving the rest of the law to go forward. that is the insurers' worst nightmare. they're laying the groundwork to try to get congress to think the consumer protections in the law can and should be repealed." these are private companies. their mission is to make as much money as possible. for example, united health group made $8.5 billion in profit last year. so they could keep these provisions in place and lose money. or they could do away with them and push those profits even higher. no one knows. but what do you think they're going to do? tonight in our survey, i asked you, does mitt romney really believe public servants are the problem? 91% say yes. 9% say no. coming up, former florida governor jeb bush says there would be no place for his father or ronald reagan in today's republican party. joel walsh will join me to discuss that and much more. ok! who gets occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! 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[ yawning sound ] i'm told by many that this bill is not politically popular. i support it because it's right for america. i support it because it's fair. i support it because it will, when combined with our cuts in government spending, reduce interest rates and put more americans back to work again. the measure that congress is about to vote on, while not perfect in the eyes of any one of us, will bring us closer to the goal of a balanced budget, restored industrial power and employment for all who want to work. together we can reach that goal. >> that was ronald reagan back in 1983. making the case to raise taxes. now one republican says there would be no room for reagan in today's republican party or room for his successor, president george herbert walker bush. president bush's son, former florida governor jeb bush, told a group of journalists today, "ronald reagan would have based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some tree of common ground, as would my dad, they would have had a hard time if you define the republican party, and i don't say as having an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement. doesn't allow for finding some common ground." bush went on to say, "back to my dad's time or ronald reagan's time, they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support that right now would be difficult to imagine happening. reagan raised taxes. he compromised with democrats in congress. policies the republican nominee for president mitt romney won't campaign on." jeb bush's comments are now being called bizarre and foolish by the architect of modern gop's anti-tax pledge norquist and argued reagan would embrace gop's points telling "talking points memo, "he didn't have a republican house committed to not raising taxes as president and had a pre-reagan senate. this is the republican party that reagan created. that he envisioned." let's turn to joan walsh, editor at large for salon.com. welcome to the show, joan. >> thanks, michael. >> is grover norquist engaging in some revisionist history here, joan, that really misses the point of what we clearly saw reagan doing? >> well, yeah, of course he is. of course he wants to claim reagan for this party that he's created that has brought the country to the brink of a debt crisis and continues to mire the country in a terrible recession, michael. he needs to say, ronald reagan wanted that. ronald reagan would have endorsed that. but i think it's actually more interesting to look at what jeb bush is doing because while he's declaring his independence from grover norquist and his party, he's also delivering a kind of vote of no confidence in mitt romney even though he's endorsed him. because i see that as -- it is a bizarre statement for someone if you think -- it's not something you say if you think your party is headed to a great win in november. it's really the kind of thing you hear the morning after an election where you've done very badly. i really wonder what's up with that. >> he's already anticipating a potential loss of mitt romney, should we say? i don't want to put words in your mouth. do you think he's ginning up to that point? >> that's the way i took it. if you're saying we need to race revenues and you -- he also went on to criticize him, you know, quite directly for his immigration, for his really anti-immigrant policies. >> right. >> you know, those are not the kinds of things you do if you are competent in your candidate and you think your party is going to prevail in november. they're really the kinds of thing you do if you're worried you're headed for a great defeat and going to be regrouping in december and january. >> right. let's stick to that point. he's also questioning the gop's approach to immigration. he says romney needs to change his tone on the subject matter. now, some of this may be existential given the fact jeb bush is married to a woman of latino descent. which seems to make a difference in his understanding of the problem. will the republican party heed his advice? >> no, not any time soon. it will be interesting, if mitt romney loses in november, i think that there will just be a bloodbath and there will be a lot of blame and finger pointing. but it's going to come in two directions. you will see people like jeb bush saying we went too far, we have to take the party back from the tea party. but then i think you'll also see tea party people saying mitt romney was never our guy. mitt romney was a moderate and what we really need is somebody to the right of ronald reagan. to it the right of the till of the hun. but i do feel that jeb bush is stepping out there, whether it's hoping for 2016 or hoping to be a party elder reshaping in his party in advance to what he thinks is not a positive electoral direction for mitt romney and the party. >> this isn't fair. we only have 30 seconds left. but you can do it, you're joan walsh. president obama has been mocked by the right for making the same arguments. will we see other republicans come to the president's defense? >> no, we won't. that was the most shocking thing he said in the whole line of remarks. it really does help the president. does not help mitt romney. but all three things are really a dose of realism for this party that is stuck in a fantasy. so we'll see. >> no revisionist history in joan walsh. thank you so much for coming on. >> thanks, michael. >> that's "the ed show." i'm michael eric dyson in for ed schultz. ezra klein is filling in for rachel maddow tonight. >> how are you doing? >> always good to see you on tv or in the crib as they say. have a good show tonight, my friend. >> great to see you. good job. \s thanks to you at home for sticking around the next hour. rachel has the night off. what if i were to tell you there's a surefire way to put people back to work right now, tomorrow? what if i were to tell you this surefire job creator is something that's been embraced even by republicans going back decades? what if i were to tell you over the last three years we've been doing the exact opposite of this tested proven thing that helps end recessions? >> i have a graph for you tonight. it's an unusual type of graph. it's a mystery graph. going to see what i mean here. in 1981 shortly after ronald reagan was sworn in as president, he faced an awful recession. the worst since the great depression, in fact. and one of the things that reagan did as president to help get people back to work after that recession, he made this blue line right here go up. that blue line went up and so did jobs. in 1990, halfway through george h.w. bush's first term, again, the country's economy hit the skids. part of the reason the 1990 recession didn't sink us totally? the red line right there. the red line went right up. '01, george w. bush is president. the country is rocked by the bursting of the tech bub
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