has been there waiting the whole time. joining me, alex wagner, host of now with alex wagner and msnbc contributor melissa harr harris-perry. thank you both for joining me tonight. absolutely. thanks, rev. melissa, let me start with you. for the past year republicans have engaged on a war on women s rights and women s health. you and i have talked about rick santorum saying food stamps and blacks, and what he would do for blacks, clearly offending a lot of people in the black community. when he spoke last night and started talking about his grandfather s hands. it was very moving. then he said his grandfather came here trying to flee a government like this administration, muse lynni. it woke me independence, reminding me who this guy was. he s probably the most extreme
there was such a version of who black men are in this country, that we couldn t even see what they were doing was actually being exactly the kinds of first responders that we would want them to be. what worries me about a president is i want a president who can see across difference, who can see black and white, people of color, who can see men and women, and see them all at equal citizens who have a right to be part of the broader american project. i think you said it all. i would love no mr. santorum to come on this show as a child of a single parent, who had plenty of role models, i would tell him how wrong he is. if he doesn t want to come here, he can meet me at hoon noon on alex s show. we hope to have you tomorrow, if you have time, and the daughter of a catholic, melissa, you make a good point and we would love to have rick santorum on the program as well. thing you both for your time
time. joining me, alex wagner, host of now with alex wagner and msnbc contributor melissa harr harris-perry. thank you both for joining me tonight. absolutely. thanks, rev. melissa, let me start with you. for the past year republicans have engaged on a war on women s rights and women s health. you and i have talked about rick santorum saying food stamps and blacks, and what he would do for blacks, clearly offending a lot of people in the black community. when he spoke last night and started talking about his grandfather s hands. it was very moving. then he said his grandfather came here trying to flee a government like this administration, muse lynni. it woke me independence, reminding me who this guy was. he s probably the most extreme right-wing candidate we have seen in the flavors of the
going to weaken if this isn t passed. and so the long game here from the republicans, if they re totally incompetent in the short-term political game, the long-term game is they want to make the president look bad economically. and they have never wanted to do that. so we re looking at a $1,000 increase in taxes for the average income. we re looking at perhaps 400,000 jobs lost, half a percentage point of gdp next year. that has real impact. and ezra klein, the indubitable ezra klein in the washington post today says, this is actually helping mitt romney, more than anyone else, because at the end of the day, to your point, melissa, this ends up at obama s front doorstep if it fails, and then mitt romney then becomes a viable alternative. it could help if he had had a reasonable response to it. so given that he is not, in fact, in the middle of the fray, when asked about it, he might have said, well, of course, there should be an extension of this. and not only that, but all taxes
talking about, with immigrants, with hispanics, with muslims, with gays. baa the issue here is that they re fighting within themselves for and to what noble end? a question we will have many, many months and perhaps years to answer. thank you, again, to jesse, kurt, jonathan, and melissa harr harris-perry, who will be filling in for lawrence o donnell on the last word tonight. she will be asking what santa claus has to do with democracy. do not miss it. that does it for now. i ll see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern. but until then, you can follow us on twitter @nowwithalex. the indubitable, the impossible chris cillizza is in for andrea. what a way to begin the holiday season. hello, chris. alex, your check is in the mail for that introduction. thank you. i ll be waiting by the mailbox. thank you. have a good day. you too! up next, we expect president obama to speak live at the top