Edition of politics nation growing hope, live from the sweet auburn festival in downtown atlanta. Well look at ways we can all give back to our communities and improve the lives of people around us. We hope to see you there. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton, hardball starts right now. A tail of dark sposs. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Lets start with the right wing efforts to scare off people with benghazi and scare off minorities who might vote democrat without outright voter suppression. This is aimed at the elections this november, obviously. One, drive up the suspicious right, including the Second Amendment people by saying the ghovt is lying to them about the death of u. S. Diplomats, about the irs, about fast and furious to catch cross border drug dealers. Two, change and restrict voter laws to discourage and confuse democratic voters. Bottom line, a big republican victory this november. A veritable thumping of the democrats, set setting the stage of two years of administration frustration and obama hatred that seeds right up until the 2016 election. Lets start with the conspiracy mongering here in washington to betray those serving the country overseas. Who in the words of john baldwin, leaving americans to die at the hands of terrorists. To cheat conservative groups out of their tax dollars, and in some underhanded way, be in
cahoots of the International Drug trade. The goal, ramrod the Republican Base to the polls. Michael steele was chairman of the Republican Party. Joan walsh is editor at large of salon. House speaker john baner who green lighted the Benghazi Select Committee laid out the gop strategy yesterday. Its about stoking conspiracies to get the truth. When is the administration going to tell the American People the truth . They have not told them the truth about benghazi. They not told the truth about the irs. They have not told the truth about fast and furious. Now, only one would have to guess if theyre not willing to tell the american truth, it must not be very pretty. Democrats are criticizing the republican effort to score political points by stoking these conspiracy theorys. Lets listen to congressman Elijah Cummings on the house vote to hold former irs official
lois lerner in contempt of congress. This is unprecedented even in the mccarthy era. Even in that era, it failed. I wonder where were going here. Lets hear Hillary Clinton on the House Selection Committee of benghazi. Benghazi, the new investigation. Are you satisfied with the answers . And are you content with what you know what happened . Absolutely. I mean, of course there are a lot of reasons why despite all of the hearings, all of the information thats been provided some choose not to be satisfied and choose to continue to move forward, thats their choice. And i do not believe there is any reason for it to continue in this way, but they get to call the shots in the congress. Let me go to michael steele, former Republican National chairman. It seems to me the message here
just to get it straight is a broad conspiracy that all the democrats do on all the issues that seem to matter is to hide stuff. Its all about hiding stuff. Hiding ben gas zi, hiding irs, hiding on this fast and furious campaign with a particular goal of going to the hardest right, the gun people. It seems to me to be playing to the fringe. This is people who will vote prawn if they do vote. This is to get them out to vote and angry. Youre driving your base. Just as weve seen democrats do in the past. And event to meant the left to drive home that base on a
particular issue. I dont see the hyper sensitive to what republicans are doing in that instance. It all plays itself out ultimately in the end. Youve got to get through a primary process an you got to figure out how once you lay down these markers you either deliver the goods or youre going to get the rath of the voters who reject your political play. Its a political risk, but thats where the politics are. I think its completely risky but i think you do, too. Ultimately. What do you think of this whole strategy of basically alerting, igniting, turning on, exciting, scaring up, whatever, the right wing, the far right who are very suspicious of government, period, no matter whos running it, who are willing to believe the irs is evil. Theyre concerned about louing their guns to anybody. John bald sin is saying we killed out in the field. Its vicious stuff and i think boehner is being coached in how to sell it. He obviously is. For john boehner to be bringing up fast and furious at this point really smacks of desperation at this point. The whole conspiracy has eric holder in ka hoots with the gun control people to set this up to eventually have a big takeaway of guns. Thats at the bottom of what theyre upset about fast and furious. Holy concocted on the fringe of the right and nurtured by fox news. John boehner shouldnt be talking about fast and furious. He shouldnt be talking about any of this, but that in particular. I just have to say one thing to my friend michael. Yes, we want to get out our base. But when harry reid talks about the Koch Brothers they are oligarcs pouring millions of
dollars into our political process in large measure to line their own pockets. Theyre not lining deeply rightwing agenda. Thats not a lie. The rest of this is based on lies. Are we now calling robert gates a lion . Leon pi n leon panetta a liar . The benghazi stuff is really, really dirty. The koch brother is doing what everybody is doing on the left. And theyre doing it through their wallets, through Political Action commit feeps theyre doing it in very legal ways. You can buy it or not buy it. Thats your prerogative. The same in terms of what the parties are talking about more broadly. I get on one level there may be concerned about how we do some of the stuff or do we push that envelope as far as we should. But there are 12i8 still substantive questions on all the issues that should be discussed. What are they . You have the floor, michael. I want to ask you this. Do you believe leon panetta, a
credible moderate democrat, do you think he went out there to kill Chris Stevens . Me let him lie in the field . Of course not. Do you believe that loi lois lerner who is a bureaucrat was sitting there talking to the obama people about how to screw the right wing . Do you believe shes in cahoots with the that were still investigating, chris. We dont know. She hasnt told us. She is a federal employee probably for life and youre y saying shes can i just Say Something about dont use that word with me. That says something that youre not a stoner. Dont Start Talking like one. Go ahead, joan. Heres theling about loi lois lerner. She exercised her fifth amendment right, we all have them. Eli january cummings talked about this. Her lawyer made a proffer to Darrell Issas committee and the committee that congressman cummings sits on. He was willing to give a vague outline of what she knows to talk about some kind of
possible, you know, protection from prosecution. They wouldnt even go there with her. They were much more interested in a witch hunt and a trial. You dont get to say to the congress of the United States on Something Like this, oh, well just tell you vaguely what we were doing. Not vaguely. You just used that determine. The cavalry has arrived on the democratic side which it rarely does. Weve caught him. The American People have caught the republicans making money on this. And this is something thats not up for debate, right . The National RepublicanCampaign Committee is out there raising money on the House Select Committee hear on benghazi with an email that reads, quote, stand with congressman trey gowdy, the Benghazi Select Committee as we fight for the truth about what happened with the benghazi attack. Help fight liberals by donating today. Using benghazi, including one from super hog john bolton. Heres how politico describes it. A john bolten email accused obama, clinton and leon panetta ofrefusing to admit leaving americans to die at the house of terrorists. And Elijah Cummings called on Speaker Boehner to end republican fundraising off the benghazi probe. They have been using the deaths of these four americans for Political Campaign fundraising. I call the speaker of the house to end that process right now. With all due respect, if the republicans want to fix the problems with their partisan investigation, they need more than just a new chairman. I have tremendous respect for mr. Gowdy, and im glad that he said the fundraising should not be done on the deaths of these four people. And i hope that the republican conference will finally agree with that. We are better than that heres the question, are they or arent they . House Speaker Boehner was questioned rather well by luke russert of nbc about whether it was appropriate to raise money over the deaths of americans overseas. By the way, one of these fundraisers asked for 500 for the four dead americans. It was ruthless. Heres luke res sert going after boehner asking if he thinks its appropriate. Speaker boehner, should the nrcc fundraise off your earths with the select committee . Our focus is on getting the answers to those families who lost their loved ones. Period. Is. But should the nrcc, theyre fundraising off of it right now . Is that the right thing to do . Our focus is getting the
truth of these four families of the American People. O. The Campaign Committee, which you are very involved in is fundraising off of this. Why is that happening . Our focus is getting the truth for the American People and four families. No controlling legal authority. Why didnt he answer the question . Lets put it out here. He should back up his chairman of the select committee, congressman gowdy is absolutely right. There should be no fundraising on this issue. It is disrespectful to the deceased. It is disrespectful to their families. And it is disrespectful to the process that the Republican Leadership wants to pursue. So if youre serious about the impact of benghazi, then show it by pulling back off fundraising. Youre going to raise your money. You dont have to the chairman of the Republican NationalCommittee Says its wrong to raise money off of benghazi. Yes. I support chairman gowdy 100 on this. Hes absolutely right. And the leadership need to back him up. This is a stunning abdication of leadership by john boehner, seriously. But it goes back to when he once said it wasnt his business to tell the American People or the members what to think whether the president was born in this country. For him not to back up trey gowdy to say of course were not going to fundraise on this and i want to stop, its stunning he wouldnt do that. Youre one of these reporters who keeps your file cabinet in your head the whole time. You remember, youre so good at remembering it, youre right. And by the way, im sure chairman Reince Preibus wi everything you say on this. Its horrible, its ridiculous. Morm morally, its absurd. Michael, you caught them on it better than i could. New republican restrictions were going to make it harder for people to vote. In North Carolina, we talked about scaring up votes. Theyre scaring it away. Wee got signs now as of the primaries this week in North Carolina, a state ive come to love, theyre screwing people out of voting and its already working. Plus, a school assignment, believe this or not in 2014, asking eighth graders out in california to write whether the holocaust was real. Was it just an ignorant assignment or evidence that holocaust denyability is gaining ground in schools . Finally, let me finish to night with how nasty campaigns can come back to bite you. It comes two days after Establishment Republicans fend off tea party challengers. But the story behind the headline is not good for progressives. Despite its cent setback, the tea party has pushed the Republican Party so far to the right that the partys establishment candidates are in turn becoming more palatable to its hard right. So the right is getting together. Well be right back. Here at lifk doing our thing protecting you in ways your Credit Card Company alone cant. Get lifelock protection and live life free. When folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. Tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. But for everything we do, we know you do so much more. Tylenol®. That corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. We know you do so much more. And yet, theres someone around the office who hasnt had a Performance Review in a while. Someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. Im looking at you phone company dsl. Check your speed. See how fast your internet can be. Switch now and add voice and tv for 34. 90. Comcast business built for business. The republicans have launched a nationwide assault to
suppress the votes of blacks and other groups likely to vote democrats. Theres a frightening new look at the early fruits of those efforts. The states new laws which the New York Times has called the countrys most sweeping restrictions on voting in the country were in effect for the first time this tuesday and the results were not pretty. While most of the severe parts of the law dont kick in for a couple of years, not until 2016, election watchdogs on the ground in North Carolina are already noticing some disturbing trends. New realities. I according to a summary of monitoring work, quote, the laws disqualifications of votes cast in the wrong precinct caused major confusion. The States Campaign to inform voters about the upcoming id requirement was carried out in a wildly inconsistent manner. When the law kicks into full gear, this is me talking, it will likely only get worse. Of course thats the point. Republicans in the state have passed the law last year. Eliminates sameday voter
registrati registration, kills a popular programs to preregister High School Students and slashes early voting. A and there are voter id laws. If republicans have the way, whats happening in North Carolina will be coming to a city near you. Eugene robinson is a political analyst and Pulitzer Prize winning columnist with the washington post. And brian pearlmudder is with the voter defender project. Brian, i want to start with you on the ground. What was your reaction . How do you assess the results of the voter laws as theyre affecting the finds of voters and minds of voters and the good people trying to vote . We had over 300 people on the ground in 36 counties in North Carolina. What we noticed was that people were confused when they came to vote, especially in places like boone and in halifax county. Voters who were showing up to vote at precincts and the state, you know, in specific counties have been changing and moving precinct locations. That the out of precinct voting regulations that wuld not allow people who are voting out of precinct for their votes to count. Folks showing up at the wrong precinct were shuffled around and very confused about where they needed to vote. Used to be if you showed up at the wrong precinct, because you went to what you thought was the closest place, they would still count your vote. Now what happens . Yeah. Now your vote doesnt count. You have to be at the right precinct. And so where i was in boone, North Carolina, there were students who were showing up on the campus, its split into two. So students who were showing up with their roommate to go vote at a polling location would be inevitably at the wrong they would pick the wrong precinct and have to walk a little over a mile to get to the other precinct. Just regulations like this make it harder for students to vote, republicans to vote. And this is all purposeful. Look at this. A republican in North Carolina actually went on the record during an interview with the lady sh daily show to gloat about how this would hurt democrats. Its going to kick the democrats in the butt. If it hurts lazy blacks, so be it. And it just so happens a lot of those people vote democrat . Gee. Well, you know, its amazing when you have the eye of the tiger here. Anyway, yellen was forced to resign. Youre not supposed to say it out loud. What youre supposed to say out loud is this is to protect the integrity of the voting process. We cant have voter fraud. This is all ostensibly to solv