Our own lack that we have an obligation it make america work for everyone. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. A cheap impeachment. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington. Let me start tonight with this evenings house vote to sue the president of the United States. Is this impeachment light as some are calling it, a way to brand the president as bad, without the trouble and noise of putting him on trial . Or is this the first bitter assault on the man in the white house . A tar and feathering to precede the worst . Is this the beating that precedes the execution. Excuse me, is there any other way to see this speck tickle
than by condemnation of the congress minus the due process of impeachment. Something to chuckle about, perhaps even savor over the family camping trip. Thats certainly wait the hard right back ventures see this. This absurd, travesty for television. This, as i said, impeachment on the cheap. An all this as Speaker John Boehner can keep the dogges from the gate, throwing a haunch of red meat hoping this will satisfy them or at least give him the time it takes for him to swallow it. Good luck, mr. Speaker. I hope youre aware you are paying for the time of the dignity of government in this free society. How much of that are you willing to give away before facing the enable wreckoning between lincoln which youre a member of and the pack of jack els that have gotten into the tent . Republican from alabama and congressman jim clyburn, democrat from South Carolina and assist et democratic leader. Back it breaking news tonight. United states house of representatives continue their assault on president obama taking an historic vote to sue the president of the United States. It is not surprising. House voted heavily with party lines with 225 republicans voting yes to sue. And 196 democrats and five republicans voting no on resolution it authorize lawsuit again the president. Let me go to congressman brooks. Why would you vote to sue the president . First, lets be clear. Speaker john boehner, president barack obama, thats a little picture. The big picture, as if you look at history with Richard Nixon, johnson in vietnam, and any number of actions that have been sued since then and that will sue in the future is whether there is anything that can be done by the house of representatives or by the is notate it make sure that the president s obey he the law. An it do that, they compel the president to do that by court
order or to clear judgment so all of us can understand what the law actually means. And this will be binding Going Forward so if you happen it have a democrat house or Democrat Senate or republican president , it cuts both ways. But i think is important to our constitutional process to be able to establish what the house and senate cannot do visavis the separation of powers over the president of the United States. So the Bigger PictureGoing Forward is this is very much bipartisan. Let me ask you about your picture on this. Had mitt romney won in 2012 when he was in chashlg of bringing into action the Affordable Care act and he decided for reasons of efficiency to deplay implementation of the employer mandate, would you have sued him . If there was the opportunity to do so, to question whether a law was being properly enforced, yes. But please understand that im one of those that is somewhat of an independent republican. I do what i think the constitution requires of us. I obey my oath of office as best i can. And if youve got a president
that is crossing the line in a serious way and in a clear cut way, hopefully, so that you dont have very much litigation issue, then yes. You said because this president delayed the implementation of the employer mandate in the Affordable Care act, he should be sued. Are you saying thats the precedent. You said a minute ago you wanted to set a precedent here. The legislation that passed the house doesnt say that. It saysthe speaker of the house is entitled to go forward and pursue civil litigation against the president of the United States on this issue. On the Affordable Care act. Yes. There are any aspect of the Affordable Care act, seeking declaretory action from a judge or from a federal court judge. Chris, there are hundreds of thousands of lawsuits that are filed annually across the United States of america as a way for people to resolve disputes in a
peaceful fashion. And this is way for a very important issue you no to be resolved in a peaceful action. Let me go to jim clyburn. Congressman clyburn, thank you for joining us. Give me a sense of what you you this motive is. I find this very narrow. When you good after the president s way of implementing a law, whether it is his law or a predecessors law, it is executive management. The ironier here is this is pro business. Republicans never liked the employer mandate. Here is the president s charge, sued in civil court, basically, for doing what the republicans would loved to have done which is put off the employer mandate. I this i this is done in a partisan mandate. Your view . Thank you, chris. You are exactly right. You may recall the republicans voted more than 50 times at trying to eliminate certain thoughts of the Affordable Care act. And one of the things we wanted
to do was to delay the employer mandate. And as soon as the president moves to delay it, now they are suing him for doing exactly what they suggested that he should do in order to give the businesses of the country an opportunity to prepare for the implementation of the act. Look, this is all about using the discovery process to get the peg upon which they can hang an impeachment resolution. Thats what this is about. We all know that. Members are saying it. Couple of the five members voting against it say it. They all go straight to an impeachment resolution. So thats whats going on here. The American People are fed up with this. They want to see a fixed immigration system. Do something about the current infrastructure. Do something about our children being able to attend schools of
their choice. Here we are, gamesmanship, of the side ive never seen since ive been here in congress. Let me go back to congressman brooks on this. It seems the members who voted on your side, basically expressed the view, this isnt strong enough, what do you say to them . S they want impeachment apparently. No surprise there from texas. Do you think they are extremist or ahead in schedule . What do you think if the president failed to respond it a court order in this case . First, i agree with you, chris, and congressman clyburn on the paradox on the employer mandate. I would have much predperferred contraire troy federal law give
work permits which in turn cost american citizens jobs. Thats where i would have preferred litigation to be. But unfortunately, that was not what the house leadership decided to do. So i think there is some merit to the paradox position of the house now suing the president if that is in fact what the speak does, on the employer mandate issue. When i think the president is doing the economy good by delaying that. Once it is implemented, it will have an adverse effect on jobs and the economy. Thats my view and i think you agree with that and congressman clyburn agrees with that. As a commentator, i think that makes more sense. Though i wouldnt agree with it. You have legislative power. What does he ush issue it under the office of the president stationenerry . Anyway, lets look at what congressman john lewis today say today on the floor during vote. From his first day in office, republicans in the house, in this house, have never supported
the president. Every other branch here was broken. But today, we have reached a low. A very low point. This revolution to sue the president just goes a little too far. It is a shame and disgrace that we are here debating the suing of the president. The American People deserve better. We can do better. We can do much better. Congressman brooks, last thought. You just admitted something that you you must would have preferred to vote on something much more controversial, like the president issue work permits. Certainly not an executive function, a legislative issue. But you voted for it. Is there not a willingness from the part of your caucus to hit the president whenever they can. Whenever they can. As congressman lewis just said. No, an Administration Bill by way of example. Bipartisan bill went through the house addressing a very serious issue and i think the president will be on board and sign that bill. I dont think it is across the board. But there are policy disagreements between this white house and house of representatives and United States senate. And youve seen this in perpetuity through out history of the United States of america. When you have these policy disagreements, you have these vigorous debates. Ultimately, the people decide in the election process every two years. But until then we have to work our way through our disagreements and do what we can where we agree and try to work our way through disagreement. Mr. Clyburn, how much of this do you think is at the aca and how is it is implemented . I think most of of is is directed at the president. I agree with my colleagues. That is the way we resolve issues at the ballot box. What has gone on here is the failure to defat this program at
the ballot box is now being substituted with the lawsuit. This is just an attempt, as john lewis said, to once again to destroy the effectiveness of this president because they did not get their way in the pile discussions. We do that every two years. We dont go to the courts and ask the courts to carry on our political battles for us. I remember very well, right after 2000, when there are a lot of people in our caucus saying, lets impeach president bush. Nancy pelosi said very forcefully, impeachment is off the table. Now lets go forward. I would love to see Speaker Boehner speak up and let everybody know that impeachment is off the table so that we can have the kind of powerful discussions that my colleague thinks we aught to be having. Not what gone on all year and i thank the American People straight up. We are busy. Maybe clyburn didnt see it. But the president said impeachment is off the table. There is zero effort of infutility, there is no way in the world you would get 67 senators and a Democrat Senate to impeach barack obama no matter what the charges are. There is zero chance of that being brought forward to the house of representatives. Bill clinton was impeached, just not not effective yeah. The majority votes of the house, drawn on you thank you for the technical correction. And there is no i respect you both for coming on tonight. Congressman clyburn and congressman brooks, thank you. Sounding like harry truman after going after the version of
donothing congress. Also, soap opera corruption trial. Involving former Virginia Governor bob mcdonald and his wife. They are sacrificing the reputation of their marriage to get out of jail. Or prevent from going to jail. Plus, uncovering emails where it concerns conservatives. Crazy. And words i cant even use here. A smoking gun, hardly. But the right might like to think it is. Some over the left and right have finally found something to agree on that had enough of sarah palin. Good argument. And this is hardball, a place for poll kicks. Our drive to end hunger has donated 29 million meals,
and counting. Ol kicks. 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. Biggest issue is the undocument et children under the border of mexico. Now a new poll shows what americans think should happen with those children. 69 , thats 7 in 10 people in a new public relinlon Search Institute poll say those kids should be treated as refugees and allowed to stay in this country. But authorities determine it isnt safe for them to return. Only a court of americans, 27 say those children should be treated as Illegal Immigrants and deported. Well be right back. His first bakery in a small hawaiian town. Making bread so good, that people bought two loaves one to take home, and one to eat on the way. So good, they grew from here. To here. To here. But to grow again, to the east coast they needed a new factory, but where . Fortunately, they get financing from ge capital. We not only have teams dedicated to the food industry, were also part of ge, a company thats built hundreds of factories. So we could bring in experts to help kings hawaiian make sense of transportation routes, supply chains, labor pools, and zoning
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world war ii. Here is truman in the 1948 democratic convention. The middle of the night, no air conditioning, 100 degrees, and here he is turning a campaign for president around. I sat out, set out a tenpoint program for the benefit of this country, among other things, stand by price control. I got nothing. Congress has still done nothing. My duty as president , requires that i use every means within my power to get the laws of people need on matters of such importance of urgency. I am therefore calling this congress back into session on the 6th of jouly. . Was wild, howard. He thought he lost. Everybody thought, this i gos finish. So error is truman. Congress is home knocking the
hell out of me. Im calling them back it washington. I will make them a pass everything in their platform and the place went nuts. He won. I ronically enough, president obama was in kansas city today. So if you wanted to draw the truman connection there. Hence my thought of truman. He is doing the best the president can do now by way of political argument. Which is that i want to do things for you. And he ticks them off in that speech. Talks about education, student loans. All of the things that are appealing to his voters and to swing voters and says, i want to do them. These guys want to do nothing except play politics. I thought his best line is hope is better than cynicism. I think the republicans may have overshot the mark here. Freezing the ball. Yeah. They have plenty of things to motivate their base. But this argument to go after
them illegally, an illegally ridiculous case. Congressman from alabama, ill save you the research and tell you those had nothing to do with what they are doing. This isnt the right place to hit him anyway. Right. The Republican Base is already mote invited by hatred of obama. Government, whatever it is. They move to the polls, they can vote against democrats. They cant do much to rev that up as much as it is. Maybe a jimmy falcon issue now. Something that will become a joke that enough people will see. A lot of people dont Pay Attention are you talking about doing nothing or suing him . Suing him. The fact that they are suing him becomes a great punch line and people, the few independent voters out there, people may not Pay Attention, they will get that. They will sound silly. I say they are already
absurd. When you go into the department of Motor Vehicles and you pate washingtonity in line maybe three hours, are you really happy with the guy in the back all the time . The guy that never comes out . And theres one guy working there. You get a l