Thats what separates people that live for a purpose and those that just live a life that doesnt mean anything at the end. The president hit that one on the head. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. Nada, lets play hardball. Good evening. Im chris in washington. Let me display this horrible display by the republicans in the house of representatives. After three weeks at the huma humanitarian crisis on our southern border, it became clear the congress will agree to give the president not a sinkal lincoln headed penny to deal with this crisis, nada, nothing,
no way. Nothing for the 57,000 young people now in the hands of the American People. The blame for this lies on the reputation of a weak speaker of the house who was unable to even tie his sure without the daily permission of the tea caucus. A fiery texas senator called ted cruz when killed John Boehners hold on a majority vote. The failure of the president to take an outfront lead to correct the 2008 law against Human Trafficking passed by president george w. Bush who helped owning the gate for the young people to come from Central America and for senator harry reid to alleviate the border crisis with the comprehensive bill waiting action in the house. The effort to do a lot, compress their advantage by both sides, ended in the congress about to leave town and doing nothing at all as they pack their bags for a fiveweek vacation. Mission accomplished . You have to be kidding. Basking on the afterglow is the
party ring leader, ted cruz, whose sole purpose in politics is to parachute into moments like this and raise hell. Emanuel cleaver is a democrat from new jersey, and joan is an editor at large at salon. Congressman y have been listening to you lately, and you have a lot to say about it, but im dumbfounded by the utter incomp tense of our government. Coming at this at a crisis mode for three weeks, everyone in america caring about those kids once way or another, and it looks like the congress is going to leave with nothing done. Well, theyre trying to talk about staying overnight and doing something tomorrow morning, but even that, chris, is absolutely nothing. This is insulting to the people of this country. Insulting to people who are in washington because we thought we were here to solve problems. And im not a name caller, a bomb thrower, but i can tell you, im sick and tired of whats going on here in congress because theres nothing going
on. And you know, there are people who it seems are coming, have come to washington for the sole purpose of disrupting the government. They are antigovernment. And people out in the country are the ones who are going to have to stop this. Who wins when ted cruz, the senator from texas, the firebrand of all firebrands, he comes over and meets with a dozen of your republican colleagues. Next thing you know, boehner, the supposed speaker, at least the nominal speaker of the house, finds he doesnt have a majority to do anything. Whats going on where a senator, there he is walking across the capitol or whatever, and jamming everything up. Well you know, in some ways i dont want to hate. It troubles me deeply, to believe that one human being can disrunt the compassion a nation of 300 million people. As a realist, that troubles me deeply, but i know there are people under regular circumstances are good and decent people, but they come around here with people who hate the government, and theyre
different. They dont get ulcers, theyre carriers. Thats whats going on here. We have a lot of carriers of people who come in and get the whole body of politics sick. And we are sick right now. Maybe sick unto death. Is there a fear in the Republican Caucus anytime theres a line drawn, for example, are you for suing the president or not, you always have to be on the right side of that, the rightwing side of that . Well, i mean, what people wont say, and nancy pelosi, i have to give her a lot of credit. She continues to remind people that was a question that the media dropped on her repeatedly during her speakership, and she always said impeachment is not on the table, no matter how many weapons of mass destruction were not found, thats not impeachment, Speaker Boehner wont do that. He doesnt want to offend anybody. He wont even say birtherism is wrong. He said, i dont want to tell people how i think. Joan, we have been watching politics a lot, me longer than you. I have never seen such failure and fear. They wont help those kids. They wont give them a nickel. As i one said, not one lincolnheaded penny. Its tragic, chris. The congressman is right. There are some carriers of a real sickness. Ted cruz is doing his best to spread it. But bill kristol laid it out this morning in the weekly standard, i have to give him credit. He told the house gop kill this bill because we dont want you to do the heavy lifting of governor, having you back in your districts defending something you did or didnt do. We want to drop this on the president. We want the finger of blame pointing at one man, president obama, and we dont want you to get your hands dirty with compromi compromise, with actually thinking about the complicated set of reasons that this problem wound up at our border. You cant do that. We dont want you implicated in governing. Thats when you burn your own field so the enemy wont eat. Its sabotage dressed up as political genius. So its not just ted cruz. Its a lot of people, but ted cruz is the symbol, one man out for himself. No principle in this. He wants them to cut the funding for the deferring the deportations. Its not funded by congress. These applications, its a selffunded program by application fees. They cant even cut the money. What hes trying to do cant even be done. That doesnt matter. What matters is grinding up the gears of government and making people believe we cant do anything as a country. And its very sad. Its august vacation time. Looks Like Congress is going to leave and not get this done, although theres a lastgasp chance tomorrow. Look at this comment by the governor of texas. Anger and outrage has already begun to pour in from members of the Republican Party after the house pulled the border bill. Rick perry issued this statement. Its beyond belief congress is abandoning its post while our border crisis continues to
create humanitarian suffering and illegal aliens pose a threat. Congress should not go into recess until our job is completed. Do you think the republicans are going to scatter back tomorrow, have a quickie and pass it, and will it go anywhere in the senate . Will we get anything to the president s desk . I dont it. They dont have the votes right now, so theyre going to beat people up all night long and hope to have them tomorrow morning. And even then, its going to be questionable. And if something comes across, its going to be watered down from what it is now, trying to accommodate the far right in the republican conference. So when it gets over to senator reid and a more sensible senate, i dont think its going to go anywhere, which ought to make americans so angry that they began to react to all of these people who come to washington to disrupt the nation. It is sick, and im sick of it. I hope the people around the country are sick of it and theyll come out and express
their sickness in november. Well, let me ask you about this, and ill go to joan on this, too. You know, back in 1948, i love history like you all do, too. I was thinking, harry truman had a donothing congress after world war ii. They did nothing except investigate people for communism. Maybe they caught one here or there, but basically, they were wasting time. They used to open with a prayer and close with a probe, as someone once said. Wasting time in investigations. Darrell issa right across the floor. My question is, do you think the American People are going to vote for nothing, a party that stands for nothing, because thats what the republicans are saying . Well do nothing. My fear is people dont realize theres only one human being who can bring a measure to the floor in the house of representatives. Its the speaker. I appreciate for the governor of texas is saying. That sounds like something i could have said. The problem is, he needs to instead of saying congress, he ought to say the republicans in congress. And call names, because my fear is that the American Public does
not understand the nuances and they may not understand that it is the republicans, not the congress. Its the republicans. Well, the Border Bureau of the house was reworked four times to appease the red hots and it still failed. July 8th, president Obama Asks Congress for 3. 7 billion to address the crisis on the border, all the young kids down there. The house does nothing until july 23rd and then it began putting together a 1. 5 billion counter offer. Three days after that, the package is scaled down to 1 billion. On july 29th rblths it shrunk to 659 million. Last night, ted cruz began whipping support against it, so this morning, the speaker anonsed a package to get their support by announcing a plan to block the president s power to halt deportation of certain groups of immigrant children. This afternoon, still without enough support, the speak eer pulled the bill from the floor. Joanie tried to appeal, tried to pander to the regard right. It didnt work because as
congressman cleaver just said, they dont want to be at peace. They want to say we dont have our hands on this thing. Exactly. If you read that statement that the Speakers Office released, chris, where he says the president can take actions on his own without congress, thats what theyre suing him for. Thats what some want to impeach him for. Theyre saying he does too much through executive action, and now theyre saying he can handle this through executive action. I know some of my friends in the Mainstream Media want to go on and on about how its the left and democrats talking about impeachment. Certainly, we didnt start it. I dont know we get to finish it either. This is designed to depict our president as a tyrant and dictator who is usurping power and theyre now telling him to do it. Then next week, theyll tell us theyre going to impeach him over it. Sorry for misproducing your
name. Emanuel sour who was around this place for years. Youre far more lively and alive than that gentleman. Thank you for joining us very much tonight. And thank you, joan walsh. Coming up, Tea Party Types are thrilled with the immigration breakdown. A lot of hand wringing among Establishment Republicans about how much party this will cause them in november. Theyre the nada party, standing for nothing. Also, the businessman on the stand, Bob Mcdonnell with his wife. While prosecutored showed notes with Jonnie Williams and mcdonnell to discuss a loan to mcdonnell. Were seeing a lot of quid pro quo stuff. A democratic congressman talked about how he was duped by the Bush Administration into voting for the war on iraq. Theres some powerful recent history. Let me finish with my question for all time. When it comes to our involvement in the iraq war. How did we get talked into it . Not me, a lot of people. This is hardball, the place for politics. S already thinking about tomorrow. Which is why hes investing in his heart health by eating kelloggs raisin bran ® good morning dad. Hi, sweetie. Heres another eye opener, not only is kelloggs raisin bran ® heart healthy, but its a delicious source of potassium. Mom make you eat that . I happen to like raisins. Now thats what im talkin about. Invest in your heart health. With kelloggs raisin bran ®. You owned your car for four you named it brad. You loved brad. And then you totaled him. You two had been through everything together. Two boyfriends. Three jobs. Youre like nothing can replace brad then Liberty Mutual calls. And you break into your happy dance. If you sign up for better car replacement, well pay for a car thats a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. See Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. Well, the congress is already on track to become the least productive in history. Now, everyones about to head out for five weeks of august vacation. Lets compare this congress with congresses in the past. Back in 1948, when harry truman famously ran against the donothing 80s congress, that group managed to enact 906 public laws. Thats the blue bar all the way to the left. Compare that to the 112th congress. But so far, this current 113th congress has enacted just 142 bills into law as of today. Again, on tract to be the least productive ever and a lot of those bills are just lets make it maple sunday. Well be right back. When you run a business, you cant settle for slow. Thats why i always choose the fastest intern. The fastest printer. The fastest lunch. Turkey club. The fastest pencil sharpener. The fastest elevator. The fastest speed dial. The Fastest Office plant. So why wouldnt i choose the fastest wifi . I would. Switch to comcast Business Internet and get the fastest wifi included. Comcast business. Built for business. Welcome back to hardball. Yesterday, with republicans in congress racing to vote to sue him, president obama had these strong words, calling out the donothing congress. Lets watch him. The main vote that theyve scheduled for today is whether or not they decide to sue me for doing my job. Theyre mad because im doing my job. And by the way, ive told them, i said, i would be happy to do it with you. So the only reason im doing it on my own is because you dont do anything. But if you want, lets lets work together. You dont do anything. Thats my favorite throw away line of his in a long time. As if on cue, congress lived up to the president s words by literally doing nothing in the face of the crisis on the border. How will this play out with the American Public and who will they blame . Peter king of new york has his finger pointed in one direction, southward, to ted cruz. He told the Washington Post this morning, before republicans pulled the vote, quote, the Obama White House should put ted
cruz on the payroll. We have a chance to pass a good bill, not a perfect bill. Boehner is working hard to get to 218 votes and yet there is ted cruz telling us to do nothing. If he wants to come over and run for speaker, thats fine, but otherwise he should stay over there in the senate. I love peter king. Sometimes. Steve mcmahon is a democratic strategist, and john is a republican strategist. This is set up politically for obvious reasons. John, it looks to me like the president has found a message. A harry truman message, which is im not running against the right. Im running against nothing. These guys whole strategy is freeze the ball, do nothing until the election is over. Turn that into theyre a lazy bunch of nogood people not out to help the people. You heard congressman cleaver. And yet the president s Approval Ratings keep going down. Lets get that straight, 41 to 7. Well find out. I think this is going to be like all midterms, go to be a vote about president obama and his
popularity. I think thats why republicans will do well. I have not given up hope on this border bill. I think theyre going to meet tomorrow and pass something. Its going to be hard. Where is it going to go . To the senate, and maybe theyll pass it, which they havent done. Let me ask you this, do you think Congress Deserves reelection based on its performance. Forget party for a second. Do you think congress which has a 7 approval rater led by republicans in the house, democrats in the senate, do you believe the body of congress has done a good job. I believe the house has done a much better job than the senate and why the senate is going to change control. Are we living on the same planet . Watching what they did today, john says he thinks the house is doing a better job than the senate, the senate that passed an Immigration Reform bill. John is normally a levelheaded republican. Today, hes defending the indefensible. Hes generally right what the midterms are, a referendum on the power, unless the boneheads
in the other party step in the way and make a skeptical of things. Like in 1998. Like in 1998 and today. The president has found a voice and someone to run against. For three weeks, we had pretty good headlines about the American People. Some think theres too much illegal immigration, but even within that group, theres a lot of sympathy for the kids because they came over from a horrific situation. Not from mexico which has problems but not horrific problems. From places like honduras, like the worst neighborhood in the United States is better than that. People are actually conflicted, but then the republicans come along and say were not doing nothing. How is that going to sell . Nothing, not a nickel. Ultinately, i think they are going to pass something tomorrow. I think thats why boehner is pushing hard and why peter king who is going to flip . Theyre working on it. Thats why peter king is so frustrated with ted cruz, who should run for speaker if he wants to be the speaker of house. Theyre going to get something and then bargain with the
senate. How can one guy who verges on joe mccarthy every week in his talking about people, show up and walk the capitol, i never heard of a senator going to the house and lobbying. Stunning, actually. I think thats why more and more house members are getting frustrated with cruzs leading role. Isnt there a happy bunch of 30 of them waiting for orders . About 15 to 20. Thats what makes it difficult. He comes over there, he brings the cameras. This people generally dont get on cameras. He has them over for pizza. Its like a movie like mr. Smith. Theyre on the take with this guy . Well, i think that ultimately, a lot of these members are listening to the views of the American People. And the phone lines for the American People are melting down. Thats a problem. I think that for ted cruz and the speaker, they have to get on the same