Ahead than the United States and United States companies in trading, and in doing things to build africa. Africa is an opportunity, an opportunity that finally, it looks like, some will engage seriously thanks to this president. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. Counter suit. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. Let me start with what caused a big remarkable reaction last night. Im talking about the idea of the president turning the tables and suing what he calls this dont do Nothing Congress. They sue him. People think they should do what i talked about last night, sue them back. Many think suing the congress back is the way the president
should respond to what the republicans in the house of representatives did to him last week. Think about it. Time and again congress has failed to act on even the most roo are teen matters of official business like approving ambassadors for posts overseas. Its failed to do what everyone knows is the business of the country like passing an immigration system, fixing the countrys broken down infrastructure. You name it. Isnt this a case of congress denying the country honest and faithful service . Not doing anything. Not even its most minimal official requirements like passing a federal budget. Is this why so many people shared, tweeted or commented on the sue Congress Proposal i made last night . Is this why people are reacting with excitement . Because they see the unfairness and the republicans in congress daring to approve a legal suit against the president , all the while preventing the government from doing its own job. There are a lot of good people who say the best way for the president to deal with the legal suit against him is to sue the heck out of them. Isnt this the reaction this boehnerheaded suit against the president deserved . What else did he expect to be the reaction . Joan walsh is the editor at large at salon. Com. Jonathan capehart is an opinion writer at the washington post, both are msnbc political analysts. Joan, youre smiling. I didnt believe the reaction. I came up with the idea. A friend of mine brought it up and i said, you know, thats a good idea. If you want to go tit for tat, a perfect time to do it against a do Nothing Congress which i believe could be held liable for not doing anything. It has a job. They are paid to do it. They are not doing the simplest things. At what point does doing nothing not earn a suit . Your thoughts. You touched a nerve. People are frustrated on both sides, particularly democrats. John boehner will enforce a provision of the law that makes little sense. They reached a low point when they couldnt get a draconian, not good border crisis bill through. Then released a statement saying we think the president could do it with executive action when they are suing him for executive action. They have abdicated their responsibilities. It is clear john boehner should sue senator ted cruz for acting as a speaker. There are a lot of people meddling in one direction but not doing their own jobs. You touched a nerve. Democrats are very frustrated. Looking for an answer. Cruz coming over is like shooting the tires out of a car thats dead. It seems to me it isnt a question of the president having one plan on welcoit. There is no other plan. We are going to stop everything and were not doing nothing. Exactly. Here is the other thing. The boehner lawsuit is a frivolous lawsuitment the idea of the president suing congress right back, i have to say maybe on the level of frivolity. Fair enough. But the reaction that you got last night is the same reaction i have been getting writing about the boehner lawsuit. These people do absolutely nothing. The lawsuit is a nothing. Right. It wont happen for two, three years, wont get standing. Heres the thing and why nothing is going to continue to not happen on capitol hill. The people who are on capitol hill right now who are causing all of the gridlock and dysfunction and no, no, no come
from districts that voted them in to do nothing and less than nothing. To cut, dismantle, stop washington from doing what they think is doing wrong. Im not sure of that. I think if you asked people would you like to see the roads repaired, bridges, airports that look like the ones in south africa and china, can we compete. I dont think they would say do nothing. No, but you are being rational. As i said last night my let me finish commentary generated an amazing response. Here are sample facebook posts. From lauren, spot on. Our country needs its leaders to start doing its jobs. This congress has yet to be held accountable for their delinquency. Who else better to serve them a lawsuit and begin to hold them accountable than the leader and the people who have been failed by their irresponsible behavior. From cheryl, i agree the president should countersue. The only thing the house gop has done by refusing to compromise and obstructing everything is
hurt the american people. They should be penalized for it. From debbie, finally someone thinks what im thinking. President obama should sue congress for crimes against the constitution. Thats a little strong, but it is an argument people appreciate. What else are you supposed to do . Whats the middle of the roader think who wants an enforced, reasonable progressive American Immigration system that works, who wants something constructive done on every front . We are not constructing anything on any front. The republicans are doing what they used to do in North Carolina, play out the clock. Slow it down like a Basketball Team ten points ahead. Do nothing until the country finally elects somebody else and then do nothing when they get elected. Some solutions actually, chris, could pass the house with a coalition of democrats and moderate republicans. Do you mean a vote . Yeah. Just put the senate bill up for a vote or something close to it. I think certain infrastructure legislation could get across if Speaker Boehner had the courage
to stand up to the right wing flank and ted cruz and say, okay, we havent done it but well do crucial things with the help of our democratic friends. There are bills they could do that with. Hes not willing to buck the right wing of the caucus to go over across the aisle to work with nancy pelosi except under extreme duress like to reopen the government after that awful shutdown. People have to lose more wheels off cars before they fix the highways. Since the day the president took office he was stymied. Just a sampling of the frustration. This is objective facts, by the way. The president s effort to fix the countrys crumbling infrastructure. No vote. Raise the min mudge wage, blocked. Student loan reform, blocked. Tax reform, blocked. Immigration reform, no vote in the house. Republicans in congress have held 50 plus votes to get rid of the Affordable Care act. They want to go back past ze
romt even the simple government functions the republicans in congress and the House Republican leadership refused to carry out. Lets listen. Even basic things like approving career diplomats for ambassador posts arent getting done. They are still blocking the ambassador to sierra leone where there is an ebola outbreak. The ambassador to guatemala is being blocked as they demand we do more to stop the flow of unaccompanied children from guatemala. I have been accused of this and i accept it. Im a little more crazy than the president in terms of wanting to see something done quickly. Joan, you know what i mean. When he was fighting it out with hillary in 2007, a thousand years ago, i said when will you contest this battle . He eventually did contest it. The calmness, the coolness. Did you see his reaction . Hes telling the american people
through the press, i have tried to do everything that you want me to do and they wont let me do anything. He has this bemused reaction like they wont approve the ambassador to sierra leone where there is an ebola outbreak, to guatemala where kids are coming because of the violence. Where is the outrage. Hes laying out the brief against congress. Its not that they are not doing anything. Here are the concrete things with real world impacts on the news now. One of the things you didnt put on the list, min mudge wage, student loans. Remember the american jobs act . The first bill he introduced, september of 2011, went nowhere. Bipartisan idea system he says ten, they say eight, we agree on nine. At least get something moving. Hes made the point. He didnt like the border bill. Take the pieces we agree on and vote on them. Lets get them into law and work on the stuff we dont agree on. They wont do it either. They are looking for a way to jam him, for a way to humiliate him. Blocking his agenda and making it hard for him. Im not saying hes blameless. In this situation making it hard for him to address the crisis that hes been faced with or addresses them with executive action and then he should be impeached. Everybodys been in the dmv line. The lines are long. Sometimes the people behind the counter are slow. I never had one say to me when i get up there, no, im not giving you your license. I dont feel like it. Thats what the president is doing. He gets up there, waits in line, he get there is and they say, no, we are not giving you the license. Get out of here. Thats the way they treat the president of the United States in congress. Sue him. We are of like minds. Thank you. Coming up, the video with congressman steve king has gone viral. The woman who made it happen is coming here. I just dont understand why you want to do that. This is not what i do. For you to call us names, saying i dont call you names. No, no. Thats drug smuggling. Do i have calves like cantaloupes . The woman oh is coming here and will join us to talk about dealing with king. Plus, reversal of fortune. Remember when republicans chose social issues like samesex marriage against democrats . Not anymore. Now the issues are cutting the other way. And the tea partys last chance. The primary in kansas is likely to be the last hope of picking off an incumbent republican senator. There will be a hot vote tonight. Let me go with the danger of leaving africa to the chinese. This is hardball, the place
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headed to North Carolina and arkansas to stumper for republicans there. Hes off to the battleground states of colorado and virginia. All of this is fuelling talk of a third romney president ial run come 2016. Romney would fill a big void tr for the republican establishment though as of now he said hes not running. Its what he has to say until the hole gets big enough for nobody else to fill. Well be right back. They 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. Weits not justt wed be fabuilding jobs here,. Its helping our community. Siemens location here has just received a major order of wind turbines. It puts a huge smile on my face. Cause im like, this is what we do. the fact that iowa is leading the way in wind energy, im so proud, like, its just amazing. Thats why i always choose the fastest intern. R slow. 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. When it comes to the republican partys problems with minorities, congressman steve king of iowa has taken control
of the gop clown car and is driving it into a ditch. The latest crash test was caught on tape. It happened just yesterday at an event with kentucky senator rand paul in iowa. Its gone viral, of course. It begins with king when king and paul are confronted by two hispanic activists, erica andioli and caesar vargas, collegeeducated organizers able to move freely in this country thanks to president obamas dream order. That allows some undocumented immigrants to stay here if they have been educated here. King said they have calves the size of cantaloupes and are hauling marijuana across the border. Rand paul left abruptly when erica gives congressman king the identification card and dares
him to show opposition by ripping it up. Go ahead and rip it up. I dont understand why you have been wanting to do that. This is not what i do. For you to call us names. Saying we have calves like cantaloupes. I dont understand. Thats drug smuggling please. Youre very good at english. I was raised in the United States. Right. So you can understand the english language. Dont act like you dont. Im not acting like i dont understand. No, you are. Youre saying something thats not true. What is it . I spoke of drug smugglers. Youre not one of them, are you . It troubles me that you have disrespect for the laws of the United States of america. I love this country. Youre telling me you dont have to awibide by the laws of e country. Go home you need to go home do not import lawlessness into america. Im sorry you come from a
lawless country. I hope you can have a happy life. But please thank you, sir. If you want to rip it, let me know and i will bring it back. That will be a nice video for you but it wont happen. Its shg you have been advocating for. I was giving you the opportunity. You saw erica there. Shes the National Director for the dream coalition. I have a few minutes for you. Give me a sense of what you expected to happen when you confronted congressman king, what you thought of him before and what happened. We have been fighting hard to get daca, the card i showed him, asked him to rip it up. Hes been fighting against it over and over again. He took a vote in the house. Pretty symbolic vote. Wont happen. But they passed something to get rid of daca. If you want to fight against dreamers, show me you mean it and rip up the card. Good missouri. He didnt do it. Did he know what you meant. I have never met you but you made a dramatic statement. You brought him the card that
came out of daca that gave relief to young people in the country because their parents brought them a at a young age. Learned english, you have done everything right. You wanted him to rip it up in front of you. Did he know what you were doing . Did he know what the card was . I explained it to him. Apparently hes been fighting against it for so long. Im guessing he knows what it is. To me it was really we are fighting now to expand this to our parents. For the president to expand his executive authority on immigration. You know, steve king is one of the people thats fighting against it. We are going to show steve king who we are as dreamers, show our courage. With this we are hoping the president shows his courage against his people, against steve king and other republicans and uses his executive authority. Let me ask you about the personal confrontation. People can disagree about immigration policy. As the free country. Well find something workable down the road. This guy wouldnt say to you what he said to the public. He said hispanic people, mexicanamericans came from across the border are all people running drugs and they have legs the size of cantaloupes because they are carrying so much marijuana on their backs. How did he squirm away from making that accusation against you personally when you said he was making it against you personally. Thats one of the most powerful things about having dreamers speak out for ourselves. We have been speaking out a couple of years now. Its amazing to share our stories. Its hard for people without having us in front of them to make the same sometimes racist statements against us. He kept saying if i spoke english. I was obviously speaking english the entire time. He was impressed. Yeah. He deals in cartoons. He is a cartoon. Thank you very much. Good luck with the work. You know what youre doing. Thank you. I dont have to tell you how
to do your job. You are doing it. Thank you. We have mature fellows here to talk about this now. Michael steele was chair of the Republican National committee. Eugene robins from the washington post, both are msnbc political analysts. Immigration policies, a fair debate. Every country finds a way to enforce the laws and say how much they can take. Who gets in. But this thing by him seems to be on a different level. How do you mean . Cantaloupesized calves. Whats that about if not a bizarre ethnic slur. Its an exaggeration of, you know of an idea, a fact or whatever. Its pejoratively casting people in a way to make a political point. What was the point he was trying to make . Stereotyping. Playing to the concerns and fears, the stereotype people have. Its not a stereotype people
have. Im tough on chris i want to find a solution. There are people who do believe every person coming across the border is a mule for drug runners. There are . They write to me. They believe in the stereotype. Yeah, but what difference does it make . Some people leave it. How come the guys who work in agriculture. They are woven into the fabric of society taking care of our children, doing all the jobs that need to be done. You dont think this is extraordinary behavior, these comments . No. I think some of the comments were extraordinary. They are going to drive hispanic people out of your party. Absolutely. There was nothing inviting about that conversation. I will turn the pillow to the cool side. This is just antiblack racism. Not just steve king feeding off racial issues. After yesterdays circus stunt the Tea Party Congressman mo brooks blamed the president the for declaring war on whites. He went further. In an interview with the Huntsville Times he sa