Appropriate. Thats what i would say. Plus, the guy has gotten paid all year long. Dr. Dyson, thanks for doing the show. Tomorrow night, i will be on outdoor assignment, as they call it. Thats the ed show. Politicsnation with reverend al sharpton starts right now. Good evening, and thanks to you for tuning in. Tonights lead, meet the new gop. Same as the old one. The gops new spirit of togetherness lasted about as long as one of John Boehners golf games. Just a day after Incoming Senate majority mcconnell gave some conciliatory words about the way forward, Speaker John Boehner slammed that door shut when he went after president obama for his intention to take executive action on immigration. Ive made clear to the president that if he acts
unilaterally, on his own, outside of his authority, he will poison the well, and there will be no chance for Immigration Reform moving in this congress. When you play with matches, you take the risk of burning yourself. And hes going to burn himself if he continues to go down this path. This immigration issue has become a political football over the last ten years or more. Its just time to deal with it. Hes going to burn himself . Strange words when youre talking about a president. He is right that it is time its past time really, to deal with immigration. But no one should know that better than Speaker Boehner. Just listen to what he himself as said previously. I think a comprehensive approach is long overdue. Is Immigration Reform dead . Absolutely not. Theres a possibility that congress could take this issue up next year. For Speaker Boehner, its always next year for Immigration Reform. Thats why so many are hoping the president will take action now. After all, its been 497 days since the Senate Immigration bill passed. And boehners house still has not voted on it. Its outrageous. And boehners giving us the same old song and dance on health care too. Today he admits mckoj renewed their commitment to repeal obamacare. And later, he hammered that point home. Obamacare is hurting our economy. Its hurting middleclass families, and its hurting the ability for employers to create more jobs. And so, the house, im sure, at some point next year, will move to repeal obamacare. Wow. Nothing says compromise like your 56vote to repeal obamacare. And look, the facts show the Health Care Law isnt hurting jobs. The country has seen 55 straight months of private sector job growth under president obama. That historic streak started in march of 2010, the exact same month the president signed the Affordable Care act into law. But Speaker Boehner swears hes just doing what the people want. The American People made it clear election day, they want to get things done. My job is to listen to the American People. Listen to the American People and make their priorities our priorities. Priorities . If he was actually working for the American People, maybe hed raise the minimum wage. Thats overwhelmingly popular. And stop Corporate Tax breaks. Thats popular too. The speaker should stop trying to take away Peoples Health care. Thats how he can and should work for the American People. Joining me now are msnbc host jose diazbalart, and Jonathan Capehart of the washington post. Thank you both for being here. Thanks, rev. Jose, lets start with immigration. What did you think of Speaker Boehners comments today that the president s actions would, quote, poison the well . You know, rev, i dont like to put motives behind peoples words. Id rather do what you just did when you talk about what actions have been held in the past. Because thats when you see true motives and intentions. Let me tell you that the house of representatives did agree on something on immigration before
they went on their election break. They did agree to remove funding for any future, deferred action, like the president had done some years ago, to help hundreds of thousands of kids who were brought here through no fault of their own by their parents when they were children, come out from under the shadows and be able to work and to study and participate in this society, a society of which they know no other. So they did do something on immigration. Their message was, we are against any and all issues that could take this debate forward. So my question is, my question is, lets look at what youve done in the past. And then we can see if indeed the well could be tainted or poisoned, or already has been. Let me push a little on that, jose. What is the hispanic communitys feeling . What are they saying about the
president and the executive action that he has the option of using, if he has to . Rev, i dont speak for everybody, but i can tell you that im looking at the numbers, for example, on the folks who came out to vote last tuesday in the hispanic community, that could have made a difference, for example, for the Democratic Candidates in colorado. Could have made a difference for the candidates in georgia, louisiana, north carolina. By the way, some of those senators incoming, were the ones who asked the president to delay his dealing on immigration until after the election. Theres a sense that the president said he would act on immigration in the summer. And then to pause this, the coalition of 39 latino organizations this week sent the president a note. Saying, weve waited long enough. Its time for you to stop all deportations who would have qualified under the Senate Bipartisan bill which the house didnt want to deal with. So between the period that he decide to delay that immigration act until whenever he does do it, 70,000 people have been deported, rev. Jonathan, let me ask you this. Was there any sense of a new john boehner that we heard today . [ laughter ] no, no new john boehner at all. When you take president obamas press conference at 3 00, mcconnells press conference an hour earlier and then john boehner, who is the one person of the three who doesnt sound
like hes conciliatory or is even wants to work with the other side. Mitch mcconnell, for everything that he has said in the past, including he wanted to make president obama a oneterm president , he was upbeat, cheerful, made it clear what he was going to do, what he wasnt going to do. He drew his lines in the sand in the same way that Speaker Boehner did, but he also made it clear hes willing to work with the president on some key things. And the tone of john boehner was so different. Yeah. Because, jose, when lets look at the fact that even lindsey graham, a republican senator, he criticized the president for considering executive action on immigration, but he said Something Else very interesting too. I want to play that, jose. My belief is, this is a dangerous miscalculation by the president. At the end of the day, the Republican Party would benefit from getting immigration off the table. It would be hard for me to see how we could win the presidency
in 2016, if were blamed for blocking Immigration Reform. Now he says republicans would get blamed for not acting on Immigration Reform. And check this out. Exit polls from tuesday found 57 of americans support a path way to citizenship. Jose, if republicans dont act now, how badly will it hurt them in 2016 . Well, i like to look at the past to maybe read tea leaves about the future. Youll remember when mitt romney ran for president against president obama, his immigration policy was that all of the 11 or 12 Million People that are living here without documents, the solution on immigration would be they would selfdeport. That policy cost him dearly in the latino community, to the tune of 71 of all latinos that voted, voted for president barack obama. Im not great at path, but i
know this, if theres a 12 or 13 million voting bloc, and you get 71 of 12 or 13 million, its going to do you pretty well. Yeah, i think i can keep up with that math myself. Jonathan, let me ask you this, the president , lets say he signs executive action, and the republicans respond. Is that good politics . Well, look. The president is between a rock and a hard place, no matter what he does or doesnt do, hes going to unleash hell against him. If he takes the executive action, republicans have made it clear its going to poison the well, and i say that they will start articles of impeachment, because thats what they have said they are going to do. If he doesnt do it, he will make angry immigration activists and advocates and others who are looking to the president , to once and for all, lead on something and stop trying to
compromise with people who clearly dont want to compromise with him. So the president takes executive action. One, we dont know exactly what hes going to do, how broad this executive order could be or would be. And that will determine how angry republicans will get, whether it will go from rage to inferno rage but, jose, when jonathan talks about we dont know how broad the executive action would be, you referred to the Bipartisan Senate bill that has passed the u. S. Senate. That bill was by far the most compromised bill you could possibly imagine. Certainly wasnt a progressive bill. It took 13 years to get full citizenship for most people. You talked about over 40 billion for security at the border. For the border, yes. Talking about having a tracking device on peoples work
visas. Were not talking about amnesty, nowhere near amnesty. And it would only include about 8 million of the 11 or 12 Million People who are working here without documents. Jonathan hit on a very important point. You have on the one hand, republicans saying dont poison the well. Well, the well doesnt have any water apparently because theres been nothing coming out of that well on Immigration Reform. On the other hand, you have progressives, not only hispanic organizations, but people like gutierrez, the congressman from illinois, that says if the president doesnt go big, there may be an internal civil war in the Democratic Party, because he has to step forward. And this last election, rev, proved that the tepid and the timid dont win. The three senators, Democratic Senators who asked him to delay Immigration Reform, are home wishing maybe that things had gone differently for them, because theyre losing and they
lost. Thats right. Have to leave it there. Jose diazbalart and Jonathan Capehart, nobody ever accused any of us of being tepid. Thank you both for your time. And be sure to watch jose diazbalart every morning at 10 00 a. M. Eastern right here on msnbc. Coming up, a Top Republican strategist says thank you to the democrats for not having President Obama Campaign with them. Unbelievable. Why do republicans seem to get it about president obama, but too Many Democrats dont . Plus, the incredible story of the man who killed Osama Bin Laden and his new fight today. He could now be facing criminal prosecution. And president obamas responding to Michael Jordans trash talk about his golf game. You got to hear this. Stay with us. I make a lot of purchases for my business. And i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. Like 50,000 bonus points when i spent 5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. And i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at Office Supply stores. With ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. Travel, gift cards, even cash back. And my rewards points wont expire. So you can make owning a business even more rewarding. Ink from chase. So you can. Oh chris, did you remember to pay the dog sitter . Oh, i knew i forgot something. Ill just do it now. Well, were boarding. No, ill use citi mobile. It takes two seconds, better safe than sorry, right . Yeah, who knows if well even get service on the island . What no service . Seriously . You guys might actually have to talk. To each other . We do it all the time. I like it. Should we . No. Bank from almost anywhere with the citi mobile app. To learn more, visit citi. Com easierbanking creeping up on you. Fight back with relief so smooth. Its fast. Tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. And neutralizes stomach acid at the source. Tum, tum tum tum. Smoothies only from tums. So ally bank really has no hidden fethats right. Accounts . Its just that im worried about you know hidden things. Ok, whys that . No hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates. Today Speaker Boehner went straight into combatmode. While also serving up old ideas that went nowhere in the last congress. Today in the wall street journal he and senator mcconnell said theyll be focusing first on jobs and the economy. Boehner repeated the promise this afternoon. Youve heard me talk many times about the many jobs bills that the outgoing Senate Majority has ignored. A new start . Sounds great. Except, lets look at these socalled jobs bills. One calls for repealing obamacare. Another is the keep the irs off your Health Care Act. Theres also paul ryans path to prosperity budget. And giveaways to big oil. Things like outer Continental Shelf boundary hydrocarbon agreements. This isnt a jobs plan. Its a rightwing fantasy list. And over in the gopcontrolled senate, they have other concerns
besides job bills. [ inaudible question ] you can bet on that. Yeah. And the gop new lead investigator is already promising hearings on Border Security and illegal immigration. The department of Homeland Security and business regulations. Especially those affecting the energy sector. So the question is, does the new republicans majority in congress have any intention of cooperating with the president . Or just investigating him . Joining me now is congressman jim mcdermott, democrat from washington. Thank you for being here, first of all, congressman. Good to be here, reverend. Youve heard what Speaker Boehner had to say today. Does he seem to have a spirit of cooperation and compromise to you . Well, rev, you know probably as well as i do, theres a verse
in the bible in matthew 7 that says beware of false prophets, theyre like wolves. By their deeds you shall know them. And john boehner is saying the nice words today, but we know by his deeds for the last four years, that he has no intention whatsoever of cooperating with the president of the United States. He could have done that four years ago if hed wanted to. But all hes done is obstruct, along with mitch mcconnell, they have been chief obstructors in the United States congress. And nothings going to change between now and the 2016 election. They are setting the stage for coming into that election saying, we did nothing, and you ought to elect us and well do more nothing for you. Its interesting you say that because republicans are talking a lot about what john boehner said today about president obama supposedly, quote, poisoning the
well. But one reporter asked if boehner was the one doing that. Listen to this exchange, congressman. Isnt the idea of repealing obamacare third or fourth line in your outfit today, isnt it poisoning the well from your angle . When you go to the white house tomorrow. No. Our job is to make the American Peoples priorities our priorities. They dont like obamacare. I dont like it. Its hurting our economy. I mean, 497 days and they havent voted on the immigration bill that passed the senate. Youre in that congress. They wont vote on the bill. They wont deal with obamacare. Isnt boehner starting things off on a bad note, congressman. If they didnt learn with 50 votes when the democrats were in control of the senate, that they couldnt get that bill through, theyll never learn, rev. They are going to go and do it again, because they dont want the president to ever get the credit for having started National Health insurance. They know hell have the same kind of legacy as Franklin Dell ano roosevelt did when he started Social Security and unemployment insurance, and all the programs that came as a result of the last bank failure. This bank failure in 2007, what came out of it, we saved the banks and we got health care on the road. And they do not want president obama to get credit for that. Clearly they wanted to stop him from being president , then stop from him being reelected. Now stop his place in history. But they have already lost the health care fight. They cant really defeat the Health Care Act or overturn that, can they, congressman . Well, i think heres what i think theyre going to do, rev. Theyre going to try one repeal just for a big pr event. But then what theyre going to do is not fund the subsidies, so
people who are buying policies with subsidies wont have the money. Theyre not going to subsidize the Small Businesses that are giving health care to their workers. T