Tonight's guests include:
Melissa Harris-Perry, host of “Melissa Harris-Perry” on MSNBC and political science professor at Tulane University
Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist, columnist for The New York Times and author of “End This Depression Now!”
Sen. Tom Coburn, (R) Oklahoma, member of the Senate Finance Committee and author of “The Debt Bomb”
While watching tonight's video preview, take a listen to tonight's soundtrack. (Just be sure to allow the ad below to play out entirely before starting the song.)
Executive producer Bill Wolff shares a preview of tonight's show:
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When the Arizona Secretary of State says he needs proof that Barack Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States, doesn't he wonder how Mr. Obama made it past the election authorities when he filed his papers as a candidate for President? What would happen if an actual foreign citizen tried to run for President of the United States? I need help here. Doesn't someone check to see if a candidate fulfills the qualifications for the office they seek?
MWM, of course the Republican politicians are fully aware that every candidate for president is thoroughly investigated to ensure that he/she meets the legal requirements to run for office. The Republicans, we should recall, most thoroughly investigated Barack Obama when it became evident that he had a chance to be elected. What troubles me is that I don't see Republican politicians living by their own standards. Have you seen a copy of Mitt Romney's long-form birth certificate? I haven't seen copies of any Republicans' birth certificates! As a Wisconsinite, why haven't we been shown Paul Ryan's or Scot Walker's birth certificates, much less their education and arrest records, medical/psychiatric records, etc., so we can determine if they are even qualified to run for office?
That's what drives me nuts. There is a group of people who push this birther notion or some other illegitimacy theory and they know full well that its nonsense. But they also know that there is a group of people who will accept their BS as fact or at least form their own doubts about the President's legitimacy. That makes these people the worst kind of liars. The kind that know what they are saying is untrue but say it anyway, allowing their audience to jump to the wrong conclusion.
What drives me nuts is the thinking that if an American woman has a baby in another country, such as Canada, that that baby will not be an American citizen. My advise to any woman over 5 months pregnant, don't go to another country. This birther stuff is right there at the top of "taking pride in being ignorant."
We should examine what is meant by "entitlement reform," per guest Sen. Coburn's comments. We were told for years that welfare - specifically AFDC - was unaffordable, running up massive debts that threatened the collapse of the country (Note: At it's highest, in the 1970s, AFDC used a mere 6% of the fed budget). When those of a more socially conscious generation spoke against "reforming" welfare, our political leaders went to some lengths to assure us that this meant ONLY that waste would be eliminated and fraud would be rooted out, going to some lengths to reassure the public that no one would ever consider ending the entitlement to basic poverty relief. They lied. So when people like Sen. Coburn howl that Social Security must be reformed, understand what they mean. That said, Social Security maintains a surplus. Furthermore, Social Security doesn't add a penny to the deficit. The greatest threat to Social Security has been the periodic efforts by legislators to gain access to this money, to meet "more immediate needs," always promising to promptly repay it. Older Americans understand that our govt has a crappy record of keeping promises, so they've been fighting back every effort. Consider where the money taken from welfare has gone -- not into the promised education/job skills training and job creation. It has all been redistributed upward, covering the costs of ongoing handouts to corporations/the rich.
The entitlement that actually DOES need reform is all the taxpayer money that is redistributed to the wealthy few via tax cuts, handouts, etc.
I would add, that allowing Tom Coburn to say that everyone knows that social security and medicare are broke, without rebuttal, is a mistake.
I emailed my frustration Wednesday because the show didn't use Jamie Diamond's comments against the GOP as much as I wanted. Then, as I watched the next few days news, I realized you gave it what it deserved. I apologize.
I'm a female boomer ( born 1946- graduated HS in '64). The last week has been examining my journey thru civil rights, my brother who died in '89 from AIDS, the current political situation etc.. I'm so angry at the GOP, the primaries, the religious right, women's rights and on and on. My late father, a Marine Raider, would be disgusted.
After the Jane Lynch interview there were a few seconds where Rachel's face and her posture spoke a million words.
Giving any importance to yet another Wall St. bag of crap was shallow.
I wish YOUR story was more well known. It is the story of many boomers. I am born '53 HS '71 and have seen much change in my life. To have these smart alec little dweebs blaming it ALL on the 'people' makes me want to slap their silly faces. Thank you for this.
Excellent show. Keep up the good work.
I have this natural inclination to try to find the bottom line in everything, especially in economics, politics and human nature. Given the current political situation and its lack of transparency given over to the public by our corporate news media, this has been incredibly difficult, especially when you factor in the weakness of the information made available to us.
Take 'hunting' for example, a human activity as old as our history. Is there any doubt in the statement that the most successful hunter gets the best share of the food? How about the best lodging? The most comfortable bed? And his choice of partner/partners to sleep with as well? No, there is not.
Like so many species, we are social animals and the way we treat our leaders - our 'hunters' - has not changed much over the last 100,000 years. Insofar as that is concerned, nothing much in our social hierarchy or our structure has changed at all.
Except that maybe it has. The difference lies in the distinction between the hunter and the predator. While most hunters are not predators, all predators ARE hunters. In today's world this is a very important distinction because the main difference between hunters and predators is the degree of empathy each show to the members of the societies who have been nurturing and supporting them, and these predatory tendencies have been showing up lately in both our political and in our economic structure, and are slowly but surely eroding the confidence that the rest of us - our collective tribe - has placed in them. Rooting out and exposing predatory behavior, and then moving to protect our society from their threat, is now the biggest challenge we have.
Ezra threw softballs to Coburn. OK, it's nice to encourage Republicans to oppose Grover and vote against subsidies through tax breaks. But look, Ezra, ... Coburn will only cut those subsidies if Democrats propose cutting Medicare and Social Security. If the tax subsidies are not needed and add to the deficit, that's enough reason to cut them, if your priority is reducing the deficit. Coburn's priority is not cutting the deficit, therefore. His priority is to gut social programs to bring about the free market paradise.