the new hit show, "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." he's running for mayor of alaska. and, boy, lawrence put him through the paces wanting his position on all of the issues that matter to the good people. >> what's your position on global warming. do you believe it's man made or not? >> no, i don't. >> you don't believe it's man made? or you do believe it's man made? >> i don't believe it's man made. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theorys? >> you're getting over my head on these things here. i don't know how to answer that question. >> in afghanistan, do you believe additional troops, u.s. troops will solve the problem there. >> i have no idea. >> okay, again, do you think that pakistani government is protecting al qaeda within its borders. >> like i said, i don't watch all of that -- >> lawrence -- lawrence -- lawrence went on to ask levi if he's been watching bristol on "dancing with the stars". >> what do you do? come on, dancing with the stars is on, what are you d

levi johnston, lawrence o'donnell getting together for a hard-hitting interview. we're kicking ourselves for not seeing what lawrence had to explain last night, which is that he ripped off this interview word for word, the questions verbatim from another famous interview. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories? >> oh, i think it should be taught as an accepted principle. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories? >> whew. you're kind of getting over my head on these things here. yeah, i don't really know how to answer that question. >> the united states is deeply unpopular in pakistan. >> do you think the pakistan government is protecting al qaeda within its borders? >> i don't believe that new president zardari has that mission at all. >> whew. like i said, i don't watch a whole lot of tv. >> lawrence said he went into his office when he knew he had levi johnston figuring out what to ask him. he took katie couric's questions, cut

that's the last word with lawrence o'donnell here on msnbc, the place for politics. >>> in the first line of division within the democratic party, 47 house democrats have broken ranks with the president on bush-era tax cuts on capital gains and dividends. they're calling for extension of the maximum rate on income. that rate expires at the end of the year. president obama wants to extend the rate for middle income homes, he wants to increase it for high earners. the increase would particularly hurt retirees. a vote on tax breaks is unlikely before congress adjourns this week to campaign ahead of midterm elections. >>> intelligence officials in europe have uncovered a plot for what's being called mumbai-style attacks of france and germany. just yesterday, the eiffel tower was evacuated following a bomb threat. according to one counterterrorism official, some recent missile strikes by unmanned u.s. drones in northern afghanistan were aimed at the plots aimed at europe. the threat levels have not been raised. >>> the first look at some of the other stories going on around america today.

i'm lawrence o'donnell. my first guest of the night, distinguished gentleman from delaware, vice president joe biden. we taped our interview earlier tonight. mr. vice president, thanks for joining us tonight. >> i'm happy to be with you. >> at the u.n. last week, president obama asked the israelis to extend the freeze on west bank construction but they allowed the freeze to expire at midnight last night. the west bank settlers today have been celebrating, some refusing to build. should netanyahu extend the freeze on the build and if he doesn't are the peace talks doomed? >> i don't think the peace talks are doomed. it's a politically difficult situation where both mr. abbas as well as prime minister netanyahu. the good news is the talks have not ended. you have abbas saying -- president abbas saying he would

lawrence o'donnell, i am so looking forward to "the last word." >> they're scared. they're terrified. >> when you are terrified about losing, you can either try to win or accept that you are going to lose and refuse to campaign. they're doing the latter which makes me nuts. at least it it makes sense to you. >> i understand. i understand terror, yeah. >> that's why you have "the last word." which starts tonight. >> which starts -- do i look scared? it starts in minutes. >> you are ready. >> i wish the tech rehearsals worked. the great thing about live tv, anything can go wrong. the chances of that are going to skyrocket. >> you're going to try to juggle something? >> so many things could go wrong. >> break a leg, my friend. lawrence o'donnell's new show starts tonight at the end of this hour, top of the hour. we're all very excited about it it here at msnbc. >>> do you ever pine for the good old days like before we had child labor laws? before we had weekends? if so, i have the candidate for you. put the gruel on simmer. last year. (oof). i had a bum knee that neede

lawrence o'donnell. >> i read "the new york times" story yesterday, lawrence. my question simple. how does an 84-year-old get up and do what you do at 10:00 every night? >> i will have in makeup for about 20 hours before, before i go live. >> that's exciting. >> do this show this morning so i think my energy curve is going to hit bottom around 9:30 tonight. >> before you go on the air. >> big story tonight. we are talking about it. breaking news while the president was interviewed. snooki rushed to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. we'll keep -- >> how could that possibly -- >> we'll keep you informed. >> what are you doing? >> snooki, not a resident of new jersey. so let's move from snooki to public education. what's your takeaway the t president? >> she is great on this issue. bill clinton, both george bushes and barack obama talks about education more passionately than any other issue. can he get republicans that don't want to work with him on anything work with him on this. >> john, it seems that this might be one issue of bipartisan agreement. >> so far the republicans are

coming up with msnbc's lawrence o'donnell. decadently delicious. 60 calories. it's finally me o'clock. time for jell-o. try new chocolate mint sensation. big oil and their backers are spending millions to scare us. saying it costs too much to break our dependence on oil. what they're really doing is putting our security at risk. my big brother went to iraq to keep us safe. he came home in a flag-draped coffin. america lost another hero. big oil wants to talk about costs? don't let big oil lie to you about what our dependence really costs. >>> we can't have that serious conversation until we lay out the size of the problem. once americans understand how big the problem is, then we can begin to talk about potential solutions. but i am committed to having that adult conversation with the american people because it is important for the future of our kids and our grandkids. >> forgive me, sir. isn't the right time too much the adult conversation now before the election when you have this document? why not make a single proposal to cut social security, medicare, medi

lawrence o'donnell and chris matthews all coming up in just a second. can you hold on for a moment before i come back to you? >> i'll just wait here. thanks for staying us with at home on what promises tock a very, very business election night. the last big night of primaries for this year's elections. tonight's the night we learn the final matchups. with news from new york, new hampshire, delaware, maryland, massachusetts, rhode island, wisconsin, and the district of columbia. will insurgent conservative movement candidates keep picking off the republican establishment? will the sharron angle and rand pauls of this election year have more company as candidates no one can quite believe keep winning major party nominations for major political office. >> you can't masturbate without lust. >> oh dear. tonight's results from the delaware senate primary with keith olbermann, chris matthews and lawrence o'donnell, made silver about the stats of what is likely to happen next in november. it's all ahead in this tonight's primary hour of "the rachel maddow show.

joining us now is msnbc's own lawrence o'donnell. the last word with lawrence o'donnell premiers monday night at 10:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc about which we are all very, very excited. lawrence, thank you so much. >> but you excite so easily. >> i do. i'm excitable. it's nerves, you know. have i the nerves. what happened today? republicans said they wanted to introduce amendments. harry reid said he wasn't opposed to that, and then republicans voted against it anyway. what really happened? >> well, you know, each one of them is citing a different senate tradition and protocol to support their position. they're is a tradition of unlimited amendments in the senate. but the way the senate actually works is the leaders on each side make an agreement. let's limit the agreements to this, this many. sometimes limit it to 100. it doesn't have to be some tiny little thing. but let's understand what the road map is when we take this bill out here. even if one party is opposed to it, they're going to allow the bill to go to the floor, and then,

joining us now is msnbc's own lawrence o'donnell. the last word with lawrence o'donnell premieres monday night at 10:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc about which we are all very, very excited. lawrence, thank you so much. >> but you excite so easily. >> i do. i'm excitable. it's nerves, you know. have i the nerves. what happened today? republicans said they wanted to introduce amendments. harry reid said he wasn't opposed to that, and then republicans voted against it anyway. what really happened? >> well, you know, each one of them is citing a different senate tradition and protocol to support their position. they're is a tradition of unlimited amendments in the senate. but the way the senate actually works is the leaders on each side make an agreement. let's limit the agreements to this, this many. sometimes limit it to 100. it doesn't have to be some tiny little thing. but let's understand what the road map is when we take this bill out here. even if one party is opposed to it, they're going to allow the bill to go to the floor, and then,

last night on lawrence o'donn l o'donnell's new show "the last word" lawrence asked the president what the situation in afghanistan would look like today if the administration had adopted biden's strategy of fewer troops. >> president obama is president of the united states. i told him i would give him my unvarnished opinion and back it up with the facts as i saw them. the president had the most thorough going review. the american people should read bob woodward's book, at the end of the book they'll see a president who was a leader, a president who approached problems in an analytical way and made sound decisions that everyone signed on to including joe biden. >> that's been the argument from the white house. no controversy here, just vigorous debate at the white house. joe biden also addressed the part of the book where biden reportedly called richard holbrooke "the most egotist cal bastard i ever met." >> it may not shock you that people talk about dixie just about they talking about my being too loquacious. they didn't say the end of the sentence. i told the president he's the best

never graduated from high school. >> that's lawrence o'donnell on "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." trying to be nice at the end. >> that was the nice part. >> he was interviewing levi johnston who is running for mayor of wasilla, alaska. >> he did an interview with levi johnton. >> he did an interview. he did the real interview. as a candidate, lawrence felt that levi should have to answer tough questions on the central issues of our day. >> oh, my gosh. >> what's your position on global warming? do you believe it's manmade or not? >> no, i don't. >> you don't believe it's manmade or you do believe it's manmade? >> i don't believe it's manmade. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories. >> you are kind of getting over my head on these things here. yeah, i don't really know how to answer that question. >> in afghanistan, do you believe additional troops, u.s. troops will solve the problem there? >> i have no idea. >> okay. again, do you thing pakistani government is protecting al qaeda within its borders? >> like i

. >>> we've have one of our own tonight right here on msnbc "last word with lawrence o'donnell" tonight 10:00 eastern. >> lawrence o'donnell adding msnbc host to his long list of accomplishments in washington and hollywood, and he joins us now. lawrence, i want to start with a question i posed to matthew dowd, former bush political adviser and it has to do with watching alan grayson, the democratic member of congress down there in a republican district. and i've been hearing from more and more democrats saying why aren't more democrats nationally channeling anger the way alan grayson does? >> it does seem to be working for him. but that is district by district judgment. it's also a personality issue. i mean a lot of the guys simply don't have that performance level in them if you want to call it that. and they don't actually feel that way. i mean, alan grayson, within the democratic party, makes some of the most extreme statements within the democratic party about the other side. he's not somebody who is looking to forge a coalition with some republican on a subcommity to try to get a b

and lawrence o'donnell. the host of the soon to debut last word with lawrence o'donnell. thanks. i really appreciate it. let me ask you this. you think no question the republican party finds a by to fall in love with her and get behind her? >> they have to. i already saw a letter from the senate republican campaign committee. they've already gotten excited about her. they are going to do what they have to do. i think you pointed out rather correctly, you notice the fact that the defeated republican candidate didn't endorse her tonight. so that bit of fence mending has yet to be done and it may not be done. i would have been shocked if she had gotten 40% tonight. up until late today, in fact, well into the evening, the establishment types from delaware were saying, this isn't going to happen. this is a shattering upset. there is no doubt about it. nobody expected it. they were talking 60% for castle late this afternoon. they assumed they had her well in hand. and look what she did. >> lawrence, what is the end of mike castle's political career mean tonight? a 9-term congressman, s

>> you don't want to miss "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" week nights at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on ms c msnbc. >>> in california, police are looking for a robbery suspect wanted in a violent purse snatching attempt. a man approached a woman from behind and grabbed her purse. when she refused to let go, the suspect violently threw her on the ground and dragged her, punching her several times before running away. the victim suffered minor cuts and bruises. >>> a missouri man is behind bars after leading police on a high speed chase that at one point crossed over into kansas and back to missouri in a stolen vehicle. the suspect caused some mayhem along the way speeding through an intersection and colliding into two vehicles at 85 miles per hour. the suspect gave up when the vehicle's tires blew out. >>> in ohio, officials are investigating a bizarre car accident that resulted in a car going airborne, flipping several times and landing vertically on the front porch of a house. several tow trucks were required to remove the vehicle but amazingly, the driver survive

lawrence o'donnell, jonatha

more with lawrence o'donnell and jonathan alflen just a moment. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. in a bubble. but what we can do is arm ourselves for the ones we love with a flu shot from walgreens. ♪ [ coughs ] [ female announcer ] with the most pharmacists certified to immunize... [ sneezes ] ...and walk-ins welcome everyday, we're making it easy for everyone to get their flu shot, no matter how small their motivation may be. ♪ so stop by and get your flu shot today at walgreens. there's a way to stay well. [ female announcer ] start your morning... hey. what are you doing up? i thought i'd take a drive before work. want to come? [ female announcer ] or make his day. yeah. [ female announcer ] maxwell house gives you a rich, full-flavored cup of coffee, so you can be good to the last drop. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the

last night the last word with lawrence o'donnell vice president joe biden talked about the high stakes for his party. >> a lot of democrats who might have been thinking about doing exactly what a lot of republicans did. not show up and vote in the primary. well, this is a wake-up call to democrats. we have to show up and we have to make our case and focus on the differences, not the personalities. >> nbc mike vukvukiera is in ne mexico. >> let's continue with what joe biden told lawrence o'donnell. the president also had an interview where he told some of these base democrats or reported to be apathetic. you know about the so-called enthusiasm gap. you cannot sit this one out. the message from the white house, it is time to stop all your sobbing and today the president continues on now with these backyard discussions. we're here in this setting in the land of enchantment outside of albuquerque, new mexico. this is the latest in a series of discussions. he gathers these people in backyards and most of these people are supporters of the administration, obviously. the point here is to pro

airing week nights at 10:00 on msnbc, lawrence o'donnell. we'll be right back. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world. ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote. [ female announcer ] mousse temptations by jell-o. decadently delicious. 60 calories. it's finally me o'clock. time for jell-o. try new chocolate mint sensation. you should get some custom fit orthotics. dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic center. it recommends the custom fit orthotic that's best for your feet. and footcare scientists are behind it. you'll get immediate comfort... ... and, you could save a couple hundred bucks. for locations see drscholls.com >>> pakistan shut down a keep supply route for u.s.

. >>> bristol palin's ex meets our own lawrence o'donnell. this one you want to see, believe me. >>> good wednesday morning, i'm chris jansing. live from msnbc world headquarters in new york. well, with the potential republican takeover of congress breathing down his neck, a newly energized and clearly fired up president obama is back on the road and he's got an awful lot at stake. this is the barack obama that fired up an electorate and took the white house. >> the prediction among the pundits is, this is going to be a blood letting for democrats. that's what they're saying in washington. we can't let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight. the stakes are too high for our country and for your future and i'm going to get throughout and fight as hard as i can and i know you are, too, to make sure we keep moving forward. >> that was before a raucous crowd last night. now, today, the president wraps up his four-state tour with stops in two more key states. iowa and virginia. mike viqueira is traveling with

>> with helm from lawrence o'donnell. lawrence sat down with levi. we broke down the tape yesterday. there's a new twist, one we should have seen. if the interview sounded familiar, it should. it's a verbatim interview from something we heard two years ago. >> really? recently, sharp made a major leap forward in the science of color with quattron. by adding a fourth color -- yellow... yellow. banana. ...to the standard rgb color system, quattron produces more colors... banana! ...and makes images brighter. banana! banana! when seen in 3d -- whoa! whoa! aah! quattron makes tv so realistic... whoa! ...you won't believe your eyes. [ male announcer ] aquos quattron 3d from sharp. [ engineer laughs ] you have to see it, to see it. [ engineer laughs ] words alone aren't enough. my job is to listen to the needs and frustrations of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen

lawrence o'donnell. september 27 at 10:00 p.m., great thanks. that's september 14th. the night of the o'donnell nomination in delaware. i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck.

now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> i never thought we'd be taking the mood down when we take over from you. but we may just actually do it tonight. >> it's the tea party coloring book. >> now i'm intimidated. >> thanks, rachel. >> bye, lawrence. >> 34 days now to the midterms. >> democrats say yes, republicans say never. >> give the house an opportunity in a fair and open debate to extend all of the current tax rates. >> 39 house democrats defect today and join an attempt to avoid tax cuts now. >> the nays are 209. >> speaker pelosi has to cast the deciding vote at the end of the week. >> irresponsibility on the part of this congress. >> and now they're about to walk away without even voting to protect americans. congress must not adjourn until we vote. >> the president finally uses the bully bull pit to bully. >> the policies we fought so hard for to change in 2008. >> but in the politics of taxation, can reality trump myth. >> somehow there's a myth out there, that we have raised taxes on small businesses. in fact we've lowered taxes on just about everybod

vice president biden echoed that message on the last word with lawrence o'donnell last night. >> there is some on the democratic base, not the core that are angry because we didn't get every single thing they want. it's time to buck up here and understand that we can make things better. continue to move forward. >> well, father and son with us now. delaware attorney beau biden. thanks for joining us. general, let's talk about the democratic base and the president now in wisconsin telling rolling stone it's irresponsible to sit out the election. the vice president, your dad has no apologies for talking about the winers in manchester, new hampshi hampshire. what do you think the challenge is for democrats? >> to get out the vote. it's as simple as that. i can speak best to delaware. we have 47% of the state registered democrats. the challenge for me and chris and john is to get out the vote in the state of delaware. you will see that happen. i can speak to what's going on in our little state and others can speak better to what's going nationally. that's what we are doing. chairman is com

lawrence o'donnell gets the last word here on msnbc. we'll have a preview of his big premier tonight straight ahead. >>> but first, actually, it was courtesy a little bit of governor bredeson. our "washington speak" today, green room. not what you saw. you saw matt lauer interview the president in the green room earlier. the green room on the first floor of the white house. white house historians say it's a favorite for the scale and distinctive decor. by the way, i love how with the white house, we come up with the complicated names. the red room. the blue-green. the green room. >> green room. there was a green-colored canvas and the first declaration of war signed in this room in 1812. full of facts now. if you have "washington speak" for us to clarify, send us an e-mail. [ rumbling ] [ air whooshing ] [ crunch! ] [ male announcer ] 11 grams of delicious whole grain. one mighty toasted crunch. new wheat thins crunch stix. the crunch is calling. you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar

this comes after vice president biden last night reiterated his message and told lawrence o'donnell that the same democrats need to buck up. he's here in albuquerque today. thomas, the line between campaigning and policymaking is always pretty tenuous and today is pretty obliterated and today the president will take out after republicans that pledge to america that they unveiled last thursday and the white house has been poking holes in it ever since and taking target practice and all the things cut in education is the theme if spending levels were frozen at 2008 levels as house republicans have proposed, thomas. >> as i look behind you, i think i'm looking at crawford. >> you're not the first person to point that out. the press working space is actually in a horse corral here. >> you know, just an observation from one guy to another. mike viqueira, thank you so much. >>> vice president joe biden is soften his message to fellow democrats, but not by very much. during a visit to new hampshire on monday he said, "stop whining." take a look at the alternatives and that drew angry responses

lawrence o'donnell. september 27 at 10:00 p.m., great thanks

and lawrence o'donnell. let me ask but this. you think no question the republican party finds a by to fall in love with her and get behind her? >> they have to. i already saw a letter from the senate republican campaign committee. they've already gotten excite about her. they are going to do what they have to do. i think you pointed out rather correctly, you notice the fact that the defeated republican candidate didn't endorse her tonight. so that bit of fence mending has yet to be done and it may not be done. i would have been shocked if she had gotten 40% tonight. up until late today, in fact, well into the evening, the establishment types from delaware were saying, this isn't going to happen. this is a shattering upset. there is no doubt about it. nobody expected it. they were talking 60% for castle late this afternoon. they assumed they had her well in hand. and look what she did. >> lawrence, what is the end of mike castle's political career mean tonight? a 9-term congressman, seen as a moderate but certainly not a liberal

i'm lawrence o'donnell. yesterday in new hampshire vice president joe biden told liberals unsatisfied with the progress of the obama administration to, quote, stop whining. later on this program, he changed his message to, buck up. which put him in perfect sync with president obama who in a "rolling stone" interview out today took his, quote, irresponsible base to task for their lack of enthusiasm and told them to, quote, buck up. the progressive blog firedoglake responded, really, dude? that's your message? i can't stand you, now go vote for me? and so the battle for the soul of the democratic party is joined with just five weeks to go before a possible republican takeover of congress. joining me now to discuss the obama interview that has driven today's news cycle is "rolling stone" executive editor eric bates who was in the room with the president during that interview and we're joined by one of the leaders of the people president obama is telling to buck up, adam green of the progressive change campaign

lawrence o'donnell is with me. he'll talk about it. >>> will it work? the president tries before the midterms to convince voters the health care law was the right thing to do six months after it became law. >>> and check this out. wild chase. not one, not two, but three suspects take police on a cross-country pursuit in south florida. we'll show you how all of it ended. >>> plus, they complained about their hotel room online and got kicked out. but did the hotel cross the line? we'll talk about it. >>> and is it a bombshell that will fuel the heated debate over the war in afghanistan? today, the white house is downplaying accounts in a new book by bob woodward "obama's wars." it portrays

. >>> lawrence o'donnell is the host of "last word" with lawrence o'donnell. five weeks before the midterm election, just how much trouble is the democrats in? >> in 1994 when we had that huge shift and the democrats lost the house and the senate. at this point in the process, no one knew that that would happen, there were no polling indications that that would happen, no pundits predicted. this is the worst shape the democrats have ever been in. >> so the president's team is now putting him on college campuses in a series of appearances to too toy bring in those surge voters from 2008, would you characterize that as a hail mary pass. >> what it really is a move back to things that worked in the past. we have seen the president go into the town hall venue, didn' work so well, having people ask him questions, so now they're putting him back on stage in that celebrity mode. remember what obama's problem was? he was a celebrity, that's when he was the most popular, so now they're going to put him back in that giant arena with all these fans and try to re-create

. >> don't miss lawrence o'donnell's last word on the biggest issues and most compelling stories of the day. "the last word" airs weeknights at 10:00 p.m. time only on msnbc. >>> palestinian president mahmoud abbas said he will wait at least one week before deciding whether or not to quit middle east peace talks with israel. that development comes after the united states, france, england and the united nations expressed disappointment over israel's refusal to haveextend a ten-mon building freeze on the west bank. meanwhile, george mitchell has been sent to israel in hopes of breaking the problems in the negotiations. >>> the old saying it never rains in california, well it was never literally hotter there in downtown los angeles. downtown l.a. hitting 113 degrees breaking the all-time record of 112 set back in june 1990. the heat has led to tens of thousands of power outages. in the meantime, the dry conditions have firefighters on alert for flash wildfires. today is forecast to be another hot one, no records are expected to be broken. >>> here is your "first look" at some of the other

you can check out "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell here on nbc. >>> here is the announcement for the highly anticipated grand finale winner of the "next top model" contest. >> it's you, kelsey. no. no. i'm so sorry about this. oh, my god. i don't know what to say. this is not -- this was a complete accident. i am so sorry. it's amanda. i am so sorry. it was fed to me wrong. >> how does that happen? the winner was a really good sport about it all. she gave a nod to the actual winner. >> of course it felt good to win for that 30 seconds. but, you know, amanda won fair and square with the votes. and i am here for the career. i want a modeling career, and you know, to be -- i feel like i have achieved that. >> don't you hate it when that happens, when it gets fed to you wrong? just hate that. >>> the recession may be over, but there is interesting new information about the way it has affected everyday life and marriage. >>> some days you cannot start the day without a cup of coffee. according to a new study by duncan donuts, nurses and physicians need their coffee most. hotel workers

we heard him say something similar on "the lawrence o'donnell show." they may say give us something to believe in. >> that seems to be the disconnect here. you talk to democrats in washington privately they say a bunch of people sent us to washington to change the place, and maybe they don't see the change yet. they haven't seen these effects. so you see these examples all the time. but look at what the president is doing today. he's in madison. a little bit of a college town, so i've heard. >> that's the word on the street. >> joe biden is at penn state. they're having four or five surrogates all trying to do this. they are finally starting to engage african-americans. the third part of this coalition of surge voters the the youth. >> young people. >> now the question, i believe, posed in the first read as well, will the white house blame the base? if the midterms are a bust? >> no, i think each side has a built-in excuse. the base will say, you didn't give us anything to believe in. the white house will say, you guys are holding us to a ridiculous st

. >>> coming up on "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell, lawrence talks with levi johnston. yes, that levi johnston. yes, it's happening. >>> i'm going to show you how to get all the way from crazy racist nonsense to crazy racist nonsense in a few simple steps. follow along closely now. i think that this is only barely legal on tv. first, on thursday we told you about new york republican jim russell. mr. russell is running against democratic congresswoman nita lowey just north of new york city. jim russell is the republican running against nita lowey regardless of whether or not the republican party likes that fact. because mr. russell has a record of racist ranting that makes carl paladino's most racist e-mails blush. quote, parents need to be reminded that they have a natural obligation as essential as providing food and shelter to instill in their children that acceptance of appropriate ethnic boundaries for socialization and for marriage. that's from an essay jim russell wrote in 2001 for a white supremacist quarterly. it was dredged up by politico.com last week. in the

joining me now is lawrence o'donnell, host of "the last word" which premiers next monday on msnbc. thanks for joining me, lawrence. i got to talk to you here because as a daughter of a man who was a master sergeant in the army, when you hear in this book of the infighting, one shouldn't be surprised, but it is unnerving when you think about the lives. 100,000 lives that are over there fighting this war. >> having been in those rooms, both in the white house and the congress, in these kinds of governing meetings, for me, never about military issues. always about domestic policy. i'm actually encouraged by this. i want the decision-makers on war to be passionate about what they're working on, to feel very strongly about their positions. i mean, imagine if what we were reading was a group of undecideds who were very gentlemanly and polite to each other and not really coming at it with a perspective based on their own experience. you know, richard holbrooke delivers a strong perspective in here, which is different from the military perspective, and i'm glad that both of those are in th

then he talked to lawrence o'donnell on the last word. >> it's time to buck up here and understand we can make things better and continue to move forward. not yield the playing field to those folk who is are against everything that we stand for in terms of the initiatives we put forward. >> mike viquiera is in albuquerque, new mexico, traveling with the president. back yard chats of the new black. >> the president likes these venues and is in the land of enchantment to talk about education. he plans we are told to go after republicans and their pledge to america. of course republicans want to cut all funding back to 2008 levels and the administration and democrats said let's stop and look at the repercussions and law enforcement. from here he flies on to madison, wisconsin with a big rally to recapture the campaign magic consistent with the message he and joe biden gave yesterday. it's inexcusable if people sit this election out. this is not about just voting during presidential elections. you have to show commitment here. you have to have the big rally. a small crowd and huge rally i

. >>> coming up on "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell, lawrence talks with levi johnston. yes, that levi next on this show, white supremacist football. and one crazy new york congressional election. and how. bake it, in the oven. well kraft corporation, i'm on to you. going after the grown ups and trying to muscle me out but i'm not going anywhere. [ male announcer ] kraft macaroni & cheese. you know you love it. you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood sugar spikes and may help reduce high morning blood sugar. [ male announcer ] onglyza should not be used to treat type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. tell your doctor if you have a history or risk of diabetic ketoacidosis. onglyza has not been studied with insulin. using onglyza with medicines such as sulfonylu

lawrence o'donnell, host of the last word debuting here september 27th at 10:00 p.m. >> good to be here, keith. >> she can't win, that's from matt kibby of freedom works yesterday. tea party conventional wisdom is no longer applicable? >> there is no wisdom for the tea party, keith. we don't have a neat precedent, which is what all political analysis needs, a neat precedent to tell us how this is going to behave and how this is going to work in the general election. yes, this is better news for the democrats than mike castle getting the nomination. the presumption was mike castle would easily roll to victory in delaware, mainstream delaware republican candidacy. the christine o'donnell candidacy is considered far too extreme for delaware, it wasn't too extreme tonight. >> turnout was about a quarter higher than expected. who voted for her? >> well, that's the indication of real energy behind her candidacy, you don't see turnout bumps on these kinds of primaries in off year elections. so the energy is on her side of the ballot. it's going to be very hard for koonz and the democratic side

our own lawrence o'donnell peppered johnston with some of the very same questions that seem to stop sarah palin in her interview with katie couric back in 2008. >> what newspapers and magazines do you read regularly? >> i read "frontiersman" every once in a while. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as scientific principle or one of several theories? >> you're getting over my head here on some of these things. i don't know how to answer that one. >> i like an honest politician who is willing to say i don't know when he doesn't know. do you believe pakistan is -- "frontiersman" doesn't have much to say about that, right? >> oh, lawrence, what a meanie. at least he didn't pretend to know. >> that's true. whatever. i don't know y think levi still accomplished what he wanted to accomplish. he got on tv. >>> in other news, he's not tuning in to watch his former love on "dancing with the stars." that's okay, because aappareppa everyone else is. >>> coming up next, chris jansing. >> at 1:00, andrea mitchell reports. tim caine and joe klein. e. i'd like to get your advice on hedging - ri

lawrence o'donnell, jonathan allen of the politico. thanks so much. go statesman. that's "hardball." thanks for being with us. right notice time for "the ed show" with ed schultz. >>> good evening, americans and welcome to "the ed show." tonight, live from minneapolis, these stories on the table and hit my hot buttons at this hour. how about this, glenn beck's got a crush on republican governor chris christie, when christie's not bullying teachers he's trying to bully voters. i'll talk to a voter who sparred with christie in just a moment. >>> and speaking of beck, he's the one saying, violence is going to be coming from the left? well, a male sharron angle supporter tea partier reportedly punched a female harry reid supporter during a candidate forum last night. oh, yeah! radio talk show host heidi harris was there, and we'll get that story and get some rapid fire response. >>> and tea partier christine o'donnell, ben quail and demon sheep have one thing in common. details coming up in "the playbook" tonight and the congress's just done something really big in dea

in the meantime, the vice president on with lawrence o'donnell last night explained those whiner comments. >> there's some on the democratic base, not the core of it, that are angry because we didn't get every single thing they want. it's time to just buck up here, understand that we can make things better. continue to move forward. >> the president, meanwhile, on the road today. this evening he'll try to capture the old campaign magic at a college campus in wisconsin. his first stop, albuquerque, which is where we find mike viqueira traveling with the president this morning. mike, good morning. >> good morning, savannah. we are in the land of enchantment here. the president will hold another in a series of those backyard discussions he's come to love so much apparently according to aides. the line between politics and campaigning and policy and campaigning is never very clear, it's about to be obliterated over the course of the next two days by the president. he's going to, according to aides, really take off after the pledge to america, of course, unveiled last thursday by house republi

vice president joe biden had to say to lawrence o'donnell on a show about motivating the base and where they stand. let's listen. >> there's some on the democratic base, not the core of it that are angry because we didn't get every single thing they want. it's time to just buck up here, understand that we can make things better, continue to move forward and not yield the playing field to those folks who are against everything that we stand for in terms of the initiatives that we put forward. >> the president said the same thing, it's time to buck up. really, dude, that's your message. i can't stand you, go vote for me. some interpreting it as a call to arms. they are insulted. >> they shouldn't be insulted they should be concerned what the results are infay don't engage. there is a clear choice here. i don't take offense to the straight talk coming from the vice president or the straight talk coming from the president. the president, i thought, hit it out of the park when he said if you disengage and don't vote and you weresent serious about change in the first place. we as americans ca

and then thank you, lawrence o'donnell, and thank you willie geist for "getting us up in the morning." "the last word" premieres monday the 27th a great day to start 10:00 eastern time. >>> up next. they're back again. the sunshine boys all at it again. former president carter. who carter says blocked the president's proposals out of personal spike. well, we'll get into that when we return. this is "hardball." >>> well, now to the five senate seats most likely to switch parties according to first reid. all going from "d" to "r." number five illinois a toss-up race. once held by president obama. number four pennsylvania, where republican pat toomey leads joe sestak. number three, indiana where former republican senator dan coats. it looks like he'll win back his old job. number two, arkansas, where senator blanche lincoln trails by double digits. and the most likely to switch parties, north dakota. notice delaware's off of that list after christine o'donnell knocked off mike cast thel week. still, all ten seats held by democrats. the republicans have a good shot to win. win. win-win. a

. >>> lawrence o'donnell is the host of "last word" with lawrence o'donnell. five weeks before the midterm election, just how much trouble is the democrats in? >> this time in 1994 when we had the huge shift where the democrats lost the house and the senate, at this point in the process, no one knew that was going to happen. there were no polling indications that that would happen, no pundits predicted. the situation we're in right now according to the polling is the worst the democrats have ever been in. >> so with the news this morning in "the washington post" that the president's team is putting him on college campuses in a series of appearances to try to bring in those surge voters from 2008, would you characterize that as a hail mary pass? >> what it really is a move back to things that worked in the past. we have seen the president go into the town hall venue, didn't work so well, having people ask him questions, so now they're putting him back on stage in that celebrity mode. remember what obama's problem was? he was a celebrity, that's when he was the