joan walsh and ezra klein are both here. why did you write this piece? >> because i woke up monday morning in a changed america. we had gone from nonstop coverage, and i thought appropriate coverage of the constitutional crisis that the republican party had brought us to. the brink of global economic disaster. and suddenly the disaster was the website of the affordable care act, which is not the affordable care act. it is only a part of it. the president was right to say that. and i saw a kind of piling on, including by liberals. and i really -- i didn't do many of the things i'm accused of. i didn't say don't report on these things. i didn't say don't talk about them. i said, have a sense of perspective. this may doom the program, but it's way too early. and i think that was read as somehow prop for obama. and of course, i am the last person -- not the last person -- >> you're not the last person. >> i'm not the last person. good call. but, you know, people who are devotees of our president are sitting in their living rooms saying she's no obama bot. >>

>> i'm joined tonight again by joan walsh, salon.com. what an arrogance coming from congressman joe barton from texas. >> yes. what. >> is the health care situation in kansas? he probably doesn't even know. in fact, i'm not convinced these people on this house committee on the republican side have even read the bill. the rhetoric is at an all-time high. >> i thought she did pretty well, given what she was dealing with and never broke down and, you know -- and told them what she was really thinking. i thought she explained the law very well. and she's not denying there are problems and the president is not denying that either. and we're concerned about those problems. but the level of faux outrage from republicans is just appalling. and the thing that gets to me, ed, too, is there is a little bit of complicity here in the media. today on salon i went back and i compared some of the headlines around the phony irs scandal and the phony benghazi scandal. remember in may we were supposed to be concerned about that and the presidency was falli

salon.com's joan walsh was the first to point out the craze. noting the rush to tear into the affordable care act's website, she cautioned liberals not to abandon the greater narrative in favor of the media's newest obsession. to put it bluntly, she critiqued the critique. the response to walsh's article was astounding. what once was a discussion moved into a flurry of attacks coming from all political ideologies. but this time the aggression was personal in nature, and misogynistic in tone. just a big word to talk about the cruel and usual hatred of women. criticism does not mean becoming a tool to one side of the debate or another. but instead, recognizing problems within perspective. here the discourse was polluted with personal attacks and we must investigate the roots of ugly nature in our culture. joining me is author liz winsted, arlena maximum maxwell and joan walsh of salon.com. joan, i want to come to you. you're a woman of extraordinary ability. you write well, you think well, you talk well, you look well. you do everything well. >>

where is the victory, joan walsh? >> it's really not a victory. i think we're all relieved. it looks like we're not going to default. it looks like we're going to open the government temporarily. but i fear that the three of us are going to be having these same conversations down the road in december, january and february. it's not a victory. the democrats, again, did the responsible thing. they did not give away much, but they did give a little bit. and i don't think that we've broken this fever yet. i think you hear ted cruz and other voices saying we will fight again. we live to fight again. and they will fight again. we cannot delude ourselves. plus i think, you know, we may be fighting amongst ourselves if they're really serious about entitlement cuts, earned benefit cuts, which it sounds like some democrats are serious. >> well, in many ways, the fight has just begun. >> right. >> when you look at the big three and what they really want to do, want to privatize everything, political exhaustion right now, goldie, no room for it, for liberals if they want to protect thei

joan walsh and ron reagan. both of you, take your turns. first of all, explain the phenomenon of ann coulter. my theory is she's able to say anything that comes to mind and she's brilliant at the provocation she starts because nobody can fire her. which is great for her. but this notion that somehow this has been a swell, exciting period of their lives. that this has worked out for them. it's amazing how they can ape reality. go ahead, your thoughts, joan. >> because, you know, she's playing to the most paranoid extremist fringe of the party. and she's telling them what they want to hear. that's been her act all along. i know people who like her and say she doesn't mean it. that makes it worse to me, if that's the case. i think she means it. but this is how she gets rich. >> that's an interesting question. i have a theory that the dorky guys on wall street walk down the street carrying one of her books like they have a machine gun. it makes them kind of dangerous. >> and ann coulter is on their side in attacking those awful godless liberals

ezekiel emanuel and joan walsh. tell me if i'm right or wrong, zeke is this plan to delay the bill or the individual mandate a flesh wound or a shot to kill the bill, the act? >> chris, you've been around politics, you know as well as i do that any time anyone says we should delay it or spend time talking about it, it's an attempt to kill it. lyndon johnson knew very, very well that the moment you get something on a committee, you push it forward. the moment it gets passed, you push it forward. delay allows the opponents to rally around and try to get -- boost their voice and try to kill something. so you're absolutely right. you're calling it exactly as it is. this call for delay is an attempt to defeat. >> and joan, before lbj was our machiavellian hero, the guy was a opportunist out there. but can he kill it because people who like the old system don't like it? and the people who were new to benefit from it don't have any confidence in it yet? that is the perfect time to kill it. >> right. >> guys like cruz himse

joan walsh and clarence page. clarence, i want to ask you, the president is using the right words. he talks about extortion. even criminality. and he's doing it very calmly. does he have to behave like that? why doesn't he show a little outrage at the criminality he's accusing them of? because they really are kidnapping the u.s. government. it's only 30 people on the wacko right. why doesn't he just go after these people? >> as much as we'd love to see president obama blow up the way we love to see rush limbaugh or hannity -- >> or me. >> or you, he's trying to illustrate that the democrats are the compromise party, the conservatives are the orthodox people. the principled people, quote, unquote. they don't like compromise. let's face it, the whole shutdown started because after the democrats in the senate had approved a budget that was a good, what? $20 billion or more less than what they initially wanted, and republicans wouldn't accept that because they wanted to defund obama care. president obama is finally realizing, i think, as well as other democrats that they've got to be h

joan walsh and chris hayes, thank you. and, of course, remember, you can always catch my friend and colleague, chris, every night at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc. thanks so much. >>> coming up, a word of welcome for my newest colleague here at msnbc, before his friday night debut. but first, travel in the republican ranks? don't believe me? listen to how representative louie gohmert described senator john mccain earlier today. and just listen to this. >> some senator from arizona -- a guy that liked gadhafi before he wanted to bomb him. a guy that liked mubarak before he wanted him out. a guy that's been to syria and supported al qaeda, and rebels. but he was saying today the shutdown has been a fool's errand. ♪ max and penny kept our bookstore exciting and would always come to my rescue. but as time passed, i started to notice max just wasn't himself. and i knew he'd feel better if he lost a little weight. so i switched to purina cat chow healthy weight formula. i just fed the recommended amount... and they both love

joan walsh and rick tyler, thanks to you both. >> i agree with that. thank you, karen. >>> next, from the mind of tea party freshman and veterinarian ted yoho on the debt ceiling not being raised. quote, i think personally it would bring stability to the markets. stability. that's coming up. >> they're saying it's at risk because of your refusal to pass a clean debt limit. >> we are not going to pass a clean debt limit increase. >> under no circumstances? >> i told the president, there's no way we're going to pass -- when the votes are not in the house to pass a clean debt limit. ♪ here i go again on my own ♪ going down the only road i've ever known ♪ i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hope he's saving. i hope he saved enough. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. whether you're just starting your 401(k) or you are ready for retirement, we'll help you get there. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male ann

joan walsh, viviana hurtado, james peterson, have a wonderful weekend. you can find more on our panel on our website, tv.msnbc.com. just follow the link to my name. [ male announcer ] when you have sinus pressure and pain, you feel...congested. beat down. crushed. but sudafed gives you maximum strength sinus pressure and pain relief. so you feel free. powerful sinus relief. sudafed. open up. >>> reading fiction may help social relationships. a recent study had people read different types of writing, then guess the emotions of people they don't know. people who read fiction were more likely to correctly guess the emotions than readers of nonfiction and other genres. >>> nearly 50 years after the assassination of president john f. kennedy, questions still remain about whether his accused shooter, lee harvey oswald, acted alone or if he was part of a greater, grander conspiracy. now using modern technology to examine old evidence, university of virginia professor has uncovered new details from that fateful november day in dallas. reveals them in his new boo

and joan walsh. tell me if i'm right or wrong, zeke is this plan to delay the bill or the individual mandate a flesh wound or a shot to kill the bill, the act? >> chris, you've been around politics, you know as well as i do that any time anyone sels we should delay it or spend time talking about it, it's an attempt to kill it. lyndon johnson knew very, very well that the moment you get something on a committee, you push it forward. the moment it gets passed, you push it forward. delay allows the opponents to rally around and try to get -- boost their voice and try to kill something. so you're absolutely right. you're calling it exactly as it is. this call for delay is an attempt to defeat. >> and joan, before lbj was our macvelian hero, the guy was a app tunist out there. but can he kill it because people who like the old system don't like it? and the people who were new to benefit from it don't have any confidence in it yet? that is the perfect time to kill it. >> right. >> guys like cruz himself is

phil johnson, joan walsh of salon.com, thanks for getting up. thank you for joining us. we'll see you next weekend, same time, same place. don't go anywhere, melissa harris-perry is up next. today on "mhp," the gop and their values. that and the latest oen the government shut down coming up next on nerdland. we'll see you next weekend here on "up." ♪ [ crashing ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! your financial advisor should focus on your long-term goals, not their short-term agenda. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do. face time and think time make a difference. at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing. thood thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement

walsh, salon.com. joan, there's some battling going on right now. what do you make of christie behind closed doors with senate republicans today? >> i think it's very interesting. you know, he did make news at this debate. he is running for president. it was practically a declaration. so christine, you made news. you got the story. he was so condescending to her, i couldn't believe it. but anyway, he's running. and i think barbara buono, she made some really good points and the only one person on that stage is running for governor. he's running for president, she is running for governor. and he is going to make up for the simple fact he was not cruel to president obama and did not reject sandy aid. that is going to doom him with the electorate. i to not believe he can get through a republican primary. but he's got to go far right, attack poor barbara buono's gay daughter, veto planned parenthood, because he's running for president. everything he does is about that. >> you think he's behind closed doors

joining me now, joan walsh salon.com's editor at large and eric bolart from -- he's a senior fellow at media matters for america. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> joan, let me start with you. doesn't this latest flub say something about the right's constant effort to paint the president as the other? >> well, yes, it does. it says a lot about it, rev. it also -- you just have to wonder, that poor woman, what kind of a mind-set does it take to believe something like that? and what happens that her two co-hosts don't say immediately and tucker carlson who was her guest don't say immediately that isn't true or that can't be true. how do you not check that delectable little fact before you go on the air? it's because you spent all these years creating this idea that he is a kenyan muslim. he's got the kenyan anticolonial mind-set as newt gingrich said. >> and eric, i think there can be flubs on the air. but i think it is that it's so constant, so more of the same that it only shows us a narrative that has been built uup so unfairly against the president. >>

joining me now is dana milbank and joan walsh. thank you for being here. >> hi, reverend. >> thank you. >> joan, the president admitted there's a problem and that there are problems with the health care website. but he also made it clear the website is not the policy that will give health care security to millions of americans. what did you make of it? >> i thought it was great, reverend al. people were saying he was going to come out and apologize which i thought was crazy. it was set up as an apology tour. and he was really defiant and proud of what the affordable care act has accomplished. it is not a website. the website has a lot of problems. none of us here would dismiss that or deny that. but it's not the website. they will work out the glitches. and it's really rich for these men who've worked so long to defund or repeal obama care to deny these 30 million americans government help with health insurance. suddenly being so concerned that these people might be having trouble reaching the website, getting their applications t

michael steele and joan walsh. both are msnbc analysts. michael, the republican party is now represented by somebody in a mexican restaurant eating in a secret meeting with 30 red hots for the far right. not one for wanting more mexicans in the country. >> but like the food. >> let's go back to the facts tonight. they had a secret meeting in the basement -- not secret because mccarthy spotted them across the room. that wasn't secret. this guy have stirred them up enough that 30 people have once said no deal to john boehner. they want more red hot stuff. more red meat, something to take something away from obama care and hurts the president physically. >> the president's not going to stagger out of this deal. and that's the problem. the president is in the strongest possible position with respect to obama care. because he's got all the weight of evidence on his side. including two elections and the supreme court decision. set that aside. so where does the party need to go now? it is not necessarily to block john boehner. let john boehner cu

thank you mayor brown and joan walsh. >>> up next, you know you're in a tough spot when you're on the receiving end of late night jokes. that's what's been happening to hhs secretary kathleen sebelius on the rollout of the affordable care act. anyway, this is "hardball," the place for politics. life could be hectic. as a working mom of two young boys angie's list saves me a lot of time. after reading all the reviews i know i'm making the right choice. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time. with honest reviews on over 720 local services. keeping up with these two is more than a full time job, and i don't have time for unreliable companies. angie's list definitely saves me time and money. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today. >>> back to "hardball." time for the sideshow. kathleen sebelius has been taking heat from for the rollout of healthcare.gov. >> something makes me think she's not the most technologically savvy person. >> did you find it challenging? >> the product is there. the prices are good. it will

joan walsh on msnbc. a bunch of gay activists. a bunch of abortion people, all day long. just hammering everybody in the catholic churches is an idiot. all the priests are perverts. and you know what happened. you saw it happen. so, i mean -- >> -- well, i don't think that applies to the reporters at the "boston globe" who first broke that story you were mentioning some liberal pundits. here is another side to it history channel rungs a series called the bible. >> that's the folks. that's not the media. >> run by msnbc. here is another example important one pope francis has gotten glowing coverage and deservedly so. >> why is it deservedly so because pope benedict did not get glowing coverage. i know the reason why pope francis is getting glowing coverage do you want to tell. >> you will say it's because is he more tolerant towards gays at least in his. >> absolutely. no doubt about it? >> but he is also a very media savvy pope. he is a humble leader and i think he is on twitter and i think that a lot of people who aren't each christians. >> you are making my point for he

but i would just say to the joan walshes of the world you better watch out. you are going to wear your -- your enemies have gone previously. >> i want to come back to you quickly here because as has been noted this week, i have noted this myself, there were problems when we rolled out medicare in the early '60s and problems, as you indicated, when we rolled out medicare part d a few years ago. what, if anything, is different this time? >> i think -- the only thing that is different really -- we still have a lot of politics. it is everything has so much politics in it. as opposed to rely thinking these things through, understanding the -- being realistic, things will have their fits and starts. you know, you -- you just got to work through it. and -- you know, we have to figure out where we want to go and i do believe, though, you know, that the budget debacles and debt ceiling and all of that has really brought washington back to the point where they realize it is mandatory we start building coalitions and figuring these things out. i am hoping that's where w

joan walsh is an msnbc contributor and editor at large of salon. this guy, since june he's gotten better known and doubly hated. the more he's singled out as someone people don't approve of. it's fast. i think he's a roman candle. up, all of excitement. and here it is the poll showing his unfavorables as i said. this guy is going nowhere. what's your thought? >> i agree he's going nowhere. he brought together left and right. we all agree we don't like him. that's one thing. i used to fear him as a 2016 contender and i don't so much anymore. i never thought he could win the presidency, but i thought he had a shot at the nomination. ron johnson and tom coburn are both, they don't deserve a whole lot more credit. because both of them are default deniers. they say they don't matter if we default. and they have voted with ted cruz. they haven't voted on a clean cr. they voted it down. harry reid has only passed that with democrats. so i think he's succeeded in pulling his party to the right even though personally he's destroyed his popularity. >> you kn

. >> now i want to bring in joan walsh from salon.com. thanks for joining me. >> thanks, rev. >> i want to play something that gop senator rand paul said this weekend about republicans getting blamed for this mess. listen to this. >> i think our demise is a little bit overstated. i would say that both parties are going to catch a lot of blame on this. i think the democrats and republicans are going to catch blame. i don't want to be here. i don't see this as winning or losing. this is a lose/lose situation. >> do some republicans honestly think they're not getting blamed for the shutdown. >> okay, can we all remember this was the guy caught on the open hot mic with mitch mcconnell saying we're winning this thing. he obviously cares about -- very smart. he obviously cares about winning and he has no know they're losing. it's possible they don't know they're losing. when you hang out with a bunch of neo-confederates on the mall who carry confederate flags to the home of our first african-american president, maybe you do live in a bubble. ga

eugene robinson and joan walsh. both are msnbc political analysts. well a political storm is brewing in virginia. that could tell us which way the country is headed now. for nearly 40 years covering the last nine elections, the party occupying the white house has lost the following race. this shows that streak may be about to end. terry mcauliffe leads ken cuccinelli by 12 points. his largest margin in the poll yet. and when mcauliffe supporters asked what motivates their vote, as i said, nearly two-thirds, 64%, say it's the chance to vote against the republican cuccinelli. by just not being the extreme right winger, the democrat gets the bulk of the votes. this matches, by the way, almost the 65% of virginia voters who have now said they have an unfavorable opinion of the republican party nationally suggesting the force driving this election of virginia next tuesday is the negative voter feeling about the republican party nationally. gene, this is stark stuff. i know we live in washington. i know virginia's to our south across the potomac. but this