was appointed by ronald reagan. and does this help the president, highlight the stakes involved in judicial appointments in this presidential election? >> well, it does, and there's a parallel here, i think, with the birth control issue which is that, look, i think it was actually a mistake for the president to engage in this at this point. there would be a time for him to get into the fray on this with the supreme court after they make their ruling. he could have put any number of surrogates out there at this point to frame the argument for conservative pundits if he wanted to do so. but the mistake that he made has opened up a bigger issue for republicans, and that is very, very fertile ground for democrats. >> van jones and richard wolffe, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> thanks. coming up, joy behar is here, and she has a few things to say about sarah palin. and joe scarborough is in "the rewrite" tonight telling us the truth about what republicans are privately saying about mitt romney.