A joke. E. J. Dionne and ruth conif have the latest on the fight for the middle class. Richard wolffe on another disastrous day for senator john mccain. And first, it was papa johns. Now dennys is serving up a grandstand breakfast on obama care. Good to have you with us tonight. The Republican Party has an identity crisis. Africanamerican and hispanic voters have been told they were bribe by their vote for president obama. This is not a winning message for republicans. Now or in the future. Mitt romney was the big loser for the Republican Party and hes now throwing the gop into turmoil as he rides off into the sunset. Once again, romney was recorded telling his big donors what he really thinks about americans. What the president , president s campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote. Extraordinary financial gifts. Msnbc cant confirm the authenticity of the recording although we do not know when the call was recorded. Romney went on to explain why he believes minority voters chose president obama. What the president did is he gave them two, two things. One he gave them a big gift on immigration with the dream act amnesty program. Number two, put in place obama care which basically is 10,000 a family. I mean, its a proven political strategy which is give a bunch of money from the government to a group and guess what . Theyll vote for you. Romney even had suggestions for democrats about more free stuff to offer voters. What i would do if i were a democrat, running four years from now, id say, you know what, dental care ought to be included in obama care. Immigration we can solve, but the giving away free stuff is a hard thing to compete with. Does he not want to solve the immigration problem in this country . I hope the republicans dont change at all. Mitt romneys parting shot on the National Stage has left republicans scrambling. Most members of the parties, you know what they did, they stuck behind mitt romney when this 47 video came out and was revealed to the public. This time, the knives are out. Conservative louisiana governor bobby jindal doesnt want romneys comments to ruin the partys electoral chances. This is completely unhelpful. This is not where the Republican Party needs to go. Look, we want if you want voters to like you, the first thing youve got to do is to like them first. And it certainly is not helpful to tell voters that you think their votes were bought. Thats certainly not a way to show them you respect them, like them. Jindal sounded downright liberal will as he tried to cou the damage mitt romney has done. I believe people on food stamps, on government assistance dont want to be there. Theyre there because they dont have the ability to get better paying jobs. Its our responsibility to adopt policies that grow the economy, give them the education, give them the opportunities to have a better quality of life. Other republicans jumped on the bash romney bandwagon. Governor scott walker of wisconsin is no friend of a middle class. He took a stand against romney ice comments saying the gop isnt just for people who are currently not dependent on the government, its for all americans. This is the same guy who took away collective bargaining rights for the middle class workers in the state of wisconsin. Give me a break. Even one of mitt romneys potential Vice President ial picks realized the danger of romneys comments. I listened to the comments. I dont know what the context fully was. I dont agree with the comments. I think the campaign is over. And what the voters are looking for us to do is to accept their votes and then go forward and weve got some big challenges that need to be resolved as you know. Oh, senator, go have some coffee with that guy name, whats his name . Mitch mcconnell. Republicans, you know what they got . A lot of soul searching to do. In fact, former mississippi governor, Haley Barbour said the gop needs to look deep into their souls. Weve got to give our political organizational activity, you know, a very serious proctology exam. I think thats the only we need to look everywhere is my point. That would be up where . Most people see a party which is still leaving minority votersfy the wayside. The images of long lines on election day are still burned into the voters minds. These lines were engineered by who . Republicans. Trying to suppress voters in democratic areas. In florida, republican lawmakers pack the ballot with unnecessary measures to keep voters in the line for as long as they possibly could so they wouldnt do what . Vote. Scott walkers colleague in wisconsin said mitt romney would have absolutely won the state of wisconsin if they had just had some voter i. D. Laws. Right . President obama won wisconsin with more than 205,000 votes. Thats a lot of people to suppress in order to make a sure romney absolutely would win type situation. Dont you think . One of the most outrageous postelection comments about minority voters came from the chairman of the state of maine. Their Republican Party up there. Charlie webster, he questioned the mere presence of africanamerican voters at the polls. In some parts of the state, for example, in some parts of rural maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted election day. Everybody has a right to vote, bull but nobody in town knows anybody whos black. How did that happen . We dont know. Were going to find out. Webster tried to explain himself to talking points memo. When you see a lot of black people, a lot of people who are black like six or eight or ten people you think, wow, where do they live . That was my point. Theres nothing about me that would be discriminatory. I know black people. I play basketball every sunday with a black guy. Are you kidding me . You think the Republican Partys got some work to do . I think they need, like, a clinic. Republicans dont have a difference of opinion on the stage of their party. They have a multiple personality disorder. Mitt romney talked about voters getting gifts, but the gop turmoil is the gift that just keeps on giving to the democrats. Yesterday, president obama showed how a party should proceed after an election. With focus and determination and listening to the electorate. The president is committed to winning the tax fight for the middle class. The democrats cannot be derailed by all this gop identity crisis. Thats why im talking about it tonight. This is a time for Progressive Community in america to speak with authority and with clarity on what this country really wants. Liberals, this is our time. Its time to govern. Its no time to back down. And if youre out there, and if you think the election seasons over, youre wrong. This we fought and we worked hard for this opportunity to be in this position to do what . Make change. Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think. Tonights question. Can republicans reinvent themselves with minority voters . Text a for yes, text b for no to 6 22639. I want you to go to our blog at ed. Msnbc. Com and leave a comment on this one. Well bring you the results later on in the show. Joining me tonight, congressman Luis Gutierrez of illinois. Also with us, Michael Steele, msnbc analyst and former chairman of the rnc. Gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight. Good to see you, ed. Congressman, you were on the floor today introducing your republican colleagues to hispanic voters in america. Did they hear your message . I certainly hope so. Because i think americas a nation of immigrants. A nation that welcomes new blood and new vitality and thats whats made us strong and makes us the kind of democracy we are in the world. And so i hope that they did. Because to be quite honest, what i said today on the house floor was if you talk about selfdeportation to 10 million people, millions of whom have american citizen children, if you say to thousands, tens of thousands of young people who gathered across this country and said to president obama, yes, were going to take you up, we dont want to be deported, wont a work permit. That youre just going to not extend that program that as a matter of fact you will veto the dream act. If youre going to go hang out with the sb 1070 folks in arizona and governor brewer and then go to iowa with members of congress who say the only way we can control these immigrants is the same way we control our farm animals, the use of electricity, thats a party that says, we dont really know who you are. Michael, respond to that. Theres a lot there to unpack. There is a lot there to unpack. I think the congressman is largely correct in his assessment and i appreciate his introduction of the Hispanic Community to the party. And in the sense that for the past ten years or so, but more recently, especially, we have really been tone deaf. You had george bush and a few others who tried to crack open and sort of expose some opportunities for the party to have a real dialogue in communication, but weve seen how thats played out. So this is realtime. I think your clarion call to the left is very appropriate. This is, you know, war is the opportunity to govern in victory and for the Republican Party right now, its not just soul searching. Its, you know, following up on what Haley Barbour said. The establishment needs to before you do that proctology exam, pull your head out and understand exactly whats going on. And really what this time means for hispanics, africanamericans and all americans when youre looking at a twoparty system and one party is tone deaf to whats happening. Michael, lets put aside the Financial Talk and the big battle going on in washington right now. Right. If the Republican Party were to change, dont you have to come around on womens issues like equal pay . Like letting them make decisions with their body when it comes to health care . I mean, there are some social fundamental things right now that the Republican Partys out of step with. At least thats what i saw in this election. Your thoughts on that. I think theres some legitimacy to that. Look, you know, were fundamentally a prolife party. We believe very much in the sanctity of life. On that issue. I think 100 , on most things. And theres more young kids coming in, the opportunity the democrats are putting on the table. If you dont electilegislativel, what are the republicans going to do to fix their camp . What are the republicans going to do to enhance their camp . I think the democrats have to respond. Heres what i said, ed. The same energy, the same vocation, the same numbers, the same enthusiasm, that latinos came out to vote for president barack obama, thats the kind of enthusiasm, energy, vocation, and commitment we got to do the dream act. We have to show to the cause. We cannot start to wander or wonder whether or not we were right. Let me just say this. One out of ten voters today is latino. In ten years, most will tell you that 25 of all voting age americans will be latino. So its a growing population. And its a population, because democracy is a tough thing. What about that, michael . I think the congressman is exactly right. Ive been saying since Election Night the reality for the gop is every month 50,000 hispanics turn 18 years old. And if we are not prepared to deal with that math, to deal with that reality, then we will be the party of the whigs. We will go leave it there. Thank you. Congressman Luis Gutierrez and Michael Steele with us on the ed show. Thanks so much. Remember to answer tonights question there at the bottom of the screen. Share your thoughts on twitter edshow and on facebook. Heres a warrior for the folks. Senator Bernie Sanders and progressives have a mandate to protect the middle class from this fiscal cliff. E. J. Dionne and ruth conif join me. Stay with us. Were coming right back on the ed show. 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Coming up, Bernie Sanders stands up for the middle class while Republican Leaders try to hold the line for the millionaires. Ruth conif and e. J. Dionne join me for the discussion next. Big city mayors are trying to stop in these negotiations. Minneapolis mayor r. T. Rybak is leading the charge and is with us tonight. If you cant beat them, impeach them. Well have the latest right wing attempt to take down president obama with newsweeks Michael Tomasky. Share your thoughts with us on facebook and twitter using edshow. I love to eat. I love hanging out with my friends. I have a great fit with my dentures. I love kiwis. Ive always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. Super poligrip free it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. Even wellfitting dentures let in food particles. Super poligrip is zinc free. With just a few dabs, its clinically proven to seal out more food particles so youre more comfortable and confident while you eat. Super poligrip free made the kiwi an enjoyable experience. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. Dont know what id do id have nothing to prove id have nothing to lose [ male announcer ] zales is the diamond store. Take an extra 10 percent off storewide, now through sunday. If your tv were a glass of milk, zeebox would be a Double Chocolate chip cookie. When they unite. Magic. Cookie [ male announcer ] and anyone who thinks otherwise doesnt deserve the extra chocolate chips. Download zeebox free, and make magic when you watch tv. Welcome back to the ed show. Thanks for watching tonight. Middle class americans will not be the ones kicked over the fiscal cliff. Not if Bernie Sanders and true democrats have anything to say about it. You can always count on bernie, cant you . Heres senator sanders today at a progressive summit in washington. Were going to send a loud message to the leadership in the house, in the senate, and president obama, do not cut Social Security, do not cut medicare, do not cut medicaid, do not cut we must not balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the children, or the poor. On the other side of the aisle, Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell is sounding obs nant out of the gate. Heres what he said about the president this morning. Lets be clear. An opening bid of 1. 6 trillion in new taxes just isnt serious. Its a joke. A joke. House Speaker John Boehner has been far milder in this rhetoric. According to politico, some House Republicans might consider a tax hike on millionaires. Many republican lawmakers privately concede that the 2012 election left them far short of a mandate on taxes. And if urged by democrats to raise rates on the megawealthy, they will have a tough time resisting. For the record, president obamas position sounds much more in line with senator sanders way of thinking. There are some tough things that have to be done, but theres a way of doing this that does not hurt middle class families, that does not hurt our seniors, doesnt hurt families with disabled kids. Lets bring in ruth conif, Political Editor for the progressive magazine. Also with us tonight, e. J. Dionne, msnbc contributor, Washington Post columnist and author of the book our divided political heart. Great to have both of you with us tonight. Ruth, you first. You know, this could set up to be a moment of real disappointment for liberals if the democrats cant close the deal. I mean, there was, you know, 2010, when they didnt think they got enough of health care. And when the economy was struggling a little bit. They thought president obama didnt fight hard enough for them. This is round two. And i think that liberals are pretty energized. How important is this moment in history . Its absolutely critical. And you can see that the republicans feel that its critical because its their political opportunity to scare us about the fiscal cliff and use it to actually do something that has nothing to do with the deficit which is this changing of Social Security that they want to put on the table. Thats something Bernie Sanders addressed very effectively. It was interesting he quoted Ronald Reagan on the floor yesterday to point out Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit or balancing budgets, payroll tax that employers and employees pay into the trust fund that finances that and it should not even be discussed in these negotiations. But furthermore, this whole election, this whole National Election was a referendum on the republic republicans ideas expressed so well by mitt romney by the way yesterday afternoon when he talked about with such contempt for people who might need college loans, or health care, god forbid. And, you know, this election showed americans are completely opposed to the proposed reforms by the republicans on medicare and Social Security. They dont want entitlements changed or touched. And they want to see the top 2 pay some taxes. Like they did in the clinton era. So if their elected representatives come in and within a week theyre talking about changing entitlements and not raising taxes on the very rich, its not just liberals who will be disappointed. This is whole country here that are behind what obama and the democrats campaigned on which is justice. E. J. Dionne, if you had to pick a side you could team up with to negotiate, who has the upper hand here . Well, i think its pretty clear despite what senator mcconnell said today that the republicans have given in fundamentally on principle and were talking about what the price is going to be for a tax increase. John boehner said early on, well, we can do it through tax reform. But he that, by saying that he was saying we can raise taxes on the rich. Now, think there are some really tricky things that we face here. One is, the republicans just dont want to go back to those clinton rates. I think the right way to do this is to restore all the clinton rates and then have a discussion of tax reform. Youre not going to be able to raise as much money as people say you can. For example, are people going to really want to whack at the mortgage deduction when were just coming out of a housing crisis . And then if you dont really whack at it, then youre not raising much money. But the republicans, i think, have signaled very clearly that they know that if they spend the rest of the year sounding like theyre just fighting to save very rich people from modest tax increases, they know thats a political loser. All right. Heres Speaker Boehner on the chances of cutting a deal. Here it is. If youve looked closely at what the president had to say and look closely at what i have had to say, you know, there are no barriers here to sitting down and beginning to work through this process. Ruth conniff, i really dont know what that means. Do you . It makes me nervous because i dont really want to see us moving that close to boehner. And, you know, its interesting. I talked to economist dean baker, hes the economist in america who showed that the housing bubble was a threat back in 2002. Before it actually popped in 2005. He has a lot of credibility. He said the best deal might be no deal. If obama can go into these negotiations and say this fiscal cliff is not going to impact people on january 2nd, its recessionary, but he could get the two main things he campaigned on, even if theres no deal, which is an instant hike on the very rich and no touching of Social Security, medicare and medicaid. Then the republicans just as e. J. Points out would have to turn around and explain why they wouldnt then want to go along with a tax decrease for 98 of voters. Right . So they would have to stand up against that and that is an impossible position. If they even know that obama would consider letting them go off the cliff, i think that might be a stronger bargaining position. Well, we havent heard much about this payroll tax cut. But this part of the fiscal cliff. Hows this going to play out, e. J. . Well, i think the first of all, i want to underscore something ruth said which is this doesnt have to be a cliff. And i think we shouldnt be scared of the cliff. I think he does, the president does need to stick to this as a bargaining position. You dont have to put all the cuts in effect the first month of the year. You have the the government can kick those down the road. You dont have to change the tax table. So you dont have to start with drawing money from peoples paychecks. I think there are ways of going over the cliff and make it more like i against Lawrence Odonnell says a curb on the street. I think the payroll tax is really difficult issue. Because a lot of and liberals are torn about it because on the one hand, i kind of like the idea of goosing the economy and letting people keep another year of their payroll tax cut, but were worried about the longterm for Social Security. Its a tough, tough issue. All right. Ruth conniff, e. Jechlt dion, great to have you on the program. Thanks so much. Good do be with you. Next, the real cost of the fiscal cliff. President obama gets a firsthand look at whats really at stake in cities across the country. And while john mccain was out complaining about the lack of details given on benghazi, he misses a key briefing offering details about benghazi. Richard wolffe will weigh in. Stay with us. Its a new day. If youre a man with low testosterone, you should know that axiron is here. 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See your doctor, and for a 30day free trial, go to axiron. Com. Thanks for staying with us tonight. While the republicans bicker about the budget in washington, president obama got to see whats really at stake in this fiscal cliff debate. The president visited a section of Staten Island still reeling from hurricane sandy. The storm hit more than two weeks ago. The cleanup is still a huge challenge here in new york city and long island and across new jersey tonight. One Senior Citizens home is still in a really tough shape. Hes got a foot of sand in the hallway. The Port Authority just released this Security Camera footage. You can see water pouring into the path train station in hoboken. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on the path trains every day, Service Still isnt fully restored. The Port Authority relies on federal money to run those trains so people could get to work. Cities across new jersey and new york also depend on federal dollars to recover from disasters like this. Now those dollars are in jeopardy. Mayors of some of the nations largest cities met today with Vice President joe biden about the financial threat. And theyre not just worried about disaster relief. The u. S. Conference of mayors says republican spending cuts would cost cities at least 110 billion just next year. The cuts would take a 36 out of education, housing programs would suffer, workforce Training Programs could get cut. The cuts would also force cities to lay off workers. The hurricane recovery shows how much local governments rely on federal help. Republicans, independents and democrats are joining forces. I was speaking on behalf of the country when i said we are going to be here until the rebuilding is complete. The nations mayors are hoping the democrats will keep them in mind as they debate the debt. Im joined tonight we minneapolis mayor r. T. Rybak who was in that meeting today with the Vice President. And talking about budget cut to cities. R. T. , good to have you with us tonight. What did you tell the Vice President . How severe would these cuts be to towns such as yours . First off we heard the Vice President say before we opened our mouths that he gets what were talking about. Sometimes you can cut a dollar in washington and feel good about it but you create an expense at a local level. You cut programs for immunization for kids, you wind up having costs in hospitals. If you cut Domestic Abuse prevention programs, you increase costs for cops at a local level. So were saying, look, were mayors, weve had to do this balancing of budgets and tough cuts for years. We get the tough job in washington. Lets not be feeling real good in washington about cutting something that provides real service at a local level and raises costs. So you got to get money into the treasury. I mean, that is the bottom line. Somehow elected officials in washington have to figure out how to start to replenish the treasury to be able to pay for stuff like this because a lot of cities depend on federal help. It has to come from the wealthiest americans, doesnt it . Ed, we were clear about that. That was a debate a month ago. The debate was over. He had an election. The election was clear. Republicans and democrats said it was the clearest choice you should have. The question before america was, do we want to ask those at the very top to pay more so we dont have to cut these programs . America answer resoundedly. We want more from those who are doing very, very well so those in the middle can keep moving forward and those at the very bottom cannot be removed from the protection they need to grow. What are republican mayors saying about this . Scott smith the republican mayor of mesa is the vice chair of our group and part of the group and i think we all appreciate that we have to have a balanced approach. The good news is that we came as republicans and democrats, as mayors from big cities and small cities, all around the country. And are able to really speak with a voice that says, look, we want to be pragmatic about this. So youve got republican mayors in your group that are concerned about their cities, cuts in federal help that their own party is putting on the table. They all do. I speak for myself as i say about what just happened in the election but i also, by the way, speak for the majority of the country that voted for that. The republican and democrat mayors and the many, many nonpartisan mayors really stand up together to say that we cant just do this by balancing on the backs of local property taxpayers. A tax at a federal level is a bad thing. A tax at a local level and property taxes is just as bad. Dont just pass one to the other. Okay. So if you were to take any federal cuts would you have to raise property taxes in your neck of the woods . Probably. I never want to say thats an absolute. Like i just said, take that example. Of any of the Crime Prevention work weve done, juvenile violence prevention, teenage pregnancy prevention. Somebodys got to serve it up. They ultimately come down to more cops on the street. That comes out of your local property taxes. All right. Mayor r. T. Rybak. Great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much. Theres a lot more coming up in the next half hour of the ed show. Stay right with us. Benghazi. Benghazi. Bengha benghazi. John mccain demands answers on benghazi. Richard wolffe breaks down another bizarre day for the arizona senator. Dennys is serving up a grandstand breakfast on obama care. Details ahead. And they couldnt beat him at the ballot box. So now the far right is talking secession . And impeachment . Our only recourse now is to move forward with a full impeachment of president obama. Well break down the latest freakout with Michael Tomasky. A new way to save on your prescriptions. 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And lock in your rate for 12 months today. Liberty mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . [ male announcer ] why not talk to someone whos sleeping on the most highly recommended bed in america . Ask me about my tempurpedic. Ask me how fast i fall asleep. Ask me about staying asleep. [ male announcer ] tempurpedic owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. For 6 days only, get 0 apr financing with up to five years to pay. To learn more, visit tempurpedic. Com. Dont wait. Fiveyear special financing ends november 20th. Tempurpedic. The most highly recommended bed in america. More than two months after the benghazi attack, theres still many unanswered questions. Oh, he wants answers. In fact, for weeks republicans have been complaining about the lack of information surrounding the attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. Senator john mccain leading the charge. In the process, placing blame on u. N. Ambassador susan rice. Mccain spent the better part of yesterday on television maligning rice and threatening to block her nomination if the president taps her to be the next secretary of state. Yet when mccain and other republicans were given the opportunity to be briefed on the attack, they didnt bother to show up. A two hour closed door session was held yesterday for members of the Senate Committee investigating ben gauze cighazi. According to Foreign Policy magazine the briefing included representatives from the defense department, the joint chiefs of staff, National Counterterrorism center and the fbi. All players in the room. A democratic aide tells cnn that seven out of nine Democratic Committee members attended the meeting and just three out of eight republicans showed up. So where was john mccain while his fellow Committee Members were being given details on benghazi . He was holding a press conference. Complaining about the lack of details on benghazi. Mccains office says the senator missed the briefing due to a scheduling error. Today, mccain was asked about his absence and the senator got a little testy. He says i have no comment about my schedule and im not going to comment on how i spend my time to the media. Hmm. And it got more contentious from there. I have no further comment. I have no further comment. How many times do i because i have the right as a senator, i have no comment. Who the hell are you to tell me . Joining me now is Richard Wolffe, msnbc political analyst, and Vice President and executive editor of msnbc. Com. He seems like hes on a mission just to discredit the president if hes not going to show up for the briefing meetings which hes complaining about. What is mccain up to . Do you think hes a disgruntled former president ial candidate . I think hes a little bitter. You know, i understand why he has a few problems here. He was a guy who said, just a couple of years ago, just a couple of years ago, that we should be giving arms to moammar gadhafi, the guy who then a few months ago he decided it was actually a great thing that he was out of power. He was a guy who just a few weeks before he celebrated the end of gadhafi said that we should be putting arms in the hands of the libyan rebels who presumably would then have been using them in benghazi against our own diplomats. He was wrong about gadhafi. He was wrong about how to conduct the operation to support the rebels in contrast to the president s approach. And hes wrong now. Look, if youre a senator, you make your living talking to the press, thats what john mccain gets his respect for now. He was a Great American during the vietnam war, but lets face it, the respect he gets now, because he appears on the press, if you live by the press, he should be talking to people right now about why he wasnt in that hearing. Now, mccain attacked democrats for going after Condoleezza Rice an intel failures in iraq before she was nominated for secretary of state. Heres some of that audio. Here it is. Every Intelligence Agency in the world including the british believe that iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It was an entirely different situation. I mean, thats off the rails, isnt it . Before there was president bush, before dick cheney convinced president bush to go invade iraq, there was senator mccain and senator lieberman saying we need to go invade iraq. Before president bush even got to power. So he can try to dress it up any which way he likes about the weapons of mass destruction. The key thing that he and lieberman pushed so hard was that iraq was an imminent threat. It was top of the National Security pyramid for them. You cannot rewrite history. Hes not just off the rails here. Hes lost a bit of his memory there. Okay. His faculties. Hes short on it . I think hes being erratic. Okay. Susan rice, there is no evidence that she misled the public. In fact, the white house has been very clear, the president was clear in his press conference that she had the same material that the congress had. Why is mccain so adamant about discrediting her . I dont know about his personal motives here. I mean, i do think theres a striking pattern of critics of this administration. I dont know whether its john mccain, but them going after prominent africanamericans in this cabinet. Number one. Number two, susan rice doesnt have line responsibility as u. N. Ambassador for events, for security for diplomats. As a senior diplomat, she needs protection, herself. The idea that susan rice would be willing to tolerate a lack of security for Career Foreign Service officials does not stack up. She was prominent. She was out there on the sunday shows. She was working off the briefings they all had. But why is it eric holder, Valerie Jarrett and susan rice are, not just about john mccain, in general, conservatives going after their figures, i think the president is right to say these people need to be going after him. Dont treat them as proxies for the president. If you want to go after president obama, do that. Dont make a connection just because they happen to be out there. Okay. Richard wolffe. Thanks for coming in tonight on this subject. Appreciate it so much. Coming up, republican pundits arent the only ones throwing tantrums over the second term. Even restaurants arent safe from political grandstanding. Stay tuned. Ht. Here you go. You, too. Im going to dream about that steak. Im going to dream about that tiramisu. What a night, huh . But, um, can the test drive be over now . Head back to the dealership . [ male announcer ] its practically yours. But we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. And its never been easier to get a passat. Thats the power of german engineering. Get 0 down, 0 due at signing, 0 deposit, and 0 first months payment on any new volkswagen. Visit vwdealer. Com today. On any new volkswagen. When you take a closer look. At the best schools in the world. You see they all have something very interesting in common. They have teachers. With a deeper knowledge of their subjects. As a result, their students achieve at a higher level. Lets develop more stars in education. Lets invest in our teachers. So they can inspire our students. Lets solve this. Welcome back. We love hearing from our viewers on twitter edshow and facebook. The story on our blog, that walmart employees across the country are planning a strike on black friday to demand better working conditions. Audra in fresno says, they have my support. We need unions now more than ever. Danielle blanchard thinks walmart makes more than enough money to pay employees and provide safe working conditions. Tonesia redding tells workers, stick to your guns and dont backdown. Share your thoughts with us itsedshow. Still to come, a dennys Franchise Owner delivers a grand slam to workers over president obamas health care law. All the details next, if you can stomach it. Dont know what id do id have nothing to prove id have nothing to lose [ male announcer ] zales is the diamond store. Take an extra 10 percent off storewide, now through sunday. So here we go. We got another mad owner out there. Restaurant owners are threatening to slash hours and fire employees to skirt the laws of obama care. The National Restaurant association has called it premature to assess just how many of these how this law, this health care law, is going to affect individual businesses. But some owners are already plotting ways to avoid paying for Employee Health care. Meet john metz. Franchisor of hurricane grill and wings. And president of rremc restaurants which runs 40 dennys and several dairy queen locations. Along with cutting front of the house employees to under 30 hours in order to avoid fulltime status, mr. Metz is one of the first to say hed impose a surcharge to cover costs. He told the Huffington Post ft if i leave the prices the same but say on the menu theres a 5 surcharge for obama care, customers have two choices. Athey can either pay it and tip 15 or 20 or if they really feel so inclined they can reduce the amount of the tip they give to the server who is the primary beneficiary of obama care. Although, it may sound terrible that im doing this, its the only alternative. Absolutely, its the only alternative. He certainly wouldnt want to fork out any of the money. Remember, folks, these are the job creators republicans said would save the economy. The surcharge sounded terrible enough that less than 24 hours later representatives from metz and hurricane grill are already walking back statements calling the surcharge just pure speculation. The mandate requiring businesses with more than 50 workers to offer coverage or pay a fine doesnt go into effect until 2014. They dont have the details yet. This isnt based on numbers. This is political grandstanding and i wont darken the door of any restaurant that bends over backwards to avoid providing their employees with Health Care Just to make a political point. Tonight in our survey, i asked you, can republicans reinvent themselves with minorities . 3 of you say yes. 97 of you say no. Coming up, outrage over president obamas reelection hits a whole new level. Historic proportions. As republicans bring up what . Impeachment . You got it. The daily beasts Michael Tomasky is here with reaction next. Stay with us. [ male announcer ] introducing the new dell xps 12. Part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. Its changing the conversation. [ male announcer ] dont just reject convention. Drown it out. Introducing the allnew 2013 lexus ls f sport. An entirely new pursuit. And in the big finish tonight, despair among republicans has turned to rage. And now theyre starting a movement to impeach the president of the United States. A fringe right wing group known for its birther conspiracy theories launched this robo call trying to gain support for impeachment. Our only recourse now is to move forward with a full impeachment of president obama. We suspect obama is guilty of high crimes, misdemeanors and grounds for impeachment as is laid out in the constitution. Further, he may not even be a u. S. Citizen because nobody, no one has seen an actual physical copy of his birth certificate. The impeachment is our only option. You can count on fox news to jump on the impeachment bandwagon. Theyve been trying to blame the benghazi disaster on president obama for two months. After the election, theyre taking it to the next level. Eli, wh he lied, what does t mean . The consequences would be significant, including impossible impeachment if he lied. What if we find out the president of the United Statesd . Well, there are many constitutional provisions for recourse on this. I think they have to be c contempla contemplated. I thought sean would be spending more time on his new position on illegal immigration. Anyway. Meanwhile, the Secession Movement is growing stronger by the day. As of tonight, seven states have more than 25,000 signatures to secede from the union. And in texas, over 180,000 people have signed up to break away from the United States. Republicans couldnt vote president obama out and secession isnt a realistic option. So theyre turning to libya to try to impeach the president. I say, bring it on. The impeachment talk. The American People voted for president obama and his policies. Talk of impeachment will only further unite americans around this president. They chose to lead this country. This republican outrage is fantastic. Its good for liberals. Because its only going to motivate us and its only going to focus us not to have a rewrite of 2010 when it comes to 2014. The midterms. This is, i guess you could say theres no room for an off season in politics these days, is there . For more lets turn to Michael Tomasky, special correspondent for newsweek and the daily beast. Good to have you with us. Serious as always. How serious is this . Will impeachment talk backfire on republicans and help the president . What do you think . I think it will end up backfiring on them ultimately. You know, in the meantime, ed, this is something to take kind of seriously and i dont know whether to laugh about it or what. I was originally going to come on this show and laugh at these clowns but as i was driving down here, the more i thought about it, the more steamed i got. Because this this urge comes from some deep psychological thing in the republican and conservative its called hate. Yeah, its hate. They cant just accept the legitimacy of a democrat president. They just wont accept it. Is it even possible for the republicans to impeach this president . The high crimes and misdemeanor as the robo call went, theyre counting on something being terribly wrong in the benghazi hearings. Yeah. I dont see any high crime or misdemeanor here. Obviously. If the administration was not being completely forthcoming about what it knew, what it didnt know, first of all, thats a long way from being proven, a long way from being proven. All the evidence we have so far, ed, suggests they were following the intelligence guidance they were getting from our intelligence agencies and they didnt know otherwise. Now, susan rice even when she went on the sunday show and said what she said, she got the talking points from the intelligence agencies that morning and it was being revised. Even as she was on the air. So theres no crime or misdemeanor here. Theres no high crime here. It if there is a mistake, it was contained within the state department in all likelihood. It didnt get to the white house. And it was a mistake about the amount of security that should be given to a consulate. That doesnt strike me as an impeachable will impeachment and Secession Movements become mainstream for the republicans . Are they going to have to distance themselves from this . These things start out with 20,000, 30,000, next thing you know they become so politically strong, gosh, these lawmakers dont want to get primaried, you know, so they better jump in line. What about that . Its all about that. You nailed it. Theyre afraid of getting pru mares. Now, the fact Richard Mourdock lost that race will make some republican senators feel they can have a little bit more elbow room on things like this. Its already being mainstreamed by the men you your talking about with Richard Wolffe a few minutes ago, john mccain, mccain, graham, kelly ayotte, replaced lieberman now as the third what do we compare this to, this Secession Movement, to anything in American History . Other than the civil war . I mean, this is new territory, isnt it . Yeah, yeah. Its totally new territory. Half of me wants to say, let texas go, let texas be a republic of texas and theyll soon find out whats involved. For starters, theyll have to impose an income tax on people. Which they dont now. Yeah. And let them pay for their own Social Security. Let them pay for their own medicare. Let them see what its like. Fine. All right. Michael tomasky. Great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much. Nimy pleasure. Tomorrow night on the ed show, the post office. Why is the post office in your town closing . What did they do wrong