Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20140806

School. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Lawrence, good evening. Steve, whats your favorite flavor of ice cream is a much tougher question than you might think. For those not addicted, it can be a very difficult question. If you have a 16yearold who beats the 5yearold, are you really proud of that . Winnings winning, steve. Rand paul is in iowa where he is running and running and sometimes ducking. What caused him to make a quick exit this smack in the dmiddle of rand pauls iowa tour. We have to go after people who havent been considering how smart is it for him to be hanging out with folks like steve king . Steve king of iowa has taken control of the gop clown car. Confronted by two hispanic activists. What does rand paul do . Drop your hamburger and run. The new etchasketch. Paul got the heck out of there. Then trying to run away from them before anyone notices. He didnt want to leave without his drink. He did not drop his hamburger when benghazi happened. He has to start by not running away from teenagers. You cant have your hamburger and eat it, too. What senator rand paul will sound like when hes an official 2016 president ial candidate. Rand paul is currently in iowa on a threeday, eightcity tour. Today, he went after the likely 2016 democratic nominee. Theres jihadists in syria and iraq. They now have a place to organize in libya after the bombing. Hillary clinton made a host of errors being there, not protecting our embassy, and i think precludes herself from ever being commander in chief. [ applause ] hillarys war in libya, or hillarys war in syria, none of this was ever approved by congress. The president did it unilaterally. And the unintended consequences are, there are more jihadists running amuck in libya, our embassy is done in libya, and there are 15,000 man pads missing. Rand paul started talking about hillary and benghazi in a speech last night. You know what . By not reading the cables, by not providing security, i think you have precluded yourself from ever being considered as commander in chief. One issue rand paul doesnt seem to want to talk about on that campaign trail is immigration. Last night in iowa, two young people approached congressman steve king about his support for legislation ending the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, which passed in the house last friday. Heres how rand paul responded. [ indiscernible ] joining me now is richard wolf, executive editor of msnbc. Com and msnbc political analyst josh farrell, correspondent for the New York Times and an msnbc contributor. Richard, so much to discuss. Lets start with hillarys war in libya and hillarys war in syria, which is rand paul yes, tell us whats news there . Well, for someone who likes to see a nominal, unannounced opponent is precluded from being commander in chief, you have to wonder about his own preclusions. There is no american war in syria. There was no combat engagement in libya. There was some support going on. But the idea that getting that fact wrong and then saying that it was a unilateral war is so mind bogglingly wrong, i think even the voters in rural iowa, and i spent a lot of time with voters in rural iowa, they are much better informed about whats going on in the world than from someone what you just heard who is running for president. I suppose well hear about hillarys health care plan, that everything in the Obama Administration that rand paul will object to will become hillarys instead of president obamas. Except shes the democratic opponent, which i suspect she will be. This is interesting for rand paul. Rand paul has a much less interventionist view than a lot of people in the republican party. Hes going to have some difficulty with opponents on his right saying that hes not Strong Enough on foreign policy, not wanting to intervene where some conservatives do. This is a way to sell that message to the base. And the benghazi message might be running out of steam. Theres a report in the San Francisco chronicle saying the House Intelligence Committee led by republicans concluded there was no deliberate wrong doing by the Obama Administration on the 2012 attack in benghazi, libya, that killed the ambassador and three other americans. Congressman thompson said the report confirms no one was deliberately misled, and no standown order to u. S. Forces was given. Richard wolf, assuming that report comes out and that report supports what the democratic congressman says it does, is it possible, and as i field the question being formed, is it possible then that republicans like rand paul will stop talking about benghazi . Youre such an optimist. I have to say, even if the House Republican Led Committee said there was no deliberate wro wrongdoing, there has been deliberate misleading and its by conservatives like rand paul. You can understand why a conservative voter in iowa would believe this stuff. It had been repeated so many times that there was some coverup. There was wrongdoing. It was something intentional. There were these orders that were pulled back. Its been repeat sed so many times, but who would believe the findings of the exitty when its been repeated to many times . If you were running for president , would say it too, because no one is going to dispute it. When were discussing this, it would be nice if we could get that video of rand paul trying to have lunch and making a decision that lunch is going to be over sooner than we think, because those young dreamers approach. Identify themselves, shake hands with congressman steve king. Rand paul, he hears it, as well as we just did, even better because hes sitting right there. Hes heard them identify themselves, and he makes the right political move for a republican candidate in iowa. Just get out of there. This can come to no good. This is such an awkward political issue for republicans. So much of the base is antiimmigration. The only thing House Republicans could agree on was a will to end daca and say no, we dont want to let these people stay in the country. At the same time, Immigration Reform polls well with the electorate as a whole. And when republicans talk about these issues, they come off as nasty. You have steve king right there with his calves the size of cantaloupes comment. So the right strategy for Anyone Running for president is to say as little about immigration as possible and certainly not be present for an argument between steve king and an immigrant that just wants to make a living in the united states. Classic political move. I dont know if the guy in the green shirt is a rand paul handler, but you get the guy out of there as soon as you hear those things. The story is he had a press briefing he had to attend, which is what the nod of the head was. Truth is, the glory of iowa and New Hampshire is you cannot run away. There will be a town hall, there will be another dreamer and more video cameras on him, and he wont be able to take half of that burger and whatever is in that cup and run away. Because he has to answer questions. Lets listen to rand paul talking about something no other republican talks about, expanding their base. Lets listen to this. To get more people to come to the polling. This may not apply to iowa so much. But if you want to win illinois, ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, we win 80 of the geography and huz all the big cities primarily because we dont get africanamerican vote. We have to go after people who havent been considering the republican party. Frankly, some of our laws have disproportionately affected africanamericans, hispanics and people that live in cities. Josh, a message never before heard by a republican call president ial primary voters. Its interesting, because this started at the state level with republicans. Youve had a lot of governors in the south doing sentencing reform saying were putting too many people in prison. It costs a lot of money to the economy and to the government and thats trickled up to congress. Rand paul is doing something quite serious on it with corey booker. The challenge is that its not just a single issue with which republicans can repair their reputation with africanamerican voters. Youve seen the voter i. D. Where rand paul danced back and forth on the issue whether he would push back on the republican party. This is an issue that really hurts republicans with back americans because they see it as an e. To keep them from voting. But when you talk to Republican Base voters, they believe theres a ton of voter fraud that needs to be combatted. Thank you both for joining me tonight. Coming up, soap opera details in the trial of disgraced Virginia Governor bob mcdonald. Youve got to hear this defense to believe it actually if you hear this defense, believing it is not going to be very easy. And a report claims that People Living in the cross fire in chicago are having some of the same emotional symptoms as combat veterans. And if you had a little more money, would you spend it on things you need or save it . The answer to that question and what the rich do with the money they cannot spend, so much that they cannot spend thats in the rewrite. In the nation, the safest feature in your car is you. Add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get 100 off for every year of safe driving. Which for you, shouldnt be a problem. Just another way we put members first, because we dont have shareholders. Join the nation. Nationwide is on your side. Youve been working like a dog if yall year. E me, but you dont need to camp out til labor day to reward yourself. Mattress discounters labor day sale is on now rest those tired bones on a queen size serta mattress and box spring set. Right now, theyre just 397. Get 48 months interestfree financing on the entire tempurpedic cloud collection. Not to labor the point, but this sale wont last long. Mattress discounters the vote totals are coming in slowly tonight in the Kansas Republican Senate primary. With about 27 of the precincts reporting, republican senator pat roberts has a 10,000 vote lead at this point in the night. That puts roberts with 50 of the vote and his Tea Party Challenger with 39 of the vote. Milton wolfs mother and president obamas grandmother are first cousins. Making milton wolf president obamas second cousin once removed. They only met president obama after he was elected. Senator roberts raised questions about wolfs judgment after wolf, who is a doctor, posted some xray images of people on facebook along with some morbid humor. More Election Results as we get them. Coming up next, the melo drama being laid out in court in a corruption trial. The trial of former Virginia Governor bob mcdonald. I love having a free checked bag. With my united mileageplus explorer card. I have saved 75 in checked bag fees. Priority boarding is really important to us. You can just get on the plane and relax. I love to travel, no foreign transaction fees means real savings. We can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u. S. When i spend money on this card i can see brazil in my future. For a limited time, earn 50,000 bonus miles. Offer ends september 2nd. Chances are were already there. Be or what you want to do, 12 brands. More hotels than anyone else in the world. Like super 8, where every destination is super. Save up to 15 percent and earn bonus points when you book at wyndhamrewards. Com tomorrow marks the eighth day of the political soap opera that is the federal corruption trial of the former Virginia Republican governor and possible president ial hopeful and his wife. They are facing a 14count public corruption indictment that charges them with trading the influence and prestige of the Governors Office for money and gifts from the former ceo of a dietary supplement company. Prosecutors allege that the former first couple of virginia promoted the products of businessman Johnny Williams in exchange for more than 165,000 worth of gifts, including a lavish new york city shopping spree, golf clubs, a rolex watch and catering for their daughters wedding. Defense attorneys are arguing they did not promise anything to Johnny Williams and that Maureen Mcdonald accepted the gifts because she had a crush on the businessman and her marriage to the governor was falling apart. According to the Washington Post, mcdonalds lead defense attorney said Johnny Williams was larger than life to Maureen Mcdonald. But unlike the other pman in he life, Johnny Williams paid attention to her. Yesterday mcdonalds former Campaign Manager testified in 2012 he heard Maureen Mcdonald tell ann romney that a dietary supplement like the anatabloc dont put words like that in the teleprompter anymore. The product made by Johnny Williams company would help cure mrs. Romneys multiple sclerosis. The Campaign Manager said he was horrified by the exchange and thought it was a train wreck. Joining me now is Washington Post columnist and msnbc political analyst Dana Millbank and matt, who has been in the trial and is joining us from richmond. Maybe you can pronounce that dietary supplement. But dana, this defense is the one no one saw coming. we always try to guess how its working in the courtroom. What is the guess at this point . My guess is that governor mcdonald was taking some peculiar nutritional supplements, however you pronounce them, to decide this was a good idea. He was offered a plea teal in december, one count, his wife gets completely off the hook. We would have forgotten all about bob mcdonald right now. But instead, out of hubris, out of wanting to cheer his record, he decided to bring this into the courtroom. Basically dump the whole thing on his wife. Even have his daughter up there tearful on the stand. So before he looked like maybe he was a crook. Now he looks like hes a crook and cad. It doesnt appear that his defense is working so far. Matt, on that plea deal, was he going to have to do any jail time on that plea deal . Its hard to say. He couldnt reach an agreement where he was have no jail time, but his exposure was a whole lot less than it is now. They came to agreed upon sentences in this district in federal court. But with one charge of lying on financial documents, its not like hes looking agent now if he were to get convicted of the 13 counts against him. As the evidence is unfolding, matt, are they going to be pleading ignorance of the law in this case . No. I think what theyre pleading is, look, the governments got to prove a couple of things. One, the two conspired together. You talked about their defense. The upshot of that is, their marriage was so broken. Maureen had some interest in Johnny Williams. So they couldnt have conspired, they werent talking. Another element is look, these gifts are really bad looking. Theres a rolerolex, a ferrari , a vacation, 120,000 in loans, but looks bad. But what did the governor do for Johnny Williams . The defense is saying thats not enough to constitute a crime. And dana, theres also this issue that i dont think im not sure they can get this in front of the jury that many of the mings theyve done here are being charged would not be crimes under virginia law. Well, the thing to understand here, the idea of proving quid pro quo is a very difficult thing to do in these public corruption cases. Its not even disputed, the amount of gifts and money that were lavished on the governor and his family. And its also very clear that governor and his wife tried to do all kinds of things for Johnny Williams. Its not clear that he actually got much value out of it. That may have been because he had a lousy product that they couldnt sell despite the governors best efforts. So it is a difficult thing to prove. Thats what mcdonald is counting on here. But it seems like even if he wins if court, its such a puric victory. Johnny williams is where this whole case resides for the prosecution. The Defense Attorneys in cases like this normally point to that person who turned states evidence and is very much involved in the crime themselves and say how can you believe this person . How can you believe him . How is his credibility played so far . Oh, absolutely. That is the central issue of the case so far. Last week, i would say Defense Attorneys got some good shots in at him. When they asked him about these various meetings he had with law enforcement, he had a lot of trouble remembering, but he himself is a salesman. They came across to jurors. He talked about this product hes trying to sell. The origins is he took some tobacco, threw it in the microwave and removed the cancer from it. He isnt exactly the ideal witness if youre a prosecutor. But this week he held up a little bit. When he came back to the stand on monday, he was a little bit charming. Jurors were laughing. People in the court were laughing at some of his jokes. I think he held up to crossexamination as good as prosecutors could expect. You guys are making me wish i was in that courtroom. Thank you very much for joining me tonight. Thanks, lawrence. Coming up, tim harris, the man who hugged president obama. The big hug you saw it here last night. Hes going to join me later. daughter im really tired. vo the transfers. Well, thats kid number three. vo the copilots. All sitting. Trusting. Waiting. For a safe arrival. Introducing the allnew subaru legacy. Designed to help the driver in you. Care for the passenger in them. The subaru legacy. Its not just a sedan. Its a subaru. Captain obvious tell your travelgrandmother with the. Hotels. Com loyalty program, shell earn free nights. So theyre not the same, because theyre different. Woman jimmys not my grandson, captain obvious. Woman man hes my lover. No. Funtil to keep growing, theys hneeded a new factory, but where . Fortunately, they get financing from ge capital. Were part of ge, a company thats built hundreds of factories. So we can bring in experts to help them evaluate costs, incentives, and zoning to make a decision that would make their founder proud. If you just need a loan, just call a bank. At ge capital, were builders. And what we know, can help you grow. For over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. So i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. It can help your business save money. False. The truth is when you compare our Fastest Internet to the fastest dsl from the phone company, comcast business gives you more for your money. Why pay more for less . Call today for a low price on speeds up to 150mbps. And find out more about our twoyear price guarantee. Comcast business. Built for business. In the spotlight tonight, living in the cross fire of gun violence in america. In chicago, gwenn baxter is trying to help kids who have heard too many shots fired. Never, ever, ever forget. My son was murdered in 2003. And after the roller coaster, the emotional roller coaster, the grief, the pain, it was my hope that i could stop another mother from having to experience what i had to experience, to grieve the way i had to grieve. How many people in here have lost someone to violence . We do circles, we do resolution circles, we to talking circles and we do healing circles. I lost three very close people to me. Two was killed by the police, one by gang violence. We talk about everything that affects their lives. And everything that affects the future of our young people. A lot of people dont have nibble to talk to. They have to deal with hearing gunshots. They have to deal with being shot. They have to deal with the fears of dying. Joining mess now is tremaine lee. What did you find there, tremendous main . There is indeed a crisis going on in the streets of chicago. Its what happens after the body is dragged off and the blood is cleaned up. The collective wait that young people are going through, the collective wait of families witnessing murders, witnessing shootings, being scared to leave their homes. I talked to dozens of young people. They said they have to run through gang waves because theyre afraid to go on certain blocks. Multiple people have known friends and family to have been killed. So we have an idea how to treat soldiers with ptsd but not so good treating the communities. Its shocking that they display the resilience that they do. You draw a lot of parallels to ptsd in this article. This is different. I mean, ptsd, if you were exposed in your humvee in afghanistan to explosions every time you went out there in the humvee, but now youre in a humvee in arizona and youre worried about explosions, thats ptsd, thats an irrational response to where you are. They are still in the zone, in the where the firing is going on. And it seems to me a lot of their reactions in here are actually kind of rational. Staying home is rational and being worried is rational. Its quite rational. But were talking about the lingering effects of witnessing, and the anxiety, the nightmares, the day in and day out, harboring that fear. And so kind of like where it switches in the brain. Youre always in a heightened state of flight or fright. So again, how do we address whats happening . When you think of a crisis, when you think about what needs to be pumped in, the resources, to a person, they said ive never seen a counselor. The city tells me, were working in the schools. We have millions dedicated to Behavioral Sciences but none of that reaches the community. The people i have talked to have ever seen a counselor. Once the politicians are finished talking, no one is there to hear their voices. The homicide rate declined last year in 2013. It may be on the way down. But what do you think are the successful interventions in terms of this traumatic syndrome going on there that could be tried . Speaking of counselors, i spoke to one counselor who has a private practice. The private practice folks, very complicated sense of self they have to work through. When youre in the community, the kids need their stories validated. If they had to stop and reflect every time something tragic happened in the community, it would happen every day. But for them to have the opportunity to meet with a professional, people dont often identify the symptoms of ptsd. But for them to meet with a professional or someone that can listen to their stories and validate it and tell them its okay to feel hurt, because they put on this tough mask on the streets. They deflect and project a lot. But these are kids were talking about. Thats where the heart of the problem is. They dont have they dont have anywhere to turn. Tremaine, thank you very much. Coming up in the rewrite, income inequality. Its our first rewrite on income inequality. And the very first thing wellr going to do is rewrite that phrase. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. While a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Staying active can ease arthritis symptoms. But if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. Prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, and improve daily physical function so moving is easier. Because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain. And its not a narcotic you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. All prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. They all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. This chance increases if you have Heart Disease or risk factors such as high Blood Pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. Nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions, or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. Patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. Dont take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. Get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. Tell your doctor your medical history. And ask your doctor about celebrex. For a body in motion. You owned your car for four you named it brad. You loved brad. And then you totaled him. You two had been through everything together. Two boyfriends. Three jobs. Youre like nothing can replace brad then Liberty Mutual calls. And you break into your happy dance. If you sign up for better car replacement, well pay for a car thats a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. See Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. So factors like diet can impact good bacteria . Even if youre healthy and active. Phillips Digestive Health support is a duoprobiotic that helps supplement good bacteria found in two parts of your digestive tract. Im doubly impressed phillips Digestive Health. A daily probiotic. And now for the good news. There was once a couple from limirick no really, this is a true story. A couple from ireland was on their honeymoon and their dog was staying with the brides parents in kilkee, known for its dramatic cliffs. The dog got too close to the edge, lost his fooding and fell 300 feet to what was surely his end. But the irish coast guard dispatched a rescue boat and they found the dog at the base of the cliff, having somehow survived the 300 foot plunge. The owners thanked the rescuers and so did the dog. This tweet from the dog reads, i would like to give massive thank you to my new heroes for saving me yesterday when i walked off a 300 foot high cliff. Taking it easy now when im not causing a small maritime crisis. You can follow the dog on twitter. The rewrite is next. At humana, we believe the gap will close when healthcare gets simpler. When frustration and paperwork decrease. When grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home. So lets do it. Lets simplify healthcare. Lets close the gap between people and care. Weits not justt wed be fabuilding jobs here,. Its helping our community. Siemens location here has just received a major order of wind turbines. It puts a huge smile on my face. Cause im like, this is what we do. the fact that iowa is leading the way in wind energy, im so proud, like, its just amazing. The ca illac summer collection is here. During the cadillac summers best event, lease this 2014 ats for around 299 a month and make this the summer of style. In the nation, the safest feature in your car is you. Add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get 100 off for every year of safe driving. Which for you, shouldnt be a problem. Just another way we put members first, because we dont have shareholders. Join the nation. Nationwide is on your side. Tonights rewrite, income inequality. And the first thing we have to do to discuss this subject is rewrite that phrase, income inequality. Economists know what they mean when they say it, but too many civilians dont. The truth is, there will never be equality in this world. Its impossible. And opium laced dream. And that is the perfect example of the problem with the phrase income inequality. Some people who havent spent enough time in economics classes seem to think the alternative is income equality. And no one is suggesting that we should have have income equality. So lets use the phrase Income Distribution. Theres an important new entry in the debate about Income Distribution in this country, an Economic Research report uses the phrase income inequality in its title because it correctly assumes everyone who is going to read this report understands that it is not advocating income equality. The report comes straight out of wall street. So you can assume that the report says theres nothing wrong with this picture. The line at the top is whats happened to the top 1 of income earners in this country since 1979. They have captured an ever larger share of our national income. Heres how president obama describes that picture. Since 1979 when i graduated high school, our productivity is up by 90 . But the income of the typical family has increased by less than 8 . Whereas in the past the average ceo made 20 to 30 times the average worker, todays ceo now makes 273 times more. Meanwhile the families in the 1 has a net worth 288 times the typical family, which is a record. Wall street has produced more of the sharp spikes in Income Distribution than any other industry in this country. Wall street jobs that used to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in 1979 now pay tens of millions and hundreds of millions of dollars. So no one working on wall street is going to see anything wrong with this picture, right . Who on wall street would worry about what they see in this picture . Anyone who want the rich to get richer should worry about what they see in this picture. And that worry is clearly expressed in this new report ive been referring to from standard and poors global credit portal entitled how increasing income equality is dampening u. S. Growth and possible ways to change the tide. This is an unemotional document. This report doesnt care about fairness. This report does not make a moral case about Income Distribution. This report doesnt ask the question, is our Income Distribution fair . Instead, it asks this would the u. S. Economy be better off with a narrower income gap and if it hinders growth, which solutions could do more harm than good and which could make the economic pie bigger for all . To the question would the u. S. Economy be better off with a narrower income gap, this report says, in a word, yes. The report agrees with what president obama told joe the plumber in 2008. My attitude is that if the economy is good for folks from the bottom up, its going to be good for everybody. If you have a plumbing business, youre going to be better off if you have a bunch of customers who can afford to hire you. Right now, everybody is so pinched that business is bad for everybody. I think when you spread the wealth around, its good for everybody. Heres how the report says what you just heard president obama say. We see a narrowing of current income of the current income gap as beneficial to the economy. In addition to strengthening the equality of economic expansions, bringing levels of income under control would improve from a consumer perspective, benefits would extend across income levels, boosting purchasing power among those in the middle and lower levels of the pay scale while the richest americans would edge joy increased spending power in a sustained economic expansion. See . Nothings changed. Wall street is still looking out for the rich guy. But in this report, the best way to look out for the rich guy is to look out for the little guy at the same time, and everyone in between. Its counterintuitive, but income inequality is hurting the rich in the long run, too. At extreme levels, income inequality can hurt sustained Economic Growth over long periods. The u. S. Is approaching that threshold. Standard and poors sees extreme income and inquality as a drag on long run Economic Growth. We have reduced our growth to a 2. 5 rate. We expected 2. 8 five years ago. Spending is the fuel for Economic Growth. And if you literally have more money than you know what to do with, then that money is not going to be pumped back into the economy as spending. If you have all the houses you think you need and all the yachts you think you need and all the private planes you think you need and you still have tens of millions left over and tens of millions of dollars in new income coming in next year, then very little of your new income is going to be used for new spending. And the economy always needs new spending. And in the lower half of the income scale where people have no savings, and not enough money to make ends meet, they have to cut back on their spending. Longterm, those two conditions, can strangle the economy. People with increasing amounts of money that they cant think of ways to spend. And people with not enough money who have to cut back on their spending. And a strangled economy is bad for everyone, including the super rich. Thats what the standard and poors report is alerting wall street about. Worrying about income inequality is now way too important to be left to the liberals, according to this wall street report. Do you suggest anyone who questions the policies and practices of wall street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country is invie wous, its about jealousy . I think its about envy and chas warfare. Standard and poors is in the business of helping supply the Building Blocks of great wealth. This standard and poors report is a breakthrough in the debate over Income Distribution in this country. It has the power to change some minds on the subject, because it doesnt come from a political party. And most importantly, it rewrites the terms of the debate because it doesnt mount a moral argument that absolutely will not be heard by people whose minds are closed to such arguments. Instead, it makes its case based on the most elementary conservative economic theory, selfinterest. What is helpful to you getting richer is their question. And the reports answer is, what is helpful to you getting richer is everyone getting richer. Something that should not take a lot of economics classes to understand. The standard and poors report concludes with this the challenge now is to find a path toward more sustainable growth. An essential part of which, in our view, is pulling more americans out of poverty and bolstering the purchasing power of the middle class. A rising tide lifts all boats. But a lifeboat carrying a few surrounded by many treading water risks capsizing. Standard and poors, once again, standing up for the rich guy, and this time standing up for everyone else. Eachwont have a claim. Wners thats why allstate claim free rewards gives you money back for every year you dont have one. And why if youre part of the other 5 , allstate offers claim rateguard. So your rates wont go up just because of a claim. No matter what comes your way, your home protects you. Protect it back allstate Home Insurance from an allstate agent. This is charlie. His long day of doing it himself starts with back pain. And a choice. Take 4 advil in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. Honey, you did it baby laughs thats why i always choose the fastest intern. R slow. The fastest printer. The fastest lunch. Turkey club. The fastest pencil sharpener. The fastest elevator. The fastest speed dial. The Fastest Office plant. So why wouldnt i choose the fastest wifi . I would. Switch to comcast Business Internet and get the fastest wifi included. Comcast business. Built for business. Can you fix it, dad . Yeah, i can fix that. dad i wanted a car that could handle anything. I fixed it dad thats why i got a subaru legacy. vo symmetrical allwheel drive plus 36 mpg. I gotta break more toys. vo introducing the allnew subaru legacy. Its not just a sedan. Its a subaru. If energy could come from anything . Or if power could go anywhere . Or if light could seek out the dark . What would happen if that happens . Anything. The summer of this. Mmer. The summer that summers from here on will be compared to. Where memories will be forged into the sand. And then hung on a wall for years to come. Get out there, with over 50,000 hotels at 150 dollars or less. Expedia. Find yours. Tim harris is here and hes joining me next. But first, lets take a look at why tim is suddenly so famous. Tim harris is a special olympian in basketball, hockey, volleyball, golf and track and field. So he has all four seasons covered. To you he has a restaurant in albuquerque called tims place. The most popular item is the hug tim gives his customers. So far more than 42,000 have been served. So wheres tim . [ applause ] there he is right there. Tims fired up. Tim is fired up. Although tim, i didnt get a hug. Come on, man. Here we go. All right. [ applause ] come on, man. Come on, buddy. I love you, obama. I love you too. You know, president s need some encouragement once in a while, too. [ laughter ] that felt really good. That was nice. Thank you, tim. Joining me now from his restaurant in albuquerque, new mexico, tims place, is tim harris, special olympic athlete, big giver of hugs. And with him with ryan, general manager of the place. Tim, tell us what it was like to be in the white house and how surprised were you when the president called your name . What did it feel like going up there to give him a hug . It felt really good to be in the white house. And it was kind of like being part of family. I gave him a hug and it made me feel awesome and made him feel special, too. What was your reaction afterwards when you heard the president say how much he appreciated that and he could use that . It seems like the president could use a few more hugs these days, doesnt it . Oh, yeah, he could use some more hugs. You 34met a lot of other peoe at the white house that day. What else did you meet if i met stevie wonder, katy perry. And we have a little video of you, tim, from aol. Aol has a video of you dancing. You also dance. Lets take a look at this. I am so excited to go to work. So i do a dance in the parking lot. Its a dance of magic. We serve breakfast, lunch and hugs. The hugs are the best part. I am tim harris. And this is my place. Oh, yeah. Tim, that is a great video. How did you get the idea to do these hugs in your restaurants and do it so much in your restaurant . Well, i am born a hugger. And so its just your natural impulse when you see people, thats the say you feel . Yeah. I love giving everybody hugs. It makes me feel awesome and it makes everybody in my restaurant feel a lot happier. Tim, i suppose most people who come to your restaurant have been there before and they know about you. You have your regulars. But what about someone just driving through town, never been there before. Have you ever had anybody be so surprised they didnt know what to do . They get out of their car and take pictures of the restaurant and come in. And im at the front door doing my job and tell them, have you been here before . They tell me they have not. I tell them i am tim harris, i am the store owner. And then do they get the big hug . They can get a hug or they can ask their server to come by for their hug. Yeah, youre pretty famous in that area already. Tonight, we are all in. Afghanistan is still a war zone. Insider attack in afghanistan. An afghan soldier opens fire at a training facility, wounding more than a dozen coalition troops. Among the dead, a twostar american general. Primary night in america. New polling shows a Record Number of americans really do not like their own member of congress. And what is the fastest way to get rand paul to flee the dinner table . Im actually a the amazing scene at an iowa fundraiser. We will break down the tape. All in starts right now