good evening. i m chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, let the campaign begin. make no mistake, president obama s speech yesterday was less about governing and more about campaigning. after spending three years trying to reach compromise with republicans and getting nothing in return, of hoping to win over independents and failing completely, the president yesterday, in effect, called an election. he s taking it to the people. let them decide whether social security and medicare get cut or the wealthy take the hit. the president s betting that he s got the winning hand in this fight. whether he s right may determine who wins next november. plus, such chutzpah. rick perry s accusing president obama of a policy of appeasement in the middle east. perry isn t just working for jewish votes, he s playing to christian conservatives who can win for him in iowa and south carolina and can defeat his rival, romney. also, it s official. don t ask, don t tell is a thing
and even though a senator from his own party s side, the late robert byrd, insisted on an additional 60 days wait just because an additional 60 days waiting after the military said it was ready to implement repeal of the policy. this all happened despite republicans continued effort right until the very end, until now, to delay repeal further. there was initial resistance from some corners of the military. despite that, on the eve of repeal, tonight everyone charged with making this thing happen seems to be in line and onboard with getting rid of don t ask, don t tell. there will be a press conference about it at the pentagon tomorrow including the chairman of the joint chiefs and secretary of defense. the regulations, themselves, will change at 12:01 a.m., a minute after midnight tonight. in a few short hours, the policy of hounding people out of the military for gay will end. tonight at midnight and tomorrow on what they re calling repeal day, i can confidently confirm there will b
sergeant first class who was discharged after being outed, if you will, and aubry sarbas also served in the united states army and is now the executive director of the service members legal defense fund, a great organization that has been working to end don t ask, don t tell. this is a great day for america, i think. and what i find interesting is how little rebellion there is against this right, left, or center right now, stacy. aren t you amazed, after all these years of enforcing what was basically a clinton-era compromise, now people are willing to move on. i think the service members were ready. they were ready for this to happen. and today gay and lesbian and bisexual service members showed up for work. they were still the same doctors. they were still the same linguists. they were still the same people. lass anybody done anything today in terms of making a statement, things that we ll perhaps hear in the days ahead? i haven t heard any negative statements. well, just by
ask, don t tell became a law 18 years ago. at that time, only 50% of americans supported open service for gays and lesbians. today, that figure is 80%. so our country has changed, our military is stronger, and we are better for the repeal of don t ask, don t tell. congratulations, buddy. this guy. this guy. how long has he made this fight. thank you, stacy. and you, back in uniform. congratulations. thank you very much. thank you, stacy vazquez, what s your rank and will you be getting a promotion out of this? i don t know if i m getting a promotion out of this. maybe get commission out of this. thank you, stacy vazquez. up next, what did author joe mcginniss learn by moving in next door to sarah palin? i ve been so curious about this for months. i ve always looked up to joe mcginniss. i want to know what he actually learned about this woman, who almost, had conditions been different, been vice president. let s find out. the title of the book the rogue, coming up next on
what i have found myself wondering in recent days is how repeal day will be noted by people who fought to keep don t ask, don t tell in place. by the people who said we need to keep kicking gay people out of the military, 14,000 is not enough. how, for example, will john mccain spend repeal day? how will lindsey graham spend repeal day? how, for example, will the lady who said that don t ask, don t tell was responsible for the mass deaths of birds in arkansas? how will she spend repeal day? remember her? the blackbirds fell to the ground in beebee, arkansas. the governor of arkansas s name is beebe. and also there was something put out of arkansas called don t ask, don t tell by a former governor. this was proposed, bill clinton. and so could there be a connection between this passage and now that we had the repeal