2008, it was very clear he was a socialist. One of the things in obama care is that for the elderly, every five years you must have end of life counseling. Translation, suicide counseling. Not much different than that friend that left behind in cuba. Governing just like a dictator like fidel castro. This is vile stuff. So why should anyone care what a senators father says or thinks . Because rafael cruz himself is a rising star in the gop. A Tea Party Hero who is a prime example of how extreme and hateful towards president obama the right wing has become. He does joint interviews with his son. They speak at the same antiobama care events. They get the same adoring treatment from right wing talkers. And the senior mr. Cruz even gets shoutouts from other far right senators. By the way, i see my friend rafael cruz here this morning. Thank you, sir, for sending a great son to washington. Rafael cruz does a lot more than just follow his sons career. The conservative National Review says he is, quote, not merely a confidant and a standin, but a special envoy. Senator cruz uses his father for the kind of guidance youd expect from a consultant. The fact is the fringe elements of the Republican Party arent fringe anymore. Increasingly the extreme is becoming mainstream. Thats why we saw senator cruz and sarah palin speaking at the same rally as this guy. We are now ruled, quote unquote, by a president who bows down to allah. Demand that this president leave town, to get out, to put the koran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come up with his hands out. This was a rally where a man waved a Confederate Flag outside the white house. This is a party that welcomes candidates like chris mcdaniel. Hes the Mississippi Republican running for senate whos won endorsements from Tea Party Groups like Freedom Works and Senate Conservatives fund. Earlier this summer, mr. Mcdaniels spoke at a conference put on by a neoconfederate group. And todays Republican Party, thats not a problem. The extreme elements arent fringe anymore. Theyre front and center for the whole party and the whole world to see. Its all in the family. Gop style. Joining me now are krystal ball and ed rendell. Thank you both for being here. Thanks for having us, rev. My pleasure. Governor, senator cruz is backing away from this video. His office says these selective quotes taken out of context, mischaracterize the substance of pastor cruzs message. Paster cruz does not speak for the senator. But calling the president a socialist, a dictator. You know, joking about kenya. Does the senator have to do more to address this and these statements by his father . Sure he does. This is not billy carter who never did anything, was never allowed to campaign for jimmy carter. Jimmy carter couldnt control billy carter. But ted cruz uses his father as a campaigner. He is directly responsible for what his father says. Those quotes are not taken out of context. If you read the entire transcript of these things, it gets even worse. He says things like this is a christian nation and the constitution says its a christian nation. Well, read it again, pastor cruz. The constitution says we establish no religion. And here we are jews and hindus and muslims, and all types of religion. And he says the Democratic Party promotes whats contrary to the word of god. The word of god tells us to heal the sick, to feed the hungry, to teach the children well. Those are principles the Democratic Party believes in and puts money where our mouth is behind. I take offense at a lot of what he says. And ted cruz ought to get to the business of disavowing his father. Stop using him as a surrogate. This is an example, krystal of how extreme has gone mainstream in the Republican Party. Thats really whats troubling here. Yeah. I think thats exactly right. When he delivers a line like send the president back to kenya, its a huge applause line. Its not like hes out there on his own and no ones supporting him. As you pointed out, this guy has become a tea party darling. And how do you take that out of context . Seems like that was pretty much what he meant in that moment. And so i think he is sort of the perfect embodiment of what the tea party actually believes. And one piece of this thats interesting is when the tea party first came into being in 2009 as a backlash against this president , their whole line was we are just concerned about economic issues. We dont care about the social issues. Were just concerned about economic issues. In truth, theyve been very concerned with the social issues and theyve been far right in terms of their religious believes as well. Rafael cruz represents that melding of these extreme right wing populism and the religious right. He perfectly voices what is going on with that strand of american politics. And ted cruz is exploiting it for his benefit. And hes on important factor. You know, governor, in case we werent sure how important he was, listen to Rush Limbaugh, what he says about senator cruzs father. Ted cruz, the senator from texas, is a great conservative. He is a hes a good speaker. Hes a good orator. It turns out he gets it from his dad. This guy knocking it out of the park. Rafael cruz, the father of ted cruz. I mean, thats basically a right wing seal of approval from the head of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh. But its not just rafael and ted cruz. All of the extremism has made its way to the halls of congress. Because members openly make birther comments like this. Watch this. I dont know whether barack obama was born in the United States or not. I dont know that. But i do know this. That in niz heart hes not american. Hes just not an american. All ki tell you is that the general consensus is that he has produced a birth certificate. Question is, is it legitimate . I mean, if someone asked for my birth certificate, id go and get it out and say here it is. So all of these outrageous statements, governor, by members of congress. I mean, again the extreme going mainstream in the Republican Party. Sure. These arent citizens who go to a rally and Say Something. These are elected officials who bear the Republican Party across their chest. Its alarming in one sense, but also heartening in another sense. Because the more they ratchet up this rhetoric, the more this hate and divisiveness spews out, the more its going to draw out moderate Republican Voters away from the Republican Party and its candidates. Its a terribly damaging thing for the Republican Party to have someone out there saying were a christian nation. Michigan has a large number of voting americans. You want to offend them. You want to offend Jewish Voters . Its makes no sense. When they hear this stuff and its not disavowed, that was the point you made at the beginning. If ted cruz was smart, he would disavow his dad in as kind of words as he can. But he would say, look. The president isnt from kenya. Hes born in the United States. Hes a u. S. Citizen. Hes not a muslim. Hes a christian. Lets move on to some important economic issues. Well, without doing that, krystal, the Republican Party is narrowing its tent at a time when its in huge trouble. I mean, the new nbc wall street journal poll asks who they would choose as their member of congress. 35 said democrats. 30 said thirdparty candidate. 28 said republican. I mean, how much trouble is this party in . A huge amount. Its even worse, actually, than those numbers show. I asked mark murray today who made up that 30 that wants a thirdparty mer of congress. He said the biggest block were republicans who were not tea party affiliated. These are the more mainstream republican who is are frustrated with their own party. So the numbers are even worse than that looks. And the fact of the matter is as much as Mitch Mcconnell or john boehner might say were not headed to another showdown, were not headed to another shutdown like we just experienced, ted cruz hasnt changed his rhetoric at all. And he still wants to hold this country hostage over obama care. He still wants to be the leaders of the lemmings with suicide vests as one republican member of Congress Called them. He was the only one that wanted to do this the last time around. I dont see how the Republican Party gets out of this endless cycle of continuing purity tests and continue meandering to the right. Krystal ball and former dmpb i was about to say thats a great point. This is going to be a big test for the Republican Party coming up in january. No doubt about it. Former governor ed rendell, krystal ball again, thank you both for being here. And be sure to catch krystal on the cycle week days at 3 00 p. M. Eastern right here on msnbc. Ahead, big news in georgia. Theres now a federal investigation into the mysterious death of High School Student kendrick johnson. Ill speak live with his parents. Plus here comes palin and bachman shredding the truth about this president. Not so fast. And why the right wingers are using spongebob, yes, spongebob to attack the safety net . Youll want to see this one. My insurance rates are probably gonna double. But, dad, youve got. [ voice of dennis ] allstate. With accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. Are you in good hands . You know how painful heartburn can be. For fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. Only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up relieving the pain quickly. Try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. The end. Lovely read susan. But isnt it time to turn the page on your cup of joe . Gevalia, or a cup of johan, is like losing yourself in a great book. May i read something . Yes, please. Of course. A rich, never bitter taste cup after cup. Net weight 340 grams. [ sighs ] [ chuckles ] [ announcer ] always rich, never bitter. Gevalia. The right wing is so desperate that its actually using spongebob to make its latest argument. But what theyre doing isnt childs play. Thats next. Mom . Come in here. Come in where . Welcome to my mom cave. Wow. Sit down. You need some campbells chunky soup before todays big game, new chunky cheeseburger. Mmm. I love cheeseburgers. I know you do. When did you get this place . When i negotiated your new contract, it was part of the deal. Cool. [ male announcer ] campbells chunky soup. It fills you up right. Not anymore. What . My silverware isnt good enough for you . Have have you seen it . Yes, i have seen it, and it looks you gotta look better. Ladies, breathe. Cascade kitchen counselor here. Its not your silverware. Its likely your detergent. See, over time, cascade platinums triple cleaning formula delivers brilliant shine finish gel cant beat. It even helps keep your dishwasher sparkling. Find something, mother . No. [ counselor ] cascade platinum is cascades best. The right wingers found a new hero in its war against the poor. Spongebob squarepants. Thats right. Spongebob squarepants. The gop is now using the lovable cartoon sea sponge as a new way to attack the safety net. Youre fired. Okay. So heres the story. The harsh economic climate has hit the underwater community. After 14 years of flipping krabby patties, hes fired from his job. Instead of mooching all of service, he sets out to return to the workforce. Okay. So a sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea doesnt need government help. That means no one does . Republicans need to get a life. And life isnt a cartoon. In fact, whats going on now is appalling. Tomorrow 47 million americans will see their food stamp benefits cut. 47 million americans. Theyre not moochers. 87 of those households include children, seniors, or the disabled. 900,000 of those people are veterans. They served their country and now need some help. Yet i dont see senator ted cruz and sarah palin out rallying for them. I guess they only come to the aid of veterans when its a good photo op. When its politically convenient. Mothers, children, the disabled, vets, those who are the people who may hungry starting tomorrow and yet our Republican Congress wants those people to give more. Ill continue to work with my colleagues to implement reforms in the s. N. A. P. Program to cut back on waste, fraud, abuse. Asking people to work in return for food stamp programs is not any form of cruel or unusual punishment. The dignity of work has long been a pretty common theme throughout the ages. Why does the safety net need reform . Hear that . The disabled are getting tangled in the safety net. Hungry kids. They must be part of the programs waste. For years now, the gop has villainized the poor. There is dignity in work. The reforms made by this bill will put people on the path to selfsufficiency and independence. The dignity of the job is what things should be about in these programs. Do you know what the ironic thing about that is . Whats ironic about that is congressman cantor controls the gops legislative calendar. Hes decided that the house gop should work just 16 more days between now and the end of the year. Funny. Wheres all this talk about the dignity of hard work now . Joining me now is senator Bernie Sanders of vermont. Senator, thank you for joining me tonight. Tomorrow, senator, millions of americans will see their food benefits cut. How can you explain that to viewers . Well, you know, i find it interesting that our republican friends talk about the dignity of work. I agree with that. And thats why in this country we need to create millions and millions of decentpaying jobs. Unfortunately, al, virtually every effort we have made to rebuild the infrastructure, create jobs through energy efficiency, create a veterans jobs bill, every one of those efforts to create jobs has been beaten back and filibustered by the republicans. Meanwhile, whats happening in america economically is the middle class continues to shrink. More and more people are becoming low income. We have 46. 5 million americans today living in poverty. More than any time in history. We have 22 of our kids living in poverty. The highest rate of poverty in the industrialized world. So what these guys are doing are really going to war against seniors, against the kids, against working families who are trying to get by on 9, 10 bucks an hour who just cant feed their families. Meanwhile, these very same guys fighting against jobs programs wanting to give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. It is totally obscene. But, you know, senator, the Food Stamp Cuts that will hit tomorrow will slash about 5 billion from the program. Now, thats less than the 6. 9 billion we spent in fighter jet contracts just this year alone. And get this. Its a Fighter Jet Program that the pentagon doesnt even want. Why dont they cut it from there . Oh, well, al, i guess the answer has something to do with poor people and working people do not make Large Campaign contributions. Our military Industrial Contractors do. Billionaires do. The fact of the matter is that not only are we going to look at a major cut in food stamps tomorrow as you well know, the republican bill farm bill passed in the house calls for another 40 billion in cuts over the next ten years. So these guys at a time when many of our kids are facing real challenges getting the food they need, the nutrition they need, these guys are going to war against the kids. They want more and more for the military and more tax breaks for the rich. That is really that is incredible. You know, republicans have also been against raising the minimum wage. But thats barely enough to get by. I mean, do the math. Salary for fulltime minimum wage worker is just 15,000 a year. The average rent for onebedroom apartment is more than 13,000. How are people supposed to afford things like food and clothes . Youre absolutely right. But let me tell your viewers something. It is not just the republicans are fighting our effort to raise the minimum wage. Many of them want to abolish the concept of the minimum wage. They think this is true that 7. 25 an hour is too much. And if youre in a high unemployment area, detroit or some place else and an employer offers somebody 4 bucks on hour, thats freedom, al. Thats getting the government off the backs of employers and workers to have people working for 3 or 4 bucks an hour. Youre looking at a real class warfare going on here. Against the low income people to benefit the wealthy. Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you for your time this evening. And let me just say, tomorrow when millions of people are cut in the food stamp programs, children, seniors, veterans. Its disgusting. It is not the america that all of us want to see. And particularly for those who are the most vulnerable at the beginning of life and the end of life. And for those who serve this country at the risk of their lives to be cast to the side like that is nothing short of despicable. Still ahead, americas leading expert on Womens Health, Rush Limbaugh is back with some jawdropping comments about breast pumping and Birth Control. The day we rescued riley was a truly amazing day. He was a matted mess in a small cage. So that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. Without angies list, i dont know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. From contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angies list. We found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angies list. Join today at angieslist. Com so when coverage really counts, count