good evening. i m chris matthews in very snowy washington. that s the white house behind me. back to the future. last night president obama grabbed the torch from jack kennedy. he took the majestic team of a resurgent america and brought it alive. that speech was about the future, about the american future. it was a gung ho, early 1960s type declaration of can do. we have solved the seemingly unsolvable, we can do it again. i remember those words. jfk delivered them right across the street from here at the american university. last night the spirit was alive again, with education and research and smart investment, we can drive our country right past our global rivals like china, just like we flew past the russians on the way to the moon. plus rewriting history. we want to look at michele bachmann s dangerous and nonsensical claim that the founding father themselves eradicated slavery, yes, a member of the united states congress who has no basic grasp the american history. a
pursuing a private vendetta against a gay college student. results of an official investigation are in, and they are startling. what we have learned about him today. the alleged tucson shooter in court today facing charges with a smile. a smile? we ll tell you what was behind the grin of this alleged mass murderer and update you on the condition of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. we begin as always, keeping them honest. comments that are either a deliberate rewriting of our history or signs that michele bachmann has a shaky grasp on our history. why does this matter? is it just an attack on a controversial lawmaker? we don t think so. lots of lawmakers probably don t know all they should about american history, tv show anchors as well. michele bachmann is repeatedly changing the history of the constitution. what she says matters, because people do listen to her, we think facts matter, particularly when it s facts about our founding as a nation. speaking to a group calle
i m tj holmes alongside karen. he ll talk about reducing the deficit, investing in what makes america stronger and cutting what doesn t. he ll once again tell republicans and democrats it s time to tone it down and work like a team. what kind of mood are americans into these days? how are they feeling about the president, his job and also how things are going in the country? we have a new cnn opinion research corporation poll. the question was asked how well are things going right now in the answer, 43% say well. that is actually up some 14 percentage points since december. still 56% out there are saying things are still going badly. but look at the breakdown when you check into where people are living. the urban areas, suburban areas and rural areas. in urban areas, 50% say things are going well, in suburban areas, 44% and rural areas, 38% say things are going well. but are all up from december. there will, two republican responses, paul rye isn t official gop choice,
many say don t expect the big spike in the immediate future. terror suspect known as the underwear bomber is due in a michigan courtroom today. umar farouk abdulmutallab faces a pretrial hearing tonight. stars are rolling out of bed to see if they have a shot at an oscar. academy awards are being announced. we will share some of the other bigs, in addition to the king s speech. the president s state of the union. the nation s state of mind. just hours before the president addresses the nation. there s a new poll out and it shows a surprising surge of national optimism. 43% now feel that things are going well in the country. that is compared to 29% just last month. lawmakers plan a show of unity tonight and many plan to cross the aisle and sit with members of other political parties. actually, the other political party. the so-called state dates are in response to the tucson shooting rampage and concerns that party bickering may be creating dangerous divisions but ther
so, richard, we talk about the competitiveness. you bring up china. the president and republican leaders want to cut the deficit. tonight, democrats and republicans, they re going to be sitting together. how can they use this example of what they re doing tonight by blurring the aisle to find common ground when it comes to the problem of the deficit? reporter: well, for normal people if you listen to them, there was a lot of common ground. they talk about their concerns about the deficit and say they want to reduce spending. what they mean by spending ends up being very different, and they cannot agree on an appropriate use of investment versus what issing excess inspending. if they try to find agreement as opposed to lectorle advantage, they might find common ground. richard wolffe, thanks so much. so jobs, infrastructure, ed case, the top priorities that president obama is pecked to lay out this evening. an economist with the economic cycle research, michael cooper