>> here? we begin with a monumental thursday that will dpo down nth history books. with continuing developments ais afternoon as we watch contempt vote against holder. seeking to first the held in general to be contempt capping a month long political spectacle over the fast and furious operation. and with what could be seen as curious timing, it comes within hours of the supreme court 's decision on the president's health care reform , a decision that marks a pivotal moment in the 2012 campaign, vindicating the ?president's major achievement and an issue that has royaled this turbulent legs year.
>> it should be clear i didn't do this because it was good politics. i did it because i believed it was good for the country. the highest court in the land has now spoken. we'll work together to improve on it where we can. what we don't do, what the country can't afford to do is refight the political battles of two years ago or go back to the way things were.
>> indeed, it was the decision and majority opinion of bush appointed chief justice roberts , which swung the court in the president's favor, holding up the individual mandate as a tax quote in this case however, it is reasonable to construe what congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income but choose to go without health insurance . such legislation is within congress' power to tax and in his remarks today, the president took pains to point out that the mandate was once beloved by republicans, including one mitt romney .
>> even though i knew it wouldn't be politically popular and resisted the idea when i ran for this office, we ultimately included a provision that people who can afford to buy health insurance should take the reasonability to do so. in fact, this idea has enjoyed support from members of both parties, including the current republican nominee for president.
>> ? well, not so much anymore. indeed, the president's rival wasted no time in tacking his ' repeal and replace banner and casting health care reform as a job killing, big government pie rye area.
>> obamacare is a job killer. businesses across the country have been asked what the impact is of obamacare. three quarters of those surveyed said it makes it less likely for r them to hire people. if we want good jobs and a bright economic future for ourselves and kids, we must replace obamacare.
>> mr. romney there serving as mouthpiece for big business lobbyists, some of whom may join donald trump as guests this evening, but wait a second. with what would you replace it, mr. romney ? never mind. in the biggest surprise since john roberts joined the left of the court, romney did not take any questions and while mr. romney engages in the politics of vagary and fund raising while the households a vote, that even its own members say is meaningless, there is one politician today who appeared to have perspective about why actually governing can be meaningful and important.
>> whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives will be more secure because of this law and the supreme court 's decision to uphold it. brothers and ? sisters, fathers and mothers, who will not have to hang their fortunes on chance. these are the americans for whom we passed this law.
>> well said, mr. president. let's get to our panel. from philadelphia, leehigh professor, james peterson . and with us from washington, msnbc political analyst , former dnc communications director , karen finney, a columnist for the hill and julian epstein, former chief council for the house judiciary committee . i have to congratulate you because you have consistently said the mandate would be upheld and you've been proven absolutely right. how did this happen given that the solicitor general in those three days of oral arguments was criticized. people said he choked. couldn't even drink his water properly, then today, you have this decision by the supreme court . what happened?
>> i think the media did a woefully bad job covering this. the justice department and many of the lower cases argued it was not just the commerce clause . it was the taxing authority. if somebody doesn't get married or have a kid, there are tax penalties. there's nothing new about this. it is a huge victory for the tens of millions of americans that have no or inadequate health care . not just a political victory, it shows he's a very strong person and an ?unbelievable slapdown of the theory that has been the opponents have used against obama, which is that he is a socialist and acting in an extra constitutional way. a conservative supreme court today said the tea party , all of the critics that obama has been so subjected to, so unfairly, all of them are wrong. it was just a huge slapdown. the second one this week.
>> but karen , before you celebrate this, isn't there a rich irony here? when the administration tried to sell health care reform , they studiously avoided using the term, tax, anxious about republicans whom as you know, regard tax as a swear word and yet the individual mandate has been upheld as a tax.
>> there is an irony to it, absolutely. but i think what jewulian said is important. on the flip side , it's not just that it's a smackdown. think about the three major decisions we had this week. in each of these cases, the court reaffirmed the power of the federal government and for how many times have the tea partiers and those folks on the right been trying to undermine the authority of this president? you have a right wing-led court basically reaffirming the authority of this president and his actions during his term as president. incredibly important for the president. whether you call it a tax as the tax that mitt romney has nowal tern n imposed.
>> mitt romney speaking of him ? offered another statement. of course, he can't take a single question, but repeats his plan to repeal the law. given this would embrace 13 million people that don't have insurance, preexisting conditions won't allow insurance companies to drop them. doesn't romney have to come up with something like an alternative, or treat health care like he does immigration. i don't like the president's policies, but i haven't got a single krugtive idea of my own.
>> it's going to be romney as usual here, martin. first of all, he doesn't have a plan to replace this particular plan. he was hoping he was going to come out a winner today. that's not the case. at the end of the day , remember, also, that what he refers to as obamacare is also the same at romneycare and what you're seeing here when you look at the juxtaposition of romney 's comments versus the president's, president obama actually cares about people. he actually cares about the challenges that people face on a day-to-day basis with their health care and this is why he did something not politically expedie expedient. romney 's only talking about constituencies in his comment, so that juxtaposition was very striking.
>> julian, even without his own health care plan, the romney campaign is bragging and i get this. they've raised more than $1.5 million.
>> that's absurd.
>> off the decision today and he hasn't even gotten to the pierre penthouse yet. what do you say to that?
>> this is a fool'ser ?rand.
>> so stupid about how this looks. this looks absurd. the president is visiting walter reid hospital, attending to people who have been injured, wounded warriors and this man's proclaiming the fact he's raised a million and a and a half dollars.
>> this is absolutely the last word on health care . there is no chance, no chance, this law will ever be repealed. two reasons for that. mitt romney himself has not one time, but numerous times endorsed the use of tax penalties to go at free riders . using tax credit as others have proposed encouraging free riders to take responsibility for themselves. that is mitt romney writing an op-ed piece. he is on record time after time talking about exactly what the court has identified with respect to tax penalties. point two is many republicans now are on record supporting many of the provisions of the health care reform . for example, the prescription drug donut hole closing. the preexisting conditions. subsidies for businesses and middle class , so with republicans being on record supporting that, you can't simply have a one-page repeal. there's too many provisions they want to support. that means as david frum has pointed out, no chance.
>> please, karen .
>> if i could add, there are a couple of things in term of the politics of this. mitt romney now has to campaign, two problems for ?him. number one, this is yet another reversal. it plays into the narrative that we're already seeing really take root for mitt romney that he is a flip-flopper, someone who will say or do anything to get elected. we're seeing that in the polling. number two, he and the republicans, when they do their repeal action next week, they now have to go to people and explain why they are taking something away. it's like 6 million young people now covered. they're asking to take that away without telling you what you're going to get in return. that's the choice americans face now in november.
>> to your point, dr. peterson, the president presented himself as wanting to include everybody. using this device to provide health care for all so that people who pay are not penalized are not penalized by those who don't pay. what is mitt romney 's alternative apart from the prototype that he gave the president in massachusetts?
>> he has no alternative here. in fact, republicans have no alternative. i didn't hear representative cantor or boehner talk about any kind of alternative rather than this crazy vote to try to repeal it again. they're playing politics and the president's interested many people and policies. he actually cares about what's going on. there are other hidden pieces here as well. if you look at the vote, you will also see that all the women voted in favor of this because women have intimate connections to the value of health care and those choices president obama makes shows the american people the value ? of a president's pick to the court. so there are a lot of wins here that aren't even necessarily on the table, but the distinction here is do you care about people or politics?
>> indeed, as my mother would say, women are all smarter.