Sideshow: South Carolina’s Sanford saga

>>> back to "hardball." now to the "sideshow." first, "snl" seth meyers and host kevin hart schooled the supreme court on why doing away with section 5 of the voting rights act is just a bad idea.

>> really, supreme court , your plan is the voting rights act is outdated. i don't think you get to say what's outdated when you're a small council of old people in robes who decide our laws and can't be fired. that's like guy telling people what's tacky. also, you can't argue that racism isn't is problem anymore just because we have a black president . really, if it was up to some people in the south, we wouldn't have a black president , we would have separate presidents.

>> you know you would. you still got the from last time. really?

>> really.

>> we don't mend to be hard on you mississippi but us just ratified the amendment abolishing slavery two weeks ago. not only did mississippi wait 150 years after lincoln, they waited six months after "lincoln" the movie. i mean really.

>> he's not kidding about mississippi and ratifying the 13th amendment . their first attempt to do it was in 1995 . still pretty late. but a paperwork snafu meant the whole thing never went through.

>>> next, the mark sanford saga gets a little weirder. this is, of course, the mark sanford who is trying to make a political comeback after that bizarre incident during his stint as governor of south carolina . some thought he was off hiking the appalachian trail , but he was really in argentina having an extramarital affair. now he's running for congress and according to "new york magazine" he had a proposition for his ex-wife, jenny sanford , who helped with his previous campaign. quote, since you're not running, i want to know if you'll run my campaign, he said. we could put the team back together. jenny told him in so many words that wasn't going to happen. mark made one last appeal, quote, i could pay you this time, he said. can't say it's a huge surprise that he took a pass, but the request -- that she took a pass, but the request itself a little jaw-dropping.

>>> neck, what do americans really think of this massive overhaul of spending cuts that took effect on friday? gallup put the responses to that question in a word cloud . here goes. seems to be a tossup between good and disaster. people had free rein on their responses so some of the more emotional responses include god help us and here we go again.

>>> finally, one of the biggest takeaways from president obama 's news conference on friday, at least on twitter was this one line.

>> i'm presenting a fair deal . the fact that they don't take it means that i should somehow, you know, do a jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right.

>> enter confused sci-fi fans. was the president talking about " star wars " and the jedi mind trick or " star trek " and the vulcan mind meld? chances are he just plain messed up. but lucas film, the company that brought us " star wars " weighed in. a spokesperson said, quote, president obama might have created a mash up of " star wars " friends at lucas film and " star trek ." he also might be a lot more savvy with his knowledge of " star wars " than anyone is giving us credit for. in some of the " star wars " spinoff books there is a force meld. all the president's friend at lucas film would love to believe his expertise in " star wars " knowledge runs deep tp probably a long shot 37 there is no question the president has friends at lucas film. george lucas donated to both his presidential campaigns.

>>> up next, why do health costs in this country continue to soar and what's obama care going to do about it? you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. n you