>> with all due respect to saul goodman, if he ever decided to run for public office you better call us. ♪ on the show tonight, brian's bad day. but first, speed round 2016 edition. let's get through those faster than lance armstrong at the 1999 tour de france. which player had the best week? >> a bunch of republicans had a good week. scott walker coming out of that i'll let conference.

he is suddenly in the national conversation. he spent his time in the sun this week. it wasn't guaranteed he would ever have a moment in the sun. that makes it a very good week for scott walker. >> he's visible, he will traveling overseas. for me just bush had the best week, just on the joint economic speech alone. very well received. i continue to believe his greatest strength will culminate at the end of the year when it is time to pick a president. the speech and thoughtfulness of it and the quality of his performance through the q&a, he is in the major leaks. >> as we both pointed out, a strong speech. >> the biggest thing going on in presidential politics is just bush -- is just bush -- is jeb bush. >> we have this bloomberg

politic pull coming out of the weekend. >> let's go to had the worst week. >> i think who had the worst week is a tough call. chris christie, we are going to talk about him more in the show. between the vaccine thing and the new york times story, a new federal probe, a criminal probe on new jersey, and handled ready badly. he got -- handled pretty badly. he got to london and refuse to answer questions. i think it is a bad omen for things to come. >> also a horrible week for rand paul, another guy who shows that the worst thing you can do is signal to donors, the press, and activists that the thing you think is weakest in value is actually true. he did that this week on vaccines. he got some scrutiny from the new york times. he seemed thin-skinned.

if he is going to have to be a nominee he is going to have to stop being thin-skinned. >> going to have to be tougher. >> finally, what happened was overlooked. >> we have these bloomberg politics that came out of the very beginning the week. i was struck most high the fact that the past winners of the iowa caucus, neither doing well in iowa at all. rick santorum in the single digits. if you added them up together they are still short of what scott walker was in the poll. they are very well known in iowa. they're doing so poorly there. it is one of the many factors that show the iowa race is wide open for republicans. >> rick perry is building a good

staff, out there being aggressive on media and money. i'm certain jeb bush will raise the most money this year by a lot. keep your eye on the ball. the ball is a giant piggy bank. it might be scott walker, it might be chris christie, it might be rand paul. i think it might be rick perry. he put out a lot of -- put out a long list of people supporting him. >> you just mentioned scott walker. full-court press, doing all kinds of stuff. he wants to borrow money for roads, cut spending to public universities, to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars on a new basketball arena. his office tried to edit the mission statement for the university of wisconsin. these are all controversial things. he is now getting a lot of scrutiny. my question to you is is walker's record in wisconsin

going to be a positive or negative in winning the republican nomination? >> these are all things part of his budget release this week. the local state press is scrutinizing all his presidential stuff. scott walker, you are now out there gallivanting in iowa and elsewhere. i think his record will be scrutinized. there are some successes to it to be sure. but the release of the budget and the fact they were tone deaf about it his staff is going to have a lot of work to do to make this a net success rather than put him on the defensive. if you are under pressure it makes it a lot harder. >> there are a lot of questions around various things that happened out there. i think in the end it is the big victory over unions that will still push it to the net positive. for so many conservative activist of voters, for so many grassroot voters around the country this was the guy who took on the public unions

opinion. >> when he was giving two of his high-profile speeches he focused so much on winning the recall. he has to have a broader portfolio. his only calling card is governor of wisconsin. i don't think this budget showed he had leverage of seeing governor. >> i know you know this, it is fairy deep. -- it is very deep. he may be the foremost champion of that position in the republican party. on the line of net positive -- will see. >> allow me for a moment to paraphrase the bard. two bb, or not to be be -- to

bb or not to bb? vice president biden is traveling overseas the day of the speech. there are now questions swirling around, will there be a speech at all? will netanyahu address a joint session? >> i have been really struck. this has been a cluster ever since the beginning of this thing. you think about michael oren, the former ambassador of the united states to israel calling for netanyahu to stop. there are democrats who are now lobbying to try to get netanyahu to not come. i do not know -- ultimately they will prevail. the fact there is an opinion inside israel to push netanyahu out of this, the ultimate cause -- ultimate cost -- it might work. >> three other key things.

he wrote a letter to netanyahu, dean or did -- john boehner did. he didn't consult the losey. -- didn't consult pelosi. second, he is going not just to speak but to lobby against the president of the united states. and the last thing is netanyahu doesn't back down. he might find a way to cancel this. i think it is possible. >> do you hear the notion that he is doing really well at the poll. they know doing this my screw that up. >> you will have to travel overseas. >> we are used to hearing lies and truths -- the feathers have

been ruffled at the peacock network because of brian williams. my question is whether journalists like ryan or others should be held to a higher standard than politicians? >> we should be held to a high standard. these are questions that should be asked about his credibility. i think it is crazy that journalists should be held at a higher standard. i think we should be held at an equal standard. you are doing your job and you need to be honest. >> i tend to think that we do need to be held to a slightly higher standard. at this point politicians -- the notion of spin and fish tales of evasions, of all those various things, politicians do all that stuff. we accepted because that is the way politics are. that is not the way journalists should be. we are entrusted to be truth tellers.

if we are going to take that mantle, we should accept the notion that we are going to be held to a higher standard. i think that an internal investigation and an organization investigating itself in all cases are inherently suspect every time. any journalist who sees that, whether it is a corporation or government office, if you are investigating yourself people are never going to be best going to completely believe it is a whitewashed account. >> i think it is not a good idea but it is not uncommon. brian williams is going to do himself a favor if he does some interviews with journalists who ask some tough questions. this sunday is the best night of the year, the grammys. john and i were not invited because john's bare naked ladies cover band has not quite figured out how to do it.

>> you think about the big categories i'll do love the year, song of the year. everybody has their -- record of the year, song of the year. everybody has their eye on this. i'm hoping taylor swift will win that prize. the song of the year category your favorite song, all about that base will probably win. it is pretty catchy. then you look at the album of the year, that is beyonce. >> only taylor swift is eligible because -- i just don't see how it plagiarized song should win in a year with lots of good stuff.

>> i don't get it. >> i think a lot of grammy voters will discount it. i hope we have a suite of the first two ladies of rock 'n roll. there will be a decent chance. >> for anybody who cares, in that category something that will not to win is x reasoned album -- is that -- is beck's recent album. a very one-sided press conferences coming up next. ♪

>> it was not a great week for chris christie. there was that story about his lavish expense account. his response to all of it was

no questions, please. we ask the press corps in new jersey to submit the questions they want answered most. let's take a look. >> if you had asked governor chris christie one question today, do you think it is appropriate for someone running as president to accept a gift from the leader of a foreign country? >> if i could ask one question it would be about his budget for the upcoming fiscal year. i would like to know how he plans to pay for much-needed road and bridge repairs. the unions were led to file suits in court. for the first time the average tax bill tops $8,000 in the state. property tax programs -- >> that was a good double barrel question. i want to ask you that question first. if you could ask one question, what would it be?

>> can we go back to the london and try this again? the build was -- the trip was built with a lot of access for the governor. we had a soccer match where he was parading through the streets and we were asking him questions. we watched the super bowl with him. and then that measles question came up on monday. after that it changed quite a bit. we really didn't have access again. >> it was a bad trip. there is no ambiguity. do you think christie and his people know it is a bad trip? >> but if you had to do binary good or bad it wasn't for that trip. the conventional wisdom was he messed up on the vaccine thing. he has yet to reply to the new york times story.

you do a trip like that, you have to have some foreign policy message. it was at least not a great trip. do you think they are doing some soul-searching about what they could do differently? >> there was a natural press corps following him. i think they were hoping for a big splash. the assumption was there was going to be some kind of big splash. >> if you think about these two big stories, the vaccine story and new york times story, which one has more legs? if it points to something either in and of itself that we are going to see time and time again?

>> i think the story took off because the other contenders were weighing in on this. it was a collective moment for the whole field. there is a bit of a history there, going back to u.s. attorney days. i'm not surprised that is getting picked over now. he is a top-tier contender. down when he eventually does take questions and asked about substance, how do you think he will reply to something like that? >> after this trip he is going on a pretty aggressive national event. a number of lincoln day dinner is. >> do you think he will say it wasn't so bad?

do you think he will be apologetic? >> he has many moons. i can predict which one you will get. >> i'm stunned. i think he has a pretty good chance despite all the problems. do they have an awareness of that? >> i think his supporters are still with him. a number of donors are jumping ship and they had a donor call yesterday which was pretty positive about getting butlers together. he hasn't declared anything yet. you talk to folks around the country. in iowa there is some skepticism. i think he did better in the freedom summit than they thought he did.

-- thought you would. the obama hug thing still comes up. >> his negatives were off the chart and iowa. is that all still a hold from bridge gate? all he know is what they have seen in the national press. what makes 65% of iowa republicans not like him? >> i don't think they care about bridge gate at all. >> would make some have unfavorable views? >> there is still some suspicion and skepticism. i will say when you put them in front of a crowd of people like him. i think part of his strategy is to get him in front of these republican diehard crouse to let them hear his message and sell himself. >> let christie christie. >> do you think they have any concerns about any lingering --

this will sound silly. the orange sweater thing was a huge national thing. do you think people will have some lasting impact week from week? >> i think there will be concern any he is at a sporting event. he was at this premier league soccer match. we are of course asking who pays for the tickets. >> you watch them as closely as anybody. right now, does he think he is going to be the president of the united states? >> i think they are very confident. i think they really think jeb hasn't had a target on his back like governor christie has had to some degree. >> they see it as a two-person? >> he is the establishment focus. scott walker is assuming up in polls.

they think he is -- the money war is really happening right now. we have to see how they have come out of -- come out with that. >> when we come back a special week in review on all due respect.

>> time sure flies when you are having fun. >> there was that time we pumped in the crowd. and the time we tried to make orange juice as in a mosh to chris christie -- as an omaha's -- as an homage to chris christie.

>> she is one of those crazy libertarians. >> crazy loud. >> unbelievable. >> that time i almost killed john on the set. hold still, you big baby. >> that time we wrote -- we read a book about a lovable little groundhog. >> chuck was no check at all, as we have come to learn. the zoo had replaced him with charlotte, his wife. >> and that time we did a week in review. that time we told republicans and iowa chris christie didn't do too well. >> in sixth place. >> the time we put mitch daniels through the entire -- through

the toughest interview of his entire life. >> tell me something you like about jeb bush. the color of his hair? >> the time we unleashed the eye team. >> what a week.

♪ >> we are live 24 hours a day on bloomberg politics.com. we have a big weekend coming up. what else do you do this weekend for fun? them an eight mile run, a little bit of church, and then we will up here with george stephanopoulos -- we will appear with george stephanopoulos. we have a new coal coming out --

a new poll coming out. up next, taking stock on the radio. we say to you ja matta. sayonara. ♪

>> a u.s. hiring surge. the largest three-month gain in 17 years. plus the biggest wage increase since 2008. the employment figures were greeted with enthusiasm. >> jobseekers are looking for work and the economy continues to have a winding affect. , this suggests last months did in wages was an anomaly. >> emergency talks held in