>> that's all for now, i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. >> good sunday morning. speaking to u.s. officials over the weekend, they say they are very concerned. they've not yet found that missing malaysian airline jet. was it sabotage or a terror plot in the we'll discuss that story this morning as well as the other big developing story, that's crimea. thousands of russian troops are massing at the ukrainian border as crimeans vote on whether to join russia today. i'll be joined by the president's senior advisor dan pfeiffer. and just backing from ukraine, two key force voices in the senate. plus, the politics of this election year. danger for the democrats after a special electioning that puts obamacare at the center of the fight and a different perspective on the country's

ideological debates this morning. comedian bill maher working the red states and speaking his mind about what's ailing america. from nbc news in washington, the world's longest running 8gzr television program, this is "meet the press" with david gregory. >> lost a malaysian airlines triple 27 vanished is now fine line days ago. all of our 21st century technology has turned up no evidence of what happened to flight 370. these are the latest pictures from the u.s. naf tracking any potential wreckage. the fate of the 239 people on board is still unknown. latest signs are pointing to a criminal act. the prime minister now saying the plane was deliberately diverted. in a moment, i'll speaking to dan pfeiffer here about what the white house knows at this juncture. first greg fife, pilot, and nbc news analyst. he's been tracking this now. greg, it's good to see you here.

i just mentioned the evidence, the concrete evidence that points to this being a criminal act. it i can me through that that leads you to believe that's the case. >> well, early on, david, one of the things that we had was the initial radar track. that was just the outbound portion that tended to make us believe that this was just at event that took place and we didn't know if it was an accident. it was that second turn. it was that initial left hand turn with the track for about an hour, and then the subsequent return or right turn that caused me and i think others to believe, especially the malaysians that that was not on the flight plan route, that it had to have been human intervention that actually initiated that turn. when you're going away from your intended destination of beijing and course, that to me having done silk air, working with the in indonesians led me to believe there was something else going on not intended as far as

conducting this flight. >> greg, the point is that there is evidence that somebody in the crew is turning off its its the communications, turning off the radar and all of a sudden you see it re-emerge on a different flight path after a turn. that says to you somebody has made a deliberate decision to commandeer this aircraft and go in a different direction? >> absolutely. there would never be a reason for a pilot to turn off the transponders. that is the key for air traffic controllers to be able to track that airplane at all times in the air. there would have been no reason to turn off the transponders. the fact that the a car systems, the data portion was shut down indicates somebody didn't want to be tracked through the transponder or the acar system. the military only had a skin paint, not des script blip on the radar that said the airplane was at a distance and heading in a direction. but that was it. >> so let's look at potential flight paths here on the map because it could have gone a

couple of different directions. the southern route route versus the northern route, if you're going north, all you of a sudden you get over a big land mass in south asia, the middle east. a lot of u.s. military assets there, other mirt assets that other countries have. it seems implausible you could fly a plane and not be detected. doesn't this still point to the idea it crashed if? >> it does to an extent. i would think if this person turned off all the transponders and system they didn't want to be detected. if you take the northerly track you go back into a radar read environment and potential environment where we have space assets looking do unon that part of the world. why would you want to go back and get into a detected area? if you go south, there's very little radar coverage, if any. i don't believe we would be looking there from space because that's the middle of the ocean and there's not really any activity going on out there. that would be a great place to disappear. >> theories run wild. you're an experienced

investigator. what do you have to be running through here to think about likely outcomes? >> i think right now, while we all hold out hope that there may be a successful end to this situation, if you will, the airplane is sitting somewhere even though there may have been a philadelphia fairious intent. i believe based on my experience in all the years that this not have the outcome especially for the families that they want but we're not going to be fully confident as to what the motive was the for their type of event, whether it was some sort of intentional act by a pilot for selfish reasons or some sort of terroristic type or at least implied terrorististic event. >> greg, be thanks so much. i appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >> senior visor dan, welcome back. besides the personal toll, which is potentially devastating for families already, what else troubles the president at this

point? >> about the crash? >> yeah. >> we don't know the the answer yes. the malaysia government is in the lead. the president dedicated his administrationings to direct did the resources is necessary to help them. we have the fbi, we have naval assets look for the plane and the national transportation safety board is on the ground trying to figure out what happened. we need the answers. >> do you have specific evidence that points to a plot of any kind? >> it's too, too early to rule anything in are 0 out. we don't know the any information. >> any elevated chatter the government is concerned about in terror circles? >> not necessarily around this. we have to get to the bottom of what's happening here. >> thequette about security, a lot of people look at the situation and say, wow, could a plane originating in the united states experience this kind of trouble, this kind of criminal act? does the president want to see any additional reviews around our own security? >> i think we have to figure out what happened here and go back into an after action report and see what could be done better. we don't know the enough to know exactly how the this would

impact the united states in the future. >> let me move onto the big developing story in ukraine. is crimea lost at this point? >> look, we are putting as much pressure on the russians as we can to do the right thing. we have given them the opportunity in the past tocx de-escalate and get this in the right place. theft know there are costs to their action here. the costs are economic, the russian economy, the russian stock market and the ruble are at five-year lows. russia's isolated in the world. you saw that in the u.n. security council yesterday. the more they escalate, the longer the cost will be. >> there's still a concern there might be an attempt to move into eastern ukraine, maybe even militarily move into crimea further. do you think that's going to happen, starting with crimea? >> first as relates to the resin dup, this is is in violation of international law. the united states is not going to recognize the results of that referendum. and we are working with our partners around the world, the europeans in particular, to marshall forces against the

russians to put pressure on them in the form of sanctions. the president has signed an executive order last week that gives him authority to do this. you can expect sanctions in the coming days. >> if there is a' move militarily into the rest of the ukraine, how important is it from the president's point of view to send military aid to ukraine to be able to protect itself. >> supporting the new ukrainian government is the top of our priority proo list. we're looking at all ways of assistance. >> would the president call on congress to pass more military aid for ukraine? >> we are calling on them right now. there's a bill that came out of the senate foreign relations committee last week. and we're going to keep working this as much as we can. >> is eastern ukraine the new red line here? >> what we have do, everything the russians have done thus far is in violation of international law and bad for peace and stability in the region and bad for the russians. president putin has a choice what he's going to do here, further hurt his economy,

further diminish russian influence in the world or is he going to do the right thing. >> the president's approval rating. we had a big poll out, "wall street journal," nbc news this week. overall job approval for the president 41%. handling the economy 41%. same number when it came to foreign policy. and here's what's striking. an provlt is -- approval is 74% among democrats. he can't very well blame republicans for this. the press has really slipped. >>en ot public polls they're all over the map. another poll came out that showed the president gained six points in the last couple months. i've looked at a lot of data. there's no question that everyone in washington, the president included took a big hit from the double whammy of a shutdown and healthcare.gov. we're working our way back. hree points in the last couple months. there's no question we have more work to do. >> there's so much disappointment in the

washington. but this is an election year and democrats are worried. and "the new york times" this morning, i've been reading, jonathan martin writes this, democrats are becoming increasingly alarmeded about their midterm election fortunes among obama's shrinking approval ratings. a loss in florida this past week, millions of dollars spent by republicans attacking the new health care law has let to uncharacteristic criticism of president obama and bitter complaints that his political organization has done little to help the party's congressional candidates. >> that's what happens when you win a lot of elections like we did in 2008. the good news is we have good candidates and we're on the right side of the issue that matters to most of the public. jobs and the economy. here's what the president's going to do. he is going to lay out the terms of the debate in this election as a choice between democrats who support an agenda of opportunity for all, for republicans for an agenda of opportunity for a few few. this president wrote the book on

running and winning modern campaigns. we're going to help democrats up and down the ballots. >> do they want your help? is the president more a liability than he is an asset at this stage? >> we're going to set the terms of the debate and provide our organizational ability to help them. we want to help them every way we can. >> liability or asset. >> the president will be an asset in every way possible. >> you're talking about this as framing this as a chase that is an argument the democrats have been making for 20 years in terms of jobs and the economy. republicans are unified around one thing, obamacare is bad. a lot of voters seem to agree with that. how much how much does it hurt democrats? >> the republican position of repeal at au costs is opposed by a majority of americans. it was not a factor in the florida '13 election. peter geron who is the partner of nbc's own peter hart said it was a negligible effect. >> geoff garin also told us, because we've looked at his

comments, there's no question that obamacare is a huge motivator for republicans and turning out the vote, which they did effectively in florida '138 much more so than democrats could become a national trend. >> we absolutely have to do a better job of turning out in midterm elections. if more democrats don't turn out, we will not$[d÷ do well. we have to get as many people to the polls in november of possible. >> the issue about obamacare is what impact is it going to have, and did the president sell this thing accurately? you go back to june of 2009 and even last friday. listen to this. >> if you like the plan you have, you can keep it. if you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too. the only change you'll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold. >> for the average person, many folks who don't have health insurance initially, you know,u they're going to have to make some choices and might end up

having to switch doctors in part because they're saving money. >> the president already apologized for saying if you like your plan you can keep it. now it seems like he's backtracking whether you can keep your doctor if you like your doctor. >> this is a very different issue. insurance companies make decisions what doctor is in your network. that was true before obamacare and after obamacare. there's nothing in obamacare that mandates an insurance company make any change in doctors. that's a decision for insurance companies because obamacare is built on the private insurance system. >> can you rule out the idea that the president doesn't delay the individual mandate? >> yes, i can. >> you can? >> that will not happen happen. >>. >> that will not happen. >> there's so many changes the administration made. i wonder if you worry another democrat or 0 republican president can make the same type of rollbacks to the law. >> this is how it's done with medicare, how it was done with prescription drug benefits passed under president bush is to find ways to implement it in

a way best for everyone. if that includes giving people some additional transition time that's what we do. it's consistent with how laws are implemented. >> let me ask you about the debate between the senate and the cia over past interrogation techniques. is this a fight over documents, or did the cia spy on the senate? >> well, ts back to what this entire issue is about. a senate report and the conduct conducted under the previous administration that the president outlawed on his first day in office. we provided millions of pages to the senate and the president is urging the committee to finish the report as soon as possible. there are allegations on both sides referred to the appropriate authorities to the inspector general and the department of justice. we'll let them get to the bottom of it. >> you're not prepared to say whether the head of the cia john brennan should an poize? >> let's let them get to the bottom of what happened. >> about immigration, the president's supporters in some quarters have taken to calling

him the deporter in chief. some 2 million deportations under his tenure and counting. will he take executive action to do anything to sole those deportations? >> the president has asked his secretary of homeland security to look at our current enforcement practices and see how we can enforce them more humanly within the constraints of the law. >> that would bheen slowing down -- >> it would be enforcing them more humanely. >> give me an example what that could be. >> what that means is i'm not going to prejudge the results of secretary johnson's review. focusing our resources towards folks crossing the border, towards criminals, and the president is -- he feels the pain of the community. the separation in the community from our broken (8]ñsystem. here's what i'll say. there is nothing that will come at the end of this review that is a substitute for comprehensive immigration reform. >> my own understanding within the white house the debate is look, if immigration reform is

dead, the president's got to do something unilaterally or else democrats will have a hard time with so many deportations and a president who nails to get reform. is reform dead? i know it's not your hope. >> there is a window to pass reform. there is a bipartisan majority for it in the house right now. the speaker included who sincerely want to solve the problem. the power in the republican party right now is in the self-deportation wing of the party. if the speaker will allow a bill to come to the floor, we can get something done. >> when does the window close? >> we'll try to get this done as soon as possible. >> hard it see it this year though, right? >> it could happen this week if the republicans would put a bill on the floor. >> final quell about politics. is the senate in danger of falling to republicans? >> i believe we will keep the senate. we have great candidates with experience winning in tough states and we're on the right side of the issues. >> one of the president's political gurus, dan pfeiffer. thank you so much.

we're back here in 90 seconds. will youria invade ukraine after this key secession vote in the region today. >> i'm going to be joined by two members of the senate foreign relations committee. i'll ask them if crimea is lost relations committee. revolutionizing an industrylost can be a tough act to follow, but at xerox we've embraced a new role. working behind the scenes to provide companies with services... like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. reducing document costs by up to 30%... and processing $421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. how's that for an encore? with xerox, you're ready for real business. we know in the cyber world, threate always evolving. at first, we were protecting networks. then, we were protecting the transfer of data. and today it's evolved to infrastructure... ♪

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we are back. the latest now on the other big story we're following this morning, ukraine has accused russia of seizing a gas plant over the border calling the move a military invasion as crimeans vote today whether to secede to join russia. president obama and you heard it hear from his advisor says it would be illegal. every indication suggests the crimeans will vote yes on this vote. so on saturday russia blacked a disaster resolution that would condemn account referendum. i'm joined by two members of the senate foreign relations committee just back from meetings with ukraine's new government in the country's capital of kiev. democratic senator dick durbin of illinois and republican jeff flake of arizona. nice to have you here in the studio after a long trip. i appreciate you being here. i'm operating, senator durbin, on the is this that crimea is gone, ha this vote moves forward. what's the plan to change

putin's calculation to either get him to reverse this or to stop where he is? >> first the selection, a referendum is a lame accuse by putin to invade crimea and take it over. when you move in thousands of russian troops from sochi olympics to garrison their positions in krooipia, then to have these masked gunmen with automatic weapons roaming the streets, what a delight nufl election atmosphere. we know what the ending is going to be. now the west has to decide, no the just the west but the civilized world has to decide whether we're going to do anything. >> but what's the thing? >> there are plenty of things we can do. the president working now to put together an agenda. we passed jeff and i are on the we passed a measure last weeking that provides not onlien economic assistance to ukraine and the possibility of imf loans coming their way with reform but

also very serious sanctions against russia. >> what about military aid to ukraine? are you for it? does ukraine need more military support to hold off russia if it were to move into the eastern part of the country? >> their military has been hollowed out. according to many so ukrainians, we have nothing that shoots, runs, or flies. it's because the russians have had such close ties with the previous government they hauled the military out. so yes, this he need a lot of help. but nothing we can do will help the ukraine withstand what russia is going to do if they decide to go into. >> what if they get the successful vote, it becomes part of your russia and they say okay, that's it, we'll have a truce. we're not sending any more troops in. is that an acceptable status quo. >> no. >> so the sanctions would still go? >> they invaded a sovereign nation. if we're going to stand by and let them do to ukraine what they

did to the republic of georgia, you can expect more. >> senator flake, can you reverse that with economic penalties? >> possibly. it's going to be difficult. russia always had designs on crimea. it considers it part of russia. all you can do is increase the cost significantly and hope that they don't move further into the ukraine. >> to that point, is eastern ukraine a red line for the united states? >> well, certainly we've got to move in hard now with sanctions. regardless of whether they move tomorrow or the next week or hold back. we're going to move forward with sanctions, not just us but european allies, as well. >> when we deal with vladimir putin, this issue of hypocrisy is he comes up. the united nations pointedly criticized the u.s.'s death penalty. >> there are i of imperfections in every government of every

nation. putin, this is the single most serious act of aggression since the cold war. he ended up the final ceremony at the sochi olympics which are network covered trying to make it a charm offensive for the world that this is a modern russian nation and within hours invading one of his neighbors sending the same troops protecting the athletes at sochi into the crimea. now, are we going to stand by and say this is acceptable conduct? because this isn't the end of his ambition. >> how do you change the calculation? that's what i don't see. >> speaking of the u.n., what's important is happened yesterday when the u.s. and the security council with china actually abstaining not siding with russia, actually voting to could be dem what happened. that's important. what resolutions in the general assembly or whatever are less important certainly, and there's no way you can having some moral equivalency of what putin is doing and what we've done in the past. >> another note before i ask you a couple things domestically. that is syria.

nbc news devoted a great deal of coverage to the untold suffering of the children of syria in this refugee crisis on the heels of that, congress has taken action, moving to, as you did, senator durbin, with your name on it, pushing for more humanitarian aid, but the reality is this moves into its fourth year. those children in syria, those refugees are not going to be helped unless something is done to step assad. can anything besides some sort of military intervention do that? >> first let's focus on refugees and children. i'm glad nbc did. 2.3 million is one estimate i've read close to accurate. the united states has absorbed so few of these families. we have to be more welcoming and open to help these families transition into i an safe place in their lives. then comes the political question. what can we do in syria to change what's happened there for several years? it is a quandary. trying to find the right opposition force that will stand by us and fight against assad

has been a challenge. many opposition forces are the no friendly to the united states. let's be careful. the allies we choose, let's support them as best we can so that we put pressure on assad to end the killing. >> senator flake, the president two years ago said assad's days were numbered. how did he misjudge it. >> we do have a problem when you have somebody draws red lines that nobody has a problem stepping over. i think that was a miscalculation and could have been handled better. i'm not suggesting we could end the suffering there or would have ended it all or future suffering but i think we could have done a better job with our policy. >> this is the ultimate thing with russia, as well. conservatives charles krauthammer calling it obama's fruitless accommodationism. does it invite russia's putz tin to take the action he's taken or assad feel he's got more staying power? >> mr. kraut hammer it has a short memory. do you realize what happened in

the georgia republic against president bush? virtually the same thing that's happening in crimea. putin went in there and seized territory and held it. what does he say of the bush administration in those dayses? as far as our policy in responding to putin's aggression, what will the bipartisan congress do to support the president's actions? when the president asked for just the authority for military action to stop chemical weapons in syria, it was hard to get. in fact, we couldn't achieve it on the floor of the house or senate and couldn't get a bipartisan san consensus us behind foreign policy. >> i voted to give the president that. i've been critical of the president in the past but i don't thinking anything the president did or said lended itself to what putin did here. >> just a few seconds left. do you both believe the cia illegally spied on the senate? >> i have the highest respect for dianne feinstein. there isn't a person in the senate who works harder to be fair with one of the toughest assignments as head of the committee. i read her statement she gave on the floor. it was a thoughtful, serious

seniors effort to establish the role of congress and the senate and the oversight of the cia. >> did it illegal little spy? >> i can tell you this. we need to get to the bottom of it. i've called on the administration and the cia to release this report once and for all. so we know what happened. >> my question is, did the cia illegally spy on the senate? are you prepared to reach a conclusion. >> dianne feinstein believes that's the case. let's get the investigation underway. >> should brennan apologize. >> i'm not on the intel committee. i'll wait till they do their investigation. >> i'll leave it there. appreciate you being here. coming up here, our roundtable with with the country pessimistic and hostile toward both members of congress, they're now on notice november may be tough. we'll analyze the key themes you may be seeing in videos like this one everyone scott brown, now a possible senate candidate from new hampshire. >> proving nothing is working in

washington. >> we need change in washington. nothing down there seems to work. >> i'm worried about the future of this country. >> "meet the press" is predicting the future is a pretty difficult thing to do. but, manufacturing in the united states means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close!

new at&t mobile share value plans our best value plans ever for business. >> talking nitty gritty politics. a couple findings from our "wall street journal" nbc news poll striking about the pescy mix and hostility towards both parties. republicans 27, positive 45 neg it be, democrats 35 positive, 38 negative. and the country's just overall in a kind of malaise. look at this, 71% think that the government's not working well. or is stagnant. right track wrong track 65% say it's in the wrong direction. and 57% still think that the country is in recession.

so my roundtable is here and let me get to it this morning. joining me back here is carolyn ryan, washington bureau chief for the "new york times," robert gibbs, white house press secretary between 2009 and 2011. i'm pleased to welcome a couple new faces israel ortega of the heritage foundation. to get a perspective from outside washington, jon ralston, long time political reporter from nev and host of the ralston reports which airs in las vegas on our nbc station there. welcome to all of you. john, i think this is the ultimate question about what is drew driving such disappointment with both parties rights now. >> people are always disappointed. this is just especially what the pole arization in washington and it's spreading across the country. people are upset things are just not getting done. and you saw dan pfeiffer and almost robert gibbs' like masterful way dodging every question that you asked. they don't want to talk about whether the president's going to go out to the states.

i don't think anyone's clamoring. i think people forget. i don't think it's just a deferring c. phenomenon. it's march. things could dramatically change by november. but i think the democrats are worried, not just because of what happened in florida but because of the numbers you put up and the fact that the president's approval rating is in the low 40s. >> right. >> i think what unites all of these an recent developments and what would be most worrisome to the democrats and obama administration is feels like in some real way that people have lost trust in president obama, and i don't mean trust just in the narrow sense of is he honest, is he foerth right, but do they trust president obama to solve the problems that are most important to?u!" them and their families. when you look at those numbers from the nbc "wall street journal" poll, it cuts across the range of issues but it was the obama care rollout and the halting incompetent of that that really i think demonstrated it. >> you're writing about it in

the paper this morning, the disappointment the democrats have in this president about obamacare, that seems to be -- know what the republicans are coming after him. but his own party saying just not so motivated. >> i think there's a trust deficit in the america with washington. there's a belief when looking at washington that we're in no danger here of solving any problems that people suf out in actual america. there's no doubt that the rollout for health care is still providing a huge hangover. i think the genuine problem that democrats are nervous about is we're looking at a%w$áuq)m election where the electorate is much less likely to look like a presidential and more to like like 2010. if this electorate is more conservative, less hispanic, less african-american and less young, then -- >> like the presidential. >> there's real, real danger that the democrats could suffer suf big losses because the real estate and the turf in which

these elections are taking place begin with an advantage to the republicans. >> you see motivated republicans, israel. you see disain't poed democrats. whenever i look at that right track, wrong track i see a very high wrong track number. a lot of independence numbers are turned off to the majority number. >> i think it goes to the question you just raised about trust and i think you heard aid premiums are likely to go up next year. you see that clip7íf you just played of the president saying if you like your doctor, you can't keep it. this is going to be something that's going to be coming up in the midterm election. it's got to be raised. >> let's be clear because the nbc poll showed that the american be people don't want to see a wholesale repeal of health care reform bass they know what health care was like. they know that an insurance company got to control whether or not they got treatment. and the american people don't like that. it is incumbent upon democrats though in order to even that number up to have aggressive

campaigns that push republicans not just on what they'd repeal. we know that, but what would they do in its place. >> john, as you talk to people, especially outside of washington, are they still listening? do they want to hear the particulars robert's talking about on health care or think wow, this thing is kind of a disaster. >> i think the whole repeal question is misleading. maybe they don't want it repealed but still upset with the roll out. they may have friends or members of with healthcare.gov. in nevada we set up our own exchange which has been a disaster. almost makes the federal look like a well oiled machine. it's not going to be a binary choice repeal or not reapeel. it's do you think this it is working and do you have confidence in the democrats who supported this. >> here's a question that we've been asking on the program which is what do people. actually want in their elected representatives here in congress. we sent our downyang to

southwestern iowa to a historically swing district to get some of the answers to that question. have a look. >> for more than 70 years, breakfast in indianola iowa has meant this cafe where the servings are big often come with a side of 308 ticks. it is deep purple going for barack obama in 2008 and romney in 2012. the republicans and democrats we talked to differed on obamacare and other issues but on one within question, there was unanimity. >> how do you think washington is doing these days? >> terrible. terrible. >> it seems a bit dysfunctional. >> they want less bickering and more problem solving. >> we have to work together. >> time to stop worrying about who's going to be in office and in charge next, time to start thinking to make america what we used to be. >> democrats hope candidate stacy apple can turn iowa's third district which includes indianola from red 0 to blue and

become the first woman to ever represent the state in the house or senate. six republicans have filed for the june primary. >> put iowa values to work in order to get things done. >> her website's video never mentions her party or president obama's name instead zresing bipartisanship and making things work. >> we want democrats to support the things we care about and improving the middle class and education and making the environment safe. >> in the state senate race key in the struggle for the majority, groups like americans for prosperity are already slamming democrat bruce braley for supporting obama care. >> congressman braely, obamacare is hurting it families and we deserve better. >> democrats are depressed because they understand their president isn't that popular here anymore. >> as the battle for i an wa voters begins to heat up, for "meet the press," john yang, indianola, iowa. >> carolyn, what do you take

away from it. >> the one thing that's very striking and i think it came across in your poll is that voters do want to see washington, the parties working together. and it's it's -- it is striking given that+kkç politicians are consciencious if not obsessive readers of polls they don't seem to pick up on that. what we have is an accumulation of examples to the contrary. it the most simple workings of government seem so difficult for them. >> there's this is contradiction among voters i find striking. in our poll, it's very interesting. more are you more or less less likely to vote for a candidate willing to@!n 8ñhw/7# 0ñicompr? 86% says yes. seems like the conclusion from you at questions was we want brand new politicians who will compromise, raise the minimum wage, cut spending and build new bridges. back in your home state if they need repair. i'm scratching my head.

voters seem to be saying a few different things at once. >> right. we can't have what we want. i think a lot of these themes have been playing out -- on tuesday there was a special election. you saw the argument that dan was making earlier about obamacare and sort of tweaking it. it's not as crisp of an argument to make. i this i that's going to be a problem for a lot of democrats particularly in republican states. you know, senator mary had landrieu, kay hagan, among others, the senators by the way w ázghter during the climate change talk. so this is playing out and going to continue to be a problem till november. >> what you saw, i loved that nbc was coincidentally in iowa. i think you saw)+/ in that vid what's going to be a big issue in this race and that is outside spending. right? ads that are going to come not just by thevyp i think if democrats are going to survive that way, the

president has to get a lot more involved in raising money for the national party if the democrats have any hope of keeping the senate. >> i think that's why marry reid goes on the senate floor not to talk about the minimum wage as much as he wants to talk about the koch brother the democrats want to make this about outside spending. this is the republicans trying to buy the election. there's no evidence that people respond to those kinds of arguments as much as theying that to respond to obama wear. that's why scott brown announced by saying obamacare democrats got into the race supposed to moving to new hampshire. >> it's very 2010? right? >> when you talked about democrats' disappointment or feeling disan affected. one interesting thing you're seeing in washington is the private grumbling about the obama campaign operation, the political operation and that democrats are saying where is it? where's the calvary? who's going to rescue us?

obama tends to see himself as a singular figure in american politics and got himself elected impressively. has he built a party? does he care about the races? it seems like democrats are saying he doesn't. >> i think that's going to be the difference because if he doesn't get, as i said, mof involved in raising money, in getting voters excited we know as you said that obamacare is going to bring republicans out. what issues can the president try to put on the table to get democrats excited. if he doesn't get more involved in raising money and making this a choice as dan pfeiffer said, you lose the senate and if you lose the senate, turnout the lights because the gg9éparty's . >> is the senate in danger? >> definitely. absolutely. >> how come dan pfeiffer didn't say it? >> i did the same thing a few years ago on your show and i still have tire tracks. honesty can only go so far in

washington when you're employed. as a consultant i can say all these things now. if you look at, that effect got to pick up six seats, not a small number. but what gives them a huge advantage is the states they're in as israel mentioned in louisiana and in north carolina, in montana, places that the president didn't do well. >> israel, be counterintuitive against your own party. david jolly won in florida '13 and ran on a bec÷ anti-obamacar message shows he can get voters out behind him, republicans are certainly motivated to make a statement against obamacare is a symbol of what they don't like about the president. there is still the government shutdown and the idea that republicans are going to be seen as on the wrong side of the economic issues. is there something you worry about? >> i think kimberly strauss had a great column on friday and basically said what was interesting about that election was now congressman like jolly was on the offensive. not only was he criticizing obamacare but talking about

conservative policy prescriptions on providing health insurance for those ho don't have it. that could be what you cané from that election is if conservatives are on the offensive and are not just receiving the democrats and liberals attacks, they can be successful. >> john, again, to get a perspective outside of our focus be inside the beltway, what breaks this? if you sense this pescy mix, sense of stagnation in washington, what shakes it up? that's a question i get a lot. >> the interesting thing is, tip o'neill said what he said for a reason. all these places are different. the swing district in nevada held by a republican, it's very close to the district. a lot of resources is different than florida '13 or any place in the country. people have different feelings where they live and what motivates them. there's a reason 95% of congressman keep getting re-elected how the districts are drawn. the one really interesting thing that dan pfeiffer said was a throw away line to you, david,

was this technology and the ability of the obama campaign to go to a different level on this. republicans are finally waking up, the internet? it exists? they're finally learning how to use some of the same techniques but the democrats have been so far ahead thanks to the obama ca campaign that could make a difference. >> some evidence or examples of washington working together and one of the more discouraging points is the one issue where it seemed like there could be progress, immigration seems dead and it seems like that -- >> the incentives have to change. this is about citizens changing the incentives for politicians. we'll come back with all of you. coming up next, harry smith talks to comedian bill maher. maybe he las the answer what ails america. he does think our political system is broken, including strong words for the president's health insurance plan. >> the problem with obamacare is not of course,

now time for our "meet the press" moment. on this sunday, we couldn't help but go beyond the "meet the press" archives. this week marks the 25th anniversary of the invention of the world wide web. here's keen insight into future trends from a young reporter with kcra television in sacramento way back in 1994. >> what's out there is limited.

there's an internetmwd÷ñ yellows listing subjects of information from a to z you can access on the system. it's estimate there had are at least 30 million people using the internet service worldwide and experts predict by the turn of the century that number could up to several hundred million. while the service has always been able to be offer facts about the world or the weather, coming in 1995 -- >> this is the godiva chocolate homepage. >> that's right. purchasing power. you can buy such things as chocolates on the internet or çip &h(lc& electronic store front. >> wow. i couldn't resist poking fun at myself the idea that you can buy chocolate on the internet. it's as if they did that 100 years ago. >> it's a revolution. the piece that you did and we've seen a lot of 25th anniversary pieces, but the innovation that the internet has offered my industry, for example, just in terms of changing communication from a unilateral model to

bilateral models, different level of civic engagement, it's still kind of wondrous to people. >> even 1994 doesn't seem like that long ago. in this realm, it was a long time ago. another break. we'llñcome back with our images to reme(ph and later ♪ ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ [ birds squawking ] my mom makes airplane engines that can talk. [ birds squawking ] ♪ my mom makes hospitals you can hold in your hand. ♪ my mom can print amazing things right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ]

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if you're not happy with one of our participating investment advisory services, we'll refund your program fee from the previous quarter. it's no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply. chuck vo: standing by your word, that's what matters the most. >> the here now some of this week's images to remember. this week's images to remember. in a moment, harry smith meets comedian bill maher who speaks his mind about obamacare,

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>> harry reid, the leader in the

senate, the cure for common charis charisma, a man with the oratorical skills of the onstar operator. >> we are back. so when it comes to politics, comedian bill maher doesn't pull any punches. you might have noticed that if you watch his bo show. recently he's been thinking about how dysfunctional politics has become in the country and takes his message to red state america. harry smith caught up with him. >> reliably funny and liberal, bill bill maher has been mounting a one-man comedic insurgency around the country. >> i know everywhere there are smart, progressive, are ñsk7 free-thinking people. they're just surrounded by a bunch of red necks. i understand that. >> what's it like when you take your stuff to a red state? >> better than blue states even.

but there is an extra added excitement in red states in places where people don't often see someone like me. there is not a place i can find in america that is so red that i can't get 3,000 screaming atheists to come see me on a sunday. you know? >> his sar donic smirk has held head forth friday night's on hbo for more than a decade. he says if the country has the blahs, he's not surprises. take health care, please. was obamacare a mistake? >> the problem with obamacare is not too much socialism. it's still too much capitalism. the reason it's so screwed up is we have to have this rube goldberg plan that allows pharmaceutical companies to get their cut and insurance companies to get their cut and hospitals to enrich themselves and doctors to get rich. it should be a non-profit thing. perhaps elections should not be a profit-making endeavor or cost $2 billion.

of course, we're american, the exceptionali exceptionalism, exceptionally stupid on then point but exceptional. >> obama's soft on terror. ask nel wedding party in afghanistan. he is -- so so soft on terror. like remember that time he found bin laden and he let him off? with a warning and a stiff fine. >> if anyone's to blame for most of what ails us, including the president's low approval ratings, it's not hard to guess who he faults. >> who are you most displeased with these days? republicans or democrats? xon. really? seriously? republicans. you know, i mean, in the last 20 years, that has not really been a choice. they just drove the short bus to crazytown at a certain point. >> in a bill maher run world there would be more news on the news, more democrats in congress, and a marijuana store in every strip mall. >> is legalization of marijuana

-- >> yes. >> an inevitability? >> i think it is, yeah. i keep comparing it to gay marriage. once you see it becoming legal and the world doesn't fall down the next day or the next week or the next year, the issue kind of goes away. >> for po maher's admittedly cloudy3"t; perspective the wor most most skew. >> i understand why the richest 1% vote republican. they deserve those votes. they represent the richest 1% perfectly. anybody else who does, just corporate america's useful idiots. >> as for malaise, if it's real, it's our fault. >> what's wrong with us? >> well, gosh, where to begin there? first of all, we're not very well enformed. the political process. people used to take civics and at least know how country worked. we have become a country where scientists poo-pooed.

people never used to argue that much about science. >> we might argue about how we take these facts and move forward in a different direction. but we don't argue about the facts themselves. that's not true anymore. facts themselves, come on, harry, how much do we really know about facts? >> for "meet the press," harry smith. >> thank you, harry. i want to end end with this. bill maher is talking about comparing republicans and democrats. we posed this question a little bit earlier on facebook. will president obama be an asset or liability for democrats in november? it ties this conversation together. what do you think, israel? >> especially this week it's going to be a liability. i'm going to be curious to see how the president follows through on the russian ukraine situation. we heard a lot of frankly platitudes and so i'm looking for substance. the heritage nation we made a number of recommendations including withdrawing from the new start treaty. >> he our reporters said obama has become poison.

so i this i that's in the liability column. >> what do you see? >> 41% no one's going to be inviting had imnow. the other thing that was in that poll, republican brand is not very good at all. in fact, it's worse than the democratic brand when it comes to congress. it's not going to be like republicans are able to be capitalize on that that much. i don't think you're going to see the president visiting as many places as he has in the past. >> real estate wise, obviously it will not be a positive. but the only person that can get democratic voters excited and push an agenda that gets them some matter of enthusiasm to change turnout has to be the president. >> or bill clinton. >> where's bill clinton? all right. thank you all very much. final note, march madness is here. this year it will include my alma mater, american university the eagles going to the big dance for the first time since 2009 after winning the patriot league championship. that's all for now.

if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." fz -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning on this st. patrick's day. coming up on "early today," all right, good night. those are the final words from malaysia airlines flight 370. the latest details on the mysteriously missing passenger jet. crimea showdown. president obama says the u.s. will never recognize crimea's vote to secede from ukraine to join russia. what's president putin's next move? bracketology time. workplace productivity nosedives once the teams are chosen. and college basketball gets under way. plus, guinness pulls out of st. patrick's biggest celebration. a major recall to tell you about. and could this be the secret to a happy marriage? it is monday, march 17th, "early today" starts right now.