we love it when you do that. chris hayes is in for rachel maddow tonight. did you enjoy the super bowl? did you have a dog in the fight? >> i was raised in the bronx but a dad from chicago, grew up a bears fans, i was wishing the giants well but not the same way my fellow new yorkers did. >> i went for the giants, i told rachel i hoped her team won, whatever. >> thanks, ed, thanks at home for staying with us for the next hour. rachel, as you have noticed by now, has the night off. when you think about the most iconic lines in american movie history, you think the memorable quotes in the history of cinema, somewhere near the stop of the list probably sits this specific 12-second clip right here. [ sirens ] >> "go ahead, make my day."

>> that is, of course, the great clint eastwood, playing the role of dirty harry in his 1983 film "sudden impact," go ahead and make my day. five words that have lived on since they were spoken on the big screen. when clint eastwood said that in 1983, there was a fellow actor occupying the oval office who recognized the power of the line, decided to make it his own. >> i have my veto pen drawn and ready for any tax increase that congress might even think of sending up. i have one thing to say to the tax increases, go ahead, make my day. >> ronald reagan was so fond of the whole clint eastwood make my day thing he put his own spin on that line from time to time. >> if we liberate the energies and imagination of the american

people, and allow them the wherewithall to build their dreams, america will be a dynamo leading the world in the 1990's, and a new era of prosperity the likes of which this world has never before seen. that is our goal, that is our challenge. i might put it this way. go ahead, america, make my decade. >> this was perfect for republicans in the 1980s, because clint eastwood's character, dirty harry, was an outside character who appealed to some essential conservative instinct in the american psyche. he was a tough make my day law and order vigilante guy. didn't hurt of course that clint eastwood the actor, human being, is famously very republican in his own political leanings. he told the l.a. times in november he voted republican in every single presidential election dating back to 1952 and the only time he was tempted to

break ranks with the republican party was with ross perot in 1992. for conservatives constantly whining about the evil liberal elite in hollywood pushing their cultural filth upon the innocent folk, they could always rely on two people who had their back. b-list actor, who would become president and defeat the soviet empire, and dirty harry. ronald reagan, if you were still alive, would be 101 years old today. the reason that ronald reagan is so beloved by conservatives has less to do with the particulars of his policy achievements, such as they were, than two things like a, his political success, and b, his unabashed torch carrying for the idea of american exceptionalism. in the conservative mind, under jimmy carter america was on the precipice of decline. we were weak, we had been emasculated. in rolled ronald reagan to reassert american supremacy in the world. now, that wasn't necessarily the experience of the population at

large. to the population at large, what happened was, america was in a terrible recession at the end of jimmy carter's first term in 1980, historically high inflation. and we were then experiencing an economic recovery in 1984 when ronald reagan's first term was up. and in both cases, the voting was essentially the reflection of the economic reality of the day. it stunk in 1980, it was getting better in 84, reagan won again. this year, the central rhetorical challenge that barack obama has faced and faces now is not just a nation recovering from a financial crisis, but a national psyche that once again is haunted by the spector of permanent american decline. for his likely opponent the fall the way to run against barack obama is clear, blame him entirely for the economic

difficulties and insinuate sometimes not so softly, that if reelected, barack obama will guarantee irreparable damage to american supremacy. >> this campaign is about more than replacing a president. it's about saving the soul of america. president obama and i have very different visions of america. president obama wants to fundamentally transform america, and make it something perhaps we wouldn't recognize. i want to restore to america the values and principles that made us the hope of the earth. if you want to make this election about restoring american greatness, then i hope you will join us. >> mitt romney promises to very explicitly "restore american greatness." that message is simple and straightforward for mr. romney. but as we enter into what is more or less the general election season, the central rhetorical challenge for barack obama is telling the story of his presidency that speaks to the dual layered anxiety out there.

about the economy generally and more emotional anxiety about the idea of america in decline. the challenge for president obama is as of yet the economy is not yet in a place he can go out and say something like this. >> in 1980 we asked the people of america are you better off than you were four years ago? well the people answered then by choosing us to bring about a change. we have every reason now, four years later, to ask that same question again for we have made a change. >> are you better off than you were four years ago? if president obama asked that question today the answer for most americans probably is yes. but it is a much more ambivalent, equivocal yes than it would have been in 1984. that year ronald reagan also ran his famed morning in america ad campaign, which touted the fact

that the economic picture had improved since he took office. the jobs picture was better, inflation was down, things were according to reagan, looking up. as barack obama heads in his reelection, things are without a doubt much much better than they have been. and much, much better, much, much better than they could have been. so how do you turn much better than they have been in something that packs the rhetorical force that morning in america packed back in 1984? how do you convey the feeling that things are getting better into an effective message? it is that central rhetorical problem that none other than dirty harry himself, mr. i've never voted for a democrat for president in my life, seemings to have solved for president obama. by now you have seen the clint eastwood chrysler ad that aired during the super bowl last night, right? it was an ad that focused on the success of the auto bailout specifically, but may have served as an update to ronald reagan's morning in america as well.

>> it's halftime, both teams are in their locker room discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half. it's halftime in america, too. people are are out of work and they are hurting. they are all wondering what they will do to make a comeback. and we're all scared because this isn't the game. people of detroit know a little something about this. they almost lost everything. but we all pulled together, now motor city is fighting again. because that's what we do. we find a way through tough times, if we can't find a way, we'll make one. all that matters now is what's ahead. how do we come from behind? how do we come together? and how do we win? detroit is showing us it can be done. and what is true about them is true about all of us.

this country can't be knocked out in one punch, we get right back up again and when we do, the world will here the roar of our engines. yeah, it's halftime, america. and our second half's about to begin. >> i'm a bit of a sucker, it's halftime in america. that slogan, the gutteral feeling that slogan taps into captures something i think the obama team has been attempting with mixed results to project. the idea of it's halftime in america is an idea we are now mid-way through a project of national reconstruction, there is promise and possibility just ahead and we have survived and come through the worst. that ad i think more than anything else managed to project succinctly a theme the obama campaign has been struggling toward. that ad is about the auto bail out specifically, a specific piece of policy the president pushed through. the reason the auto bail out is

so important, is because of all the recovery policies put in effect by president obama, that is the one that has most directly and visibly borne fruit. it's difficult to prove to people without the stimulus package things would have been worse though every analysis says just that. to say to people that gm is now the number one car company in the world again, because of what we did as a country, that is a powerful message. it's particularly useful because none other than mitt romney was himself so adamantly against it. if you doubt the potential effectiveness of the message, you doubt it's political potency, all you have to do is look at the conservative backlash against the clint eastwood ad today. karl rove took to fox news to announce he was "offended by the halftime in america ad" the weekly standard said the ad was felt ammed in filmed in new orleans and l.a. and the national review warned

the underlying message we should be pulling together represents the death kneel of a democratic culture. all this ink was spilled on the right over an ad. super bowl ad from a conservative icon that may have provided the answer team obama has been in search of. joining us now is the michael beschloss. what was your impression of the ad? >> i guess i'm in a minority, i thought it was helpful to obama but not anywhere near the sort of obama created commercial that other people saw. you look at that morning in america commercial reagan had in '84, with all sorts of happy people going back to work. this is a commercial yesterday that said people are scared and hurting. that is not exactly something that the white house i think would have manufactured had it had the chance to do it. >> i think that is clearly right, although a number of

people around the president tweeted their approval of it and gave it shoutouts. and i think what is interesting is the underlying economic conditions, do you present this challenge to the president because six months from now, the president can just run morning in america and literally get up and say are you better off now than you were four years ago. >> absolutely. >> that is easy. you don't need to pay someone a lot of money to figure out what your message is. >> something else there, chris, we remember morning in america as representing reagan's america, everything was wonderful. that year unemployment was over 7%. and it was very artfully done. more people went to work this morning it said than ever before in our history. that was a really weaselly way of saying, we have a lot of people jobless. >> the population growth in your campaign ad. they do have this challenge,

right, on the one hand you can't be seen as out of touch, right? >> right. >> you cannot fundamentally project a rosie message. they tried that tim geithner -- >> elder george bush in 1992 tried to do that. >> you can't be that on the one hand, you can't been too rosy or dour, how do you thread the needle? >> it's tough, but a couple presidents have done that. reagan is the obvious example we're talking about. but fdr even better. because 1936, roosevelt was running for re-election. unemployment was almost 17%. it was 25% four years early, so roosevelt did say are you better off? that's where reagan got that line. but what roosevelt said was, the unemployment is too high, things are getting better, and it's because of our policies. the key thing he said was why would we ever give things back

to the people who created the mess was thrust in our lap in 1932? meaning the republicans. same thing that reagan said in '84, the end of that morning in america commercial, the announcer says, why would we ever go back to where we were just four short years ago? cen willy, walter mondale would return you to the policies of jimmy carter. my guess is we will see a lot of the same things said by barack obama this year. >> it's so fascinating, we were doing a word count of the amount of times president bush -- the former george w. bush has been mentioned in republican debates. he's almost entirely been written out of history of the republican party. i think that is obviously intentional because it blunts that rhetorical approach. >> michael beschloss thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> pleasure, chris. at the opposite end of the success factor is attack ad so mind blowingly offensive i thought it was a put on. that epic fail is next. also ahead casino

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mitt romney rolled to another win in nevada. the most personally hurtful poll i heard of has bad news for him. that is just ahead. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool

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ours get very good. we take your jobs. thank you debbie spend it now. >> i think this race for u.s. senate is debbie spend it now and pete spend it not. i'm pete spend it not hoekstra and i approve the message. >> i'm kind of sorry we had to play that. we were thinking of some way of talking about the ad without actually playing it, and we couldn't come up with a good answer. the reason i didn't want to play it is because it's obvious what pete hoekstra is doing here, he's trolling the media. if you're not familiar with the word "trolling" when someone intentionally says something offensive or sensationalistic to attract attention. and so far, i must say, it is working. the ad was created by the master of outrage inducing free media, a guy name fred davis. he created ads for rick snyder and christine o'donnell. this one is pretty blatantly racist. so people are saying, it's

pretty blatantly racist, which gives pete hoekstra a chance to go on tv and refuse to apologize. >> i'm not apologizing for the ad at all. i think it clearly drives the message. >> of course talk more about his attacks on the democratic incumbent he's trying to challenge for a senate seat in michigan. debbie stabenow. the ad ran in michigan. hoekstra is trying to raise money from the ad outrange. his campaign sent out an e-mail liberals are doing what they always do crying racism. the ad aside from the tone and outrage it's attracting also makes some substantive claims, which are every bit as offensive in their truthfulness. the core of the ad's argument u.s. deficits redistribute power from america to china. the mechanism by which it does that is china purchases american treasury bonds which are the means we use to fund american deficits.

when we have a gap between tax revenue and spending, we have to make that up with debt. the instrument is a treasury bond. and scary china is buying up the debt. that notion, take away the offensive way it's couched, that scary china owns america notion is almost a consensus idea in american politics. it's absolutely everywhere. it's also become a prominent theme in many political ads. this is an ad put out by the vague front group conservative not for profit citizens against government waste. it's set in beijing in 2030. be very afraid.

>> that notion of a scary china has become an accepted truth in american politics. the problem it's based on a fundamental misunderstanding of who owns american debt. based on all this, what percentage of american debt would you say china owns? i'll do my best ron popeil, 60, 70, 80%? could it be that china owns every last piece of our debt? to the pie chart. the answer is roughly 8%. it's not nothing. china is the foreign country that owns the most of american debt but it's still 8%. in fact china is barely ahead of japan which owns 6.9% of our debt, who used to stand in as the scary asian nation,

challenging american supremacy when i was a teenager. the u.k. owns the next biggest chunk. majority of american debt owned by drum roll please, americans. partly in the form of the social security trust fund. so it is just not the case that america is in hock to china. but let's say for the sake of argument and because we are charitable on the "the rachel maddow show" it's the case american deficits contribute to american decline, a theme of the hoekstra ad against debbie stabenow, who has he dubbed as spend it now, championing himself as spend it not. who has been contributing to the deficits, if you believe his rhetoric, debilitated america. pete hoekstra was a member of congress between 1993 and 2010, 17 years. he voted for the medicare part d care plan, it created a new social insurance program that extends out in perpetuity with

no way to pay for it. he voted for the bush tax cuts, not just round one but two, which increased the deficit by at least trillion dollars. the iraq war, all funded by deficit spending, total cost, roughly $800 billion. so if anyone i think our fictitious chinese adversaries should be thanking him. our machines help identify early stages of cancer, and it's something that we're extremely proud of. you see someone who is saved because of this technology, you know that the things that you do in your life matter. if i did have an opportunity to meet a cancer survivor, i'm sure i could take something positive away from that. [ jocelyn ] my name is jocelyn. and i'm a cancer survivor. [ woman ] i had cancer. i have no evidence of disease now. [ woman #2 ] i would love to meet the people that made the machines. i had such an amazing group of doctors and nurses,

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well, it's kind of a good news/bad news day for mitt romney. mr. romney begins the week with three trends shaping up around him, one is quite promising for his campaign, the other two are plain worrisome. so we will start with the good news. the promising trend for mitt romney is this -- >> thank you, guys, wow. what a great showing, thank you nevada. >> after winning the nevada caucus by nearly 30 points, mitt romney appears to be on a winning trend. mr. romney has now for the first time, won two contests in a row. it's taken him five to get there, but he's won with two in a row. after a big convincing win in florida he had another one in nevada over the weekend. the odds of him being the nominee have jumped accordingly. in his days following the loss in south carolina, his chances of becoming the nominee dropped almost 20 points, from 92% to 70%.

today, fresh off the second in a row victory, it has him back up at 87%. but, funny thing about that nevada victory. while he did absolutely crush newt gingrich, not to mention ron paul and rick santorum, mitt romney lost to another candidate. in this year's nevada caucuses, mitt romney lost to mit rom any, circa 2008. in 2008, the last time mitt romney ran for president, he got more than 22,000 votes in nevada, over 51%, this year, he got about 16,000 votes in nevada, 50%. that is part of a broader worrying trend for both mitt romney specifically and the republicans generally. lower turn out among republicans in their primaries and caucuses this time around. if you look just at self-identifying republicans in the exit polls, here is what has been happening to turn out in republican contests. iowa, with 2008 turn out on the left, this year on the right. 11% drop off. in new hampshire, 2008, compared to this year, numbers drop 15%.

only real bright spot is south carolina, turn out did go up by 20%. in florida, return to the downward trend, turn out was down 16% this year, compared with 2008. of course the enthusiasm gap was invoked again and again in 2010 as the key to republican victory. so it looks to be a drop in republican turn out from 2008 is worrying trend number one. the second worrying trend is the polling on his favorability and likability. in one of those brutal, hurtful polling questions i have ever seen, voters were asked, as they get to know mitt romney whether they liked him more or less. by more than 2-to-1, the more they got to know mitt romney the less they like him. 52% said they are liking mitt romney less as the nomination battle plays out. if you only ask republicans or people who say they lean republican, more people say they like mitt romney less, the more they get to know him, than the other way around.

of course the more common measure of likability is favorability. the trend on that for mitt romney is pretty grim indeed. here's talking points memo poll tracker on unfavorability, which is skyrocketing. mitt romney's unfavorability at 47%. so, good news for mitt romney he's winning. bad news for mitt romney, he's also losing to himself from four years ago. people like him less and less. newt gingrich has vowed to stick around until the convention in august. and that is six months away. joining us now celinda lake, democratic pollster and strategist. how well can we use previous turnout in an open primary to extrapolate forward and predict what turnout is looking in the general? is that a dodgey metric for us to be using or does that have

some validity? >> well, it has some validity and particularly when you look at the patterns underneath. the fact you have it in state after state after state, in fact romney does better the lower the turnout. and then if you look at who is not showing up to vote, the people who aren't show up to voters born again christian voters who have a real problem with mitt romney. they don't think he's a good conservative, they worry about his religion. that bodes real trouble for the election in the fall, and a real opportunity for democrats who in the inverse are getting more enthusiastic about their nominee. >> i thought it interesting that to the point you made that south carolina was the one place where turnout increased markedly, and where romney got whooped, and where there was the most sort of traditional tea party grassroots activism behind the outcome. >> right, and in fact, mitt romney is only getting even in states he's winning a quarter of the tea party vote and a quarter

of the born again christian vote. he's running behind or tied with santorum and behind newt gingrich. there are core elements of the republican base that are very, very disgruntled with this ticket. and then when you get to general election voters, you have someone who's winning and these aren't just newt gingrich-inflicted problems, these are mitt romney-inflicted problems. those negatives are going up because of what mitt romney is saying about mitt romney. >> i have been actually advised, frankly, how much his unfavorability ratings have sky rocketed and how negative public opinion turning toward him personally. one of the most robust polling results of president obama's tenure is how strong his personal favorability remains despite whatever economic situation we're having. how important is that metric, favorability, how you feel about the person who is standing in front of you there in a suit a microphone running for president when you get to election day? >> it matters a lot. not only is mitt romney failing on the personal likeability, but

he's failing on the guy you want to sit down who would understand your life. it's what we call in the democratic party the have a beer with the guy test. mitt romney by his own words and deeds, just seems completely out of touch with what is going on for average people, when you make bets for $10,000, when you think income that is the value of people's houses, when you have offshore accounts, and it's on and on, you pay a lower percentage for taxes than the average secretary in the united states, honestly, this man is the perfect candidate as poster child for the 99% to 1%. he's inflicting these wounds on himself. you get donald trump's endorsement at a casino, most independent voters don't pay attention to the races, but mitt romney is drawing attention to himself and it's negative. >> i thought it was interesting

in some of the more recent polling that's happened, self-described moderates have moved back toward president obama. >> that's right. >> and part of that, i think, is probably the result of the recent good economic news -- >> right. >> -- which we sort of have to disaggregate from favorability. how much do you think the president is so known to the american people that whatever people think about him, the idea of attacking him is somehow other, which seems part of what the republican message has been, no longer resonates. >> it doesn't resonates, the character attacks don't resonate. frankly, mitt romney is the other, the guy who is strange and the guy who keeps -- what is amazing for me, a very polished candidate keeps shooting himself in the foot. >> celinda lake, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. there is one completely hilarious super bowl ad you almost certainly didn't see last night.

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if you have been following the 2012 presidential race at all lately you heard of a man named sheldon adelson by now. he is a las vegas tycoon, casino billionaire with estimated personal fortune of 21.5 billion dollars, more orless. not counting what's in the couch cushions at home or under the slot machines at work. he is one of the richest men in the country. he made news most recently writing a single very large check to the super pac that supports newt gingrich, $5 million, to elect newt gingrich president of the united states. that was followed by another very large check to the super pac that supports newt gingrich, this one also for $5 million, only it came from mr. adelson's wife. the support helped newt gingrich get back in the game and win south carolina last month which seemed like it might scramble the entire race. at least until mitt romney whooped gingrich something fierce in florida last week, his double digit win re-establishing the establishment. this weekend the fight for the

republican nomination pulled in sheldon adelson's backyard with the nevada republican caucuses. sheldon adelson and billions are in no way the kind of political force that nevada republicans are prepared to alienate. he's a big deal. this year, nevada republicans decided to hold a special evening caucus, so people who could not vote during the day for religious reasons, were honoring the sabbath. they held that special caucus in a building named after sheldon adelson, with the family name on the front. result was kind of a zoo, with ron paul supporters showing up an making a ruckus, they called the proceedings a felonious, unconstitutional sham. ron paul won the special caucus in a walk. newt gingrich nearly caught mitt romney for second. in the overall caucus, mitt romney won by a lot. it may seem weird to hold a democratic exercise in a

building that honors a single person who so happens to be almost single handedly personally propping up one of the candidates on the ballot in the caucus. but in another way, nevada's special caucus in the school with mr. adelson pass name on the front is a microcosm for post citizens united world. it's the billionaire's country, we're just voting in it. even as he appeared to be losing his bet on newt gingrich mr. adelson continued throwing his weight around. new york times reported mitt romney's campaign has been reaching out to mr. adelson, aware he could keep newt gingrich in the race all the way to the convention, if he decides that looks like fun. for the adelson's to write a $10 million check is like someone worth $21,000 writing a check for ten bucks. it's like going to the movies. the newt gingrich campaign is as entertaining as any film you can find screening in america. you would pay ten bucks to keep

this going. in this post citizens united election, the mitt romney people find themselves in a situation shared by every political campaign in the country, having to massage the ego of a billionaire. sheldon adelson assured the romney campaign that in the end he will open up his checkbook for romney too. which is not to say that you should in any way be very concerned about political fund raising for mitt romney, not at all. the fourth quarter reports were filed, the super pac raised $30 million last year, 98% in donations of at least $25,000. you don't need many donors when they are giving a million dollars apiece. they gotten of those last year. if mitt romney goes the distance you can look for sheldon adelson's name on the list. the caucus and the building may have been a set back for sheldon adelson, we're all caucusing in

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george w. bush and "the rachel maddow show" staff have something in common. they both pride themselves on coming up with nicknames for people. they can be flattering, lamb chop, yours truly, the best "the rachel maddow show" nickname of all time was given to robert ford, this guy, the ambassador

to syria. in september this show gave mr. ford the nickname ambadassador, he really seriously no joke earned it. president obama called on the president of syria to step down, the syrians were not pleased. they told the ambassador he needed to ask permission to order to leave the capital. instead he went to the city where the people greeted him with rose petals and olive branches. the embassies were attacked. so too was the ambassador's house. he also went to observe a peaceful protest by lawyers at the syrian bar association, a pro-government demonstrator attacked him and the whole thing was caught on tape. in early september the ambadassador went to the funeral of a human rights activist who

died in the custody of syrian security forces. an hour after that funeral security forces trashed the place. later that month while driving through the syrian capital to meet with a leader, loyalists attack his convoy, reportedly threw eggs and tomatoes. robert ford stayed in syria another month after that attack. state department pulled him out when the media targeted him. he was home six weeks then went back to damascus. he's one tough cookie. which is how you know things in syria are again, really, really, really bad. today the united states announced it has completely shut down the embassy in syria. every single staffer has left including the ambadassador. since friday, syrian opposition leaders say the government has killed more than 300 civilians in the city that's become the epicenter of this deadly crackdown. one thing the government has been able to achieve with almost complete success is a media

blackout. they've kept all western journalists out of the country. with the, almost all. the bbc reports the violence is so bad in one city people can't safely bury their dead. >> the shelling is constant now, we're hearing impacts every few seconds. in reply, you can also hear a little bit of file. it's a few tile gesture. >> they're certainly paying the price. the shroud is for a 7-year-old girl. they carefully write her name. like all the dead here, she must be buried in darkness. daytime is too dangerous. there is no family, no prayers, and little dignity. they have to hurry. even now they are attacked. there will many more such desperate and lonely burials.

>> the syrian regime's violence and indiscriminate attacks today seem particularly bold. russia and china are partially to blame. over the weekend they vetoed a united nations security council resolution that called on the syrian president to step down, to which american's ambassador responded with nothing short of indignation. >> the fact that russia and china chose to align themselves with a dictator who is on his last legs rather than the people of syria, rather than the people of the middle east, and rather than the principle views of the rest of the international community was disgusting and shameful. >> joining us now josh rogan, writer of the cable magazine's blog. thanks for talking to us tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> the vote that up happened over the weekend with the security council that prompted that condemnation from susan

rice, what is your understanding of why that vote went down the way it did, and what does it mean for what the next step is in regards to both the u.s. and the international communities' policy on syria? >> sure. the u.s. and it's allies worked for weeks to try to satisfy russian and chinese concerns about the draft resolution, which was part forth by morocco and the arab league. they watered it down pretty well. at the last moment russia and china had no intention of going along with it. i was in munich this weekend with hillary clinton, and the russian foreign minister said very clearly, we don't believe it's the u.n.'s role to intervene internally in other countries. what he didn't say is that russia is standing by syria because it's a major arms buyer of russian equipment and also because russia seeks to counter u.s. and western influence in the middle east. but the bottom line is that russia never had had any intention of supporting a call for assad to step down, and it played out exactly the way we

expected. now that the united nations security council is neutered as secretary clinton said, the action moves to regional approaches, unilateral approaches, some sanctions. and then the debate begins over what do we do next? do we aid the syrian opposition? do we give them humanitarian assistance. do we provide buffer zones so they're safe? all these questions have not been answered, and that's what the administration is working on right now. >> there's also, i think, some concerns about the broader stability of syria, in terms offed degree to which it will hold together through this. there's a big sectarian divide between the majority of the country and the assad ruling clique and concerns that what we're see is the beginning of a genuine and terrifying civil war. how worrisome -- how worried are you about that? >> i think the civil war is erupting and beginning right now, and that's something that u.s. officials are starting to

acknowledge reluctantly, because it really is not just a nightmare scenario for the people of syria, but the people of the region as well. they say syria is not libya. libya was sort of self-contained, and syria the violence has a potential of spreading to all sorts of different countries. that's real. now, what that means is, the assad regime, as they are protected by russia and china for the time being, feels an imperative. they feel pressure, and that's causing them toen watt to change factions on the ground by increasing violence and end this thing before they're forced out one way or the other. what they've done is unleashed a full-out assault on the city of homs and suburbs of damascus and other places. it's escalating and getting worse and worse, and the national community is simply paralyzed. this is sort of the worst case scenario all the way around. >> since i have you here, josh, i want to turn to one more piece of news out of the region today which struck as important. in egypt the government is filing charges against 19 americans who work for nonprofit

groups. does the u.s. want to try and fight those charges publicly to make a point or negotiations for the release? what does it say about the relationship of the u.s. government right now and the scaff, which is the ruling entity in egypt at the moment? >> sure. so these are all related issues because this is all part of one thing. the arab spring, and the revolution in the arab world where people are demanding more sovereignty. and the u.s. is trying to shift focus to human rights and democracy. this is not going well in egypt, and the egyptian government is clinging onto power. they're making the american aid groups they're attacking and harassing the villains in this scenario for their own domestic and political purposes. and it's ruining the u.s./egypt relationship. the obama administration is very worried about this, and they have no solution. as long as egypt remains in turmoil, they'll continue to vilify the u.s. and these aid workers who are totally innocent and the relationship will continue to deteriorate. >> you're a font of good news

today, josh rogin. thanks for talking with us as always. appreciate it. >> anytime. >> right after this show on the last word the fallout from the planned parenthood funding controversy continuing. lawrence o'donnell has the latest. don't miss that. here, the cool refreshing taste of the best new thing in the world is next. [ male announcer ] the draw of the past is a powerful thing. but we couldn't simply repeat history. we had to create it. introducing the 2013 lexus gs, with leading-edge safety technology, like available blind spot monitor... [ tires screech ] ...night view... and heads-up display. [ engine revving ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here.

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