tv The Cycle MSNBC February 25, 2013 12:00pm-1:00pm PST
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with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. four days until the sequester. looks like the president won't shame the republicans in to action this time. i'm s.e. cupp. who gets the blame? i'm steve kornacki. game cover. repealing the sequester something both sides can get on both with? >> i'm krystal ball. there's a push to spend more. it's an effort to get the economy moving. figuratively and literally. i know how obama can end all this washington gridlock. tell republicans that if they don't shape up, he'll send them in to the octagon! >> all of her body weight and
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power and leverage. >> no, no, no. >> problem solved! we are t-minus four days and counting until $85 billion in cuts move from the federal budget, cuts the way a blind butcher would do it. washington still locked on the sequester standoff. some say it's like armageddon with the apocalypse on the doorstep and that is bad but critics say it's like chicken little. not that bad. either way, i'm sure someone somewhere is working on a countdown clock that we can debut before the end of the week. maybe some nice nbc animator. in washington, the house and senate finally back from a ten-day vacation and offering partisan plans to replace the cuts with zero chance of going anywhere. good job. here we're coming to terms with
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the reality that even if congress can strike a deal to stop the cuts over a decade, we're still going to be stuck with at least some of this year's $85 billion share. one hour from now, house speaker boehner will push the blame on the democrats arguing the house passed two bills to replace the sequester and the president is out with a break down of the cuts and warned that the cash-strapped governors no longer the cuts in place, the bigger the impact. >> as governors, you're the ones who are on the ground, seeing firsthand every single day what works, what doesn't work. while you are in town, i hope you'll speak with your congressional delegation and remind them in no uncertain terms exactly what is at stake and exactly who is at risk. because here's the thing. the cuts do not have to happen. congress can turn them off any time with just a little bit of
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compromise. >> congress has a month to act before the furloughs start. both of those educational and social service cuts won't be felt until the next school year and the cbo says agencies will push more than half of the cuts off until next year with hopes of washington reversing them. let's start with dan gross, columnist and global business ed tore for "newsweek." interesting thought in "the washington post." obama's betting americans will be outraged by the cuts but if voters react with a shrug congressional republicans will have won a major victory in their campaign to shrink the size of government and the gop will likely try for more. what do you think about that, mike? the gop actually pull a jujitsu move and win this? >> i don't think so. the reason is consumers may feel this. if you are an employee and you get furloughed you lose some business but businesses will feel it the most with construction projects that get ground to a halt, if, you know,
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air force stops writing new contracts, if airports are shut down. ports. these are the sort of things that affect large companies and ability to profit and of course those people have the ear of congress and the political culture much more than the individual does so i think that's what i would look for when business trade groups, lobbyists, companies themselves start saying, this is impacting the ability to get our work done to hire people. then you will see congress be more responsive. if it's an individual saying, or an individual doctor saying my medicare payment cut 2% or postal worker who got their hours cut by 20% for the week, the system doesn't respond to that. >> politico points out that part of the problem here is the defense industry's long-time champions on the hill are mostly out of congress. so out of the 30 house recipients of the largest campaign donations since 19 90,
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11 are still in the house and 14 in the senate. perhaps of the problem is that they haven't brought a new team to support them. >> the changeover in congress makes a difference but look to the states for difference. virginia, where the pentagon is, big navy installations, the republican governor is going to be suffering if the sequester goes in to effect. i was in utah last week. the government is the single largest employer including an air force base in the middle of utah with $1.2 billion in payroll per year and the governors of the red states are complaining about this pretty quickly. >> well, dan, first i want to ask you as a "newsweek" ambassador to explain the cover. will an asteroid destroy the earth? >> try to keep all the bases covered. >> yes or no there. >> wow. way to bury the lead. i can't believe we're talking about sequester when they're
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breaking that story. >> if you think the budget cuts are going to be severe wait until you see that. >> wait until the asteroid hits. >> big tease, dan. i want to ask about obama's strategy. recently over the weekend to sort of demagogue this hysteria. maybe he knows the asteroid is coming. forgetting the untruths of navy ships and criminals running wild in the streets because of the cuts, let's talk just about the impact of that kind of going back to the well, the hysteria well over and over again. the sequester has forced liberals to clarify the conviction that whatever the government's size is at any moment it is the bare minimum necessary to forestall intolerable suffering. i don't know that democrats are always going to have that well to go back to andfoururtherfurti don't know, is the president thinking we don't remember the
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senate passed two bills or the sequester trigger came out of the white house itself. how dumb does the president think we are? >> the first thing to be switched off is the asteroid detector. >> thank god. >> this is what people do and people at companies do this. telling them to cut the budget, they say, well, i won't cut the free water and coffee. it's what charlie peters called the fireman first principle. we'll cut all of the firemen and then nobody will respond. this is how the game is played. i guess the question is how successful he is in playing it. so far the polls and could be just because obama is more popular or more likable than congressional republicans but they tend to take the blame for things that go wrong in washington. >> right. >> my ears perked up with the asteroid detector shut off.
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since i was little, that's an overpowering fear is the asteroid. not just the impact, the tidal wave. that's what you have to look out for. >> what aren't you afraid of? >> live in kansas to survive and then the dust. anyway, my question is about the sequester. so what strikes me here is the -- there's talk of republicans being able to or tea party wing of the republican party and not so much the business wing as toure said to maybe declare victory here but is there a long game here where they sort of psychologically need to be able to declare victory over something and then we have this next deadline, three weeks later, continuing resolution that funds the government or an opportunity to restore some of the cuts that will be implemented, you know, in a few days? is this really a two-prong process here? >> they continue to go for more cuts and an irony and not spoken of enough, they have had kind of great success in restraining
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government spending. federal expenditures year over year up around 2% while revenues are up close to 10%. they got a lot of deficit reduction out of president obama in 2011 without any taxes being increased. they got a minimum of tax increase in the fiscal cliff. so, you know, if you take the long view over a couple of years, change in trajectory of federal spending, these guys seem to have won a few victories. >> yeah, absolutely. i have no witty comment on the asteroid. >> dead serious subject. >> i know it is to you, steve. >> to you. >> i did want to point out you mentioned that republican governors and in general are very upset about a lot of cuts. my home state of virginia, one that could be the hardest hit an you see members of congress from that state, republican members of congress, sending out releases begging whoever to not impact their programs in their districts, their bases, their
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projects. so that will be another dynamic. but also, something else crazy happened in virginia over the weekend. as you know, there's republican governor. republican state senate. republican house of delegates and the state apparatus controlled by the republicans. they voted in a bipartisan compromise to raise taxes to fund critical transportation infrastructure needs and a promise to pave the way of expanding medicaid and bob mcdonald, the governor, worked with terry mcauliffe to get that done. it seems to me like maybe the real action and the real progress is happening at the state level since the federal government is so deadlocked. >> yeah. it comes back to business. not just virginia talking about the medicaid expansion. florida and ohio.
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health care is a gigantic industry in this country. especially in a place like florida and the hospital lobby, the doctors' lobby, they come to the governors saying you're insane for not taking the dollars. good for us and jobs. we'll still have to treat people. call that crony capitalism. seems to be facing reality and on the roads, you know, it's only at the national level that republicans seem to think that building roads is a bad idea. if you run a state and if northern virginia is the economic engine of your entire state and the population is growing, people complain, you better do something about the roads or then you kill the golden goose. >> amen. dan gross! good hit. hope we have you back before the asteroid comes. >> okay. >> anybody know how long until -- >> all over the place. there's a thousand a day discovering. if it's more than 50 feet -- >> check this week's "newsweek."
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they know. >> thanks, dan. coming up, we are talking oscars. of course. the best stuff that happened during and after the show. up next, a bad time for another scandal in the catholic church. a top cardinal resigns just as an early conclave gets set to pick the next pope. we're taking it there in the spin. [ dog barking ] ♪ [ female announcer ] life is full of little tests, but bounty basic can handle them. in this lab demo one select-a-size sheet of bounty basic is 50% stronger than one full sheet of the leading bargain brand. bring it. bounty basic.
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is calling him to devout himself to medication and reflection and prayer and not abandoning the church in any way. the strong message in light of the changes to church law allowing conclave to begin earlier which may be just in time as britain's highest ranking catholic leader found himself confronted by allegations of sexual misconduct. he denies the accusations of inappropriate contact submitted by a priest and three former priests. this is a critical time for the catholic church. so let's spin on it. i think putting aside the pope's legacy which is a little bit more complicated and i'm actually going to write about that this week, just addressing these issues, it seems to me and i was reading cardinal o'brien's response to this and his statement and he writes i want
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to thank pope benedict for his kindness and courtesy. i will not join them for conclave in person. i don't wish media attention in rome focused on me. that's all fine and good and i don't really know if these allegations are true but it seems a little neat. it seems a little wrapped up in a bow. just sneaking out the back door while you carry on. just do your thing. >> nothing to see over here. >> nothing to see and of course, benedict just going. carry on. i'm take a break. >> don't mind me. >> you go ahead with business as usual which, of course, doesn't address any of the systemic institutional issues plaguing the church and to his credit most of this happened before benedict was pope but still was, you know, sort of involved in overseeing some of that and frankly we just see it time and
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time again. when you have these institutions that see themselves as insulated from, apart from, above, regular societial and legal reproach, whether it's college athletics or it's rape in the military, these are systems that, you know, prefer to deal with things inside on their own. i don't think that works out so well an it seems like this departure is just a sort of way of glossing over some of that. >> that's the story of the catholic church and talking about the insular institutions and the catholic church and the added element that the moral authority of the church and this is -- these are priests, cardinals, a pope who speaks for god who represents god and then you can look at, you know, all of that sort of blown up in the last 20 years with the sex abuse revelations coming out and going back a generation or two and then in the story of how it went on for years without anybody saying anything, parishionors.
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>> and law enforcement wouldn't believe the very few who did stand up. >> a community. look. we can talk about this guy from britain. the pope. how about this? there is a cardinal going to be taking part in the selecting the next pope and los angeles roger mahony and basically been -- he covered up, how many priests in 1980s and 1990s in southern california? reassigned them, sent them out of the country. never told law enforcement. i think deposed a week ago. this guy is over there helping to pick the next pope so maybe this is a little fishy with what's his name from britain -- >> o'brien. >> welcome to rome. pick the next pope. >> yeah. of course, the irony here is, you know, the attempt to cover up, the attempt to just shift priests around and keep it quiet. preserve the church. and not to say that there wouldn't have been blowbecome and ugly if they had been up
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front about what was going on but the long-term damage to the church has been far greater and frankly, you know, people look at allegations like what are coming out and don't see -- they don't feel like giving the benefit of the doubt. they have seen this play before. you know, i love and i have no hope that this will actually happen but i love the proposal of how to deal with this and how to restore confidence in the church. he points out that the cardinals to gather to elect a new pope know that one of the church's central and most wrenching problems is the sex abuse scandal and all male hierarchy adopted policies to cover up the abuse and protect the image ahead of children and advocates for a nun as the next pope as a way to restore the church's image. he points out that throughout history societies turned to woman to clean up the mess and the problems that men have made. i love the idea. i'm sure it will never happen but it's a great thought experiment.
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>> get a woman priest, first. let's start. at least begin there. right? and then the papacy. >> you're right. the church acted to preserve itself by putting this under the rug and attacking the problem would have been better and we see that. the church is paying for the scandal and at least thousands or millions of americans are leaving the church. 1 in 10 americans is an ex-catholic and a major reason is because of how they deal with the sex abuse scandal and the church paying for this and not dealing with it appropriately is only making it worse. >> well, i think that whatever institution you're talking about, the idea that we allow a resignation to sort of be the last final say of the -- he resigned. okay. it's all right. that solves that. >> nothing more to ask. >> lost here is the fact that britain will not have a designated representative at the conclave and that's a shame for the catholics of britain. all right. straight ahead, as if the airport experience isn't
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annoying enough, big quote warning flares about how the cuts affect your plans to get anywhere. plus, who are the cuts likely to affect most? the next guest is in the guest spot. [ female announcer ] your smile. like other precious things that start off white, it yellows over time. when it comes to your smile, if you're not whitening, you're yellowing. crest whitestrips whiten as well as $500 professional treatments. guaranteed. crest 3d white whitestrips.
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saying something about bridges? >> 70,000 structurally deficient speeches. >> shouldn't have been led with that one? 70,000 structurally deficient? i mean, come on. should n't you open the matter, broke in to the program scheduled with an urgent message the night you found that [ bleep ] out? hey, everybody, this is president barack obama, the bridges are death traps! for the next three hours, i'm going to stand here and name bridges. the aa aronnson bridge.
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don't take it. clock wipe. all the bridges in madison county. seriously, that thing is -- whoo! >> wait. the tappenzi? the condition of the 70,000 structurally deficient bridges in the u.s. are worth a few laughs but it's a serious problem, especially trying to go over them and the president proposed a program to spend $50 billion to improve the roads and infrastructure. >> so today i'm accelerating that effort with regional teams to focus on the unique needs you have in various parts of the country, helping the pacific northwest. northeast corridor move faster on high-speed rail service. >> next guest says that proposal does not go far enough to help young and old and says the focus
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should be on public transportation because for $1 billion invested in public transportation, we get 36,000 jobs. money and public transportation equals jobs. in the guest spot today, we welcome back the president of the center for social encollusion, miley wiley. president, i want to talk a little bit about the defacto segregation of the way that public transportation is structured and differently in different cities. in new york, manhattan is very well served by buses and subway trains and further out in to the but rougs and then further options and whereas in atlanta, the subways and the trains and buses constructed in a way and difficult to get from the poorer area of town to the more pros pous area of town and harder to
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get to work in other parts of town. do you think that these are like created in this way to keep people sort of defacto segregated? >> certainly, we have a long history of not investing in public transit and looking at the highway act back in the 1980s, most of our federal dollars were going to building, highs, repairing highways and something important for our economy. we don't want to suggest that's not important but at the same time when you look at both not just the benefit to the economy but the way in which communities and communities of color dependent on public transit, if we fail to create roots from communities of color to where jobs are located then obviously we are going to see higher unemployment rates in communities of color and what we see. so i think what you're suggesting, toree, experience is very common for a lot of people of color in this country and if you're black or latino, six times more likely to not have a
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car and to be dependent on public transit. >> what's the reason that we have sort of historically underinvested in public transportation? i mean, as i look at this, i see sort of a bigger pattern of inequality because, obviously, poor people don't have the financial power in washington, d.c. they don't have a superpac. african-americans, an attempt to disenfranchise african-americans and latinos in particular. so is this part of a bigger pattern of basically these groups not getting what they need because they don't have the voice and the power in washington? >> that's certainly a big part of the equation. we've been seeing demobilization of communities of color since the 1960s. there are fewer foundation dollars going to invest in civil society infrastructure and communities of color and fewer people organizing and actively engaging civilly. there's interesting stories coming out now because of what
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people are fighting for and in baton rouge, together baton rouge, which is a multi-racial coalition won a property tax increase to fund public transit in baton rouge, a city not well served by public transit. does not have enough bus lines. people wait an hour and a half to get to work. so, it's an example of people coming together but we need to see more of that and you're right that communities of color traditionally have less investments and on these issues. >> let's talk for a minute about smart government. you point out there's more jobs, grows the economy than highway and infrastructure spending and in the stimulus package, the obama administration spends about $48 billion on transportation funding and to mixed results. transit investment did far better for job creation. would you be comfortable with some cuts to general transportation funding in favor
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of these more targeted, smaller funding initiatives for transit? >> that's an important question, s.e. and needs looking at what kind of projects to funding and wrong to suggest we don't need to fund fixing the bridges or even the highway systems. the american society of civil engineers said we need to invest $157 billion a year in our infrastructure or lose 3.1 trillion in the economy over the next few years. that's obviously something to pay attention to so i don't want to suggest it's wrong to have big projects but what we don't have in transportation spending that we should have to make government smarter is actual long-term planning so where are our investments best made in order to ensure that we are making the smart investments? public transit is one of those and really been one grossly underfunded and let's remember that literally, literally 75% of
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all low skilled and medium skilled jobs in this country are more than 90 minutes away from public transit. this means the people who are most likely to need those jobs are not living anywhere near a place where they can actually access them. and we have to change that. >> you know, we are talking about this a lot in the context of the sequester and the federal role in funding transportation but there's obviously a big role for state, cities, municipalities providing money and policy innovation. in that sort of difference between federal and state and local, which is more important? is this more of a local, state and local issue than a federal issue? >> the truth is it matters at all levels of government. the federal government is a big funder of transportation. states have the ability to make decisions about how they spend a lot of those federal dollars and what projects they're developing and they also kick in a lot of
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their resources for transportation projects. one thing listeners should know about race in america is that 30 states in this country do not allow gas tax revenue to go to public transit projects and that is actually a vestage of states deciding not to allow public transit to fight racial integration so now this is not something that necessarily states are continuing to think about but the impacts of these laws that were adopted in the '50s are very much getting in the way of innovation and creating jobs for communities that need them and by the way hurting a lot of white communities in the process because increasingly, both elderly and young people of all races are transit dependent. >> the president of the center for social inclusion, maya wiley, love having you on the show. thank you very much. >> thank you. we're finally talking oscars. i can't wait. [ jackie ] it's just so frustrating...
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and should be read and considered carefully before investing. for a current prospectus, visit etrade.com/mutualfunds. quest to make tommy lee jones laugh begins now. >> thank you, movie god. >> it came true. >> the actor who really got inside lincoln's head was john wilkes booth. >> i was committed to play margaret thatcher. ♪ >> you guys are just standing up because you feel bad i fell and that's embarrassing but thank you. >> six months from having to call him benjamin afleck. i thought we'd cut this joke but really you want to do it? first time i saw him with that dark facial hair, i thought, my god, the kardashians have finally made the jump to film. >> and the oscar goes to --
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"argo." >> it doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life. because that's going to happen. but you have to get back up. this is for you. >> 3:35 -- >> is that all? >> i know. it was a shortest 3:35 ever. may be surprised to learn that i actually watched it. >> some of it. >> some of it. and it was okay. 85th annual academy awards, singing, dancing, jokes and awards and a surprise presenter i would have loved if i saw her. live from the white house, the first lady handed best picture to "argo." the service members provided security for the envelope. >> hey oh! >> no surprise of daniel day-lewis. jennifer lawrence won best actress and hearts across america and annehath aaway and
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jonathan waltz. here at "the cycle" offices we had a three-way win with the booking producer tammy, graphic pros deucer traci winning along with toure. >> you know it. you love it. >> after a map rit rations. whatevs. let's back spin. you may be surprised to learn i did watch one of these movies. "beast of the southern wild" which was great. >> starring? >> quvenzhane. >> bingo. >> working on that. i have to say she is incredible. and i would have loved to have seen her win but i think she will have a few more chances and i did watch it. i intended to watch the whole thing but actually after they announced the best documentary winner, "searching for sugarman" i decided that sounded interesting and popped over to watch that more instead. which was more interesting. >> i'm sure it was. >> it's to shine a light on films.
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right? before the oscars come, sells tickets. afterwards, creates stars to see in the future. it's gigantic ad for itself. who are the biggest winners? whose stock rose the most last snigt i think ben affleck, jen lawrence and waltz. these people are now sort of minted in to the super a-list. walk in to any studio with a script and scribbled on a paper and any studio wants to make a movie with you. >> wasn't ben affleck doing that for ten years and got -- >> you're absolutely right and now walk in with a serious picture. >> too many people said yes to ben affleck. >> that was the problem. >> now he's recovered. that's over. >> walk in with a serious picture and take you seriously. you want to take us back to iran or what have you. go for it. it's interesting to see how they use the newfound power. >> i dig the beard. >> always beats no beards. i agree. i wanted to talk about seth
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mcfarland. we were sort of predicting whether he was going to go over. i said, look, i like "family guy" and funny. i don't know mass appeal and which i think of when i think of oscars. bringing wild age groups together from all over the country. they like different kinds of things. to me, like watching an episode of "family guy." there were moments i thought, you know, this "star trek" one of right now thinking, gosh, my 90-year-old grandmother is watching and as confused by this as she is by "family guy." and you watch a "family guy" and even funny and entertained, you can't remember what happened. you can't describe what happened in that episode because it's flashbacks to "star trek" and other things that didn't happen and talking dogs. it was weird. and a little metta. i don't know that it really reached everyone. >> and the ratings are up 20%
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from last year. >> i think that's because it was a really good movie year and people -- >> but which is why -- >> the host and the movies work together. >> i don't think he will be brought back. >> the big winner, one of the them, is billy krystal and should be named -- >> no. >> oscar host for life. again -- >> tina and amy should be named host of everything in life. >> are you 60 years old? for real. >> we tried the young kids two years ago. james franco and anne hathaway. billy krystal stole the show. 6.3 billion people watched it. incredible success. >> do you predict he's brought back? seth mcfar lond? >> i don't know. chris rock wasn't brought back either. it's more than are you good or not. >> the mistake is it was an insider pick. if you're a fan of "the family guy" you know every sitcom and movie and get the references.
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this is supposed to be a broad appeal show and billy krystal lifetime contract. >> found him mostly funny. >> i like "the family guy." >> you didn't see half the show. >> i like that we're calling "the family guy." >> she wasn't hooked. >> he wasn't good enough to hold my attention. >> see? >> that's right. >> i moved on. facebook fans are weighing in on what surprised them more last night. "argo" or the first lady's live appearance? they were more surprised by the first lady. me, too. bobby says no doubt about it. michelle, class act. like us on facebook and let us know what stunned you the most at the oscars. straight ahead, a political odd couple of all time. dick and ike. but first, the after show. here's a little jennifer lawrence showing how absurd the press can be. >> the fall on the way -- >> was that on purpose? absolutely. >> what happened? >> what do you mean what happened? look at my dress.
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i feel like i'm picking people to make fun of me. next. >> you don't worry about -- peaking too soon? >> well, now i am. >> what was the process today to get to the big moment? >> tried on the dress and it fit. thank god. and then i took a shower and -- i don't know what i was -- that's what i did. and then i got my hair and makeup done and then i came to the oscars. ] no, no, no! stop! humans. one day we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... not so much. but that's okay -- you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? the end.
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♪ there's a classic tune. and when you think about this country's all-time odd couples, the top of that list has to be dwight eisenhower and richard nixon. war hero and then seen as the master of the political dark arts. let's call it a complicated personal and professional relationship that lasted nearly two decades from nixon's placement on the republican ticket to eisenhower's death, just after nixon finally won the presidency on his own in 1968. politically, it made in nearly ruined nixon's career. perhaps the perfect example is this gem where nixon is running for president in 1960 and dwight eisenhower then president is asked about the vp's influence in the white house. >> i wondered if you could give us an example of a major idea of his that you adopted as the
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final -- >> if you give me a week i might think of one. i don't remember. >> oh. ouch. >> imagine obama doing that if biden's trying to replace him. devastating. that was a political ad for jfk and nearly beat nixon that year and win the presidency and that is just the beginning of the story. jeffrey frank gone to great lengths to document and piece together this complicated relationship in "ike and dick." he is also a senior editor at "the new yorker." welcome to the show, jeffrey. i guess where i start is i grew up and i think most people have an instinctive impression, probably not that inaccurate of nixon as a master of the dark arts. we have a very negative view of him instinctively and we have instinctively a positive view of eisenhower but reading your book and reading up more on their relationships over the years i find myself feeling sympathetic for nixon and as this guy that just longed for some sort of acceptance by eisenhower, some
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sort of a connection with him that was never there and you write at one point nixon saw in eisenhower a man to radiate kindness and acting with casual cruelty. can you explain that a little bit? >> a couple of things. you should probably give eisenhower credit still for being pretty good. he had great instincts of war and peace and looking at nixon, looking at nixon in this period, he wasn't yet the disgraced former president but a very intelligent, very ambitious and controversial senator and then a vice president. so, he was -- he's not the nixon we know today and quite different. >> i want to hear about how they brought out the worst in each other. >> i don't think i -- i don't think i ever say that but tended to bring out the best in each other in some way but eisenhower did make nixon unhappy. nixon was constantly feeling dissed basically. he felt he wasn't treated well,
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wasn't being respected for all he could wasn't being respected for all he could bring to the ticket and bring to the country. >> well, and you seem to indicate part of ike's disdain is he had a general disdain for politics and politicians in general. did that impact his ability to govern effectively, that sort of contempt for the game? >> i don't think -- you're talking about eisenhower now. i don't think eisenhower had contempt for nixon but he didn't think much of professional politicians. he was much happier with businessmen and his former military pals and people he could play golf with at the augusta national golf club and mixon really wasn't that sort. but he had lots of respect for nixon and his intelligence and loyalty. he didn't believe nixon had the maturity to be president. >> well, and professor, steve kornacki was telling me that also nixon's daughter was set to marry ike's grandson, and nixon thought this is finally going to seal the deal. we're going to be this one big
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happy family and he's finally going to get the approval that he wanted from eisenhower. did that work? >> no, julie nixon's younger daughter and david eisenhower's son were going to clem and they fell in love. when they were 20 they got married. nixon never thought it was going to seal the deal and eisenhower thought it was going to derail david's career. he thought david should be thinking more about being a lawyer and doctor and not getting married at age 20 which, in fact, they did. >> jeffrey frank, thank you for joining us. up next, the supreme court case on the docket this week that could change elections forever. [ coughs ]
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this week the supreme court will hear arguments in shelby v. holder. it's a challenge to the voting rights act that's been reaffirmed several times by the court and re-enacted several times by congress most recently in 2006 in a house vote of 390-33 and a senate vote of 98-0. yet many think the voting rights act will be declared unconstitutional by this court because its conservative wing deems it unfair to treat different states darchly. what's wrong with that?
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they single out nine states around requires them to clear any significant changes in voting laws with the justice department before enacting them. it means the states must prove the changes aren't discriminatory. the states targeted most are alabama, georgia, louisiana, mississippi, south carolina, texas, and most of virginia. all states of the old confederacy along with alaska and arizona. so is this law outdated? has the south changed so much that it no longer needs to be on virtual probation with respect to its electoral laws? well, since 2005 seven of the nine states covered by the vra have passed voter i.d. laws. only 16% of nonvra states have tried to enact them. states that historically enacted suppressive laws are still at it. in 2008 texas passed a voter i.d. law that a three-judge federal court unanimously struck down because texas couldn't prove it wouldn't harm the voting rights of texans of color. the court found the law
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tantamount to a poll tax because it impose an implicit fee on the privilege to vote. if you don't have a driver's license, it will probably meantime off from work to get one and the court recognized that as a problem. the opinion stated, quote, a law that forces poor citizens to choose between their wages and their franchise unquestionably denies or abridges their right to vote. courts have pushed back against florida's attempt to constrain early voting because it's a form of voting used disproportionately by poor blacks. georgia and tennessee have tried to cut early voting. it seems many agree with doug priest, the republican party chairman of franklin county, ohio, who e-mailed this nugget to the columbus dispatch in 2012. quote, i actually feel we shouldn't contort the voting process to accommodate the urban -- read african-american -- voter turnout machine. no one is asking for contortion, doug, just fairness. but the gop sees the white chair of the electorate shrinking year after year and sees a future where whites are no longer
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