going to go there. but maybe i might get me a blank. but he says he's not going after no blank blank. homey don't play that. okay. well, we don't play that either. not here. so, this letter is going to be rejected. >> let's go cat hunting. >> cat hunting? >> let's go. >> with reassurance from sergeant english that he will find a safe home for fluffy, t.c. agrees to help track her down. >> take her to california? >> i don't know if she's going to california or not. >> somebody needs to take her to california. >> she gone? she don't move. >> she's watching us right there. you see her? >> i see her peeping right now. she's smiling. she's peeping.

she's going to get somewhere. she's gone. she ain't coming back. she's going to stay on that side where she's safe at. >> t.c., i believe she just told us where her kitten is. kitchen gate, two tower. >> stay away from my girl, man. >> get on out of there. she's leaving a false trail. that's what she's doing. >> leaving a false trail. it was worth looking. the search continues. she's goi >> leading to a false trail. the search continues.

♪ splitsville on the right. let's play hardball. good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. i watched the conservatives at their convention today and was impressed by the strong response to mitt romney. they seemed stuck on him. stuck on him like they like him still. like him enough to give him a good welcome today. this guy who lost an election that he and many others thought they had made. this tells me they haven't adjusted. they're still back with santorum

and trump and those on the other crazy wagon of right wing talk that turned off the country. it was a winter of discontent followed by crazy summer of, is this all there is in? now there's talk of no one really on the republican side. are they really ready to run rubio, really? you think? can jeb run if he can't bring his own brother to the republican convention and nominate him. the problem is the warm response to mitt romney having looked at and seen the alternatives. they may be thinking the grass doesn't look that green, doesn't it? i'm joined by david corn and yew joon robinson. you're a great washington observer.

i'm looking at this and expecting rop knee to get all blah, blah and nobody shows up for trump. the house was empty. it was so great. he was tweeting about the big crowd. they brought him in for one reason. box office. let's talk about mitt. his face kept showing. all right. i lost. but they liked him. >> and finally he has grown on the party. they never liked him before but they fought the good fight. he did the best he could do. >> he fought their fight. >> right. he did the best he could do. i don't think this means he's back. >> in other words. he lost to the highest unemployment rate of anybody

other president in american histor history. >> what does it tell you when they're willing to nominate him. >> rand paul and rubio put out different versions for the gop's way forward. the other side says it has to stick to the basics. very different messages. >> the gop of old has grown stale and moss covered. >> we don't need a new idea. there is an idea. it's called america, and it still works. >> what in the world is he talking about?

>> let's let him have his point. here's the guy who is the new voice from the republican party. ted cruise trashing all of the people that have been there before him. >> right. but he's out there saying, you know. we need new ideas. what is the new idea? it's liberty. marco rubio says the big idea is americ america. >> don't lib liberals love america, too? and marco rubio says we need to change the candidates.

>> i've always thought this. in an election where you get your butt kicked. i didn't know who was going to win. it was that close. you say he blew it usually. he should have caught it. it's not the quarterback's fault in that case. if they blew it, is there tendency to go hard right with rand paul? no more wars and all that stuff and less republican government? >> but that is never won. even when they went conservative. when they went to ronltd reagan, he was a traditional movement conservative who had been less conservative as a governor in california.

and he had a lot of crossover appeal. we haven't seen the conservative -- the revenge of the neo conservative empire yet. and they're coming. let me ask you about this choice now. do they say more romney with a different face, rubio, or say, wait a minute, that me, too, thing isn't working? >> i'm a believer in inertia. i think they believe in the same basic ideas. >> pretending to be right wingers but not willing to believe it themselves. >> not willing to go all the way. >> let's talk about something you've written about, we had the great thing we taped last night about the iraq war and in your book, "hubris." look at this clip. show them how things have changed. look at this clip from the presidential debate back in 2008 where ron paul, that's the father, long a lone voice of opposing intervention in iraq, tangles with presidential candidate rudy giuliani and basically shouts him out of the room.

let's watch how things have changed here. >> there's a strong tradition of being anti-war in the republican party. it is the constitutional position. it is the advice of the founders to follow a noninterventionist foreign policy. >> congressman, you don't think that changed with the 9/11 attacks, sir? >> what changed? >> the noninterventionist policies. >> no. nonintervention was a major contributing factor. have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us? they attacked us because we've been over there. >> are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 attack, sir? >> i'm suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it. they have already now since that time have killed 3,400 of our men. i don't think it was necessary. >> comment on that? >> that's really an extraordinary statement. that's an extraordinary statement. as someone who lived through the attack of september 11th, that we invited the attack because we were attacking iraq.

i don't think i've ever heard that before, and i've heard some pretty absurd explanations for september 11th. >> there's a lot of applause. shouldn't have cut that off. tremendous applause for rudy giuliani. he thumped them. we remember that. fast forward to 2013. contrast that to the response to his son, rand paul's, 13-hour filibuster that protests the u.s. drone program. rand paul got backup from gop rising stars like rubio and ted cruz and was hailed as a hero on the right. there's no sound. we're just watching. is the party now open? does it find acceptable isolationist? >> this is what's really fascinating. for decades there was a fight within the republican party between realists and neoconservatives. first group was, like, brent scowcroft. modest intervention, versus the messianic view of promoting democracy. neoconservatives triumphed. there always was a small, emphasize the word small, part of the party, paleoconservatives.

>> pat buchanan. >> like pat buchanan. they never even were in the debate. they were so far out of the mainstream of their own party. now with rand paul, we see them kind of rising and the debates between them and the neocons -- >> what's changed in the atmosphere? >> the realists are gone. >> gene, what's changed in the atmosphere? >> a decade of war. a decade of war at enormous costs in blood and treasure. >> and barack obama, being in charge of the national security state now. that's another thing. >> that's another change. that gives them the political opening. i think that's an interesting fight within the party, because i think the balance has changed, has shifted on the question of intervention. >> you said in your notes -- >> not all the way. >> not all the way. do you think they're going to return to being a hawkish party? i think if obama doesn't attack iran, for example, they'll go

ferociously -- >> the gop is squarely in the neoconservative camp with maybe a toe in the realist camp. they'll find out a way to drown out rand paul at least in the conversation in washington in halls of power. coming up, mitt romney spoke at cpac but not before being slammed for not being conservative enough. we knew that was coming. so what is the gop's 2012 lesson? # also. republican senator rob portman used to oppose gay marriage until his son told him he was gay. until a personal issue came on, a family issue, he didn't have the same position. now portman has had a change of heart that all politics is local and as many people come out in terms of orientation, more americans will be accepting of same-sex marriage. plus, we know gop wants president obama to fail, will do

anything to make sure he fails that. and no new taxes is all they can really agree on. but why hasn't president obama offered the republicans a deal from his point of view? his version of a grand bargain? will it force the republicans to say no and walk away from the table? he han done that yet. donald trump tweeted yesterday, really big krourd expected at cpac. here's the really big crowd. this morning, an overflowing audience filled with empty chairs. that's hardball. we're playing it. this is the place for it. [ nyquil bottle ] you know i relieve coughs, sneezing, fevers... [ tylenol bottle ] me too! and nasal congestion. [ tissue box ] he said nasal congestion. yeah...i heard him. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't.

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>> of course, i left the race honored and humbled to have represented the values we

believe in and to speak for so many good and decent people. we've lost races before in the past. but those setbacks prepared us for larger victories. it's up to us to make sure that we learn from our mistakes and my mistakes and that we take advantage of that learning to make sure that we take back the nation. take back the white house, get the senate and put in place conservative principle. in his remarks he offered little by way of new advice beyond a general warning. he also told the crowd he was still optimistic about america. good to no, mr. romney. so is the republican candidate's window in the spotlight officially shut?

let me start with you. was this a good-bye, por was this a dt you're still with us. we like you. we lost a close one. he doesn't fit well with any of the clashing tv parties. and he proved he was incompetent candidate ultimately. i'm not sure they want him back. i think they like his money. and i think there is probably some affection for him, just as there was for losers like john kerry and al gore after they lost elections. john kerry would get cheered when we would show up among democrats after losing in 2004. more so than before.

>> where are these cheers for al gore? >> when he finally showed up to come out gns the iraq war, he was -- he was very much cheered. what do think? >> well, it was his swan song. there's no question about that. but he did do interesting things. he alluded to single moms who work two jobs. these are people he ignored during the presidential run up. maybe he is moving more moderate. trump is absurd. let me try something by you both. i don't know your politics. i don't know joe's. it's a little left to me.

but just a notch. let's take a look at this. is the big problem authenticity? i think he is interested in making money and occasionally teaching others how to do it. . he makes a lot of money and he wants to keep the american system very much like it was when he made all this money. it's pretty simple. and when he starts talking all the fill soft call beliefs these have showcased some awkward moments. full display last year. >> i fought against long odds in a deep blue state. but i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> those words do not strike me as awe they wantic.

severely conservative. what is that? painfully? >> he does what he has to do to win. i think obama wins with what he is. i think it's authenticity. he would say, i like being rich. i like the family i'm in. i like being a mormon. i don't like talking about this stuff. it's boring to me. his love of his family. his faith. his reverence for his dad who he disobeyed. her clearly loved his father.

you're right, when he talked about ideology, his issue, concerns, that all came up as a bit phony because he flip-flopped so many times on so many issues. the conservatives weren't buying it, either. >> joe, it was too little, too late when he finally did come out and talk about his family. >> so you agree with that. >> it was -- i do agree with you there. it was completely too late. if we had seen that personal side of him a lot earlier, we'd be talking to president romney. >> people running if office represent them who don't believe what they're saying. that's a big problem. you have to have an authentic person out there of the party position who comes from the philosophical base or it's never going to work. the american people get a lot of exposure to the candidates. they watch them week after week after week. >> they didn't want him in their living room. >> obama may not be the greatest president in history. going to see. yet to prove his second term yet. i'm not completely convinced we're going in the right direction right now.

i'm waiting for obama to come in with the log bam. thank you, laura ashburn and joe. we don't have you on enough. >> i'm here. >> well said. lauren, you're always great. up next, this year's must-have souvenirs for the right-winger in your family. this is "hardball." the place for politics. there is no mass produced human. so we created the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. a collection of innovations designed around a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the support your body needs - each of your bodies. you'll only find sleep number at one of our over

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ha! back to "hardball." now to the "sideshow." it's not often you can see the week in late night comedy was dominated by pope jokes. election of pope francis i inspired david letterman. >> number ten, "leviticus and shirley." number seven, "abstinence in the city." number five, "i dream of service." number three, "two and a half wise men." number two, "the big bang theory is a lie." and number one biblical television show, "bleep my god says." >> wow. i like "the big bang theory is a lie." no doubt thanks to georgia

congressman brown who said evolution and the big bang theory are lies from the pit of hell. that's what he said. now to the sights of cpac. as we've been discussing, there are many fashions of the republican party on the scene of cpac and some of the kiosks in the hallway tell the tale. catch these. a poster for the obama awareness campaign exposes radical agenda on your campus. a spread of pro-gun memorabilia. if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. this bizarre, i plead the second. well. then this non homage, wtf, how karl rove and the establishment lost again. and the scene from donald trump's speech this morning. let's just say, it wasn't standing room only. how about seating room plenty? here's a question. if it's a bad sign if you spend your cpac speech, is it, trying to point out what's craziest? enter wayne lapierre, ceo of the nra. >> if you're not free to protect

yourself when government puts its thumb on the freedom. they can call me crazy or anything else they want. and they say we're crazy? that's crazy. crazy. crazy. it's as if sanity, itself, has been sequestered in washington. >> crazy. that's the word he likes. that's what we're hearing. see what i mean? finally this week in conspiracy theories, is ben affleck a secret undercover government operative as in the present day version of character he played in movie "argo" that came out this year? the iranian government is not pleased with affleck's oscar winning movie which tells of the escape of six americans during the iranian hostage crisis. this week an iranian news agency gave an american conspiracy theorist a chance to discredit the movie. quote, if the makers of "argo" are deposed under oath, they may be forced to reveal their film

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