us rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. "hardball" starts now. obama drama. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. you know that scene in casa blancca when the captain shoots the nazi, and does the right thing by bergman, and says welcome back to the fight, rick. i felt that way today watching president obama get back to the front in the historic battle for gun safety. not biden, not bloomberg but the

twice elected leader of this country leading the charge for america to do the right thing, to measure up morally to the horror of newtown, connecticut. so i say it loudly and proudly, welcome back to the fight, mr. president. neil is here with us today, he lost his son, jesse in the newtown school shooting, with the organization mayors against illegal guns. today in d.c. for the national day to demand action. there they are. lori hoss is a member for the coalition to stop gun violence. she was standing behind the president today when she spoke. her daughter, emily, was shot and injured in the 2007 virginia tech massacre. both of you, thank you so much. thank you for coming on. what, this is an opportunity to talk to a lot of people out there in the country. let's look at the president first, neil. today president obama urged commitment to strengthening gun safety laws following newtown. let's listen to him. i'd like your reaction. >> i read an article in the news just the other day wondering is washington -- has washington

missed its opportunity because as time goes on, after newtown, somehow people start moving on and forgetting? let me tell you, the people here, they don't forget. the notion that two months or three months after something as horrific as what happened in newtown happens, and we moved on to other things? that's not who we are. less than 100 days ago, that happened. and the entire country was shocked. the entire country pledged we would do something about it and this time it would be different. shame on us if we've forgotten. i haven't forgotten those kids. shame on us if we've forgotten. >> neil, i've watched this president actually for years now. that sense of drama there.

that sense of pausing. dramatic pauses. how did you feel being with him? is it convincing? >> yes, it is. i feel the president is very committed to seeing a change and following through with it, continuously pushing to -- not to forget about what happened in newtown. >> what did he say to you alone backstage? did he talk to you separately from the camera? >> no, no. >> let me go to lori about this. when you saw this happen up there, connecticut, you lived through the tragedy down in virginia tech. these have become iconic events. >> absolutely. they're hard to stomach. they're hard to imagine and hard to live with and deal with. americans, in particular, mothers and fathers listen to the news coming out of newtown and said, not again, not our children. and we're not going to have this happen any longer. >> what's your reaction when you hear the nra people, like wayne lapierre on television? he's very skilled at demagoguery. whatever you want to call it. he's able to whip up fear on the

part of the gun owners that somehow there's going to be national registration, going to be national confiscation. everybody's coming into your closet, into your garage and we're going to get your gun and take it away. that's the way he sells. >> yes. but he speaks to a very small percentage of the population. americans understand this issue. they understand background checks are going to stop criminals. dangerous people, those who have been adjudicated, mentally ill. we're going after the illegal gun market. we're not going after law-abiding citizens or gun owners. we're demanding action. there are over hundreds and hundreds of actions taking place today across america. we're going to get this done and the president is going to help us. >> neil, what would be enough? >> well, i feel there needs to be a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. those were the main components that have been used in the most of the mass killings and mass shootings. >> yeah. >> they don't have a place on the streets. they don't have a place in our schools. and i just want to see that this

doesn't happen to another family or another parent, what i'm going through and what newtown is going through. >> i can see. doesn't go away, does it? >> it's never going to go away. >> let's take a look at the president again today. he reinforced the point that the time for action on gun safety is now. let's listen to obama. >> tears aren't enough. expressions of sympathy aren't enough. speeches aren't enough. now's the time to turn that heartbreak into something real. it won't solve every problem. there will still be gun deaths. there will still be tragedies. there will still be violence. there will still be evil. we can make a difference if not just the activists herehe gener including responsible gun owners say, you know what, we can do better than this. >> lori, what do you make of a politician out there basically saving his butt? voting the cautious way or planning to? because they don't believe

30-round clips. they can't believe in semiautomatic weapons. they don't use them or know anybody who does. they know the wackos on the far nra right will use any slippery slope argument to sell fear. >> i think they're pandering to the wrong people in this country. they're pandering to a very small narrow group of people. >> why? >> they don't have the numbers we do. i don't understand. >> every one of these polls is on your side, speciespecially a the tragedy up there. they don't want gun shows, backroom sales, illegal trafficking, second-hand purchases. none of this sounds or smells right to most people. why would you want a nut to have a gun, a criminal to have a gun, a wife beater to have a gun? >> i think our politicians are listening. whether they're going to do the right thing remains to be seen. we're going have a vote. it's going to count. america is watching, listening, waiting and learning who is doing the wright thing aright t thing. moms in particular are angry, upset, demanding action.

enough is enough in this area and we're going to talk to our politicians. we're not going away. >> you're doing it right now. president obama referenced a new "washington post" poll just out that has support for background checks at 91%. hardly anything gets 91%. apple pie is probably in the 0 80%s. to hold their representatives accountable. here's the president again today. >> how often do 90% of americans agree on everything? it never happens. many other reforms are supported by clear majorities of americans. and i ask every american to find out where your member of congress stands on these ideas. if they're not part of that 90% who agree that we should make it harder for a criminal or somebody with a severe mental illness to buy a gun, then you should ask them, why not? why are you part of the 10%? >> you know, neil, when we go through 9/11, say to myself,

every time somebody said, how would this stop this from happening the first time? a lot of these guys were on the watch list. they didn't even enforce the law. when you think about the horror that happened to your family here, you lost your son, do you sense anything that would really work? >> it's not one change that's going to make a difference. it's several things. and society has to change. as i keep saying, it's not about the second amendment. it's about banning one type of weapon that doesn't belong in the hands of civilians. it belongs in the battlefield or the military. if the magazines that were used in sandy hook elementary held ten rounds instead of 30, there would have been more survivors. maybe my son would have been alive today. >> nine magazines were on the

ground there. >> that's correct. >> he shot, what, 258 rounds? >> i believe it was 150. >> 150. i'm sorry. 158. and that's like a couple of seconds. >> less than five minutes. >> yeah. a normal person with a pistol wouldn't have -- >> no. >> -- done anything like that. >> no, they wouldn't have. >> today mayor bloom bugbergloor against illegal guns released a television ad featuring family members of those killed at sandy hook elementary. it will air in connecticut, of course. here's part of the ad. >> she just wanted to teach little kids. and that was her goal. and she died doing it. wonderful. >> that was the last i ever saw jesse alive. >> i want to prevent any other family from having to go through what we're going through. >> don't let the memory of newtown fade without doing something real. >> demand action now. >> the nra is running robo calls

for the automatic calls, electronic calls that come on. you get them sometimes with telemarketing. they're trying to sell to the gun rights crowd. they're selling them right there. the robo calls. >> i respect the fact to do that, but i think it's totally disrespectable what they're doing in newtown. >> why are they doing it in newtown when they know they're not going to change any minds? i hate to use a high school term, are they rubbing it in? are they adding insult to injury here? what is the nra up to running ads in the very victimized town with the parents there? robo calls. >> it's disgusting. many of their tactics are disgusting. it's unacceptable and i don't quite get what they're doing. i can't -- that's the piece i don't understand, you know, they consider themselves a political powerhouse and they're not. they made misstep after misstep after misstep in the wake of the newtown shootings and, you know, frank frankly, their numbers are going down. i think they're getting desperate and their actions are desperate. that is an indication of how

they feel. >> on this issue, write your congressman. this is one that's not about politics, left/right. tell the people why they should write their congressman. >> thank you. they need to write their congressman because we are the moral majority on this. we are the majority on this. there may be, you know, purported to be 4 million members of the nra, but there are 300 million americans who are with neil and with me and with other's parents who want to keep our community safe, our schools safe. so write your congressman, let him know how you feel. we need to demand action. >> that's what they're asking, neil. of course, lori, thank you for coming. you have a phone, right, call up your senator or congressman. 202-224-3121. 202-224-3121. call directly assistance. ask for the united states capitol and get ahold of the person who represents you. if you're one of the 91 0 %, get him or her to represent you. want to know why gun safety

advocates are intent on the size of gun magazines? we learned adam lanza fired 155 4 in less than five minutes. how many more children would be alive today if he didn't have the 30-round magazines? nine of the 30-round magazines were found at the crime scene. however the supreme court rules on this week's gay marriage case, the republican party is in big trouble. stand in the doorway hollering, no, say good-bye to an entire generation of americans. or risk losing their loyal supporters, the evangelical base? here's my take on ashley judd. it says to me democrats think they have a chance of knocking off that guy, mcconnell, and don't want to blow it with a political amateur. mcconnell is the rick santorum of 2014. the republican democrats most want to knock out of there. let me finish with a chance to take on mitch mcconnell. it looks like it's happening. this is "hardball." the place for politics. otherworldly things. but there are some things i've never seen before.

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welcome back to "hardball." after two days of arguments at the supreme court over gay marriage, the one thing most opponents and supporters around the country seem to agree on is that marriage equality is inevitable eventually. and that includes, believe it or not, the rushbo, rush limbaugh. >> folks, the bottom line is all of this is academic. this is going to happen, whether it happens now at the supreme court or somehow later. it is -- it is going to happen. it's just the direction the culture is heading. there is hardly any opposition

to this. the opposition is that you would suspect exists is in the process of crumbling on it. >> i'm not sure crumble is the right word, rush. anyway, while most democrats have come to embrace the reality of gay marriage, republicans remain divided on strategy. many party leaders are urging a truce, actually, put up the white flag, but for social conservatives the issue is still red hot. this week those voices were out with a vengeance. pat robertson made it clear he wasn't evolving on the issue. >> marriage, ladies and gentlemen, has been foundation of our society, and now it's under attack. a few people want to have their way of doing sex affirmed by everybody else. and they say it's homophobia to believe that a marriage between a man and a woman is sanctioned by god. god is not a homophobe. god is almighty. he is in charge of the world. this is the way he made it. >> a graduate of yale law right

there, by the way. the conservative blogger erick erickson, real man of the right tweeted today, "you're not loving your neighbor when you're cool with him staying on the road to hell." dr. ben carson, a neurosurgeon, who has attacked president obama's health care law, is getting some attention as a potential 2016 republican contender for the white house, of course. he had this to say about gay marriage. >> no group, be they gays, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn't matter what they are, they don't get to change the definition. so it's not something that's against gays. >> well, dr. carson is a good guy, but that is way off the bite. anyway, the party's bright new star there is comparing people -- consenting adult relationships to nanbla which is about predatory people, an advocating group that pushes for sex with children and also talking about bestiality there. sam stein is with the

"washington post." and michael crowley of "time" this week's cover, two guys kiss, an alternative position of two women. who are you doing with this magazine? why this week after all this time of being tame "time"? >> we had a breast-feeding cover that caused a stir a year ago. our covers have been wonderfully provocative. why now? the point of the story is, however the court rules, we have reached, we have crossed a cultural rubicon. >> dr. carson, they're comparing a gay loving relationship between two adults with animal sex, with whatever, with predatory or whatever. >> i thought it was pretty unfortunate and foolish. i would say of all people, justice sotomayor, i was at the arguments two days ago. justice sotomayor asked charles cooper, the lawyer who was defending proposition 8. she was kind of playing devil's

advocate here, a thought experiment saying if we opened marriage to same-sex couples, why not incest, why not polygamy? she was asking ted olson this. ted olson says because there's a difference between conduct that the government can regulate and have popinions about and classe of people. the government can say, there are certain forms of marriage that involve specific conduct that we have deemed harmful to society that we can sanction. so it's not like he's come up with this point no one has thought of before and perfectly logical one. i think the way he presents it is actually not only offensive to a lot of people but harmful to his party because it perpetuates the idea this is an intolerant prejudice party. >> there's something about the right. gay people can't afford to evolve, they are. even gay groups i worked with 15, 20 years ago would say, let's not push the marriage thing. the awkwardness of the republican party, as a political thing, which we talk about here, when you say marriage is a

relationship between one man and one woman, why don't they say a man and woman? it's by definition singular. they don't even know how to talk about this. why would you be so weird as to say a marriage between one man? just say a man and a woman. why don't they say it that way? >> the precise point -- >> why are they talking so weird? >> partially because they want to implant this image of a polygamist society. >> who's pushing for polygamy? >> no one. these are rhetorical questions. no one is pushing for polygamy. >> conservatives are pushing for the idea of polygamy to scare people. >> your point of the awkwardness in the republican party, i was talking to john feehery, friend of the show, his quote was, our best bet is to talk about something else. you know, obviously, there's still a big chunk of the party that feels very strongly about traditional marriage and they're going to have their voices heard. >> sounds like oscar wilde line which i'm not going to repeat. that whole idea of just change the subject. let's take a look at this. the great reincen priebus urged

members of his party to change their tone if not actual policies when it comes to the gay community. he said when it comes to issues like abortion and gay marriage, "i always tell people listen to governor mike huckabee. i don't know anyone that talks about them any better." well, he might want to give a little more thought to that. in an interview with a right wing news group website, huckabee had a warning for his party. listen to what the former governor said. he says, when asked whether he could foresee the republican party shifting its position on gay marriage, he had this response. >> they might, and if they do, they're going to lose a large part of their base because evangelicals will take a walk. i recognize the culture is moving away from the traditional standard. but it's almost like saying, well, we have a basketball team and nobody on the team, or very few, can actually hit the goal that's ten feet off the floor. so we're going to lower the goal down to six feet. that way everybody can slam dunk ball. so the question, have you

improved your basketball game? or have you actually just changed the standard so it looks like you're doing better? >> well, at least there wasn't a very offensive metaphor, but i don't think it would offend anybody saying the basketball hoop has to be lower. he's really talking about his values which is fair enough. set your own values, you live by them. but huckabee is talking about a walkout. that's when i get interested. i keep thinking back when i hear walkout to 1948 when strom thurmond led the dixiecrats out of the convention. what happens is the democratic party did fine but the dixiecrats went off and ended up being republicans. >> in this case i think what would hop, imagine the evang evangelicals out of the process in the 2012 republican primaries. what you wind up with is mitt romney is the nominee. >> this is good for christie. >> it's great for christie. >> tyou end up with a mitt romny not pushed to the right on social issues. that might very well be good for the republican party. >> maybe we're overstating the

influence because mitt romney was the nominee. yes, he did get push. he ended up being the nominee. >> a lot of people listened to religion on the radio and ev evangelic evangelical, live in towns that are largely baptist, a lot of diversity. they might be happy to two away from politics. >> we need to understand there's a big libertarian strand taking over the republican party. they're more comfortable with states having the right to choose what they do with marriage. >> i'm talking about the evan l evangelical base. they all voted for carter. remember '76? they all shifted over to reagan. >> i understand. i do think they still matter. i'm not downplaying -- what i meant by bringing up libertarians -- >> who's bigger? libertarians or christians? >> the moneyed interests in the republican ranks is increasingly pro gay marriage. look what happened in new york state when they legalized gay marriage. >> the core of the party is wall

street republicanism and radical small government republicanism. the social issues and even the military hawk wings of the party have been marginalized. look at the thing priebus and the rnc put out last week. day were throwing the social conservatives overboard on gay marriage. >> i know it's regular, oldtime politics. i check the party platforms. everybody says nobody pay attention. you know who pays attention? people who write them. reince priebus, all over the place, isn't backing away from his party's position there should be a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. the "national review" interviewed priebus and said, yes, we still defend our platform on marriage and said republicans must sound reasonable to voters who disagree. here's jon stewart having fun with that hypocrisy this week. stewart is brilliant. >> rnc chairman, reince priebus, what was the cause of death? >> the way we communicate our

principles isn't resonating wide enough. it all goes back to what our moms used to tell us. it's not just what you say, it's how we say it. >> so a 100-page report to reassure republicans they don't need to change what they are saying, just how they are saying it. remember, when you tell a gay person that their love is is too unnatural for society to recognize, smile. >> isn't that the problem? >> i think so. they're focused on marketing. if the republican party comes out with a platform, a plank in in that says we want a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, is it going to kill them? >> well, it ties into a larger problem this party has which is that they're intolerant and out of touch. i mean, immigration -- >> otherwise they're great. >> immigration has a similar issue. >> michael, you nailed it. >> okay. thank you. >> intolerant and out of touch. >> i slam dunked on the six foot high basket. >> a new basketball game there.

thank you, mike crowley, sam stein. up next, stephen colbert and the rest of the big winners from this week's action on marriage equality at the supreme court. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪

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[ male announcer ] share what you love with who you love. kellogg's frosted flakes. they're gr-r-eat! back to "hardball." now to the sideshow. this week's oral arguments on gay marriage in the supreme court created real winners. first the signs out there in front of the court. in the crowd of people outside the court, it took creativity for a voice to stick out. i like the young lady with this one. this sign says "would you rather i marry your boyfriend?" think that went through. next, the moment when skim milk became the new broccoli. during the supreme court hearings on health care, justice scalia asked if the individual mandate was like forcing people to buy broccoli. well, yesterday another healthy option entered the equation. here's justice ginsburg responding to an argument she felt downplayed the benefits of

marriage. >> it affects every area of life, and so he was really diminishing what the state has said is marriage. you're saying, no, state said two kinds of marriages, the full marriage and then the sort of skim milk marriage. >> well, the skim milk marriage. slate.com responded to ginsburg on twitter. "this is probably what justice ginsburg had in mind, two sad looking cartens of skim milk next to a far more cheerful whole milk version." late night comedians like steve colbert. >> it's looking more and more like the supreme court is deciding -- that's okay with people. sometimes i feel like i'm the only one holding this country together. i used to think i had a life partner in bill o'reilly, but last night, even papa bear let

me down. >> the compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals. that's where the compelling argument is. we're americans. we just want to be treated like everybody else. i don't feel wrongly about it one way or another. >> bill o'reilly doesn't feel strongly about something? >> what's happening! >> these guys are great. anyway, next, nancy pelosi thinks it's paul clamente having a rough go of it who defended doma, defense of marriage act, on behalf of the house republicans. >> what was really interesting to me was to hear clemente, the spokesperson for doma, what a -- what a stale role to play in life, but nonetheless. >> i think clement, making the case for doma, is going to get out of this thing good no matter what he's on the right side or the wrong.

finally, no matter which side of the debate you're on, some arguments don't hold water like this one from a speaker at the national organization of marriage. it was at that event. >> when a man and a woman are in the house, poverty is lessened. when a man and a woman are in the house, kids don't go to prison. when a man and a woman are in the house, there's less domestic violence. when a man and a woman are in the house, sexual abuse does not happen. >> i think he's overselling his case just a bit. none of that bad stuff ever happens in a straight marriage? yeah, right. anyway, up next, can the democrats take down mitch mcconnell in kentucky? this is going to be fun. he's the guy the dems, of course, want to beat more than anyone else. we'll see if they can, if the smart moves are coming their way. anyway, "hardball," the place for politics, back after this. al the allergy muddlers. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word...

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i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap. the dow gains 52 points to log its strongest quarter in 15 years. up more than 11%. the s&p finishes at an all-time high. the nasdaq notches its fifth straight monthly gain. the number of americans filing for first-time jobless benefits rose more than expected last week up 16,000 to 357,000 overall. and the economy expanded at a 0.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2011. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball."

wouldn't just be a pickup for democrats, it would be a huge symbolic victory, unseating republican leader mitch mcconnell last year in the kentucky senate race. republicans faced a similarly juicy prospect in 2010 when trying to defeat democratic leader harry reid. the result, tea partyer sharron angle became a momry of a candidate talking about second amendment -- sharia law, went down in bad defeat. watch democrats move heaven and earth to unseat the senator they see now as their chief obstructionist. let's talk about it. we have two smart guys here. former democratic governor of pennsylvania, the great ed rendell, republican consultant, john feehery. governor rendell, what do you make of this decision -- you know the clintons pretty well. is this a smart move to basically make moves to avoid being bad candidates? even if you like them like ashley judd? >> well, i like ashley judd, and she would have been a refreshing presence in the senate, but i think it's good that she's not running because what republicans would have done down in kentucky

is made her the issue. a hollywood elite. someone who doesn't have any background in government, someone who plays with government. all of that would have been unfair, but it could have been a factor. we want to make the issue mitch mcconnell. the number one obstructionist to getting things done in washington. the guy who said the indefensible statement that our number one priority is making barack obama a one-term president. no, senator, your number one priority was jobs for the american people. you got it wrong and don't deserve to be re-elected. >> you just -- the governor just anticipated my entire closing statement tonight. but that's the whole question. >> sorry. >> how can you defend mcconnell if his number one goal is nemesis? he wanted to be a nemesis to president obama. is it party for party leaders to influence like bill clinton did, influence the direction of the nomination candidate? >> these days if you're a washington candidate in a primary, it can be very prop t

problematic. if you get too much washington all over it, it becomes a real problem. >> what about bill clinton support? >> i'm talking about the republican primary. the democratic primary might be different. if you're a bill clinton person -- >> i hate to break it to you. >> -- you're going to get a lot of money. >> you could knock off harry reid with sue laden, a former tv anchorwoman, middle of the road or reasonably conservative. sharron angle you let get the -- >> harry reid did everything he could to get sharron angle elected. >> he knocked off sue lauden. >> that's another way to win. anyway, the democratic senatorial campaign committee is at work taking on mcconnell. this is part of a new kentucky radio ad playing off march madness, playing off the basketball games. let's listen to the democrats' argument here. >> and we're back. it's tournament time but senator mcconnell is playing for the washington special interests against kentucky. >> kentucky's trying to move up, trying to provide assistance for

workers who lost their jobs. >> they're blocked by mcconnell who scored big for himself for nearly 30 years, voting for congressional pay raises and special interest perks. >> oh, that's a bracket buster. >> it's so corny, governor. that ad is so corny. why don't they run rick pettino against this guy from louisville? >> no, seriously, chris, as john said, it's very difficult to be a washingtonian insider these days and run for office. you can bring that stuff up, the pay raises, increases, the health care. it's very difficult. mitch mcconnell is going to be on the defensive. that's what we wanted this election to be all about. which is why it's a good thing that ashley judd didn't run. >> you've been able to -- you're an independent voice up in pennsylvania all those elections. nra, if you're a republican, should they be married to the

nra or do a sister soldier like bill clinton did, second-hand purchases, background checks, in the rightward direction. should they at sam point break with the nra and say we're not the hand of the national rifle association? >> the issue they should do it on is background checks. 90% of the american people are for background checks. the nra is against it. nra members, 70%, are for it. republicans should stand up and say, look, i like the nra, but they're wrong on this one, i'm for background checks. that enhances your standing among voters. >> let me tell you -- >> yeah, go ahead, governor. >> no, i was going to say, if pat toomey, take pat toomey, good guy, and you and i both like pat toomey personally. if he votes to continue the -- if he supports a filibuster that stops background checks from getting to the floor for a vote, it will be at his immense peril,

krir chris, his immense peril. pat toomey should say, i agree with the president one way, they deserve a vote and i'm voting to end the filibuster. >> i wish toomey would support that monument in shanksville where the plane was brought down because the americans had the guts to take on the terrorists. that's where i disagree with him. on this issue, let's get back to this issue. is your party smart to become the gun party? are you smart to be the gun party? >> i think what the party has done is let harry reid decide what he's going to do and they're going to play this -- they're not going to be either part of it. they're going to say, listen, we'll take a look, see what the democrats come up with. i think they've been skillful, putting my political hat on, i think in some states -- >> let me get down to -- you're so much smarter than you act here sometimes. pat meehan running in the suburbs of philly, doesn't he have to break at that point? >> i think for pat meehan --

>> these are tough, aren't they? >> they are tough. state to state, as a party, the republican party has handled it pretty well. >> how about, governor, you going to have the gay community and liberals on the issue of marriage moving permanently to the democratic party on the issue of same-sex marriage? with the republicans, we watched reince priebus, he says they're going to keep the platform, the plank in pushing for a ban on same-sex. >> yeah, i have no idea what they're doing, chris. i'm glad they're doing it, but i have no idea why they're doing it. they should absolutely say that this is an issue of civil rights, just like remember we used to ban interracial marriage most of the states banned interracial marriage? it was overturned because it was an equal protection argument. it's an equal protection argument. get as far away from it as you can, the republican party, start having modern voices, john mccain and others speak out and say, look, we should put an end to this. >> well, bill o'reilly is being agnostic about this now and rush limbaugh says the fight's over. what do you make of that?

still fighting the good fight, jerry? >> where are you? >> i'm evolving. i think gay marriage is different than traditional marriage. >> i thought you guys didn't believe in evolution. >> i believe in evolution. >> you're a moderate republican. >> i am a moderate. first of all, i want to say one thing, rick pettino is probably going to vote for mitch mcconnell. >> paterno was a republican, too. thank you, john feehery. i'm not so sure about toomey. i guess you like him. up next, we learned today the newtown gunman fired -- this is terrible -- 154 rounds in five minutes. why does anybody need that kind of firepower? how many kids would be alive if he didn't have that 30-round magazine? nine of them hit the floor. he was shooting all nine rounds. 9 times 30. anyway, this is the place for politics. we're right back.

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. and we are back. today we learned chilling new day tails about adam lanza who went on a killing rampage and claimed the lives of 20 children and six teachers and educators at sandy hook elementary in newtown, connecticut. lanza fired 154 bullets killing those innocent people in less than five minutes. that means he fired roughly one bullet every two seconds. investigators say he brought nine 30-round magazines with him and three completely full magazines were found on lanza

after he killed himself and at the shooter's home. they found a holiday card from nancy lanza with a check in it for her son to buy a gun. there's a lot more found in this home. we're joined by michael isakoff in dan bury, connecticut. just report all that we've learned today. >> reporter: pretty chilling stuff, chris. actually, it was a total of ten 30-round high-capacity rounds at the magazine. one on him and three of them empty, by the way. which means he fired all of those rounds. that's how you get up to 154 in less than five minutes. then you go to his house. another vast array of weaponry, two rifles, a pistol, i didn't mention the loaded 12-gauge shotgun in the car. in addition, more than a thousand rounds of ammunition in

the house. three samurai swords, a sphere. just an amazing arsenal of weapons, a lot of gun paraphernalia, gun magazines, you know, gun literature. he was clearly much more obsessed and a part of the gun culture than i think any of us appreciated before. you put that together with some of the other information that's in these search warrants, the fb iwitness who describes lanza being an avid video gamer who is a shut-in at the house, rarely left the house and at the sandy hook elementary school where we know he once went was described as his life. that is a 20-year-old kid still obsessing about his elementary school, something clearly

happened at that school. one other part of our reporting, which i should mention, it's not in the search warrants because they are still very heavily redacted. there's a lot of information that they have not made public but we did report on this morning on the "today" show that he had been meticulously collecting mass shooting printouts of mass shootings dating back years, one that he was particularly obsessed with was the shooting in norway, the guy who killed 77 people in july of 2011. so clearly a very disturbed kid, somebody who was, as i said, steeped in the gun culture. but the big question, what triggered the rage? nothing that i've seen in all the documents that have come out yet explains that.

that's still a big mystery here. >> tell us about the mother who was -- he shot in the face and the gift she gave him and her connection. what do we know now about -- by the way, that's a beautiful home and i noticed the christmas trimmings were up, even in early december, and yet she apparently had a gift in mind for him, a gun. >> reporter: right. well, look, we have known for some time that she bought the guns that he used, that she took him to shooting ranges, some of her friends have said that she hoped somehow that spending time with guns would make him more responsible, would give him a sense of responsibility that he didn't seem to have. she was from new hampshire, she grew up in the gun culture herself. but i think at some point, given the mental problems that we know he did have, i think a lot of people have raised questions

about why you would push a son who was having the kind of troubles that he had to use guns to the extent that she did. she's not alive, we can't ask her the questions and we certainly can't ask him. so we don't really know. >> right. >> reporter: we do know that he got the guns from the vault where she kept the guns. he apparently knew the combination to the lock. the lock was opened and then of course the mother was the first victim. >> michael, thank you, buddy. great reporting from danbury, connecticut, nbc's michael isakoff. when we return, a real opportunity to take on mitch mcconnell. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above,

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let me finish tonight with this. mitch mcconnell deserves a lot of things for his performance these past years for setting as his top priority the destruction of a presidency, for conniving to destroy the affordable care act. one thing he deserves is a popular opponent next year. this isn't a contest the democrats would lose by default. therefore, as much as i like her as a performer, i'm glad that ashley judd decided not to run as a candidate. it's the incumbent and i wanted it to be the negative nasty performance of one mitch mcconnell. i want the people of kentucky to ha a