wagner, joining me today, political editor and white house correspondent at the "huffington post," msnbc contributor, sam stein. buzz feed white house correspondent evan mcmorris santoro. distinguished senior fellow bob herbert and political white house reporter, carrie brown. president obama is en route to florida right now. but unlike congress, this is no spring break. the president will be at the pore of miami pushing for more infrastructure spending, an idea that economists argue would promote growth but it remains anathema to the republican party. yesterday speaker john boehner sent a memo to his members, declaring victory four months after the republican vision of the american economy was rejected by voters. boehner wrote, five years of the obama presidency has proven we cannot borrow and spind our way back to prosperity. there should be no doubt that our purpose in calling for a balanced budget is a noble one

and the right one. david axelrod, speaking to alex wagner last night, dismissed boehner's claim of intrance intelligence as an achievement. >> people want to see problems addressed. and i think to boast that you're successful in slowing down the process in blocking progress, is not a winning strategy. no matter how many times you flash a victory sign. next wednesday the president will travel to colorado to keep up the pressure on another policy priority, gun safety. yesterday he issued an emotional call to action while surrounded by mothers who have lost children to gun violence. but on the conservative right, this, too, is falling on deaf ears. with harry reid set to bring a gun reform bill to the floor next month, a group of senators is vowing to filibuster. senator marco rubio yesterday and today, senator jim inhov.

of wayne lapierre and the growing number of right wing senators, background checks are the government's cover for national registry and ultimately a gun-grab. we're talking about background checks, with nine out of 10 americans support. >> none of these ideas should be controversial. why wouldn't we want to make it more difficult for a dangerous person to get his or her hand on a gun. right now, 90% of americans, 90% support background checks that will keep criminals and people who have been found to be a danger to themselves or others from buying a gun. how often do 90% of americans agree on anything? >> now it can't be said enough, 90% is a tremendous overwhelming majority. and yet, it's one that right-wing republicans continue to ignore. i want to start, want to go to evan first as our newest member of the panel. we'll let you speak up first.

the president is out there talking about all of these issues, whether it's immigration or gun safety. or infrastructure spending like he's doing in miami. by the way, something the governor, the republican tea party governor of florida wants, which is investments in the port of miami. but does he have a partner in the republican party? is there anyone in the party who is willing to negotiate with this president on anything? >> i think you can tell that he thinks he needs to go to the people that's why he's going on the road, talking directly to the people. he's thinking if he can build up a certain amount of public support, public pressure on congress, they might act. on the other hand, he does seem to think that there's some republicans he can work with. he's going to dinner again with some republican senators on i think april 10th. the day the budget comes out. they'll have dinner and i guess that is going to solve a lot of problems -- >> or not. >> it depends. >> sam, i've been one of the real skeptics on the whole idea of dinner as a way of negotiating with the republican party if you eat with them, share a nice grilled salmon, suddenly they'll want to work with him.

there's a great book, the draper book that came out in 2009. that talked about the 2009 inauguration this is the night when president obama had high approval ratings, even some republicans had goodwill toward him. that night, the young guns in the republican party were meeting to plan not how to deal with the president, work with him, they were planning on how to totally obstruct everything he planned to do, ever. >> the problem was obama didn't eat with him on that night, that was the problem. i'm sort of with you on this one. i feel like these dinners are, they probably have some point i don't think they're going to solve everything. i do think we're in sort of the throw everything against the wall phase of trying to reach a bipartisan solution with congress. where he's willing to campaign, objectively, go down to florida. push his agenda publicly. and also, schmooze behind the scenes with republicans. i don't think it's going to work. the gun debate is sort of this great example of what the is i

tractableness of the republican party. even if you distill is down a little more, 50% of the national support for national gun registry. we're, it's going to be difficult to see any action on this. if that's the case, then we have a real problem with the political system. not what we're ordering at dinner with our republican or fellow republican members. >> or who's paying for it. >> right, right. bob, there's bane lot, there was criticism from out of the gate of the president from the left where people saying you know he's trying too hard to curry favor with the republicans. he's not fighting for his priorities. now you see the president using a full-court press and he's still not getting anywhere. doesn't this just prove that it isn't what the president is doing, it's him. the republicans are responding to something about him that they just don't want to work with? >> i think that obama never acknowledged that the republicans are really the enemy of him, his presidency, and his

administration. the "times" had an editorial this morning about the terrible trouble he's getting his cabinet members, judges and others confirmed by the senate. it's historic, the opposition that the republicans are throwing out. >> to your point, let me read a little from that op-ed you were talking about. earlier this month during one of his new across-the-aisle goodwill tours, president obama pleaded with senate republicans to ease up on their record number of filibusters of his nominees. he may have been, may as well have been talking to one of the statues in the capital. rbs have no interest in dropping their favorite past-time, but democrats could put a stop to it by changing the rules. the idea is it isn't even the rules, it's them. >> i thought it made sense right after he was elected the first time to try to reach across the aisle. that was the theme of his entire campaign. pretty soon it became clear that there was never going to be any, any give on, in terms of give

and take on the part of the republicans. after a while, he needed, he and the democrats not just obama, needed to go after this party and make it clear that they are obstructionists, that they are harming working people. they're harming the middle class, they're harming the poor and that's never occurred. >> another example of this, carrie. jonathan bernstein in the "washington post" had a piece that sums up my feelings probably about this. but this is what he wrote -- he said the truth is that the house of representatives, which is the chief sort of opponents of the obama agenda, right now appear to be both in capable of legislating and not interested in it either. the only thing to do is put the democrats back in the majority or find a different set of republicans. the problem is a broken republican party this party and this president will never be able to negotiate no matter how much they eat together. >> the conversation around a lot of these big issues in washington, budget or immigration or gun control, the real negotiating between the white house and congress is with

the senate. and i think it's a reflection of how exasperated the white house is with the intractability of the house republican leadership. i think it goes issue by issue in terms of in some ways the cooperation in washington. you're really seeing quite a remarkable process on the immigration issue with the senate. that can't be discounted in terms of folks, democrats and republicans looking to get together and try to do something. however its a very clear message that's being sent to the white house that's -- don't interfere too much in this. that goes to your point. >> don't put any "obama" on it. then it may work out. >> sam, i go back to my skepticism. carrie talks about much of the negotiating happening in the senate. the senate is becoming more like the house, you have people like marco rubio tracking way to the right on guns. and the senate is actually, the people most active in the senate on the republican side are not that much different than the people in the house. >> that's a good point. you have these, and they've been elected essentially to do that on a promise to do what you just

described. and you know, this junction they're not big enough in numbers to have that much of an impact on the agenda. so much as the rhetoric, obviously we saw rand paul's filibuster was the most notable instance. but you know, i think carrie's right we have are to give the senate a little credit on the immigration front especially because they are trying to work a major piece of legislation, which would be an historic piece of legislation, if it were to pass. there are people hopeful about gun reform in the senate. whatever is proposed it all goes back to what happens in the house, we do have a bicameral congress. because if they produce something wonderfully comprehensive on immigration, who's to say that john boehner will take it up the next day. i think we're sort of delaying the question by putting it off on the senate for now. >> we're going to talk about immigration, you're my psychic friend. >> i read the script before coming on the show.

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with lawmakers on a two-week break, president obama has turned his attention back to one of his top domestic policy goals -- immigration reform. >> i think we've seen enormous progress over the last month and a half. i think both sides, democrats and republicans have been very serious about negotiations. i'm very actually very optimistic that when they

return, in early april, that we'll see a bill ready to move through the process. >> the president's optimism was shared by four members of the senate's immigration gang of eight. who toured the u.s./mexico border wednesday and gave an update on their progress. >> in the last several years, we've made improvements on the border. the border is still not in many areas as secure as we want it to be. >> bottom line is, we're very close. eye say you know, you know, we're 90% there. we have a few little problems to work on. we've been on the phone all day talking to our other four colleague who is aren't here. we're very hopeful that we'll meet our deadline. >> on fox, house majority leader, eric cantor stressed border security while sounding cautiously opt mifltic about an agreement. >> we've got to make sure that border security is, is being implemented. that the law does start at our borders. and in weighing these two things, i think that we can come to some agreement.

>> so you think immigration reform is possible? >> in some way, i believe that we can work together to do something on this matter. >> but the number one obstacle to a deal isn't border security, but rather a dispute between the business community and organized labor over a temporary worker program. at issue, immigrant wages. bloomberg's margaret carlson sums up the dispute, writing democrats are willing to accept guest workers, they're asking that foreign, low-skilled workers be paid wages above the median hourly wage so employers have an incentive to hire domestic workers first. what republicans are saying, if we can't pay them less, what's the point? the president, who didn't mention a guest worker program when he laid out his immigration goals in january, acknowledged the impasse. >> there are still some areas like the one you mentioned about the future flow of guest workers. and labor and businesses. may not always agree exactly on how to do it.

>> alaska's congressman at large, don young is in hot water for these unbelievable you have to hear it to believe it comments on an alaska radio station. >> my father had a ranch, we used to hire 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes. you know, it takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. it's all done by machine. >> that prompted the following apology. >> i used the term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in central california. i know that this term is not used in the same way now a days and i meant no disrespect. and with that, joining the panel now is msnbc contributor and latino contributor, raul reyes. he said it's not used in the same way now a days, that term. >> well you know what -- >> i guess what he's saying is that now a days we don't say it openly. like maybe people did back in the day. but the fact is as we know, that has always been a pejorative term. i can tell you even now in 2013,

it's offensive obviously to all latinos. what many people like representative may not realize, he's thinking he's just sliding these workers, these migrants. it's a slight to all hispanics. i can assure you latinos whether in the barrio or board room. we've all heard those types of slurs, did he not get that gop memo about how the party is going to be inclusive? >> are you kidding me? people don't listen to raince priebus? isn't this the core of the problem? the republican party understands they have to do something on immigration reform. just to have hispanic borders be open to them. but the problem is, they keep talking. members of their party keep speaking. isn't that the problem? >> exactly, that is the problem. they seem to have so much difficulty adapting, wrapping their mind around the fact that this country is changing. that you know, the face of this country is changing. all and many cases it's changing faster. and on many issues, than they're prepared to accept. but reality is reality.

for the good of their parents, not to mention themselves and our civil discourse, they need to get with the program. >> i want to read a quote by jonathan chait, he wrote about this debate in new york magazine. he said the immigration debate, more than the immigration bill is what republican leaders fear. the pros pac-10 that even a few poorly crafted comments will come to define the party's true beliefs. so bob, isn't that the issue? that they can be said all of their progress on trying to get a bill can be set back by one crazy comment? >> exactly. the fundamental problem with the gop is if you look at the memo that went around, which made sense, the problem with that, it's a political memo. it's not something that the party believes in. the party does not -- the party does not really want to embrace latinos any more than they want to embrace african-americans. other ethnic minorities. and you know, that is going to come through. so that it gets to your point about the fact that, they may want a bill but they don't want a debate. >> isn't part of it, sam i want to talk a little bit about the republican base.

this is great story about lindsay graham, going home and trying to talk about immigration reform and i'll read a little bit of it. it's just after lunchtime at the lexington, south carolina chix fillet. and steven lewis is giving u.s. senator lindsay graham a piece of his mind about undocumented immigrants. why can't they understand the word "illegal" lewis, a 72-year-old retired marine asks graham. they're not undocumented workers, they're inlegal folks in this country, if you're illegal in this country doing anything, you should be punished backing that up, is a poll that says half of americans say immigrants strengthen the u.s. with their hard work. isn't the problem that whatever the republican elite say, they've got this base to deal with? >> i think the problem is there's two types of republican party. there's the national republican party which looks at 2012 and says, oh, my god we have a huge demographic a on our hands if we ever want to win a presidential election again, we need to wake up to this reality and you have

the base sort of local republican party. which goes home to their districts which have been largely gerrymandered in the house, obviously, not the senate and they come back and have these types of town hall meetings, you have to figure out if there's a median in between the two. i will say this to the republican party's credit to try to excuse what don young said, he doesn't speak for the republican party, he's old and crazy. let's put it that way and i will say this, a lot of the leading republican figures now, this is not to say they're good on immigration reform, but they've gone out of their way to promote hispanic figures in the republican party. some of the leading figures are hispanic figures, including on the governor's level. think they recognize it. but to the points that have been emphasized here, it's one thing to recognize it it's another thing to speak txts it's a bigger thing to act on it. >> you talk about leaders in the party. john boehner is the leader of the house republicans. they don't listen to him any more than they listen to raince priebus. i want to give read what he said. he did respond immediately quickly to what young said and

he said, congressman young's remarks are offensive, beneath the dignity of the office he holds, i don't care why he said it there's no excuse and it warrants an immediate apology. they're responding correctly. but the problem is the elites aren't necessarily who is listened to. >> and this is the danger. first of all in terms of the cues of well that person is older, that's not so much of an excuse any more. we teach little kids not to say offensive words or use bad language. so the old excuse about someone -- that doesn't really hold water any more. but the fact is in this type of society we live in where especially among hispanics, the growing hispanic electorate. all of these statements are being made. which is the one statement that the average person will hear about? the wetback statement. they won't hear about boehner's rebuttal. that's the only thing the tag line that people will hear and stick in the mind of many latinos. you mentioned south carolina, i will give lindsay graham some credit. there is some hope there.

there's been polling by research in republic. conservative-leaning group. they've done polling in south carolina and iowa and the republican voters there are at least open to immigration reform and and lindsay graham has done a good job of enlisting the faith community, the clergy, evangelicals to get on board for immigration reform in terms of it being the right thing to do, to take a stance of moral leadership in terms, in those terms. which in that state, the reddest of the red states, that is important. so you know, the door is open. >> and carrie, isn't that what it's going to take? you're covering capitol hill. do senior republican leaders understand before they can do a deal with president obama, they've got to do a deal with their own vote sners. >> sure. the whole process behind the scenes, crafting the bill for the senate plan is as much about getting the substance right as it is about getting the way that they can sell it that republicans can sell it. crafting something, politically they can go out and defend, they're very cognizant of the

challenge that lays ahead, the senate gang of eight. within that room of what they put on paper and how that's going to play. they've been through a lot of those folks have been through this many times before. seven, eight years ago. they know when they decide on one little piece of policy. how it can blow up. and it's understood within that room and among national leaders. even you know, mitch mcconnell, not big on it, he's running for re-election, his primary is a big concern. they recognize they need to do this. but the problem and the challenge, we're going to see a whole new phase of this once this plan is released. because the details are going to drive this conversation in a different realm altogether. >> not to bring up the same pointdy on the last panel. but there's two audiences here. who the hell knows what's going to happen in the house? it could very well be that a good chunk of conservatives in the house going into rebellion if boehner considers this. >> but the public wants success. not just latino voters. >> we're talking about -- >> we were talking about how lindsay graham has to deal with a really conservative base. and that's the whole state of

south carolina. can you imagine a very gerrymandered republican district within south carolina? >> it means there will be a lot more uncomfortable conversations in chick-fil-as. >> i want to thank you, nbc latino contributor, raul reyes. coming up, the center cannot hold, that appears to be the case for the gop. we'll examine the party's rapidly shrinking middle. easter's here! we're at walmart with lindsey who checks all the weekly ads to get the best sale prices. let me ask you, do you think you can get the same great prices here with walmart's low price guarantee? let's try! let's go. i've got a full house to impress. well, you better ham it up! look at this price! [ laughs ] that's awesome! what's for easter desert? oh, sugar cookies! my son's helping this year. look at that! hey! there's my brand. that's your ad. walmart will match that price at the register. really? yeah! you don't even have to have the ad with you. what?! i'm serious. nice! that's the walmart low price guarantee backed by ad match! bring your last grocery receipt to walmart, compare the prices. you'll see for yourself!

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that comes up is nelson mandala. we wish him all the very best. >> nbc's keir simmons is live outside mandala's home in johannesburg with the latest. keir? >> we've seen little sign of any movement here at nelson mandala's hospital. it's thought he may spend a third night in hospital. but doctors say he's making steady progress and enjoyed breakfast this morning. he was as reported, visited by close relatives. he has had this recurring lung infection over many months, going into hospital three times in the last four months. but this man, who is a fighter, appears to be winning this latest battle with this ongoing infection. >> that's good news, thank you so much nbc's keir simmons. after the break, it's not that often that republicans are compared with mcgovern democrats from the 1970s. >> it's the people's nomination and next january, we will restore the government to the people of this country.

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the gop is becoming the doughnut party. tossing out the middle for an unhealthy fringe. pew research polling director writes in my decades of polling i recall only one moment when a party has been driven as far from the center as the republican party has been today. the outsized influence of hard-line elements in the party base is doing to the gop what supporters of gene mccarthy and george mcgovern did the democratic party in the late 1960s and early 1970s,

radicalizing its image and standing in the way of its revitalization. case in point. michigan republican and rnc president, members are calling for his resignation, after he posted a comment on facebook, denouncing filthy degenerates. he said it's a part of our platform, a principle worth fighting for. is this a party that we talked last couple of blocks about immigration and all the needs that the republican elites understand they have. the party is controlled by a base that isn't 20% or 30%, it's maybe a majority of republicans that have far right views that their elected leaders have it adhere to. >> i live in d.c. i have a chance to talk to young republicans and they're the ones who grown the loudest.

the don young quote you made earlier. there are a lot of people who are young and republican and want to see the party change. the question is how can they do it you're right talking about the base. when i went to i went to cpac like a lot of reporters did. and you know it's going along fine. they didn't have a lot of their new rising star republicans there. they had sarah palin and she tore the house down. they have a lot of these people who are still really important to their party. i think no one knows inside the gop. even if they want to see a change, how to make that happen. >> the difference between the democrats and republicans in this vein, they each have somebody on an edge. the difference is democrats don't list ton the liberals in the party. republicans are beholden to the far right. >> republicans have become the far right. i have mixed views about what's going on with the republicans. they have problems with demographic issues going forward and they have serious problems with what's happening in the society going forward. social issues, gay marriage,

just being one of them. but i've been around long enough to see the republican party called dead too often. they are dead after barry goldwater, they were dead after watergate. in each case it was like the very next election that they were right back. so you never really know haas going to happen. but they, you know, i would rather be the shape the dems are in right now than the shape the republicans are in. >> carrie, it's interesting, when you read conservative media. a lot of people speaking freely for the conservative movement, is that the problem with the gop is not that it's too far right, it's that they keep on nominating centrists, what they see as moderate presidential candidates and that they're just not beholden enough to conservative principles. they're not pure enough. so if you've got a lot of the thought leaders in the party saying our problem isn't that we're too radical. our problem is that we've given in and we're not radical enough. how does the party even change? >> you know, i've thought about

that a lot myself. the seemingly disconnect with what a lot of people think the republican party issue is in some ways, at least in d.c. and on capitol hill hill. the issue is as sam mentioned earlier. gerrymandering to the point where nothing gets done because republicans are in such strong republican districts now. democrats are in strong democratic districts. the number of you know, people in the middle. truly representing districts, is so much smaller than it was even four years ago. so there's no incentive to reach outside their normal base. to get things done. because they're worried most about the primary not the general election. when they have to appeal more broadly. >> let me make the case that for a party that everyone calls dead. they have done an incredibly effective job. they have, republican party has pretty much dominated the agenda in washington since 2011. we were on a, the topic of

conversation in 20092010, was primarily how do we stimulate the economy, get job creation going. after those elections we did an abrupt pivot to what's the proper way to reduce the deficit. >> was that because the democrats have capitulated on it? >> part of it was the obama administration had to show a sense of moderation, a sense of that they understood why they were walloped in 2010. so they were going to do a bit of deficit reduction. but republicans have been very deft at using whether it's parliamentary procedures, to push an agenda. so when the president goes out and says here's my jobs act and only the payroll tax cut part gets passed and even that now lapsed. you have a party in the minority that's dictating a big chunk of the agenda. >> i agree with that. think the republicans are doing a rope-a-dope strategy here even

with sequestration. every dollar that's not spent. every dollar in taxes that's not raised is actually to the benefit of the gop. and even when everyone says that the government is dysfunctional. that plays to the gop as well. ordinary voters, in many cases will say a pox on both their houses, there's an equivalence where the democrats are as bad as the republicans. >> in one sense they're not. i want to quickly go through a little bit of the pew poll. the assessment is fascinating. the opinion of the gop by the general public is at a 20-year low, 33% favorable, 58% unfavorable. who's out of touch with the american people. 62% says the republicans are. only 46% say the dems, and who's too extreme? 52% said the gop, 39% say dems. is it a pox on both their houses or is the gop successful to sam's point in a micro sense because they're getting their

way, but in a macro sense they're damaging the republican brand. >> don't guess agrdisagree with. >> you're a hard man to disagree with. i think there are a lot of folks in the gop that we talked about, preeb pleeb raince priebus's memo. they're worried about that. the party does seem able to a general sense turn fast after it loses elections. we're talking about immigration which is completely impossible to imagine in 2011. it took them losing an election. >> they're talking about it, but they're still saying border security is what we want. >> they're working through a lot of the issues they have to do. i think that there's a lot of people in the republican party i believe who want the party to be about physical issues, who want to go more libertarian. these guys are still out there, making noise. so it depends on how the elections tush out to see whether or not they're going to keep moving in that direction. you look at these numbers, it's a hard thing to sell. especially to young people.

there's a lot of talk about once you have voted for obama once, they're not going to vote republican ever. it's a hard sell. but i think they're people trying to make that sale. >> but raince priebus is trying, but no one listens to him. coming up, pope francis focuses his first easter weekend message as pope on the poor. the church's new opportunities for reform when poverty advocate and paul ryan agitator, sister simone joins us. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness?

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[ male announcer ] find gevalia in the coffee aisle or at gevalia.com chief nun on the bus, sister simone campbell inspired the crowd at the democratic national committee by discussing a need for americans to come together while outlining the gop's blind spot for the poor. >> mitt romney and paul ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be

responsible. but their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate family, rather our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another. >> we'll discuss the intersection of faith, politics and compassion when sister simone joins us live, next. hello! how sharp is your business security? can it help protect your people and property, while keeping out threats to your operations? it's not working! yes it is. welcome to tyco integrated security. with world-class monitoring centers and thousands of qualified technicians. we've got a personal passion to help your business run safer, smarter, and sharper. we are tyco integrated security. and we are sharper.

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this easter weekend, all eyes will be on pope francis. today in rome, francis is presiding over his first good friday as the leader of the catholic church. and on sunday, the new pope will deliver his first easter greeting to crowds in st. peter's square. the newly elected pope hopes po

u to usher in a new era. yesterday at a mass, he urged the catholic priests not to get bogged down in introspection and instead, devote themselves to helping the needy. he said those who do not live close to the people risk becoming collectors of antiques and novelty, instead of shepherds living with the smell of sheep. francis may run an isolated institution, but he seems to be going out of his way to remain close to the people. he decided to live at the vatican hotel rather than the grand papal apartment and he eats in the common dining room. yesterday francis wash and kissed the feet of 12 inmates at a rome youth prison. even kissing the feet of two women, an unprecedented move. whether the pope will be able to rid the vatican of its scandalous reputation remains to be seen. but he's bringing a degree of humility back to the catholic church. joining me is sister simone

campbell, the executive director of network. i'm tempted to credit you with the cardinal being chosen as the new pope. because you and the nuns on the pope have been trying to refocus on the advocacy of the poor. do you think in a strange way the cardinals heard what you and the other nuns were saying and chose a pope that is trying to transition the church back do that. >> i'm not sureky take much credit for it. but-day believe that the holy spirit that is alive in all of the world is alive and well in the selection of pope and was certainly my experience with nuns on the bus. that it was the poly spirit's action that stirred us up all of our hearts to respond to the needs of those around us. so i just like to think we're, we're all instruments making a difference in our world. >> and i think we're watching live pictures right now of pope francis in action. and you know, sister smoem, the

things that you talk about are made real when you look at the statistics, the number of people in poverty, 46.5 million people. 16 million children. americans enrolled in food stamp programs, 47.8 million. it is a stark reality for so many americans, so many americans who were middle class not long ago, falling into poverty. you wrote a terrific piece in the national catholic reporter. in which you talked about a guy named billy. who works hard, who goes to work every day and yet, his family has to rely on food stamps, he's one of those 47 million people. do you feel like if the church were it take up for them and challenge people like paul ryan, challenge politicians on poverty, that you could make a difference? will these politicians listen to you? >> i think it could make a huge difference in waking up all of the voters in our country. so many people don't know the consequences of poverty, we're just doing an economic stations of the cross outside and i came in from that. we were at the department of

labor and there was about the jesus carrying his cross, every day, working poor people go to work and don't make enough to support their family. in the richest nation on earth -- that's wrong. and i believe that as our church comes together and wakes up to the struggles of ordinary people. that we can make a difference in federal policy. it doesn't mean that the government should do it all. but we need the public/private partnership to make a difference. it's too big for any one of us just to do it alone. >> want to bring in our panel. bob herbert as our resident catholic school alumnus, you know, the church has obviously had a lot of struggles in terms of people really feeling that their stance on social issues, on women are byzantine, to put it mildly and on issues of gay marriage and sex abuse scandal. is this a chance for the catholic church to reset? >> it's a chance and i have to speak to what's going on in the u.s. rather than in other

countries. i grew up catholic. went to parochial school, i was an altar boy actually and what strikes me is that the church had seen much more relevant in its day. it is lost touch with the times. so that i think catholics that i talked to today, the church does not have the same influence in their lives that they did at one time. there was a time that catholics believed if you ate meat on friday, something bad was going to happen to you. it made a difference how you conducted your life and ran your family and that sort of thing. i do believe that the church has lost a lot of that influence. so this is an opportunity and they need to seize it. >> carrie, you cover washington, i wonder whether the paul ryans of the world, do they hear this criticism? this was a searing criticism that sister simone made of the budget he put out, that she described as ayn randian and cruel. the cruelty of some of the policies. when somebody like sister simone speaks, does it resonate with some republican members of congress? >> i think it does.

i think those are powerful criticisms of the plan he had put out and will continue to be criticisms that we'll hear moving forward. if congress and the president is serious about moving forward with some sort of deficit and debt deal. i think both sides will get the criticism. the plan that is envisioned is one that will go after some of these associate safety net programs. certainly not the way the republicans will do it but it will hit exactly where sister simone is talking about. >> i think the media has the same sort of problem with its own. if you look at the coverage of sequestration and the fallout, the predominance of stories have been about the closing of the white house tours on the national level. on the local level it's been an incredibly difficult time for people in head start programs, for tuition assistance programs, for air traffic controllers. there's tons of stories of struggle out there. but the national media to a large part has been focused on the glitz and the glamorous stuff and not some of the social safety net stuff and i think that's another thing.

>> it's starting to, but -- >> we found a bunch of stories. they're there, you can call people up and they're struggling because of this stuff. >> i want to bring sister simone back in you've not shied away from the media covering poverty and talked about it in a way that's moved a lot of people, whether or not the politicians are listening to you. but for your church, the other thing the media has fixated on is the scandal and the hard-line position on social issues that we have to assume that pope francis shares. do you think there's a chance for the church not to just make this push on poverty and the things you've spoken so passionately about. but could the church reset itself on social issues? soften its image in terms of women, in terms of the way it looks at gays and lesbians. is this a chance for that kind of reset, too? >> i don't know what they're going to do doctrinally and i'm not in that loop. but-day believe when we read the gospel and we see where jesus went, jesus was always with

those at the margins of society. and all were welcomed. he welcomed everyone who hungered to be part of community and to live in love. love was his greatest message. so i think as we have newly leadership who sees the connection between the gospel and those at the margins, who sees the connection with living in love, how can we leave anyone out of our care? and therefore, i think that in our lived experience, a welcoming church is the spiritual need of our time. we need to welcome everyone in. >> well you know, sister simone, we have a little bit of sister simone for president caucus going on here at the panel. we think that you're great and we think that your message is great and i want to wish you a very happy easter and thank you so much for being here. >> thank you, it's an honor to do this work. thank you so much. i want to thank sister simone and i want to thank 0-panel, which is sam, evan, bob and carrie. that's all for now, i will be back on monday. noon eastern. when i'll be joined by jimmy williams, jake sherman, rona

feruar and more and can you see alex tonight "now" on primetime. she'll be joyed by chris hayes, steve schmidt and actress rita moreno. you can follow us on twitter. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. victor! i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. you know the giants don't have a mascot right mom?

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got the coffee. that was fast. we're outta here. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ right now on "andrea mitchell reports" -- rockets ready. north korean leader, kim jong un issue as battle cry to his generals. as thousands march against america in pyongyang. is this just more saber-rattling? foreign relations committee senator bob corker meeting in south korea today. >> hopefully what will occur is cooler heads will prevail and this will deescalate and hopefully we can have fruitful negotiations about the future. >> gun fight -- senators marco