obama care and for the record, the bill they'll be voting on is called the keep the irs off your health care act. at a news conference this morning, nancy pelosi acknowledged just how ineffectual congress has become. >> how do you explain to the american people that today congress will go in to an august recess and after more than six months in this congress, this republican congress, we still have no jobs bill with, we have no budget bill, and we have the threat of shutting down government and not raising the debt ceiling. >> the biggest trouble brewing in washington might be the short time congress has to fix the problems they've created. when washington lawmakers return in september they'll have just nine legislative days to figure out how to fund the government. 23 they can if they can't do it, a government shutdown will commence.

yesterday the budget process took a hit when the senate failed to advance a bill to increase spending for transportation and housing programs. a bill known as t.h.u.d., transportation housing and urban development, which died because after republican filibuster. after the vote democratic senator chuck schumer hammered his colleagues from the other side. >> at times working with the other side feels like the middle east peace process. there's no one to negotiate with. the hard right conservatives won the day on this bill. >> but the hard right conservatives aren't winning everywhere. before this week even started, there was a fight brewing within the republican party over whether to shut down the government in order to defund obama care. and this week the cracks within the gop have started to widen into chasms. on wednesday the intraparty meltdown worsened when a republican version of the t.h.u.d. had to be withdrawn from the house floor due to a lack of votes. reason -- the cuts were so devastating that even house

republicans couldn't stomach them. so after years of passing paul ryan's hard line budgets, house republicans are starting to see what these cuts actually look like in their districts and it turns out they don't really like them. in talking points mem bow brian bueller argues this isn't just a minor congressional snafu. he writes it might look like a symbolic error but it raises much bigger questions for the republicans as a national party. if they can't execute key elements of their governing agenda, what can they do and what argument can they possibly make for controlling more or all of washington? but despite the intraparty obama care fights and the inability to come together for even a vote on their own budgets, speaker boehner says his party is doing just fine. asked yesterday about the perception that he was losing control of his caucus, boehner seemed unfazed. >> i'm not the least bit concerned about what some might want to describe as perception. >> joining me today, bloomberg

view columnist, jonathanality ter. matthew eglasous, karen finney and steve carnacki. 40 votes to repeal a bill that's been signed in to law by the president, voted through by the congress, approved by the supreme court and is actually in effect. >> this is sort of an intrarepublican party exercise that's made necessary by the other elements you just had. every once in a while or more frequently republicans are forced to pull a bill from the floor, they put a bill on the floor, find out the few moderates will vote for it and a bunch of conservatives will vote for it and they don't have the votes to pass it. it is like these votes to repeal obama care, symbolism is the only thing that lends itself to unity in the republican party.

it is almost an exercise at the end of the session for the recess, republicans in congress saying, look, we are all still together here. >> essentially the only things that binds them together is this hatred of barack obama. i have to read this quote which i think sums of the feelings of conservatives. "perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the current gop's refusal to do anything to propose to slash spending is that propose is all they really want to do. they can't actually stomach the actual cuts their abstract ideology demands. that's what's so interesting about the budget failing in the house, that this is the party who's ideology is supposed to be about cutting spending but now that they have the chance to really put specifics to cutting spending they don't want to do it, or at least a substantial portion of them don't want to do it. >> for years they've been talking about this ryan budget by that's a very abstract

framework. then in the appropriations process, line by line, what gets cut. this t.h.u.d. is not the toughest appropriations for them. when they get to the department of education, labor, justice, this fell apart over community development block grants. when we talk about schools, student loans, they're going to have a hard time say doing we actually want this much cuts? i think many of them won't. >> traditionally what house members -- they were appropriators. this is what was in the bill -- cut of community bill block grants in half, eliminate a program funding infrastructure, cuts to homelessness assistance, faa spending. even with this level of specificity there were house republicans who said i can't go home for this recess having done that. >> don't you love that eric cantor gave a speech a couple months ago where he said i can't understand why people think we

just want to take things away from people. really? this is where their rhetoric meets accountability. despite the lovely packet they're all going home with about how to have these town halls stacked with supporters. at some people they're going to be held accountable for these votes and they know that. one thing i want to say on the health care piece -- part of that is they also believe that the more they vote against it the more they continue -- the harder it is for people to believe that it is law. 40% of people don't think it is law at this point. that's a part of the symbolism. it is part of the symbolism when they talk about cuts. they don't want to get into specifics but the point being, then they want to be able to run on the rhetoric of what it was that they said they were going to do, not the actual specifics. >> to your point, 36% of people want to repeal it. national journal did a poll. 30% wait and see. 26%, provide more money. there's not an actual real base. jonathan, you wrote a whole

book -- "the center hold." the whole idea of it was republicans' kind of ideology is fixated on obama. i want to read a set of statistics about the base of the republican party and why they may be doing these obama care repeal votes. a pew poll recently showed gop voters, their dissatisfaction is that this party isn't conservative enough. 54% want the leaders to move further to the right. 40% want the party to become more moderate. what does that say about this caucus's responsibilities to the people who actually vote for them? aren't they actually doing what their real base wants? >> they're trapped because what the base says it wants and what their constituents want and they're not necessarily the same thing. what we are seeing over the last couple of years, to take a kind of larger view, is the basic hollowness of the republican message is coming to the fore. you remember that debate -- it was a fox debate and they were asked if you are a ratio of

10-1, 10 spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases, they all rejected it. and this again is another example this week. they don't care about the deficit. it's like dick cheney said. deficits don't matter. so what had been at the foundation of the republican party for 100 years, fiscal responsibility, is now revealed as a charade. the only thing they believe in is tax cuts for the wealthy. they are unified by literally nothing else. not even foreign policy any more. >> not even necessarily budget cuts. >> this is i think the first time in a long time we've actually seen this fight find its way out into the street. they've actually generally been much better at keeping it kind closed doors, everybody saying the party message, not getting into specifics. now you've got two different factions with very different ideas about how we should proceed and where they want to fight the fight against obama. >> they want to cut foreign aid. a faction of the party is more

libertarian that wants to withdraw in terms of national security, wants to cut the defense budget even. then you have another faction that just wants to slash across the budget, cut social services, cut food stamps. what is the core belief system now that aen mates the party other than disliking obama? >> we're seeing cracks now but i think the core is still dislaking and wanting to stop obama and his agenda. the one thing to get at that poll, to amplify that poll of republican voters saying you should be more conservative, when you had nancy pelosi saying how will republicans go back and explain to the american people what didn't happen this year, well, the republicans are going back to districts that in almost every case voted for mitt romney last year. there are only nine republicans in the entire u.s. house who represent districts that did not vote for mitt romney. their constituents are very different read on what's playing out in washington, what congress failed to do this year than the constituents of the democratic members who accounted for are 5 million vote plurality for obama

last year. >> they are taking the obama care vote. happy anniversary, gop. you're taking your 40th vote to repeal obama care. just to get back to it, so their base is being more conservative. their districts support this idea of the government doing nothing because to them it says smaller government. but specifically do you have any idea what conservatives -- the base -- mean when they say be more conservative? what do they mean by that? they want their medicare. right? >> they do. they do. but when the farm bill came up, sort of an earlier legislative failure, at that point john boehner wrote a bill that could get more moderate republicans to vote tore it and he lost tons and tons of vote to the right because people said it didn't cut the food stamps program enough. that's part what have this obama care repeal is about. what isn't controversial in the cuts is cutting programs that assist low income people. you mention that part what have was in this bill was huge cuts to lead abatement. i remember i went to the house one time which had old lead paint in it.

we had to sign all kinds of waivers, saying none of us had children, none of us were going to be pregnant because this is terrible for children. but a lot of people are forced into this kind of housing because they can't afford it. it has devastating impact on mental development, to crime, to poor school outcomes. talking a really small amount of money but than wasn't what was controversial inside the republican party. they blew up over a kind of minor sort of slush fund for mayors in cities but there is in fact a lot of unity on this idea that the government lass to do less to help the least fortunate. >> i think you've gotten to where my mind is on where the republican party is, jonathan. a lot of it is about liberals would define as cruelty. it is about punishing poor people. >> it is the meanness caucus. if you actually look at what they want to cut first, what are at the top of their list. food stamps. this is not a program that is going to people who are doing

okay. it's a program going to people who are hurting or meeting a requirement. it is not like this is a bunch of bums who are getting -- these are people who need it and the connective tissue which the republican party -- bob dole, by the way, jesse helms support food stamps. the connection between the republican party of 25 years that understood there was a role for government in amealating poverty in lessening suffering, that tissue has been severed. but the big thing now that's going on that is the tactical difference between the extremely conservative pragmatists and the extremely conservative suicide caucus -- >> the meanness caucus. a group wants to shut down the

government over the funding of obama care and the smarter conservatives understand that this is suicide. >> it is insane. >> we're used to it in the house and it's bled over into the senate, thank you ted cruz. we are also following developing news for you. the state department issued a caution to u.s. citizens abroad to potential for terrorist attacks specifically in the middle east and north africa. this travel alert extends from now to the end of august after news this morning that 23 u.s. embassies and consulates in the middle east and africa with be closed this sunday. the closing of those embassies is al qaeda linked. after the break, ed yard snowden has been sprung from the moscow airport. what washington worries that the nsa leaker's asylum will ground relations with russia. we'll discuss the latest chapter in the snowden saga and the russian ballet with the "new york times" david sanger joins us next on "now."

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in a movement with fierce condemnation in the u.s., russia yesterday granted edward snowden temporary asylum, allowing the nsa leaker to slip out of the moscow airport where he spent the last six weeks, get into a taxi and vanish. his lawyer says snowden is staying at the home of some american ex-pats and that he wants to learn russian and get a job as a human rights worker which could make for interesting awkward relations with his you new hosts.

a spokesman for vladimir putin said the prime minister had not been involved in the decision, a claim that was met with widespread skepticism. the white house reacted angrily saying it was given no advance warning of russia's decision and made it clear with its geopolitical frenemy had reached a new low. >> we are extremely disappointed that the russian government would take this step despite our very clear lawful requests in public and in private to have mr. snowden expelled to the united states. obviously this is not a positive development. >> this move was also met by a chorus of skepticism from u.s. lawmakers, starting with chuck schumer. >> stabbed us in the back. and each day that snowden is allowed to roam free is another twist of the knife. as long as prime minister putin acts like a bully, we have only one choice -- to stand up to him and show him that bullies pay a price. >> but what is that price?

the most likely immediate casualty appears to be a scheduled bilateral meeting between president obama and putin in moscow. in advance of next month's go-20 summit in st. petersburg. what about the summit itself? schumer and republican senator lindsey graham who was at the white house yesterday, say the u.s. should recommend moving it. >> senator schumer and i believe that we should ask for the summit to be moved. again, when you're hosting the g-20 in russia, that basically is a signal that everything's fine. having the venue changed i think would be an appropriate step to take. >> graham even thinks the u.s. should boycott the 2014 winter olympics in show cochi, an idea itself is looked upon with skepticism. in fact, some warn the u.s. response should be weighed carefully, it could set back russian cooperation on key issues like syria, iran and missile defense. but then, how much cooperation are we getting on those fronts anyway? here to discuss this, chief

washington correspondent for "the new york times," david sanger. he's youauthor of "confront and conceal." it is now out in paperback. saved, tell us what you think the leverage relative -- relative leverage right now of mr. putin and mr. obama is? on one hand has putin gained some leverage in these other issues, these other geopolitical issues by hanging on to snowden or does the u.s. have any leverage at all they could use against him? >> the u.s. hasn't had much leverage so far, and you made the right point earlier on when you said that in fact one of the biggest questions that we face right now is that we haven't had very much progress on the arms control issues, on syria, on iran with the russians. the fact that the asylum was given for only one year, on one hand tells you that the russians

aren't entirely sure they want to be stuck with mr. snowden, but it also tells you that mr. putin may well want to use the renewal of the asylum as a point of negotiation or leverage going forward with president obama. perhaps to trade that off for something else he really wants, particularly in the area of missile defense. whether or not president obama will deal on mr. snowden's fate is not clear. you'll remember that early on in this whole drama he said i'm not sending fighter jets in to get a 29-year-old. >> right. david sanger, doesn't that really make sort of the point that the more the u.s. sort of attempts to portray snowden's being had held in russia as a major, major issue for u.s. diplomatic relations, it does sort of elevate his importance in a way the white house has said it doesn't want to do. the "wall street journal" described russia's action as a hostile act against the united states. it is something the u.s. can't

ignore, but they also don't want to elevate this now had-30-year-old. >> that's right. remember back during the bush administration where we went a year or two or three where president bush never mentioned saab's name because he didn't want to make it seem as if washington was fixated on finding him, even though they were. now this is not comparable to osama bin laden by a long shot. mr. snowden may have done some damage to american national security, but unlike in the cold war days, it's not as if a defector has shown up in russia and is providing them with information the u.s. doesn't know about. i think at this point the intelligence officials who i've spoeb to pretty well indicate that they understand what mr. snowden downloaded. they understand what he's published. presumably they understand what he's not yet published, and they -- so they have sort of confined the problem. that doesn't make it any easier but it does mean that they are not sitting there wondering what he's going to say or do next.

>> edward snowden, sort of amusing that his idea is to become a human rights activist. russia not known for its respect for human rights necessarily. does edward are snowden at this point have any intelligence value to russia? the main thing a lot of us are skeptical about,'s going to be freely able to perform as any other person in russia, that he has some value to the government there, at least in theory. does he really? >> look, if he really had value to the government, i suspect that they would have swept him out of that hotel weeks ago, taken those computers away from him -- and maybe they did. we don't know that for a fact. and interrogated him about what he knows. instead, they kept him in this limbo, sort of hoping that someone else would pick imup for asylum, and of course nobody else did. now does that mean they won't try to milk him for everything he knows? i'm sure they will. but a lot of that they can get for the price of a subscription

to some newspapers he's been handing off his data to. >> karen, that is the irony i think for a lot of people. at least a lot of americans feel that this guy is now somehow an asset, even if it is just to trot him out every time the u.s. questions the things that russia has done. let me just give a couple of examples. there was an international federation of journalists study that found 313 journalist whose were killed or disappeared in russia between 1993 and 2009. there is a whole list of people, opposition figures sentenced to five years in prison, members of a punk rock band sentenced to two years. so -- >> i mean you can't make this stuff up. he's going to go be a human rights worker in russia? by the way, if he believes that there is a lack of transparency about these programs in the united states? have you paid attention to what's going on in russia? i mean a rock band gets put in jail for a song? are you kidding me? the question that i have is, i don't think russia actually needs to confront him directly

to get what he has. i would imagine that they have far -- equally, if not more, sophisticated systems to determine what he's got through other means. he still has this laptop supposedly with all kinds of information on it. >> or vladimir putin has it. >> yeah, the spy's already been in the room and downloaded it. there really are two parts to this story. the question about nsa and spying and all of that, that is a good conversation for us to have. but then snowden has become this sort of side show. i feel like he's done it to himself. to go to russia to now say i'm going to be a russian citizen and i'm going -- >> not a citizen. he just wants a job. >> that's right. for a year. right? >> including maybe with their facebook which is like the most intrusive privacy violating entity. >> but also to use russia as a way to thumb his own nose back at the united states given the level of very serious issues on the table and negotiations we have with russia, that's really

offensive. >> something about that just doesn't feel right. >> i think he's under the misimpression that he's going to be able to strip off his shirt and go horseback riding with putin or something. he's not going to be treated like a great cold war spy who spent the rest of his life in the soviet union as kind of a hero. it is going only to be a matter of a few weeks i think before he is ignored by the corrupt materialistic and often non-political bulk of what used to be called the gnonomenclatur the elites in russia. he'll be starting to complain to his friends in wikileaks within days or weeks how he's being treated by russians. >> they know he has a propensity to leak. how do they even trust him to work anywhere in a russian firm. on the other side, i think the thing that edward snowden disclosed that i think of great value is the fact that somebody,

like edward are snowden, a contractor, has access to your data. we know there's -- it was a great piece yesterday in the "washington post." it talked about we know there are these reams of data being vacuumed up. 22 people have the authorization to get it with a court order but we also know that 1.4 million americans have top security clearance. one-third are contractors like snowden was. that means in theory, a contractor who wanted to access your information unauthorized has the technical capability to do it. that actually is alarming. >> it is. and president obama said he welcomes the debate on this subject. you can see in the case of edward snowden the person who touched this debate off is not so welcome. i think it is very clean for lindsey graham, chuck schumer to sort of keep attention on edward snowden and this wacky tale in russia. you had others, senator ron wyden of oregon asking very good questions in congressional

hearings of what exactly is going on -- >> russia, of all places? if he was somewhere else there would be less of a carnival side show. >> sure. but look. the united states government went around the world putting pressure on every country to not give him asylum and we were very successful with that. you wind up with russia -- >> we need to have not just more hearings on transparency for the nsa, but the president needs to have one of those roundtable televised meetings. we need a real conversation. >> but hold on. hold on. if the problem is that you have -- i want to bring david sanger back in on this issue. if the issue is you have the i.t. guy, the guy at snowden's level, that can get at your data, the problem with snowden is that doing that is a crime and the way that you disincentivize accessing that data without a court order is you prosecute people who access top security information such as prosecuting edward snowden.

isn't in a way -- prosecuting him is the disincentive for someone else to do what he did but do it with nefarious purposes. >> i think we may have conflated two slightly different problems. the first is that in the post 9/11 era, a lot of information that used to be kept segmented and compartmented has now been put together so that you won't have the kind of connect the dots problem that we had in 9/11. both snowden and manning took advantage of that and downloaded arch amounts of data that prior to 9/11 they would not have this had access or need to get to. then the second problem which jonathan and others raise which is that, with these new nsa programs, you now have an explosion pft amount of dof the that's out there, some sensitive, some isn't, but it is still a national security problem than a privacy problem. >> much of this data comes from us as we hand it over willny

nilly to facebook and social media david sanger, thank you. the republican led house has just voted to repeal obama care for the 40th time. happy anniversary, house of rets. latest bill prevents the irs from implementing or enfonsing the affordable care act, which the supreme court court has ruled law of the land. we will have more on this after the break. you know throughout history,

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you told me that my family didn't care. you tormented me. even on holidays. christmas was more traumatic day because i never got to spend it with my son. nobody should ever have to go through what i went through or anybody else, not even worsest enemy. >> now ariel castro will spend the rest of his life behind bars but not before having the last word. we'll discuss next on "now." i'm here at my house on thanksgiving day,

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psychologically abused three women he held captive in his cleveland home, spoke at length about his personal demons, saying that he was just a sick man with a sex addiction, similar to an alcoholic. experts said his allocution showed signs of a criminal sociopath whose narcissism doesn't allow him to express remorse. one of his victims, michele knight, who spent 11 years in captivity, described her ordeal and said that castro's hell was just beginning. of course, as a psychologist reminded the court, castro's lengthy sentence can't undo the pain he inflicted on his victims who must now try to rebuild their lives. >> the damage that was done does not go away. they have life sentences. this was not trivial. i think they will, with the love and the support of this whole community, and with what they bring to the table, they have a good chance to have a good life. >> joining me, defense attorney

and former prosecutor karen desoto. karen, i think the question that people are asking most, that's fundamental in the minds of people who watched that 16 minutes -- which felt like an hour talk by ariel castro today -- why does he get to talk and why does he get to talk last? >> different jurisdictions -- it is rooul reit is really up to t judge's discretion. a lot of clients say, if the judge doesn't let me talk, i want to say something. the deal is cut with a lot of prosecutors. attorneys say just do a general apology and just sit down and don't go on and on and on because then you don't want the judge laying in to them and making a big scene. so a lot of the times we just say do a general apology and sit down. now i can tell you for that that that does not always happen. client will stand up and they will give a speech and sometimes it gets a little crazy. >> there's no time limit imposed by the court. >> the judge can say that's enough. it real slit judge's discretion. depending on what jurisdiction. some of the judges -- this is

not a normal sentencing. let's be honest here. a lot of the times you just get the presentence report, you enter it and the judge does the sentencing and he says do you have anything to add, do you have any addictions or corrections and that's it. obviously this case is under the microscope. people have a lot of questions. this is really for public consemgs and a answer to a lot of the questions the public really wants to know. >> the most disturbing point was when ariel castro actually turned and faced michele knight and directed his comments at her. this is sociopathology encapsulated in one gesture. >> a lot of victims find it very cathartic to go to the sentencing and speak. a lot of people probably shudder at the idea of having to do that with somebody who had's captor. it is really very brave and it is for the victims. that's why are you seeing this long hearing and long sentencing to really give closure. because remember, the public has not had a trial and we really do

want to know the details. we're very interested in all of these details. but in a normal sentencing that i've done tons and tons of times, this is not the way that it goes. but this is a serious issue, elizabeth smart, shawn hornbuck, it is horrible. somebody saying i'm not a monster. i think one of the most disturbing parts, i thinkky file for parental rights for the child. that was more disturbing than anything else. >> absolutely. and in 31 states, a rapist does have parental rights. it was not only disturbing, it was chilling to think that the poor woman is going to have to potentially deal with him again over something like that. >> the only good part is that the child is considered a victim. >> he can't have contact with heifer. the court has order nod contact with any of the victims. that includes the 6-year-old. i think the other question that a lot of people have is when ariel castro goes to prison -- i think a lot of people think he'll just go out there and prison justice will take care of

had him. that isn't actually true. >> a lot of times, new jersey has a facility for sexual offenders, and they are usually housed with other sexual offenders because they are at high risk of getting hurt and harmed by other -- there is a hierarchy in prison. thieves are above sexual predators and just the way it goes. so there are steps taken to try to lower that risk for people like him. >> i think the one thing that everybody could agree on is that michele knight emerged as a heroic figure to stand up to him face to face. other women, too, they sent representatives but you can only imagine how traumatic this whole process has been for these three women. i think they are all to be credited. >> a lot of people feel good afterwards and are happy that

they did it. >> thank you so much, karen desoto. coming up, whether you know him as a-roid or a-fraud, baseball fans may soon have a new way of referring to alex rodriguez -- banned for live. we'll discuss a-rod's future and the culture of performance enhancing drugs just ahead. dinner is over $6.50 a meal. this delicious, easy to make kraft dinner from walmart is less than $3.10 a serving. replacing 1 fast food dinner a week, saves your family of 4 over $760 a year. save money. live better. walmart. ♪ "first day of my life" by bright eyes ♪ you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen.

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it may be the end of the

line for a-rod. according to "usa today," in the next 72 hours major league baseball will announce the suspension of at least players, including yankees third base men alex rodriguez. they allegedly used performance enhancing drugs at this place, also known as the sleaze yes, sir place on earth. a-rod could face a lifetime from major league baseball. in an interview with "sports illustrated" a-rod seems to be in denial of his fall from grace. he says, look, it is concerning, i have two daughters at home and i have concern for that. i want to continue to be a role model." evan cohen, thanks for being here. so a-rod. is it likely that he ends up

with the lifetime ban or in the end does very to suck it up? >> i don't think he'll end up with a lifetime ban. i think he'll have a great opportunity to appeal. i think alex rodriguez can probably do something to say, nobody's ever been banned for life for what i have been doing. guys like mark mcgwire who uses steroids and admitted to it, andy pettite used steroids and admitted to it, weren't banned for life. guilt by association actually did catch him here. difference with a-rod and others is that he obstructed justice. according to all sources out there, a-rod says it -- it seems like he tried to figure out a way to buy the evidence from in essence a drug dealer, the guy at biogenesis. >> here's the other thing. you talk about steroids. mark mcgwire. human growth hormone is not a steroid.

it is produced in the body. what is the difference? why is -- you have elderly people taking human growth hormone to have a few more years of sort of spry life and have you people who have this same substance inside this that too little of it allegedly causes dwarfism, too much of it you get -- >> you get 7'5", 500 pounds. >> why is it that major league baseball is so obsessed with this particular substance? >> it is either against the rules or not against the rules. hgh, the difference between hgh and steroids is that hgh is tougher to test for. blood testing which the players association will not accept and the urine testing for regular steroids is what the players association will accept. the thing is, nothing that baseball has done -- i've been very supportive of baseball throughout this entire process but nothing that they have done so far has prevented the pitchi?

why is the pitching worse? because there are more teams or

less pitchers are using p.e.d.s. today in major league baseballs you'll come back to the individual point of where performance enhancing drugs fit in to major league baseball. i think they need to market their stars in a better way but the casual fans know two names at this moment -- alex rodriguez and ryan braun. why? because they are associated with illegal drugs in our country. >> steve, major league baseball's not the only professional sport that's having an image problem. philadelphia eagles, riley cooper, receiver for the eagles, has now been released. excused from the rest of team activities, excused from all team activities because of an "n" word rant that he had at a country music concert saying he's going to go over the fence and fight every "n-word" here. who's got the best rep right now? he can still come back and play. >> i think this is worse than

what it looked like the consequences were going to be for him earlier in the week. i think that's still developing. when you look at baseball, a-rod, to me he kind of symbolizes -- you talk about the run production going up, higher scoring games, period in the mid '90s, late '90s, when the balls are flying out of the park. they recovered from the players strike in 1994-95, ratings were up on television, people rediscovered the sport. there was a lot of people in the middle part of last decade when the steroid stuff saying we were kind of sold a bill of goods. there were reasons the balls were flying out of the park. i think a-rod kind of symbolizes that. right now he's one of the last sort of living in terms of being an active player, one of the last active symbols of that period. a lot of people there is this instinct to take it out on him. if he's off for a year or two, he's in his 40s when he comes back. he'll really need hgh then. >> he'll be a millionaire

though. >> on one hand, you've got a situation with a-rod where it is about the trust have the fans have. whereas in the riley cooper situation, it is about the trust in the locker room. >> in life action speaks louder than words. in sports, words speak louder than action. >> thank you very much. evan cohen from sirius xm's mad dog radio. thank you to jonathan, matthew, karen and steve. catch "up with steve kornacki" and "disrupt" with karen finney at 4:00 p.m. eastern. alex will be back on monday at noon eastern. "andrea mitchell reports" is next.

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dozens of embassies and consulates across the globe this sunday citing a credible terror threat connected to al qaeda. >> the department has been apprised of information that, out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations, that indicates we should institute these precautionary steps. and today the state department issued a global travel alert to last through the month of august because of the continued potential of terror attacks. >> they clearly have something very credible, either human or signals intelligence. in light of benghazi, the state department is going to be extra careful. thin ice. nsa leaker edward snowden's temporary asylum in moscow is creating new tensions between the u.s. and russia. the white house is rethinking a long planned summit with the russian president in september. tough talk from the hill on the putin problem. >> russia has stabbed us in the