with two major pieces of news. this morning, a judge found the new york city police department's stop and frisk policy is unconstitutional and in violation of the 4th and 15th amendments. the district judge said the policy was indirect racial profiling and indiscriminatory for blacks and hispanics. they were stopped nearly 533,000 times last year. 89% of those stopped were innocent. only 10% of those stopped were white. 55% were black and 32% were latino. that seems to confirm the conclusion that stop and frisk is indeed a form of racial profiling. mayor bloomberg plans to address the ruling today. it fits into a broader set of criminal regulations that appear to have severe and unintended

consequences. one whose expiration may soon be expiring. at an event in san francisco, attorney general, eric holder, will call for the end of minimum sentencing policies that led to the long-term incarceration of non-violent offenders. the new policy is expected to allow judges to determine the sentencing for low level non-violent drug offenders. holder will say too many americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no good law enforcement reason. widespread incarceration at the federal, state and local levels is ineffective and unsustainable and pose a burden and comes with human and moral cost that is are impossible to calculate. joining me today, editorial director add the huffington most

and msnbc political analyst, howard fineman. vice president, heather mcgee. i can mess it up, you are my friend. washington post host matt miller and joining us from montgomery, alabama, brian stevenson. thank you for joining us today, which is a very big deal in the days of the halls of criminal justice reform. >> my pleasure. >> brian, first your reaction to the proposed changed by the attorney general in terms of mandatory sentencing requirements. how will this change or reform our justice codes? >> i think it's a very significant development. the politics of fear and anger have paralyzed legislatures and congress and other decision making bodies. we have been watching this problem get bigger and bigger. i think it's a huge development. the prison population in 1972

was 300,000 people in the united states. today, it's 2.3 million. most of that increase is a function of mandatory drug laws and the drug policy that's created the mandatory minimums. eliminating that on the federal side has a huge impact on the length of sentences and the character of people sent to prison. i think it's a really positive step forward that i hope other states will model and replicate at the state level. >> just to give our folks at home statistics here, since 1980, the u.s. prison population has risen by 800%. they are 40% above capacity and 47% of inmates are serving for drug-related crimes. it costs $80 billion to operate u.s. prisons and jails, which absorbs a quarter of the justice department's budget.

do you think there will be resistance to what the attorney general is posing? >> i think most people recognize the drug sentencing laws are misguided, don't make sense and costing taxpayers money. they are not improving public safety. after decades of being commit and tough on crime, nobody has had the will to move past it. i don't think it will be viewed as that controversial. if you talk to federal judges, all of them would complain about the problems they have in sentencing the young offenders to long prison sentences for low level drug possession and drug offenses that don't merit that incarceration. i don't think it's as controversial and 10 or 15 years ago. >> what about the race piece to this? young black men, especially, are interrogated and incarcerated

around drug violation. the usage of blacks and whites with marijuana is almost equal. whites have a slightly higher rate yet blacks are arrested at higher rates. in terms of the reforms eric holder is proposing, will it affect one community more than others? >> there's no question. for me, the race impact of the sentencing laws has been devastating. a black boy born in 2000 has a 32% chance of going to jail or prison as a result of these policies. 32%. that's higher than it's been in the history of african-americans in this country. that's compared to a 6% chance for a white boy. i think that these racially impacts have been devastating to communities of color. yes, i think it's going to have a huge impact on the african-americans and latinos. i think it will have an impact on how we think of the criminal justice system as a threat.

to me, the great tragedy has been it's created a hopelessness in communities of color for young kids, 13 and 14, don't believe they can avoid going to jail or prison because of the heavy involvement in the court system. i think it will have a huge impact. i'm excited about it from that perspective. >> i want to open it up to the folks in new york. heather, we talk about the justice system and people of color and the stop and frisk laws are a great, not great, a prime example of that. we talk about, sort of eveninging the playing field. 32% versus 6% in terms of arrest. what he's talking ability, this confidence in communities of color, not only are you going to get a fair trial, but you won't be targeted by the law. this stop and frisk thing has a huge mind set. a judge is saying you cannot practice this policy anymore. it is a violation of people's constitutional rights. >> the psychological impact, we

have to recognize this is the legacy of racism in this country. there's a sense of hierarchy of belonging and worth. the closer you are into the community whose lives are valued, whose word is trusted implicitly, that adds up and erodes a sense of ethics and seen as suspicious as the stop and frisk laws. they enable people to act on those suspicions. i think we need to look at the fact these are great tips of the icebergs, important places for us to say the laws are no longer just. there's a deeper meaning here, which is about the inherent values. >> you know, matt, we are talking about this in the context of the president's second term. you have the attorney general aggressively supporting voter

acts and going after mandatory minimum sentencing requirements, you also have not necessarily in a policy realm, but the president doing an emotional speech about race. if we talk about some part of the first term that i think a lot of folks were concerned about is the president's conversation and actions in and around race. it seems like a page has been turned, very much in the second term with the new policies and also with the rhetoric. >> you are right. his trayvon martin, the eloquence on that and thoughtfulness using the bully pulpit was powerful, just seeing a black man who is president describing i know what it's like. 35 years ago, this could have been many. one thing that's interesting about the mandatory minimums is there's a consensus in the policy that it's crazy. california, where i live is the poster child for going overboard. three strikes and you are out is

a reason the prisons are overcrowded at the state level in california. the third strike has been a non-violent drug related or shoplifting at a gas station convenience store. it went too far. you have folks that can't be healed put back on the streets after they have been sent away for decades. itis crazy. it seems overdue. the question is whether any of this stuff, obama can get bipartisan consensus to lead to real change in policy given everything else we know is going on in the republican house. >> given the position of eric holder as an influencer or straw man. howard? >> you have to unpack this. in terms of mandatory drug sentencing, where eric holder is going with this particlair thing is in a direction that a fair amount of the republican party will accept. even if not especially the tea

party types. a lot of the tea party types -- >> who said things. >> starting with rand paul, kentucky, and others. they have other philosophical objects on the drug front as long as it's nonviolent, et cetera. there's enough support among the tea party types, the kind creating trouble everywhere else to give eric holder room to maneuver here. the combination of that and the president's passion on it. the fact that the obvious disproportionate impact on it. it's not just a matter of money. yes, we are wasting billions of dollars but the racial impact is obvious. you put that together with stop and frisk, you put it together with the president's willingness in the second term to unpack his own identity, if you will. it's an important moment. we are also n a larger sense, in a big time of rethinking privacy, due process, everything

related to that, whether it's drones, whether it's the nsa, whether it's drugs. we need a whole rethink here. i think this is part of that larger trend as well. >> bryan, i want to get your thoughts on stop and frisk. we haven't asked you about that. there's an interesting former, i think, police officer, who writes in the u.s. daily news, giving new yorkers who haven't followed it a sense of how we got here. he writes toward the ends of the decade, political paranoia set in. 9/11 was a part of history and pre-giuliani seemed to vanish. suppose crime went up 2% to 1966 levels instead of falling to 1964 levels. captains wouldn't be promoted. bloomberg's legacy would be affected. a victim of their own success. we are valuing quantity over quality and stopping the arrest

rates got you a promotion internally. >> i think there's no question there have always been political pressures to make more arrests, get more people incarcerated. it's been the formula for success and law enforcement and public safety and politics. the difficulty is we have done it at great cost. we have victimized black and brown people in new york city in ways it will take decades to recover from. to tell any young child as you must, any african-american boy or latino boy you are born with a presumption of guilt and people will treat you differently because of that is unbelievably unfair and burdensome and traumatizing. it creates plain that this cannot heel. that's the legacy that new york engaged in the misguided thinking that allowed them to

believe they could target and victimize their population like they have for many years without owning up to the damage that's been done. i don't think there's a political excuse to justify that. >> we are talking a generational impact and recovery, really. this will take years and years. it is a start. bryan stevenson, thank you so much for your time. >> very happy to be with you. >> "andrea mitchell reports" will be coverage of eric holder's report and michael bloomberg's response today. after the break, president obama says he doesn't think edward snowden is a patriot. either way, he's making changes to the surveilness policies. we will discuss the credibility gap. that's next on "now." find chinese restaurant.

that's awesome! i know, voice activated and great gas mileage. so much better than choosing voice activated or great gas mileage. that'd be like eating sweet or sour chicken. oh grrrlg what is this?! sour chicken... it's good, right? that'd be awful. i think i like "and" better. and is better. the 2014 focus. only ford gives you ecoboost fuel economy aa whole lot more. go further. humans. we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world.

that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional better car replacement, where if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liberty mutual insurance, we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, so we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. plus, you could save hundreds when you switch, up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh!

could've had a v8. in the juice aisle.

in his first response to the debate brought on by edward snowden's leaks, president obama laid out a series of measures to calm the american public. focusing on four areas of reform, the president called for action to reform section 215 of the patriot act regarding the collection of american phone numbers, greater transparency around the legal basis, a task force of private citizens to review and the appointment of a privacy advocate.

that last point, perhaps the most significant received a response from lawmakers. >> the idea of having a public defender, it really is a search warrant to the fisa court would slow down the efficiency of our counterterrorism investigation. i don't think that's the right way to go. >> we cannot afford to have it on a debating society. we need decisions made quickly. yes or no, up or down. residents lives are at stake. >> a security retreat and called them dangerous politically and as policy. on the other side of the aisle, they criticized the president's weak agenda and asserted his eyes tinker around the edges of the surveillance programs. the president remained defiant and refused that snowden's leaks were toward his bid of greater

transparency. >> i never made claim that is all the surveillance technologies that had developed since the time some of these laws had been put in place somehow didn't require additional reforms. that's exactly what i called for. i signed an executive order well before mr. snowden leaked this information that provided whistle blower intelligence to the community. >> it was a tough sell. trevor tim asked, does president barack obama think we are stupid? the fact is he's had years to initiate a debate and instead stifled it. one thing everyone can agree on, both the debate and the debate about the debate will tonight. matt, what did you make of the president's announcement on friday and his intentions here? >> i'm all for a mend it, don't end it approach. i have been in the camp that assumed this stuff is going on. i'm more troubled by google and

facebook having all our information. it's voluntary. we have known what they are doing since 2005 and 2006. there's not been the same stink over it. i don't view snowden as a hero. he's a criminal, but sparked a debate that is arguably overdue. when obama comes out, the idea that he is doing this in anything other than response to the debate snowden created puts the president in a weak position and gives enormous credit to snowden. there's something in the timing of this that if obama wanted to have this debate or propose the reforms, doing it in the wake of snowden's thing is the political felt needy to suede the more left libertarian concerns that snowden has aggravated. >> he didn't do that to anybody. >> the wall street journal and "the new york times," where do you land there?

>> one thing, people are not giving enough credit for the idea there would be an advasary. they are doing more than approving warrants. they are making bodies of law. you have chief justice roberts appointing people to the court that become the national security lawmakers with no sense of a process. i think it can be done in a way that would uphold the basic tenants. >> "the new york times" called them a parallel version of the u.s. supreme court in terms of the precedent they have laid down. there's no transparency around it. they invoked the state secret privilege. you have to wonder, how much power is that going to have? is there going to be more decision making? >> by the way, alex, they did that in the news column. >> right. >> that was on the front page. >> not an editorial. >> it was a lead piece saying

hey, folks, there's a shadow supreme court here. president obama is not the kind of guy who likes to admit he overlooked something or was hiding something. >> or that he's kowtowing to public pressure. >> all of which he did, as matt was saying. i think he's going to get right wing republicans attacking him in any way if he touched it. if i could be a monday quarterback -- it is monday. he should step back and look at it more seriously. the fisa court is an antique. it was created in 1978. the world has changed ten times over since then. assigning retired judges hand picked by any chief justice is not a serious enough response to trying to balance the security state with our liberties. it just is not. it requires a deeper

conversation than the president is willing to have. for him to say trust me, okay, compare it to doing dishes and michelle wants to make sure that i do the dishes. basically, the president is saying, you know, you can trust me. but if you don't really trust me, let's add these little pieces of parsley around the turkey here. >> right. you may call parsley, others call window dressing. it's a popular metaphor. >> parsley can work. >> matt, there was something about comparing the washing of dishes to the search and seizure of millions of phone records. some people may not have an issue with it. it was a fairly -- >> it was weird. >> traiiflializing it. >> yeah. he said a few weeks ago, i'm not going to scramble fighter jets for a 29-year-old hacker. i'm not going to be wheeling and dealing with this guy.

i'm not going to wheel and deal over edward snowden. >> but i will propose a plan -- >> and cancel a meeting with the russian president. >> it was clearly grudging. the whole thing felt like a grudging exercise in which the president was telling everybody, you know, i don't have to -- you should trust me. if you insist on it, we will do these little things. >> this is the problem with the secret si state. it's very difficult to pull back from it once you decided something is secret. the entire existence of this program, i assumed my government was doing what google and facebook does, but there are members of congress who knew and couldn't have the debate because the program is classified. if you can declassify the existence of what they know and assume to be true, you can have

the nuance updating with the conversation. with default to secretcy, you can't have that conversation. >> the president should get some kudos for initiating this process. sure there's public pressure. national security and counterterrorism is the new third rail. before the president finished speaking, house speaker boehner's office said transparency is important but we expect the white house to insist no reform will compromise the integrity of the program, the president must have a red line. that's just to needle him on syria. our priorities should be continuing to save american lives, not saving face. is minute you propose window dressing, turkey parsley, whatever, the parsley is not going to be eaten by everybody. >> the republicans will want to

try and rehabilitate their chops on national security as a trumping thing against the democrats. i think obama because of osama bin laden, basically continuing the policies of his pred assessor is flank on 2012. all the national security stuff is going to be revisited in 2016 whether it's hillary clinton or someone else. republicans will want to lay the ground work. >> not to overstate the tea party but some of the tea party types, if they are taken seriously -- >> this is put your money where your mouth is. >> this is put your money where your mouth is time for these people. they should tell speaker boehner to cool it. this is our time. >> it is interesting this is coming, heather. talking about the resurgence of al qaeda and iraq, to have the conversation with that as a

backdrop is theeth ka si of the reforms you are proposing. coming up, a year ago mitt romney officially attacked paul ryan to be his running meat. they begin to speculate about 2016, not naming any names, a new book takes a look back. we will talk to dan balls about romney and the race that was, just ahead. time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. his first job was working at the carnival games on the board walk in ocean city, maryland. today, he's the fifth generation to run the company. learn how this century old iconic amusement park is keeping up with modern times. that's on "your business" 7:30 on msnbc. ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪

♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ small businesses get up earlier and stay later. and to help all that hard work pay off, membership brings out millions of us on small business saturday and every day to make shopping small huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet.

to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet?

♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. a weekend incumbent, a reluctant challenger and a lot of mistakes. we will talk with dan balls about his 2012 post mor tum when he joins us next on "now." my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea

and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. and make your business dream a reality. as soon as you feel it, weigh you down? try miralax. it works differently than other laxatives. it draws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally. don't wait to feel great. miralax. take the miralax pledge to feel better sooner. get a reward like a beauty treatment, a dance class or a $5 gift card with purchase of a specially marked pack. go to miralax.com for details.

help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger.

after millions of dollars and thousands of hours of analysis, there were plenty of memorable moments, the 2012 race changed very little. in his book "collision 2012" dan balls writes about a battle between two polarized electorates. one that brought president obama to power in 2008 and the one that brought sweeping republican gains two years later. america seems to be left with the status quo. the gop kept control of the house. the division between the parties is as sharp as ever. that doesn't mean it wasn't worth the ride. we are treated to spicy anecdote like the empty chair in tampa. balls says top romney advisers were sickened. he walked out of the room and threw up. there was insight into the mind

set of an obama team ready to engage in hostilities. case and point, jim messina said my favorite philosopher is mike tyson. he said everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. my job is to punch them in the face. it was fought out in small ways. if 2008 was inspiring, 2012 was negative and nasty. joining us is dan balls, author of "collision 2012." dan, thanks so much for joining the program and congrats on the book. >> thank you. glad to be here. >> we are happy to have you. the future of elections in america, after 2012, given the prolonged and insane nature, what do you think each party learned and how do you think it's going to affect 2016?

>> you speak of long campaigns, the 2016 campaign seems to be getting under way or there's an appetite for it. one campaign ends and the next begins. they don't necessarily settle the ones we think they should. if you step back, there are two ways to look at it. one is the big forces out there in the country that have a huge effect on the outcome of the elections. in the day-to-day battling of gaffes and the trivial moments, the big forces seem to get relegated backstage, yet they are very important. in 2012, and i think going forward, there are several. one is obviously the change in demographics in the country. it's had a powerful effect on who ends up voting and which party is advantaged to that. we talked of republicans having a lock on the electoral college. today, the democrats because of the changing demographics and the fact the white vote is a

smaller share though still a majority in presidential elections and the non-white vote is growing, democrats have an advantage on that front. that's one factor. another factor is the red/blue divide. we take it for granted as this point yet the devisions between the two parties and the attitudes of the people who call themselves republicans or democrats are so powerful in the end they tell you how people are likely to vote as almost all the information we seek and have about them. that's at one level. alex, the other level is the process of campaigns. we saw things in 2012 that we are going to see more of in 2016, whether it's the use of data mining and analytics that the obama campaign did so skillfully. the potential importance of superpacs and the power of debates and obviously, the role

of social media that truly came into its own in 2012 and will become more significant as we go forward. >> dan, i want to ask you about data mining and the campaign process. one of the things we talked about on the show is polling and t the preponderance of polling. how do you think that the role of pollsters and data crunching is changed for 2016? >> it's two ways, alex. one is simply, it clearly has a huge effect on our business. coverage of campaigns is more driven by polls than it used to be. the danger, as you suggested, there's good polls and not so good polls. every poll that pops up, it's like we start over again in terms of shaping the conventional wisdom of the race.

it's something that i think all of us who cover campaigns have got to keep in mind as we head to 2016. there's just going to be a preponderance of polls and we have to be careful how we report them. the flip side is, inside campaigns, both the obama campaign and the romney campaign were polling in lots of different ways. neither campaign was doing national polls the way we do or other news organizations do. they polled only the battleground states. they polled them individually and they polled them collectively. they did it in the traditional way through the traditional pollsters they had and through their own calling as they were able to call thousands of people every night and build up huge samples so they could, in essence, try to look at specific segments of the population to see what ways they might tweak their strength with the groups to eke out more of an advantage.

we are going to see a lot of that along with the analytics and modelling that the obama campaign was so skillful at. >> i want to open up to our panel here in new york. heather, you worked on a campaign. itis shocking and dramatic how quickly the process of campaigns changed between 2004, 2008 and 2012 and now 2016. the metrics we will use to measure voters likelihood of pulling the lever of their candidate of choice or the pollsters candidate of choice. are we capable of learning big lessons? i would really put it on the republicans given the fact they lost. do you think that there is even enough of a sort of open mind, i mean demographics, one of the things dan points out are not changing in favor of the republican party. yet, on issue after issue, the

party seems to be doing nothing to change its positions in a meaningful way to help it among certain sectors of the electorate, specifically those growing minority demographics. >> i think it's a little bit of a situation on both sides where we actually got in terms of the policies we can get through. there have been a skew, in particular on the economic issues where you see the racial differences play out in policy differences. the fact that we had 32 superpack donors that were able to, themselves, 32 billionaires give more to superpacks than the entire small donor party for obama and romney combined. 32 superpack donors swamped us out. the very wealthy have different policy priorities than the rest of americans. they are less likely to support

a living wage. the superpacks weren't as big of a story coming out as demographic change did, it does change the policy that is are possible in washington when you have money going to both sides from this very small group of people. >> you can make a case 2016 is going to be more dramatic. everyone was just getting their feet wet in the wake. this is the big presidential after that. >> and figuring out newt gingrich was never going to be president. >> stewart stevens, i talked to him after the election. i haven't read dan's book yet, but he was struck by spending 40% of his time raising money. this is the idea that this is at the heart of what the, you know, the end game of the campaign season, it's not about ideas, it's having the fuel to fuel the ads and fuel the outrage. something's got to give. >> yet, in reading dan's book, it reminds me, in a way, of an

account of world war i in the sense that we are into big time trench warfare here where people are tossing big bombs out there in terms of a lot of money and television advertising and everything. not gaining much ground in either direction. as dan said, we now have presidential elections that don't seem to resolve anything. i'm not naive about the way american politics works, but we used to think when there was a presidential election, certain questions would be answered about the direction of our society. >> yeah. >> we now have this incredibly expensive process that can be entertaining or very expensive but seems to exaggerate rather than reach a resolution of any time. that's the message of dan's book. >> the red/blue divide. there's a lot of talk and i

would love to know your thoughts. before the election, the president said the fever will break and it didn't. the fever went up a couple degrees if we look at what's happening in washington now. to what -- what do you ascribe that to? was that the message? was that optimism? was it being naive? >> i think it was a wish that was created coming out of the debt ceiling debacle. this was as low a point in the obama presidency as we saw, lower than the 2010 midterm election defeats. it was the moment the president decided he was not going to be able to get anything through the congress. he had to go into campaign mode and win the argument. there was a point, i remember being out with him around the fourth of july in 2012 in ohio. it was a sweltering morning. he was talking to the crowd and in essence said you have the ability to break the tie.

we are gridlocked in washington. you all have the ability to change that and break the tie. they stopped that fairly quickly. they realized people weren't sure it would break the tie. >> dan, i have to ask you a philosophical question before you go. when you say something like that, we hear that anecdote, it's a depressing view of american politics. the idea where you have campaigns with a lot of money, special interest money is paid. there's a huge amount of data. in the end, no meaningful change the enacted no matter what the results are. are you optimistic that we will produce better candidates and better government in the next election cycles or pessimistic. >> i tend to be optimistic but i'm a realist. it's going to take extraordinary candidates and take voters to step up as well. >> the book is "collision 2012"

"the washington post" dan balz, thank you so much. best of luck with the book sales. >> thank you. coming up, zz top once positive jesus left chicago. we'll discuss faith, politics and 2016 in the hawk eye state just ahead. i am alejandro morales, i was seven months old and my family moved straight to chicago. america is the only country i have ever known. senior year of high school, i was promoted to city court staff commander, i held the rank of cadet brigadier general. i was head of chicago rotc. i want to be a us citizen and i want to be a marine, i'm gonna be a marine, because i care. i care about this country. i care about those around me, i care about my family, my neighbors. you know, i do want to give back, i believe one hundred percent in what this country stands for.

let me earn it, you know, let me serve. i just want an opportunity, i just want a chance. to, to show everyone out there that, i am, american and that i will honorably serve this country wearing a marine corp uniform. okab. a, or b? or a. that's a good choice. let me show you some faucets to go along with that. with the latest styles and guaranteed low prices, you can turn the bath you have into the bath you want. good choice. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, this cordova vanity combo is a special buy. just $199.

they're the days to take care of business..

when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week. centurylink® your link to what's next. is this heaven? >> no. it's iowa. >> that is an awesome movie. we will discuss iowa's obsession with heaven and the holy, next. the boys used double miles from their capital one venture card to fly home for the big family reunion. you must be garth's father? hello. mother. mother!

traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. two words. double miles! this guy can act. wanna play dodge rock? oh, you guys! and with double miles you can actually use, you never miss the fun. beard growing contest and go! ♪ i win! what's in your wallet? [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me.

it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ]

i believe that our founding

fathers were moved around on this continent by god like men on a chess board. not perhaps all they did was with divine inspiration, but much was divine guidance, including the declaration. >> so much for that separation of church and state thing. that was a republican from iowa, steve king speaking at the family leadership summit this weekend encouraging the crowd to reconstruct this country on our foundation. ted cruz, rick santorum and the conspiracy theorist, donald trump. the iowa caucuses are still weeks away. the sway of the religious right over the gop. campaigning to the choir is still seen as a prerequisite for republicans seeking higher

office. there were bizarre and baseless accusations from pastor rafael cruz. >> a young leader rolls up talking about hope and change. his name was fidel castro. socialism requires that government becomes your god. that's why they have to destroy the con accepttive god. they have to destroy all houlties except loyalty to the government. that's what's behind homo sexual marriage. >> if you were wondering where ted cruz got it from -- >> i don't want to dismiss his cuban journey, but -- what i never understand is when it heats up about the religious right, where is the left and why is there this kind of concession that the right has the claim on

faiths role or inspiration for public policy. every movement for social justice from abolition to civil rights was inspired by and led by people of faith who were trying to create the more perfect union, et cetera. the idea the democratic side routinely say that is's their thing is a huge mistake and fails to draw on the well of inspiration for what the agenda should be. >> it's much more in line with christian values of protecting thy neighbor and the golden rule way more so than conservative. >> there's been beautiful organizing in the progressive community in the state and local. the pico is all progressive faith leaders looking at the issue of money and politics and the golden calf. there really is a progressive, you know, values led faith wing of the party. it hasn't had much impact at the

federal level. look at the nuns on the bus and the way they curtailed paul ryan. >> democrats need to pander to that side in the same way. it's interesting. >> that's the thing out of iowa. the conservative christian base is not going anywhere. even 30 years ago, the religious right didn't hold that much -- >> evangelical christians were the base of the new modern republican party. the democrats have to rediscover their roots in faith as we come up on the 50th anniversary of the march on washington led by reverend martin luther king. >> steve king talked about global warming saying it was more of a religion than a science. thank you to howard, heather and matt. that's all for now. see you back here tomorrow at noon when i'm joined by joy, frank, josh and benjamin. until then, follow us on

twitter. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. e. seriously! yeah - and it's on verizon's network. sweet! we can stay in touch when we go to school next year. that's so great! get the samsung galaxy s 4 for only $148 on verizon - america's largest 4g lte network. walmart. no-charge scheduled maintenance. check. and here's the kicker... 0% apr for 60 months. and who got it? this guy. and who got it? this guy. and who got it? this guy. that's right... [ male announcer ] it's the car you won't stop talking about. ever. hurry in to the volkswagen best. thing. ever. event. and get 0% apr for 60 months, now until september 3rd. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now?

[ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. it's up to you to pay the difference. so think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. i did a little research. with a medicare supplement plan, you'll be able to stay with your doctor. oh, you know, i love that guy. mm-hmm. [ male announcer ] these types of plans let you visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. and there are no networks. is this a one-size-fits-all kind of thing? no. there are lots of plan options. it all depends on what we need and how much we want to spend. [ male announcer ] call now to request your free decision guide. it could help you find an aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. what happens when we travel? the plans go with us. anywhere in the country. i like that. you know what else?

unitedhealthcare insurance company has years and years of experience. what do you say? ♪ i'm in. [ male announcer ] join the millions already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. remember, all medicare supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay and could really save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to choose your own doctor or hospital as long as they accept medicare patients. and with these plans, there could be low or no copays. you do your push-ups today? prepare to be amazed. [ male announcer ] don't wait. call today to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan to go the distance with you. go long. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

right now on "andrea mitchell reports," we are following two developing stories at this hour. new york could this be the end of stop and frisk? a federal judge rules it crime fighting tactic violates the constitutional rights of minorities. it is the key element of mayor bloomberg's law enforcement legacy. we are going to hear from him live any moment. redrawing the lines in the drug war. attorney general, eric holder, will talk about his plans for low level non-violent drug offenders. we are going to bring you that announcement and what this shift in policy means for the criminal justice system as well.