this week cruz channeling his inner joe mccarthy ratcheted up the rhetoric refusing to walk back his father rafael's comparison of president obama to cuban dictator fidel castro. ted cruz's seasonably appropriate sieve zealot costume is not exactly frightening democrats who see cruz and his descendants as the enof the gop at least according to majority leader harry reid. >> if i didn't care so much for our country, i would hope he would get the republican party nomination. that would be the end of the republican party. >> indeed with his turn at the captain's wheel signs of a party decline are coming into view. according to latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll, the public's view of the republican party has reached another all-time low garnering just 2 % approval rating. at the same time "new york times" reporting that the democratic party is enjoying something of a boomlet in newly declared candidacies for congress in red states.

almost all of the democratic candidates, the "times" reports, driven to run over disgust over cruz's shutdown strategy. if i ever see ted cruz all i'm going to say is thank you, thank you, said nebraska democratic chairman. i would have been in witness protection was i didn't have anybody to run. if ted cruz is cowed in his strategy of what the new yorker terms universal aggression it is behind closed doors. "politico" reports in private he made it clear he would not try to kneecap colleagues in primary race despite recent campaign against senate republicans. cruz is nothing if not a strategist. if for the moment he's playing nice in the sand box, it's probably because he has his eyes on becoming "king of the hill." >> he said you did it because you want to run for president. >> there is a lot of partisan animosity in this town. that's unfortunate. >> he was saying you did it for political reasons, you want to

run for president. do you? >> my focus is on representing 26 million texans and bringing back jobs and economic growth. >> i understand. saying you did everything because you want to run for president? >> you know, there is -- >> that's not a conversation you want to have? >> there's a classic political strategy that if you can't defend substance you change the topic. >> do you want to run for president? >> my focus is on the u.s. senate. >> joining me jonathan capehart, garden and gun magazine, julia reed, author of, of course, mama put vodka in sangria, norm warnstein, co-author of "it's even worse than it looks." and heather mcgee. norm, i must go to you first.

it's amazing. ted cruz clips, we hear them and we're chuckling, so transparent and insincere, yet he holds considerably spray in the republican party. is his influence on the rise? >> i must say, looked at my calendar to see if it's april 1st, april fool's day and not halloween. i think he's on the rise. frightening. if you look at all the putative presidential candidates, the vote, the debt problem, they voted against it. that includes paul ryan in the house, rand paul and marco rub yochlt but marco rubio, who is not a dumb guy has looked at the territory out there.

first moved away to get to the right of cruz, now he's dropped his own immigration bill. these guys all believe that the future for the next few years of the party is over on the radical side of the right. who is the top leader? it's ted cruz. if you look at the mean developed with rush limbaugh, sean hannity and others, after the disaster and nearly something worse, our spineless leaders cave just on the verge of victory. ted cruz would have led him to victory if he hadn't given in. got the zeitgeist. >> what's incredible, heather, the minute after the shutdown ended -- another senator sworn in, maybe he can make a difference, cory booker, official democratic senator for new jersey. to ted cruz and his influence, 27 gop senators disproved in the last two days of their own vote to raise the debt ceiling.

if there is a question about who has the captain's meal in the republican party that would prove it. we did this but hate we had to adopt this moderate position. >> this position as people who run the government. >> yes, exactly. it's really unfortunate. it's ted cruz, also heritage action. we both work for think tanks, mine progressive, yours is a conservative think tank. what's happened under jim demint is entirely something else entirely. not a think tank. it's one of the more powerful -- if rush limbaugh moved to washington, gave himself a phd and started throwing money around. >> he's a statesman compared to some of these people. >> julia, there's a question -- the question is, i'm a moderate conservative and i see what's being done to my party. that can be a red state governor, voter. >> the governors are smart enough to distance themselves.

>> how do they reconcile governing with the policies. >> what astonishes me is the rest of the party caved to this guy, didn't stand up. the thing is there's no way he could have done what he wanted to do. people need to go back to civics class. it's not possible. to say he saved is ridiculous. there's no way physically. >> politically, electorally. >> to reverse the health care law. to say he caved is ridiculous. there's no way it could have happened. ted cruz might have gone to harvard but nobody in his base has even gone to high school civics apparently because they believe what he's telling him and it's not physically possible. >> meantime it's worse, report has crumbled in one year. 63% of women now have an

unfavorable view, 46% of senators have unfavorable view, 67% of independents, 70% of white college graduates now have an unfavorable view. to say nothing about black people and hispanics, gays and lesbians. >> in the reality-based community, those who reside in it, those numbers would freak people out. grownups in the republican party should be freaked out by those numbers. when you live in the short-term political -- i don't want to say reality. >> in space where no one can hear you scream. >> ted cruz, senator ted cruz and mike lee and all these other folks on the far right fringe reside, they don't care about numbers. that's a long-term problem. for them the number they care about was fundraising number. ted cruz was able to raise a lot of money at the end of the third quarter. when we see the numbers at the fourth quarter and look at the

first two weeks of october, i bet you dollars to doughnuts he will show a fundraising increase from people who believe, who are not in the reality-based community that he's leading the charge, leading the fight for them, even though as you've just said, there was no way in hell ted cruz would succeed in anything he was pushing. >> let me give him his due. the person most upset is jim demint. he spent 10 years to build himself up to be the new leader of the radical wing of the republican party, the robert taft of the 2010 plus period. in 10 months ted cruz eclipsed him. nobody talks about jim demint but ted cruz. they wield power but he's the leader, the acknowledged leader, i think, of that wing of the party. it's the dominant wing of the party. we should not discount the political savvy and brilliance of this guy.

it's demagogue brilliance, dangerous one. this guy is scare y. >> heather, the obstruction and obfuscation continues. we hear word they are threaten to filibuster -- block janet yellin for fed chair, jeh johnson for secretary of homeland security and patricia millette seated on the d.c. circuit court, the second most important court in the country. this is happening at the same time the deficit, which is arguably the thing the tea party is worried most about is at the lowest it has been in five years. at 2013, $680.3 billion. is that cause for them to maybe relax a little on this? not at all. absolutist, dogmatic platform they are on. >> absolutely. it has become their ultimate political strategy to stop government from doing anything

effective. it doesn't matter they are part of government, sort of shredding their own nest. if the president were able to confirm nominees, have the d.c. circuit actually function, to have a fed chair, right, at a time when the fed is the only piece of the government that's actually still able to do anything for the fact we saw the joblessness crisis in this country, they would be losing on their short-term, i completely agree with you, jonathan, political strategy. until we can see some sense of accountability, i think we had that for a moment with the shutdown, unfortunately the media narrative has moved on to a bigger piece of government dysfunction, the health care website rollout, until we see that kind of accountability, i don't think -- norm, maybe you've got an inside idea but i don't think they are going to change the strategy. >> i would say, julia, we were talking about governors, e.j. writes, four years ago the three off year races, virginia, new jersey and new york prestaged

the republican sweep of 2010. in the case of the first two, the rise of the tea party. this year all three signal the collapse of the tea party and mobilization of both the political center and political left. you're going to maybe have -- not maybe but likely have democratic governor of virginia. you have chris christie moderate by measure of the tea party. in new york city we're going to have probably our first democratic mayor for a long time. while the tea party may have hijacked washington and congress, at the state level i think the platform has been repudiated. >> listen, as we just saw in those clips, this is every democrat's dream. if they could have been smart enough to do that, gayle collins wrote manchurian candidate, commies, raising this child from birth. the democrats have gotten their act together they would have invented ted cruz. as it is, he's just a gift to them. republicans are not going to win an actual election for a very long time after this.

>> jonathan, whenever we see tape of ted cruz, the new yorker has a great piece on sort of his character, as julia said, original snake oil salesman, disingenuous. asked, are you running for president? >> like "saturday night live." >> he takes whatever criticism is genuine, criticism directed at him and throws it right back, i'm not manipulating my power by rejecting governance, it's president obama -- are you running for president? when people are asked questions they don't want to answer, they try and switch the subject, which he then does. >> right. that's when we burst out laughing. wow, we actually did fall through the glass here. he's doing the thing he was dekrad decrying. what was your question?

>> it's a program form that can't be realized, destroying the party, yet some people are buying it. >> right. it's destroying the party but also destroying the country. what this country needs is a two-party system with two functioning parties that understand what it means to govern. remember, not all that long ago people would say the darnedest things, make promises they knew they couldn't keep, then get to washington and reality would set in. oh, yeah, i have my constituents. there would come those times we will need to take votes that will kill me at home but the right thing to do for the country. one party of the two-party system rejected that. not doesn't do it, rejects it completely and is being rewarded for it. >> in the short-term. >> people now sitting in congress since 2010 were accept to washington to do exactly what's happening, stop government, shut down the

government, default on the debt because it doesn't matter. >> right. >> to bring it back to some semblance of reality, the king in shrek said, some of you may die in this operation but that's a sacrifice i'm willing to make. that's ted cruz and the republican party. >> that's it. >> of course he also said we need jobs. that's what we need to focus on even as he shut down the government, cost the economy $34 billion and had jobs go down the toilet. so you can only marvel at what they call in texas chutzpah. >> back to your point, what is truly marvelous, people are falling for it, the article you pointed out says he looks like -- help me, the actor. >> bill murray. >> apparently reality has left my own brain. bill murray, except bill murray is a satirist, and people get he's been a smarmy see-through

guy. it's astonishing the whole world isn't cracking up like we are. >> it's worse than a bad halloween costume. >> it's terrifying -- i'm sorry -- >> where is the divide. as they say in -- cut myself off there. are we saying good-bye to norm? apparently we are. resident scholar, norm, i hate this part of the show. thank you so much for your time. his book is "it's even worse than it looks." >> it's a great halloween gift. >> thank you for your time, norm. coming up starting tomorrow, 47 million americans who receive food stamps will see a dramatic cut to benefits but for republicans $5 billion is not nearly enough. we will discuss the war on hunger and the hungry when eliot engel joins us just ahead. [ male announcer ] pepcid® presents: the burns family dinner.

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passed with plenty of optimism. that is little consolation for 47 million americans currently on food stamps. for those people the talks were deeply distressing. one republican lawmaker after another took to the mic proposing painful cuts to s.n.a.p. or food stamps by asserting steep cuts would help the most vulnerable and not hurt them. >> i'll continue to work with my colleagues to implement reforms in s.n.a.p., cut back on waste, fraud, abuse. >> why does safety net need reform, people are tangled up and stuck. the house addresses this by ends benefits for individuals who, quite honestly, don't qualify for them. >> food stamps will play an important role taking care of our most needy americans. the program exists to lift those up that hit bottom not keep them there. >> asking people to work in return for food stamp programs is not any form of cruel or unusual punishment. the dignity of work has long

been a pretty common theme throughout ages. >> ensuring vulnerable families receive the support they need in a more efficient and effective manner. >> more efficient and effective manner. in other words they want to cut food stamps by $39 billion because shredding social safety net makes society members more reliant? welcome back social darwinism. some democrats on the committee, although not all of them, push back. >> i strongly oppose the cuts to s.n.a.p. so many americans recovering from the worst recession in generations. >> i just urge everybody put themselves in the shoes of these families. >> thisses not a time to make sure these folks are discriminated against. >> the two sides will try to

reconcile $39 billion in cuts in legislation with $4 billion in cuts on senate side. snap sip yents have a more immediate concern. beginning tomorrow it will be cut by $5 billion as stimulus spending expires. >> it's shameful but will happen friday. we have a hunger problem in this country. it's not fashionable to talk about it. it's not a comfortable conversation to have. it's a fact. it's hard to be poor. it's very hard to be poor. we must not make a bad situation worse by piling on deeper cuts. >> joining me is the democratic congressman from new york 16th district eliot engel ranking member on foreign affairs committee. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> i have to ask you if we look at what's happening on friday $5 billion in cuts to s.n.a.p. with greater deeper cuts on the horizon, i think a lot of us are asking how did we get to this

place and why did democrats not push harder? >> well, the s.n.a.p. program we're losing friday is a result of the package for the stimulus. that we always knew was falling back. i think this is a visceral divide, actually. the republicans, as you've shown some of my colleagues' speeches, they take the attitude that all these people are ripping off the system and getting food stamps when they don't need it. that is the general attitude. they have no idea, apparently, people are starving in this country, in the richest country on earth, we have people -- not only people that don't work, it's people who work but don't make enough money to sustain their families that need food stamps. so this nonsense about how giving people food stamps we're making them dependent on the system, stuck on the stock

market, what would my republican colleagues do, throw them in the street, beg for food and starve? we've had this program 40 years. there has been a balance in the farm bill between the agriculture needs and the food stamp needs. this year, of course, under the auspices of the tea party and their cronies, republicans decided to split the two and cut food stamps by $39 billion. it's unconscionable. >> heritage action, to the degree they passed farm bill without any funding for food stamps, to the degree they are willing to put $39 billion in cuts on the table. why has the democratic majority in the senate and real minority but significant minority in the house not been more sort of attentive to the progressive caucus that would say, listen, if we're going to have to meet in the middle of the playing

field, how are we letting goalpost move so far to the right. at this point looking at $5 billion in cuts that happened on friday. between $4 and $39 billion on top of that. wouldn't it have been a better play to say we're going to increase funding for s.n.a.p. and find measured cuts somewhere in the middle between their figure and ours? >> you know, we're in the minority, unfortunately in the house and we have limitations what we can do. there were many, many democrats, including myself who spoke out forcefully and thought the program should the a least be continued at the same level or perhaps even increased. the senate did what the senate needed to do. the fact of the matter is, thank god, we have the democratic majority in the senate so we can prevent cuts from happening. ultimately we will prevail and most of the cuts will not happen. the fact that the republicans are seriously proposing these cuts is really a scary thing to begin w the attitude somehow people are ripping off the

system, they always take examples and use them as the norm. the norm is people are starving and they need help and it's a disgrace in the 21st century we would be cutting these types of programs. >> congressman, i totally agree with that point. i want to open to our folks in new york. that has been established, insidious, taking hold in some areas of the american conversation that these people who receive food stamps or some kind of government assistance are takers. as congressman from kansas, they are couch potatoes. one in five s.n.a.p. households have no other income, 45% of benefits go to children. s.n.a.p. benefits equal $1.50 a meal. >> you have to zoom back and realize this the same party that also doesn't want work to pay. they might do the same as with farmers, eliminating insurance,

why wouldn't they include a raise to the minimum wage in this bill. we want work to pay, feed your family and be self-reliant. we're going to cut this benefit from the government but require increase from the employers. that would make sense, logically coherent. >> is the majority -- i think the congressman mentioned how many people get food stamps that are working. i think it's the majority of people on food stamps. >> if you look at center for budget and priorities, if you look at poverty numbers, food stamps, they are almost parallel. we have economic duress. we're not through the worst of it. as such, the need for gocvernmet assistance has gone up. people are working. they haven't been paid enough to put food on the stable. congressman, i want to bring up a point. i wonder if it holds water. "wall street journal," not a bastion of liberalism points out

stimulus effects food stamps have on the economy. if you take away these subsidies, assistance, retailers, grocers, the food industry is worried about the cuts on friday. 48 million americans with $16 billion less to spend over the next three years and comes just months after the expiration of a payroll tax cut which knocked 2% off consumers monthly paychecks. is that an argument you make? the fact this goes back into the economy as does to heather's point the minimum wage? >> of course. that's also an argument. it's a secondary argument. the main argument we're just being mean-spirited and hurting a lot of people who are in desperate need of help. but the same thing, one of the reasons why we had to fight for stimulus and couldn't put forward programs we wanted to put forward to stimulate the

economy, unemployment didn't go down as much as we hoped. of course programs have an effect on the economy. main thing for me, how can we talk in the 21st century being the richest country in the world, people are hurting. the minimum wage was mentioned, just mentioned. we're not raising minimum wage. we're making it harder for people to get a decent wage. you know, the republican party's mantra seems to be. i've got mine, now you go fend for yourself. >> julia, you're in a red state. w.h.o. williams at fox, not a channel known for its liberal views says it's bad politics for republicans of the areas most in need of help and feeding people are republican strongholds. 2010, high numbers struggling to feed themselves were in rural counties. >> once again, it's bad politics. that makes no sense at all. unlike the stimulus bill, you can directly track this money. there's no way -- there's no

other place for it to go. goes directly back to the economy, grocery store, red states, blue states, you name it. it's economics 101. do not ask me why politicses -- it's crazy politics. >> people voting against interest. >> that's what we've been talking about all day. >> the other thing, it's important to highlight this is not people jobless. thisses people working. jonathan, you wrote me a note about veterans. 900,000 veterans affected by these cuts. >> children, veterans. >> on the veterans piece, when you mentioned that during the break, it took me back to the time of the government shutdown when you had all of these self-righteous republican members of congress marching down to war memorial standing tall with the american veteran. why won't the president stand with american veterans? why is he standing in the way of people who keep us free?

the same people are going to allow this to happen to veterans who fought to keep us free and who are hungry and noticed this program. >> congressman, before i let you go, i want to say i think part of the problem here is perhaps folks aren't aware about the dynamics and contours of the debate. the gop's feet are not held to the fire in terms of the cuts they are proposing. as you pointed out heartlessness of this platform. these had practical, tangible facts on republican, democratic voters, older voters and younger, too. the more we can discuss this and the more it can be brought to the floor for discussion, i think the better it is for the issue. >> i agree. i think it defines the two parties. you mentioned a rural america and red states. they are hurting their own people. they round people up on social issues but hit them in the pocketbook. we need to expose that. >> as we point out, fraud, constantly the flag gop waving on food stamps, fraud accounts for 1% of food stamps.

we will leave it there, democratic congressman from new york eliot engel, thanks so much for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you to the wonderful and always excellent julia reed. her latest book "mama also put vodka in sangria" something this mama is going to do tonight. >> the only thing left to do is drink. >> a vote for the times. the good news. we will introduce you to people doing awesome things to make the world better in a new segment we call champs. that's next. both maxwell and ted have hail damage to their cars. ted is trying to get a hold of his insurance agent. maxwell is not. he's on geico.com setting up an appointment with an adjuster. ted is now on hold with his insurance company. maxwell is not and just confirmed a 5:30 time for tuesday. ted, is still waiting. yes! maxwell is out and about... with ted's now ex-girlfriend.

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today we're debuting champs, showcasing good works of some person or group we believe is making a real difference. our first winner, the brave women of saudi arabia who are defying the kingdom's ban on female drivers. this past weekend over 60,000 took part in the protest, youtube videos behind the wheel. in riyadh two were shot, six in the eastern province. they were all fined and forced to sign a pledge to respect the kingdom's laws. for the woman of this country, driving is just the beginning. in saudi arabia women need formal permission from a male guardian to work, travel, attend school or get medical treatment. the campaign garnered 17,000 signatures, launched its own hashtag and inspired a bob marley parody which has been viewed 7 million times. ♪ in this bright future

you can't forget your past ♪ ♪ so put your car key away no woman no drive no woman no drive ♪ >> unsurprisingly the campaign has angered the country's conservative religious elite. one well-known cleric said driving could damage the ovaries, while only warpted it would spell the end of virginity lead to prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce. one saudi opinion writer, the most outspoken supporter of the movement has been detained and is currently held without a lawyer. to mr. mubarak and all the saudi women who decided to take the driver's seat, we admire your courage and we support you in the fight. you are our inaugural champs. coming up key house republican says no to president obama about comprehensive

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to pass. that's why i support this reform. >> i continue to believe, as i always have, the best way to address immigration reform is individual bills that build on each other sequentially. the senate went a different direction. i wanted influence the senate came up with. i felt it was important for the

senate to tat first step in this debate. >> that was florida senator marco rubio, architects of immigration reform abandoning his own work last wreak. on saturday rubio spokesperson drove the final nail in the coffin deeming any chances to pass a bill a ruse. wrote the spokesperson, at this point the most realistic way would be a series of individual bills. indeed, rubio isn't only one tearing up last remaining shreds of bipartisan in the gop. yesterday republican chair of the house homeland security committee mike mccall refused an invitation to meet with the president of the united states to discuss the path ahead on immigration reform. here is what he told the radio host. >> i am not going down the road of conferencing with the senate bill. i told boehner he needs to stand up very clear that we're not going to conference with the senate on this. we're not going to conference

with the senate period. laura, i was invited to the white house yesterday, and i refused to meet with the president because i saw it as a political trap. joining us from austin, texas, professor at the lbj school of public policy at the university of texas, victoria desoto. thank you so much for joining us. i'm rather shocked about mike mccall's statement that meeting with the president of the united states is a political trap. seems like we've made 180 on the subject of immigration reform. where are you on this? are you optimistic anything can get done? >> alex, i'm actually pessimistic. i knew early on if we get into october, november, we weren't going to see immigration reform come through. first of all we've seen it fall apart in terms of the house not wanting to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform. comprehensive reform is key. you can't have a piecemeal

approach. immigration itself is a complex issue that demands a comprehensive solution. so you can't go out piecemeal. second, look at the calendar, alex, we're coming up in the week with budget battles. the new year we're coming up on the debt ceiling. we're already in electoral season, a year 2014. all of these markers make me feel incredibly pessimistic. >> i'm going to open to my folks in new york. heather, to the piecemeal approach, dick durbin apparently told "politico" i don't that approach but the only approach -- chuck schumer said we would rather have a big comprehensive i will bill but any way the house can get there is okay with us. is that just a necessary nod to the idea of compromise or do you think democrats may actually cave on this and accept the

piecemeal approach? >> democrats might cave. what do you mean? the piecemeal approach for the house is code for we'll do border security, punitive measures, we'll do something all about back taxes, all about fines and maybe a path to earned citizenship. >> maybe not. eric cantor's kids' act provides dreamers -- doesn't let them become full citizens. >> exactly. i think unfortunately the piecemeal approach, none of itting include any of the things that are lines in the sand for immigrant rights community and democrats in the senate. i think it's silly to think piecemeal means you'll get a great bill when you add it together. >>ivities i was going to say look at congress, they can't get it together. think if we break it into five

or six pieces, we're never going to see anything done. i definitely agree with heather, this is code for we're not going to touch it. maybe in 2018 we'll touch it. >> in 2018, who is going to be voting for the republican party, jonathan. look at the numbers here. this is gallop poll. party id by hispanic americans. if you were born in u.s. hispanic americans both parents born in u.s., 30% republicans, 64% lean democrat. if you're born in the u.s. with one or both parents outside of u.s. 57% democrat, outside of the u.s., 57%. this is 60% of the hispanic community is already voting for democrats. >> a voter latino poll, battleground just after the election actually had some interesting news for the republican party, which is latino voters, if you ask them their political ideology and leave aside party, conservative,

progressive, they are by and large conservative. republicans are leaving votes on the table, willfully leaving votes on the table. can i just say something about the congressman's political trap argument? remember during the debt ceiling crisis when republicans kept complaining the president of the united states won't reach out to us. he won't talk to us. and then here is the president of the united states doing exactly what a president should do and the republicans spurn him. >> it's unbelievable. vic vicki, we know earlier this week, 600, i think a group of 600 activists, including serious heavy hitters, chamber of commerce, mayor bloomberg, head of the marriott corporation, rupert murdoch, there's business, mod ral semiconservative wing of the party that would like to see something done. do they hold any sway on this

topic in terms of gop at large. >> this is a coalition referred to as three bs, bibles, badges, and business. you think about this coalition and this the republican party. if anybody is going to get the ear of republicans is going to be them but they are not having any luck. the reason for that is there's about two to three dozen republicans in the house who have said they are not going to budge. even though everybody else in the republican party and folks in the senate, folks in the democratic party want to see this done, including the business community, there is no budge. there's this intransigent segment. doesn't matter how many folks fly in, over 600 flew in for this, there is just a segment that won't budge. >> heather, the other side of this is the strategy that the white house can then use, if republicans don't. a kunlgel to move, latest in

efforts by democrats to increase political pressure on republicans who ruled out senate bill in hopes of using the issue in 2014 and 2016. >> i think we should see people running ads saying this person supports our current -- our nation's current broken immigration system. it really goes to show particularly when you look at the lineup of that heavy hitter coalition, how much race and fundamental fear of, you know, a more diverse country. >> a browner america. >> can short wire all other kind of logical reasoning and all other political dynamics. >> the fear at the root of this, as at the root of so many things, ted cruz and his strategy of objefuscatioobfusca bill, couch sitters, that fear is at the basis of all this

resistance. >> john harwood, cnbc "new york times" has a great piece in the paper today talking about this thing, race is the undercurrent whisper here in the immigration conversation but also in the obama care conversation we've been having. >> i think the makeup of this panel at this moment with vicki in texas is the great fear of the gop. >> because babies, too, race and fertility patterns and it makes for folks getting scared. >> great fears coming home to roost. vicki, thank you as always for your time, my friend. >> thank you. >> thank you to jonathan and heather. i will see you back tomorrow at noon eastern. "andrea mitchell reports" is coming up next. max and penny kept our bookstore exciting and would always come to my rescue. but as time passed, i started to notice max just wasn't himself. and i knew he'd feel better if he lost a little weight. so i switched to purina cat chow healthy weight formula.

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shows washington and president hit new lows, setbacks there government spying to fallout from government shutdown and health care debacle has been so damaging not only has the president's political approval taken a hit but now personal likability readings are below 50 for the first time. secretary sebelius promised to get the crippled federal health care exchange on track. >> hold me accountable for the debacle. i'm responsible. >> so there's no excuse for it. i take full responsibility for making sure it gets fixed asap. we are working overtime to improve it every day. >> rollout plagued with questions about breaches of personal privacy and why the president repeatedly promised people they would not have to give up current plans when millions of people with individual bare bones coverage actually will. and the bright spot is boston's strongest.