a bigger bucket. ♪ [ male announcer ] more people are leaving bmw, mercedes and lexus for audi than ever before. the holidays won't last and neither will the season of audi. visit audioffers.com today. ♪ for inially 75,000 people are without power in maine and michigan. will a cold, dark christmas turn into a cold, dark new year's eve? 2014 and rising stars to watch. nbc politics team zeroing in on future game changers and who you need to keep your eyes on. the man who plays nelson mandela joins me to talk about a life changing role. already up for a golden globe and s.a.g. award for "the long walk to freedom" we'll talk about that movie that opened christmas day. i'm alex witt in for chris jansing. the future of unemployment

benefits for more than 1 million people, president obama signed the bipartisan budget agreement into law yesterday from hawaii. that did not include extension of long-term unemployment. senate majority leader harry reid says unemployment insurance is first on the senate's 2014 to-do list. 1.3 million set to lose benefits tomorrow. >> we have people with advanced degrees who have found themselves unemployed and unable to find work. these are our neighbors, relatives, friends, that we can generate the kind of rage in the american public that we have seen when, say, for example, just recently, you know, there was talk of going to syria, i think we could get people on board. >> in addition to the budget, president obama also signed the defense bill that strengthens protections for victims of sexual assault in the military but does not go as far as senator gillibrand wanted. this defense bill lifts some

restrictions on transferring guantanamo bay detainees to other countries. could it open the door to closing gitmo? let's bring in dzashgry goldfar. this is supposed to prevent another shutdown for two years but "the hill" rights, fiscal issues loom, including a fight over the debt ceiling and there's no guarantee the budget agreement will ward off another shutdown in january. how likely is that to happen? >> that seems unlikely. the appropriators, who are working to implement the budget agreement, are purporting pretty good progress towards finding agreement ahead of the january 15th deadline and most are confident they'll find a way to get it done by that time. a month, month and a half later there's a deadline to raise the debt limit again, and if that

doesn't come together, we could see another big fight, like we saw in october. but a shutdown doesn't seem very likely at this time. >> so we're gearing up toward mid-february, then, that's the one we've got to gear up for there. with regard to the unemployment insurance, long-term one, the budget does not extend that, 1.3 million americans lose that tomorrow. democratic senator jack reid, dean hiller proposing a bill that would extend benefits for three months. when congress returns next month, is this top of the list? there this gain traction what the two are proposing? >> this is high on the top of the list. you heard, during budget negotiations, house speaker boehner said, if there's a way to find cost offsets for the programs he would be open to some extension. the legislative calendar's stacked already. think go all of the things congress didn't do in 2013, for example, comprehensive immigration reform. it's a test to see whether this issue will rise to the top of congress' list or whether it will fall by the way side as it tries to tackle some other

things that got left behind. >> what is the difference between meeting the deadline or not meeting it this time to extend the benefits and a couple weeks later, over a holiday period? didn't they exhaust every opportunity to find financial funding for this? >> they did. this new proposal is certainly shining light. it's important to note that these benefits being cut out account for $300 for the average person receiving unemployment benefits. so certainly during holidays, that's a big consideration. also, that's 1. 3 million people losing benefits tomorrow. another 1.9 until 2014. it's a big group of people. we are dealing with an age of fiscal always terry here in washington. >> reversing cuts that have been put into place for veterans' pepg pensions here, senator murray is going to fix that.

carl levin promised his committee would review the provision in hearings and consider alternatives. again, it comes to funding, where are they going get money to reverse cuts? and how big a battle do you expect this to be? >> right. on the veterans' benefits, it's important to bear in mind these take place over a long period of time. they have quite some time to figure out a fix. >> 1%, right? >> right. >> okay. >> that's right. what's important to bear in mind, this was a very small deal. there's tons of money to been found to offset other spending down the road. you have medicare, medicaid, social security, untouched, many democrats don't want to touch it. you have other programs, agricultural subsidies and other fees. hundreds of billions of dollars left to cut, if policymakers want to find offsets but those policies and the most hard, difficult, sensitive policies. they found a low hanging fruit for the mediocre deal. that's the challenge going

forward. >> the president, also, signed the defense bill, new reforms on how the military will prosecute sexual assault and treat victims but it does not include senator gillibrand's proposal. she's offered to take sex assault cases from the chain of command when dealing with them. where do things stand on that issue? do you think we'll see a vote on the senator's proposal next year? >> speaking to key lawmakers, including senator gillibrand herself, she suggested that her measure would see a vote. i heard that from carl levin from michigan, chairman of the senate armed services committee as well. there's likely to be votes on proposals. that is something that the pentagon does not support, defense secretary chuck hagel, other top officials suggested to make the change senator gillibrand suggested would deteriorate command, order, and perhaps damage the able of commanders to take control of their unit. certainly a lot of excitement around that proposal given recent reports of how many incidents of unwanted sexual assault and rape go on in the

military each year. >> the defense bill easing restrictions on transferring gitmo detainees overseas. how much closer does that bring us to the president's 2008 campaign, his promise to close gitmo? >> a tiny bit. the president was careful to acknowledge that congress has eased a little bit the restrictions, but there are two key limitations. first, it only allows for repatriation of detainees to their home countries, which is a challenge, especially yemen is home to many detainees and isn't friendly towards that. second, it won't allow detainees to be transferred to the u.s., was what president obama really wants, so that the suspected terrorists can be tried it in u.s. courts. >> without that part, what is gitmo's future? >> it's looking likely to stay open, as zach noted it's moving slightly closer than the defense bill has in past. but the president talks about how the defense bill, which he

signed this week, curbs the executives' ability to close the prison. you saw buck mckeon say he's not opposed to closing gitmo, he's eposed the president has not put out a policy in place for what to do after the fact and that's the opposition likely to cop up on capitol hill as the president marches forward towards the 2008 campaign goal. >> five long years to get that implemented. checking the news feed, a car bombing in central beirut killed five people, including a former lebanese ambassador to the u.s. he was a prom fleninent pro-wes politici politician. that bombing is raising fears of a new conflict in lebanon, as factions take side in syria's civil war. connecticut state police will open up books today releasing several thousand pages of documents from the new town school shooting. expected to detail what police and paramedics saw when they went into the building, as the

mental state of the shooter adam lanza. new snow hampering efforts to restore power to 100,000 in michigan and maine. it's a week since the power went out in those states after that ice storm. 15,000 people in the dark in maine, 57,000 are out in michigan. the last four utah count is it holding out on issuing same-sex marriage licenses have reversed course. the county clerk said, they had little choice, after a judge refused to stop same-sex weddings. now the number of marriage licenses in the state skyrocketing, hitting 1,225 since last friday, and at least 74% of those went to gay and lesbian couples. utah's attorney general planning to appeal to the supreme court. coming up, we'll talk with senator bernie sanders about unemployment, veterans and what congress can get done in 2014. [ sneezes, coughs ]

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tomorrow is the day that 1.3 million americans are set to lose their unemployment benefits. the bipartisan budget deal didn't extend them, and senator harry reid has promised to deal with it in the new year, but will republicans sign on to the deal? joining me now, vermont independent senator, bernie sanders. a pleasure, thank you for joining me. >> my pleasure. >> we are hearing there could be a three-month temporary extension. where does that stand? >> well, the bill is going to be introduced, it should be on the floor as soon as we get back. i think there is widespread support in the democratic caucus for doing it. we hope we can get republican support. the fact of the matter is, to my mind, it is not just immoral to leave 1.3 million americans and

their families out there hanging with no income, at a time when long-term unemployment is almost a record level, but it is also bad economics. what happens is, when these people have no income coming in, they are obviously not spending any money, the economists tell us that will result in a .2 drop in the gdp, and the loss of about 160,000 jobs i think from a moral perspective from an economic perspective, we can't turn our backs on struggling people who can't find work. >> you are aware in are republicans who want unemployment benefits to be specifically outlined in how they will be paid for. if kentucky's senator, rand paul, extending benefits would weaken america, it's all about the art of negotiating what happen are you willing to give up? it's not about the art of negotiatin negotiating. it's a very different philosophy. rand paul, and many of his

friends will give every tax break possible to millionaires and billionaires, we're losing 100 billion every single year because corporations are stashing money in the cayman islands and other tax havens. these guys, rand paul and his friends, have nothing to say about that. when it comes to attacking the needs of working families, whether it's extended unemployment, whether it's cuts in food stamps, whether it's wanting to make massive cuts in social security, medicare, and medicaid, that's where they're coming from. you've got a huge philosophical difference. >> i'm with you here, but how do you negotiate with rand paul and those factions in the republican party to get something that can get passed? >> well, i'll tell you how to do it, we are doing it, you go to the american people. for example, the rand pauls and virtually every republican, wanted to cut social security, they wanted to cut medicare, they wanted to cut medicaid. guess what? we didn't cut social security, medicare, medicaid. why? some of us worked hard to rile the millions of americans who

say you're not going to balance the budget on the backs of the eld elderly, children, sick and poor and give tax breaks to millionaires and large corporations. when you take the case to the american people, we are going to win that. it means involving, educating, organizing american people to stand up for the middle class and working families of the country. >> but, senator, did we not get on this case soon enough in the halls of congress there? you have many democrats, nancy pelosi, chris van hollen, who said we have to have this part of the negotiation, and it didn't happen. so where was the breakdown? >> well, the breakdown was, is that you have paul ryan and his republican colleagues who are adamant, what they are saying is, yes, we have more income and wealth inequality today than any time in american history but we're not going to ask billionaires and wealthiest people and largest corporations to pay a nickel more in taxes. we want to balance the budget on the backs of the vulnerable. that's the clash that you had. so if they're not going to bring

in more revenue, by asking the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share, we're putting a very -- put in a very difficult place. i think the american people in poll after poll are very clear, they do want the wealthy and large corporations to begin paying their fair share, and that's the effort we've got to make. >> i can hear the fire in your voice about this, but a question i asked earlier, what will make the difference between where we are right now and coming back from the break, when congress reconvenes, and putting something together, what has happened with these disparate ideologies that will put something together for these people who have no more money after tomorrow? >> think back a couple of months ago, when our republican friends shut down the government because they wanted to defund obamacare. they ended up yield on that. why? did they change their views? no. american people said you can't shut down the government on -- because you're unhappy about something. when the american people get

involved and speak out, we are going to win this fight. and i begin, i believe, that is going to -- that is going to happen. >> i know you have strong opinions on the veteran groups fighting to cut the pensions. you voted for the deal but you're chairman of the veteran affairs committee. what would you say to military retirees up set about this? >> i would say they got ripped off. the budget agreement that cut their benefit was wrong, but what we have to understand is that the budget agreement that came out of the united states senate didn't cut one nickel. what ended up happening, again, is, because the republicans refused to allow for more revenue, refused to ask the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share, patty murray had to reach an agreement, and she reached that agreement. i do believe, as i think you mentioned earlier, that this proposition doesn't go into effect until 2015, i think there is widespread belief that we

should rectify it, that is my view, and i'll do everything that i can to undo that provision. we made promises to veterans you don't brake throws promises. >> vermont's independent senator, bernie sanders, thank you very much for your time. >> my pleasure. they're burning and that has to stop. >> you realize there's a war out there? people are angry. >> we are all angry. i am angry! you are angry! you must show loyalty. loyalty, winnie mandela. >> that was a scene from the new movie "mandela:long walk to freedom," after limited release the film spreads to theaters christmas day. it did so. it's racked up three golden globe nominations, and that would include best actor. a big welcome to you. one heck of a performance which you're getting so many accolades, including this review

from "the new york times," which writes, elba has the same sharp, hyper alert gaze that acknowledges the world's horrors while looking above and beyond toward a humanitarian ideal and captures mr. mandela's distinctive accent with an uncanny accuracy. completely convincing as a natural leader with a ferocious drive. you've got the s.a.g. award nomination, golden globe, oscar buzz, that's around the corner. how do you feel about these awards? and do they matter to you? >> wow. you know, look, i actually feel very honored and flattered by the awards, you know? awards have never been a drive for me in my life, if i'm honest, because i think the reward is getting the job in the first place. but especially for this film, and it means so much for the sort of -- for people to see this film, if there are awards attached to it, it helps us out a little bit. so it feels good.

>> this was -- let's say it was a difficult fall for you, despite all of the accolades coming your way. you lost your much beloved father, winston. and yet he was someone who inspired you in this role. talk about your father and the role that he played for you in playing nelson mandela. >> yeah. my dad was a union guy, you know? he worked for ford a long time making motor cars, and became a shop steward. you know he was always fighting for, you know, the workers and so on and so forth. so mandela, and others like mandela, was, you know, a sort of inspiration for him. so i kind of turned to my dad to sort of understand, you know, what mandela, you know, his mentality's like. also, i dpes my dad reminds me of mandela in a physical sense, you know? i hadn't ever met mr. mandela, i had no idea what he would be

like at 76 years old and my dad was that reference for me. my dad had big silver harass well and a big, caharismatic mie as well. i used him as a template to bring to life mr. mandela as an older man. >> you spent one night in robin's island cell, but that helped you channel what you needed for the film. i think something that's so special, at the south african premiere of the movie, nelson mandela's daughter, didn't she motion to you and say, come over here, dad, to take photos? >> yes. she likes to call me dad. it's a little odd, but i get it. it's a little bit of fun we have. and she's -- i call her and zinzinadi my daughters. winnie mandela's so wonderful.

she kisses me on my lips and says, my husband. >> that's a nice thing, for both parties involved. thank you so much. best of look. we're rooting for you. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> we'll be right back. we're gonna be late. ♪ ♪ ♪ oh are we early? [ male announcer ] commute your way with the bold, all-new nissan rogue. ♪ if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom.

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dessert. they save the date, guests told to wear comfortable shoes, eat before you come, practice dance moves. nikki haley posted a christmas message to instagram. our family had a wonderful christmas. i must have been good. santa gave me a baretta px4. there are trading opportunit

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senators ted cruz, elizabeth warren, kirs teen gillibrand, raised political profiles in 2013. who is going to shine in 2014? 35 senate races, 435 house races, and 36 contests for governor are expected to bring with them a new cast of political stars. here's a look at nbc politics political stars to watch in 2014. liz cheney, wendy davis, alison lunder grand grimes, scott walker, scott brown, tom cotton,

misch nell nunn. robert, good to see you. >> hello. >> robert, i'll start with you, i want to get with the conservative light thing rod, liz cheney. challenging a popular senator, i might add, mike enzi in wyoming's republican primary next year. >> i think, at the end of the day, senator enzi's going to win. senator enzi's up by double digits. liz cheney has done everything wrong in a primary race. she's labeled as a carpetbagger, lived lived in virginia majority of her life. there's a hunting license and fishing license incident. she's not really in line with her family's thinking when it comes to gay marriage. wyoming, she appears to be flip-flopping back and forth. i think she's going to lose the primary. i think she's going to lose big. >> richard, what about this overall, the republican family feud? is this going to hurt the party? >> you know, dick cheney, liz

cheney's dad, was discredited towards the end of the bush/cheney administration nationally. i think he's not helping himself even in wyoming. he seem to be calling in chip his just doesn't have. he's kind of alienating a lot of people on his daughter's behalf. she's certainly trying to run roughshod in a place where she's not getting traction at all. it's not just double digit, it's 20, 30, 40-point spread she's losing by relative to senator enzi. might it get closer? it might. i don't think it has national implications. it's an oddball race. i don't think the cheneys are helping themselves at all. >> texas, i'll stick with you. talking about texas state senator wendy davis, democrat. she made international headlines in june when she staged that 11-hour filibuster to prevent a vote on the abortion bill for the state. hoping to become the first democratic governor of texas in two decades. does she have a real shot in the

red lone star state? its red but trending purple, right? everybody says, frankly, without any fear of contradiction by 2020, texas will be a competitive state. can it be a competitive state in 2014? we'll see. wendy davis has star power, the filibuster brought it to the fore. she seems to be drawing people in. the question is, does she have enough time to get people, and frankly overcome laws passed in texas, to keep voter participation down? how shameful that is? can she over krcome that? she's down in the polls right now. >> kentucky, the senate race, democratic state alison lunder grand grimes challenging mitch mcconnell. there's a new mcconnell radio ad. his own take of the classic it was the night before candidate.

>> obama wondered who is not kentucky candidate for these times? guess who it goes to. >> allison lundergrabbed grimes. you'll make your decision in november next year. >> the fact that mcconnell's spending money, early in the game, does that show how o. seriously he's headactaking the challenge? >> he's not taking anything for granted you have somebody out there, high name recognition, and you have a kentucky senator who is vulnerable in a sense that he is the senate minority leader. they always have a tough time back in their states historically when you look at tom dashle and other folks because home state individuals don't recognize they're senator because they've raised national prominence. what mitch mcconing's problem is he has to spend a lot of money in the primary which he should be banking for the nationals. i suspect this old horse will get to the finish line first.

>> with romney winning the state by 60 points last year, does she have a shot. >> when the race started getting polled, and she was close, down by a couple, people say, that's an early bump that she's getting, somehow that's going to wear out, but it's not. for months and months, we have seen polls between those be within a hair's breath of one to another. that's not with senator mcconnell being bashed by a tea party challenger, matt bevan, who is going to be able to self-fund, and frankly, i think pull senator mcconnell to the right. i think at the end of the day, senator mcconnell will likely win. if anything else, he's going to get resource his can possibly get from the national republican party thrown into the race, assuming he survives the primary, which i do. i think she's for real, and i don't know whether that's all about her or people somehow getting a little lukewarm about him. >> lots more races to talk about, which we'll do with you both. richard and robert, thank you.

>> happy new year. >> thanks. checking the news feed. a slight setback for the crew on board the ship stuck in ice in antarctica. the ice breaker coming to rescue them has encountered multilayered ice. it will be another five hours before the ship reaches them but they have a great attitude. >> that's the ice breaker coming to rescue us. >> brilliant! >> that scientific team stuck since christmas eve but they have plenty of supplies for the 74 people on board. another space walk for the astronauts on board international space station. two russian cosmonauts install camera and and scientific equipment on the hull of the space station. a man under arrest in phoenix after climbing a fen at sky harbor international airport. caught on surveillance cameras running on to the tarmac after a plane landed. who does that? taken into custody after hitting the plane with his hand. the suspect may have been under

influence of alcohol or drugs. you think? more than 70 people at a popular argentinian beach hurt when attacked bay school of piranha-like fish. some people lost parts of their fingers and toes. this happened 190 miles north of buenos aires christmas day. they call the take rare and exceptional event. online shopping sales surged. we look in the new numbers, online sales rose 40%, to nearly $43 billion. packages too much as well for u.p.s. and fedex. what are they doing about that mess? >> u.p.s. ex-politics to clear the backlog of the late christmas parcels today and rented extra trucks to get the job done. u.p.s. also promising refunds for shipping costs to some customers who didn't get packages on time.

when i say some, reportedly for air and international customers and u.p.s. says some customers who paid for two-day delivery or faster may get refunds of the shipping charges as well. maybe next year, retailers might reconsider guaranteeing delivery they can't control. >> yeah, right. look at the increase in online sale than drove so much of the issue. speaking of online sales, amazon reporting a surge in sales of the premium service, amazon prime. that's receipt tailor's 79 a year free two-day shipping membership business and it's had a record christmas. more than 1 million customers signed up for prime membership during third week of december in time for christmas, and that was, by the way, the last week to qualify for guaranteed holiday delivery. and it means prime service could have at least 20 million members around the world now. and i should also say the growth in the prime membership business is important for amazon, it helps generate repeat business for the company and member get

prime instant video streaming thrown in kindle book borrowing as well. it does seem to be a popular and growing purpose. >> a lot of bang for your buck, 79 bucks. with the population of more than 8 million plus the huge amount of visitors, you can only imagine what people leave behind on new york city transit. 26,000 items this year alone. besides obvious phones, wallets, umbrel umbrellas, they have found a pet bunny, a tuba, false teeth, prosthetic leg, and a diamond engagement ring. [ sneezes, coughs ]

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morallies. joining me now, managing direct, at the washington institute for near east policy, michael sing. welcome. ambassador begi begithe muslim brotherhood declared a terrorist group. dozens of arrests and government seized land, stocks, vehicles belonging to the islamic movement members. where do you see the situation headed and how volatile might it become? >> well, alex, it's going to be a zero sum game. it's quite clear that general assisi and the provisional government in egypt determined not only to eradicate any vestige of political islam in egypt under the muslim brotherhood, but ban and imprison if not banish every one of the senior leaders. this could provoke a civil war, certainly provoking a return to violence. and what i call extremist

islamic violence against the government. it's ominous for egypt's future. let's see how much the egyptian people support the crackdown and give the army the extended support that it needs. >> you bring up a good point. in terms of supporting the muslim brotherhood, this is a group that has done also a lot of charity work there in the country, that's in part how they have become popular and had people adhere to ideology. you've got some hospitals not only run by, but funded by, the islamist group, and yet with their assets being frozen, what happens? >> alex, indeed, the strength of the muslim brotherhood, among the egyptian population, was largely based on the fact that it was a civil, charitable organization, and there are hospitals, as you mentioned, food banks, all sorts of support. now that money's choked off. it's not going to make the lives of average egyptians any better. and that's a question of where's the money going to come from, and the medical support that the muslim brotherhood provided these people, that's an

important question. >> a double-edged sword here. african leaders who have met in kenya on the violence plaguing south sudan, more than 120,000 people displaced, amid all of the violence and the fears of a civil war there. regional leaders said south sudan's government agreed to end hostilities. are you confident that these talks going on today can produce a road map for peace? >> it doesn't look yet like there's a major breakthrough for peace. in fact, there have been troubling developments. we saw, for example, fighting reach south sudan's oil food the lifeblood of the country. without oil production, things get much worse there. the talks that took place under the intergovernmental development authority which is an eight-country trading bloc in east africa, those did not include this fellow machar the lead of the forces opposing the forces in the government. he will not join peace talks

until his colleagues are released by kiir. kiir said he would attend talk but was not release allies of machar. i think until that's bridged, you won't see the peace talks which are necessary to sort of head off larger fight organize even regionalization of the conflict. >> ambassador, representatives from the u.s., russia, syria, u.n., all meeting today in moscow, trying to figure out how to safely remove syria's chemical stockpile. syria, middle of the brutal civil war, what do you see is the biggest concern regarding syria in 2014? >> first of all, humanitarian catastrophe that spilled over and affecting so many syrians, you can't imagine the pictures coming out from refugee camps at this point. secondly, the spillover into iraq and the sectarian strife that al qaeda's now resurging as a result of the violence, and let's remember, syria's on the verge of now being split in two

between the forces loyal to assad and extremist islamist movement. the situation in iraq is not better as a result of this. just the or day, while we were sending hellfire missiles to help prime minister maliki to fight al qaeda, his forces attacked camp liberty which resulted in scores of deaths. this is the camp that is housing iranian dissidents supposed to be protected by the united states. this morning a bomb attack in beirut where a respected leader was assassinated, and many people point to hezbollah, which is the organization that is supporting president assad's forces in syria. >> as a matter of fact that man was a former ambassador to the united states from lebanon. he will certainly be missed. michael, with regard to iran, promising not to bring new centrifuges into operation under the six-month temporary deal

struck in geneva, but the last times says, more than one-third of iran's parliament signed on to a bill ordering acceleration of the program if congress follows through with new sanctions. what's your reaction? are you confident iran won't act, just sit tight, until congress imposes further sanctions? >> there's a bit of gamesmanship here. and you know, the iranian modulists in parliament reacting to what's going on in thes up look, at the end of the day, what's important here is, is there a final deal to be had here? we tend to dwell upon the sanctions and all of these tactical steps. is there really any final deal in the offing that both the united states and iran can live with? right now, that's very hard to see, and, frankly, it's even harder to see when you bring in regional dimensions marc was talking about. iran's a big player of what's happening in syria. also a player in the

israeli-palestinian theater. right now i would say the bigger issue than the near-term sanctions questions is really, what's the road map here? what happens the route to a final deal? >> gentlemen, thanks so much. appreciate it. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this is george.

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it is time for "reputation report," a weekly look at who's hot and who's not according to social media. an extra special edition, taking a look at top trends of 2013. here with an exclusive analysis, howard bragman, vice chairman of reputation.com and chairman of 15 minutes public relations. i said it was extra special. you're here. >> it's a special day. >> let's start with obamacare. we have to do that. it's the top story this year according to the associated press, with all of the annual editors and polls. tell me what you're finding on that. >> we're finding it's tracking about 3-1 negative for the

president. >> no surprise. >> it has consistently. and the social media damage translates into real damage. and there's really three things i'm seeing. number one, that it's hurting the democrats as a whole. number two, it's hurting the president's overall rating. and, number three, historically, this is going to go down as obama's worst misstep. in the presidency, it's hurt his integrity. look at ethical filter, people used to believe, even when they disagreed, now they think he's a guy who has trouble with the truth. >> owe okay. that's not good. "time" magazine's person of the year, we have pope francis, ever popular. he has taken the world by storm, haven't you found that with him? trying to make the catholic church more inclusive, christmas address reached out to atheists, which pope has done that in a christmas message? how did he fare on social media. >> social media loves him 3-1

positive, which is for a pope extraordinary. he's a modern pope. a modern pope because he knows how to use social media. this is a guy who tweets pictures of himself. >> do you think he does it or someone do it? >> i kind of feel he's got one of those guys with him doing it. >> at least he's doing it. >> he understands it. he's an accepting pope. he realizes the world is a different place. you know how different his advocate, the largest gay magazine of the world, named him man of the year. who could have predicted that? something's changed. >> yeah. how about ♪ i came in like a wrecking ball♪ miley cyrus. what about this one? a new video, by the way, we're not going to show it, except for these less risque parts. >> very little you can show of the video. >> social media verdict on her is what? >> there's people who love her. there's people who hate her. and there's people who love to hate her. she's been

media, that's the number one find, she's been huge, one of the top ten trackers in social media, really since it was the video music awards "wrecking ball" now this, my verdict, hannah montana's dead. when we look at celebrity o obituaries, hannah montana's gone. the ability to somebody like her to morph into a new character is very hard to do and madonnaesque. it portends for a long career for her. >> i feel like she's the new britney. britney had her scene, she's mellow. >> i think she's got it in a different way. she understands how to move things more. britney looked more like a victim to me. and miley understands like she's got the power. >> as do you, howard bragman. thanks forring here. that's a wrap, everyone, of jansinging and company. i'm alex witt in for chris jansing. watch my show saturdays.

brian schactman up next. he's filling in for thomas roberts. what do you have? >> mimosa, bloodies and brunch. want to come over? >> i'm there. all right. agenda for the next hour, it's the grinch that stole christmas for 1.3 million americansen unemployment benefits due to expire tomorrow. there the will in congress to something about it? which states will be hardest hit? we covering that at the top of the hour. marriage equality on the march with two big rulings in two big states. guess which high court will soon be looking at this very divisive issue yet again? and christmas cruise ship trapped in ice off the antarctic coast. the chinese ice breaker rushing to get to them has run into trouble of its own. a live report on that and more in three minutes' time.

hi, everybody, brian schactman here for thomas robert. bye-bye benefits. just three days after christmas, hundreds of thousands of americans will lose their

long-term unemployment benefits. the funds for the federal aid program, created during the recession, run out tomorrow for roughly 1.3 million americans. another 1.9 million will lose their benefits by mid-2014, when their 26 weeks of state checks run out. right now, the campaign's on to find a quick fix with senators expected to vote at beginning of the year on a bill that would extend benefits for three more months. a lot of republicans are already vowing to oppose it. >> we're going to vote no later than january 6th or 7th. this bill is the right thing to do for hard-working americans who are looking for a job. >> not only will families lose benefits, but the nonpartisan congressional budget office has said that our economy will lose over 200,000 jobs, if we do not extend these benefits. >> two years of unemployment insurance, come forward and say we want to raise the taxes and the contributions of employees