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tv   Politics Nation  MSNBC  February 24, 2014 3:00pm-4:01pm PST

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good evening, rev. good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, a new fight against stand your ground. lawmakers in florida are now threatening to expand the law. just days after millions of americans were stunned by the michael dunn verdict. we've heard dunn himself talk about the self-defense laws in jailhouse recordings made after he was arrested for the death of jordan davis. listen. >> between adrenaline, fear, and muscle memory, i wasn't doing a whole lot of thinking. it was a me or him situation. i wish i had a time machine i would have parked there. >> it was me or him, says michael dunn. in that conversation, dunn seemed convinced that the self-defense laws were on his side. >> i have high confidence that it will work out. even if it goes to trial, i'm
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not a monster. i mean, that's important to me that you know that. >> maybe dunn was confident that it would work out. because of how broadly the self-defense law protects the use of deadly force. at his trial, the jury instructions read, quote, the danger to michael dunn need not have been actual, as long as he believed that the danger was real, and he had no duty to retreat. so the danger didn't have to be real. he only had to believe it was real, and he had no obligation to retreat from this imaginary danger? what kind of law is that? there are now 25 states with stand your ground laws on the books. and now in florida, the state where it all began, they're actually trying to expand it.
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a house committee just approved a bill that would expand the law to include the threat of force, not just the use of force itself. supporters say the bill could help someone like marissa alexander, who was imprisoned after firing a warning shot in self-defense. but critics say it opens the door to even more problems, with possibly more guns and more intimidation on our streets. make no mistake. well need to repeal this law. we need to fight it, not expand it. the father of jordan davis talked about that when i spoke to him on friday. >> stand your ground is so confusing to the jury and for every citizen in the state of florida. we need to rewrite stand your ground. he killed a 17-year-old that will always forever remain 17. he shot a bullet through his lungs. it traveled and tore his aorta. he was choking on his own blood.
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and when i have a picture in my mind of my son choking on his own blood, unable to speak and knowing he is seconds away from death, it break miss heart. >> joining me now is florida state representative kiani mcgee, who voted against the ex-stanex extension of stand your ground. representative, you're a lawyer and former your are. why did you vote against this new attempt to expand stand your ground? >> it's a vague attempt, reverend all sharpton. on its face it looks like it's there to help marissa alexander. but when you really dove into the language of the bill, you realize the bill is so vague, that it's going to lead us down a slippery slope. for instance, this bill, house bill 89 allows for us, or anybody to pull out a firearm and fire into a home, a vehicle, a crowd. it doesn't stop.
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it doesn't stop where anyone can use deadly force. it simply gives them the authority and the immunity to use it. >> so you can fire into any of these places if you think you're in danger. it doesn't have to be actual danger. if you feel you are endangered. >> if you feel you are in danger based upon this particular language you have a right to fire a gun into a home, into a vehicle, or into a crowd. and the one thing about this bill, reverend sharpton, is this. if you fire a weapon in this particular case, under this particular bill, if the bullet hits someone else, the question is will the shooter be liable for the person who was hit who was not the intend target. >> right. >> the bill doesn't even speak to that. those are the complications that this bill would lead to. stand your ground has already divided this entire country. >> wow. >> now, this particular bill here will take us down that road, down that slippery road. and i feel there will be no
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return once this bill is passed. >> now, kendall, four of florida's biggest newspapers have come out against stand your ground. saying the florida law must be revise or repealed. this is unprecedented in the state of florida. what is your reaction to this growing outcry against this bill? i remember two years ago when many of us started raising objections, we were considered raising something from the margins. now you see the mainstream is saying no, this is not a good bill. >> well, and you have to hope. we now have three high profile cases in florida that have dramatized the problems with this law. of course, the george zimmerman case, the marcel alexander and michael dunn. you have to hope that this growing momentum is going to mean something and the legislature is going to feel they need to do more than just
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tinker with it or proposition even expand it. look at something either to repeal it or to make it more acceptable. and i want to focus on what the jacksonville sheriff recently said, who was right there, literally, his office was at the scene of the crime with michael dunn, and he said we do have to do something about it. he changed his mind. and i think he pointed a way to some kind of improvement, not necessarily appeal, but flag is could make the law a lot more accessible. right now it is clearly a message to gunowners that if you can come up with a story you feared for your life, you can literally get away with murder. >> you know, representative mcgehee, there are many that are concerned about this expansion law and want to see legislators do something. many of us are gathering there on march 10th to talk to the legislature about our concerns. let me ask you, are you saying
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that there is no bill that is there to really just repeal it? because even the attorney general of the united states, eric holder talked about the danger of stand your ground laws last july. watch this. >> it's time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods. we must stand our ground to ensure that our laws reduce violence and take a hard look at laws that contribute to more violence than they prevent. >> so even the attorney general is on record. how can the legislature not hear the cry of people all over this country, and particularly the people in their own state, in their own districts? >> reverend, you have hit it squarely on its head. our legislature has pretty much said no to hearing it. senator chris smith has really good bills actually deal with this issue, that actually
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accomplish those same concerns that our attorney general laid out. the issue here is we're creating a situation that it can only make things worse. what is going to happen when you have a gentleman again at a movie theater or at a gas station, and he internalized some sort of fear that he has, a fear that he may have harbored with him all of his life, and all of the sudden he feels now he is afraid. he pulls out this gun, and he fires. now, the question now is where does the firing stop? because we now know if you fire and you hit someone, stand your ground covers you. now with this bill, if you fire and you miss a person and you hit into the car or you fire into the house are you covered? and what happens if this bullet hits a kid? are you covered? and that's what we're talking about. the vagueness of this law can only create more complications. and we have to do more.
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and you've been on the front line of this issue. and we know. we know at the end of the day, when it is all said and done, this bill does not make sense. if the country is already divided, when why would you tilt more in favor of stand your ground? why not allow for the country to settle down, come to an understanding, come to a resolution on how we can deal with this. there is no reason to actually expand stand your ground when it's already inside of one of the most highly debatable issues that we've seen. >> you know, kendall, the law is also applied unequally. and when you look at the stand your ground states, look at this data. from 2005 to 20, 36% of shooting deaths with a white perpetrator and a black victim were found to be justifiable. only 3% of shooting deaths with a black perpetrator and a white victim were considered justifiable.
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so it's not even equally applied. you can't even equally stand your ground. >> and i think that's part of why the attorney general of the united states thinks that the federal government needs to speak out on it, because of these kind of statistical disparities, this kind of injustice. and just to sort of give you a sense of how it's going to explain to a jury. before stand your ground a jury was told if somebody is going to kill somebody claiming self-defense, they have to have used every reasonable means to avoid the danger. now no such instruction to the contrary, stand your ground. so what they're really saying is you can go looking for trouble. you don't have to walk away. as i said before, you come up with a story about how you were afraid and how you thought you saw a gun, you can kill somebody and you don't have to walk away from trouble. but you can walk out of the courtroom. >> state representative mcghee and kendall coffey, thank you both for your time tonight.
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>> thank you, reverend sharp. >> thank you, reverend. coming up, outrage in arizona. why hasn't governor brewer vetoed a bill that would make it legal to discriminate? we're live in phoenix ahead. plus, it was supposed to be a bipartisan event at the white house today, but bobby jindal just couldn't help himself. and ted nugent follows his fake apology by comparing the obama administration to nazi germany. why he is a problem for the gop. and is the nfl ready to penalize players for using the n-word? stay with us. peace of mind is important when you're running a successful business. so we provide it services you can rely on. with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on.
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to discriminate is one signature away from being law. today the calls are growing louder for a veto. you cannot legalize discrimination. we're live in arizona, next. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.s everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ugh. geico. little help here. i need>>that's my geico digital insurance id card - gots all my pertinents on it and such.
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>> you hear the applause. a historic moment at staples center as jason collins becomes the first openly gay athlete to play in any of this country's four major professional sports. >> jason collins making history last night in los angeles, and it isn't just jason collins. michael sam, who is expected to be the first openly gay player in the nfl, worked out with other top draft prospects this weekend. but while the vast majority of americans are moving forward, some on the right are trying to roll back the clock. in arizona, republicans in the state legislature passed a bill that would let businesses refuse to serve gay customers if they cite their religious beliefs. it would allow blatant discrimination. and many are urging governor jan
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brewer to veto the bill. >> our governor needs to veto this legislation. it is bad for arizona. >> veto this bill! veto this bill! veto this bill! >> today arizona's two republican senators john mccain and jeff flake have tweeted they're hoping for a veto. but so far governor brewer says she hasn't made up her mind. >> the bill is in transmittal, and i don't have to make a decision until next friday. so i've got plenty of time. >> this decision shouldn't take governor brewer any time. it should be a no-brainer. just a few decades ago, civil rights activists staged sit-ins at lunch counters across the country to protest restaurants who refused to serve people because of the color of their skin at that time.
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today it's a different kind of discrimination, but it's still discrimination. joining me now is arizona state senator anna tova, democratic leader in the senate. senator, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me, reverend. >> the entire country is looking at arizona right now. how could lawmakers there justify this kind of discrimination? >> you know, this is an extreme bill that arizona does not want or does not need. so i was very disappointed to see that the gop has brought forward such a bill that will have discrimination for all arizonans. it truly is a sad day in arizona. >> now, senator tovar, several republican senators who voted for the bill seem to be backtracking now. listen to this. >> sometimes we make a mistake and need to correct it, and that's what we're doing right now, trying to correct an error. >> it's been bad pr for the state. it's a mistake, and we want to
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see the governor correct wit a veto. >> how do you respond to their backtracking on their own vote? >> well, i'm glad they're taking a different position now. but the damage has been done to arizona as far as what this has caused us, negative publicity. we're working our way back very hard, and definitely arizonans don't need or want this bill. so we are urging the governor to veto this bill as soon as she gets off the plane tomorrow morning from d.c. >> now, i've got to raise a huge question for arizonans and for everybody, for that matter. the super bowl is supposed to be in arizona next year. now, it was also supposed to be there in 1993. i remember this. it was moved because arizona wouldn't recognize martin luther king day. today the nfl put out this statement saying they prohibit discrimination, and, quote, we are following the issue in arizona and will continue to do
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so. should the bill be signed into law. but will decline further comment at this time. governor brewer hasn't wanted to talk about this. let's watch governor brewer on this. >> i think should address that issue to the super bowl. >> i mean, senator, how do you respond to that? and how could the super bowl come there if this, in fact, is signed into law? >> well, this is a bill that would damage our economy way past the super bowl. so i applaud the super bowl for taking such a position as well. but, again, this is, you know, thousands of jobs are on the line. and people's livelihoods are at stake. but most importantly, not only from an economic perspective, but from a personal perspective
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as well. all arizonans deserve to be treated equally, and this bill does not do that. this bill forces discrimination with all arizonans. >> now, we've seen several pieces of extreme legislation in arizona over the last few years. right now we're seeing this anti-gay bill, but in 2012, the governor signed a law to ban abortions after 20 weeks, which was later overturned. in 2010, there was the papers, please, immigration law. what is going on in your state, senator? >> well we are working very hard, reverend, as you know. you've joined us on many occasions to fight for the right of all arizonans to prevent discrimination, whether it be the sb-1070, whether it be our martin luther king day. we are standing strong in arizona. and arizonans don't deserve this bill. so we are rising up and asking the governor to swiftly veto this bill tomorrow morning. there is no need for this bill in arizona. and the governor has a prime
quote
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opportunity to show that arizona is open for business for all arizonans and for everyone here to be treated equally. so, again, we ask the governor to swiftly veto this bill tomorrow morning. so arizona can get on to its priorities and matters -- issues that really matter here in the state of arizona. this, again, an extremist bill that arizonans do not want. >> well, we'll be monitoring it. and i'm very curious as a minister to know what kind of religion teaches people don't serve people food based on who they are and what they do in life. arizona state senator anna tovar, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you so much. coming up, it was supposed to be a bipartisan meeting at the white house. but bobby jindal didn't get the memo. wait until you see how one democrat responded. also, think the gop's ted nugent problem was over? think again. he's got some new comments about
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nazi germany that should have republican leaders very worried. stay with us. this is interesting.
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journal" reports tilison is joining a lawsuit to block this 160-foot water tower being built to use for fracking purposes. excellent. so why the change of heart? i guess he is concerned about contaminating the water supply. or maybe he has seen the documentary "gasland." >> whoa, jesus christ! >> that's how contaminated the water was from fracking. dangerous chemicals setting that water on fire. but no, it's not about the fracking. so why is he changing his tune? the water tower is literally in tillison's backyard in bartlesville, texas. and his lawyer says his primary concern is that his property value would be harmed, his $5 million property.
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today president obama met with the nation's governors, and for one fleeting moment, everything seemed to be going pretty well. the president called for action on a series of popular items -- jobs, education, access to health care. there seemed to be a good feeling about working together. but right after the meeting, one republican governor just couldn't help himself. >> yes, he did mention the minimum wage repeatedly to us. what i worry about is this president, the white house seems to be waving the white flag of surrender after more than five years now under this administration, the obama economy is now the minimum wage economy.
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>> waving the white flag of surrender? over minimum wage? wait. wasn't that same governor saying this just one day before? >> as a party, we can't just be the party of no. as a party, we've got good solutions. let's increase domestic production of energy creating hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs. the republican party should be the party of growth and opportunity. >> so he slams the party of one the one day and next day slams the president and says no to minimum wage increase. it was a remarkable about-face, and it led to this testy exchange. >> until a few moments ago, we were going down a pretty cooperative road. you just heard what i think ended up being probably the most partisan statement that we've had all weekend. i don't know what the heck was a reference to white flag when it
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comes to people making $404 a week. i mean, that's the most insane statement i've ever heard. >> i'd like to respond just quickly. if that was the most partisan statement he's heard all weekend, i want to make sure he hears a more partisan statement, which is i think we can also grow the economy more if we would delay more of these obamacare mandates. >> the republican party is broken, and even republicans know it. now if they could just get out of their own way, we could see some real action. joining me now are crystal ball and joan walsh. thank you both for being here tonight. >> thanks for having us, rev. >> when he attacked the party of no, was he thinking of governor jindal? >> i think he might have been. this is the second time bobby jindal has done this. he has the instincts or the advisers to know there is something wrong with his party. it is broken. he came out and said we can't be the party of stupid and now we
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can't be the party of no. he is stuck on no and stupid. he can't move away from really unpopular policies and can't move away from trashing the president. after having a really cordial go-round with this president who tried to reach out and emphasize areas that used to be common ground. universal pre-k used to be a bipartisan idea, raising the minimum wage the same thing. he goes off after that and becomes mr. no once again. >> and you know, krystal, when jindal called the gop the party of no, let's remember all the things the republicans have said no to. raising the minimum wage. extending long-term unemployment benefits. expanding medicaid in many states. closing corporate tax loopholes. a path to citizenship. the american jobs act, which economists say would add -- would have added 1.9 million jobs. and new gun laws, and on and on and on. they have been the party of no. jindal was right about that on
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sunday. >> right. right. and he is very much in line with all of the items that you just listed of them being the party of no about. so he is right in step with the rest of the republican party. i mean, here is the real problem for this party. their economic philosophy has been totally thoroughly discredited. we had a financial collapse because of their economic philosophy. we have the highest heights of inequality because of their economic philosophy. so he may realize that it's not good for them to be the party of stupid, that it's not good for them to be the party of no. but they have nowhere else to go because their entire economic theory is totally debunked. >> but then why in these flashes when he talks about the party of no and he has these apparent flashes of political sanity does he come back like he does today and doubles down? for example, here is republican
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congressman devon nunez, what he says about his own party's agenda for the rest of the year. listen to this. let me read it to you. he says, "it's over, it's finished. in the house, we've got 30 guys who don't want to support anything, ever, unless it balances the budget next year." >> well, they are. they're stuck, reverend al. they know, they know they have a lot of problems. one of their problems is their reliance almost exclusively on white voters. periodically they say we've got to get ourselves some different voters. but they can't do comprehensive immigration reform, even though there probably are the votes for it because they're afraid of a backlash. they know they need more women voters, but they can't loosen up. they can't stop bashing women. they can't stop promoting more anti-choice policies because they've still got to play to that culturally conservative base. they want more young voters. same thing, though. they're tied to their base and they will not give it up in
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order to reach out and venture out and probably grab new voters. so it's easy for them to default attend of the day is just say no, disrespect the president, and hope that their voters turn out as they often do in the midterms. and this is the thing. they're right. >> this is the question, krystal, in the midterms, as joan just said, will they pay pour it in 2014? 2016 will they pay for it again? >> right. i think in 2016 they will almost definitely pay for it. 2014, they're still 40eholding to their success in 2010. that's why they think they don't really is to reform, because they point back to 2010, they're banking on 2014 look like that again. it's up to democrats to get their voters excited and get them out to the polls. if it is another turnout low election, you are probably going to see conservatives pick up seats in the house. and that will then keep them from making the changes and reforming the party in the way
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that they really need to. >> right. >> to be a true national governing party again. >> you know, joan, the gop keeps out thing this cbo report that came out last week about the minimum wage. and it says it would cost the nation about 500,000 jobs. but it would also increase earnings for 16.5 million workers. >> right. >> and it would also lift 900,000 people out of poverty. of course, the republicans don't out the that. and the president, watch what he was saying last week about the minimum wage. >> this is not just good policy, it also happens to be good politics. the reason that this is important is not because everybody is going to be benefitting from heightened minimum wage. the truth is that most working americans make more than the
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minimum wage already. but people i think instinctually understand the part of what this country is about is if you're working hard and taking responsibility, that you can get ahead and that you can look after your family. >> well, yeah. and, you know, we've got to say -- i respect the cbo. they do good work normally. but this report is an outlier. most economists agree there is only a marginal, if any impact on jobs. so the report is controversial. >> and contradictory. >> there is contradictory stuff in it. overall, we might have more jobs, reverend al, if we did away with child labor laws. we might have more jobs. we would have more people working if we just did away with social security, just work until you die. there is lots of things that might have more people in the workforce. but their lives would be miserable. and we have fought battles to advance the rights of workers and to raise that floor for people which then raises everything for everybody else. so this is a battle worth having. the people are on the
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president's side, they're the party of no and they're on the wrong side. >> joan walsh and krystal ball, thank you both for your time this evening. >> thank you, rev reverend. >> catch krystal on the cycle at 3:00 p.m. still ahead, the gop's ted nugent problem is just getting worse. today he is make nazi comparisons. and is the nfl ready to make a big statement penalizing for the n-word? it has people talking. stay with us. (vo) you are a business pro. seeker of the sublime. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we.
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centurylink® your link to what's next. last week, it surfaced that rocker ted nugent called the president a, quote, subhuman mongrel. the remarks were vile, but the the problem was much bigger than ted nugent. it exposed a problem in the gop. a refusal to condemn this ugly talk. the republican candidate for governor in texas had no problem campaigning with nugent. still others called it just ted being ted. eventually, some gop leaders did the right thing. people like senators rand paul and john mccain, both condemned the talk. and i applaud them for it. but ted nugent himself, this was his mockery of an apology. >> i do apologize, not
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necessarily to the president, but on behalf of much better men than myself. i apologize for using the street fighter terminology of subhuman mongrel instead of just using more understandable language such as violator of his oath to the constitution, the liar that he is. >> but why does nugent's apology matter? well, apparently it was good enough for the man at the center of texas governor's race greg abbott. he released a statement saying i believe ted nugent recognized his language was wrong, and he rightfully apologized. this is not the kind of language he would use or endorse in any way. it's time to move beyond this. it's time to move beyond this? let's see how mr. nugent has moved on. in this clip, flagged by media matters -- >> there was an incrementalism
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to what happened in germany and other places historically where they came in slowly and they started, you know, the power struggle between the different races and the power struggle between different elements of society. i really believe that what we see with the irs can be compared accurately and historically to the early maneuvers of people like jack-booted thugs like the brownshirts. i think he really wants to destroy america. >> comparing the obama administration to nazi germany? that's disgraceful. but what is more disgraceful is the party's coziness with talk like this. joining me now are joe madison and dana milbank. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. >> dana, what does the gop's tortured relationship with ted nugent tell us about the party? >> well, look. ted nugent has just stepped in it again.
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if he had any sense, he would be goose stepping his way away from the cameras and out of the limelight at this point. in the immediate sense, i think, really, the only damage here is to abbott down in texas, because he is the one who is going to be on the ballot. he is the one who is most closely identified here. the nugent problem, look, you can't dismiss nugent as one crazy person who is going to sound off about nazis using nazi terminology himself. the problem is there are several people, several characters along the fringes, not just ted nugent. it's steve king, it's michele bachmann, it's matt bevin. there are a whole bunch of these character let's certainly stipulate that's not the majority of conservatives in america or republicans. the problem is that when they're trying to step away from that image the party has, the trouble that it has with women, the trouble that it has with minorities, the collection of these characters and the slowness to disassociate themselves from these characters
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is what the problem. >> you know, joe, both governor rick perry and senator cruz were asked if they would still campaign with nugent. take a listen to what they said. >> ted and i have been on the stage together. he is a proud and a strong defender of the constitution of the united states. we've all said things that we would like to reel back in. i suggest to you that this is probably one of those for him. and he does that, and i don't know. >> would you campaign with ted nugent? >> you know, i haven't yet, and i'm going to avoid engaging in hypotheticals. >> not strong denunciations, joe. >> no, not at all. and the reality is that the strong defender of the constitution is a draft-dodging rocker who didn't dodge the draft because he had ideological differences. he dodged the draft because he wanted to continue to play rock 'n roll. and even said that if he had
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been drafted and gone to vietnam, he would have shot his own men. now this is his own words. so this is not something new. but here what is really going on. ted nugent is a train wreck for the republican party. there might be a lot of trains that make it to the station, but what gets the attention are these train wrecks. he is a train wreck. >> but he is not the whole point, dana, because there is a lot of extreme talk, even among lawmakers that are getting bolder in attacking the president. listen to michele bachmann, a congresswoman. listen to this. >> the president's legacy will be at the establishment of lawlessness in the united states. from stem to stern, this president has said the law doesn't apply to me. has he violated the law? in my opinion, yes, the president of the united states has violated the law. but we must have the support of the american people in order to
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have impeachment. >> no, you don't. >> impeachment? lawless? >> no. >> well, i think we have gone maybe a week or two without mentions of impeachment. so i guess we can't be terribly surprised that it's come back once again. look, this talk, this has been a regular staple of the conservatives rhetoric, the illegitimacy of this president. the talk itself isn't the issue. the craziness isn't necessarily the issue. the problem for the conservatives and particularly for the republicans it is the policies that they've put in place is not doing anything to help their cause. if you just had michele bachmann and just had ted nugent out there, but you didn't have the mass of the party, say, opposing a minimum wage increase, an obsession with bringing up abortion legislation, an absolute failure to address immigration legislation in the house, if you didn't have those things, you could say, well,
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these are one-off characters. everybody has their fringes. the problem is you have policies that in the voters' minds can be conflated with the crazy things that some people say. >> yeah, but joe, this is just not crazy things. this is actual policy. the idea the president is lawless has even become a party of part of the gop's policy. congressman cantor, for example, sent a memo to the house gop saying, quote, president obama has provided new clarity as to what constitutes an imperial presidency. the house will consider a number of bills to restore the balance of power created by our founders. this is cantor to gop members of congress. this is party policy. >> and by the way, the president hasn't done anything that ronald reagan didn't do, that george bush didn't do, that other presidents haven't done. and if you notice, they never
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really give the american people any examples of what constitutional laws he has broken. they always say he has broken constitutional law. well, give us some examples. and let me also say something. if he is a criminal, you don't need the people's support to prosecute him. impeach him. but they know darn well that if they do, that's it. now you have seen a train wreck of the entire party. and they know it. so all this is nothing more than rhetoric. and ted nugent needs to go back to school, if he went to school in the first place. all anyone has to do is watch the history channel or attend history 101 to know how he described is the united states of america today and nazi germany 1930s is absolutely absurd. nazi germany was about white supremacy, aryan nation supremacy. that was it.
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and i don't think president obama represents aryan nation supremacy. >> joe madison, dana milbank, i'm going to have to leave it there. thank you for your time this evening. >> thanks, reverend. >> thank you. ahead, banning the n-word in the nfl. why this possible new rule is creating controversy. and it's a big night for the queen of soul. the one and only aretha franklin. that's next. predicting the future is a pretty difficult thing to do. but, manufacturing in the united states means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done.
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♪ my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty ♪ ♪ of thee i sing >> the legendary aretha franklin, singing at president obama's first inauguration in 2009. she's been one of my musical heroes for decades. a trail blazer who merged soul, gospel, the blues, and rock 'n roll into a sound all her own. and it was my great honor to present her award at this year's b.e.t. honors show. a tribute to some living legends for black history month. other honorees included smokey
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robinson, ice cube, and motown founder berry gordy. the show aired tonight on b.e.t. black history month is a time to remember those who have gone before. but we should also remember that some of those making history are still here and can still bring down the house. this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines"
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from the classic lines to the elegant trim in each and every piece,
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♪ kohler will make your reality a dream. the nfl is on the verge of a groundbreaking. it's expected to pass a 15-yard penalty for using the n-word on the field. a second offense would result in an ejection. the chairman of a group watching diversity in the league said, quote, we want this word to be policed from the parking lot to the equipment room to the locker room. secretaries, pr people, whoever. we want it eliminated completely and we want it policed everywhere. we've heard the n-word used off the field. there was the bullying scandal inside the dolphins locker room.
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an investigation found the use of racial slurs and other racially derogatory language. and last summer, eagles player riley cooper was caught on camera saying the n-word at a concert. the critics say talking trash is part of football, and this penalty would be against freedom of speech. but here is what i say. the nfl is a place of business, and anyone involved in the game must live by the same rules every else does. if we don't take an unequivocal stand on the n-word, what happens when openly gay athletes are mocked with the f-word on the field or players use anti-irish words? we must send a message that all derogatory words are unacceptable. if the fans in the stands can't talk trash at their jobs, then nfl players need to understand
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that the stadium is for the pleasure of the audience. it's a work site for them. and they should be responsible on their job like their fans are on their own. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. attack on hillary. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. we'll get to the bad politics in ukraine much later in the show. but let me start with the bad politics here in this country. did you notice, and this is certainly a nasty fact that the same hawks who want a street fight, some exchange of trash talk with russian president putin who aren't afraid at all to get in the old cold war

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