problems mount. and then he'll make his move when there's a chance to exploit that. ted cruz secedes from the union. let's play "hardball." good evening i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with this. american demaekeracy has rested on the people's changing loyalties between two major political parties, like two teams taking their turns at bat. for a century and a half we have chosen either a democrat or republican to be our president. what if one of the two parties goes ballistic heading so far off the spectrum it is no longer competing for the must just of the voters' loyalty?

what if the republicans get hijacked? if the republican party becomes a torpedo headed for the u.s. capitol and becomes a missile targeted at the government itself. smirks publicly t at the trouble he has created. ted cruz in texas government shutdowns and debt ceiling defaults are all in a day's work. for him compromise is a curse word. and republican senators spend their days running from fights as he puts it. today we hear news that he is forming a group that wants to topple a whole slate of leaders and veterans. can he explode the party leaving it unable to compete, for example, with hillary clinton next time? also that his wild bunch can

rebuild it to a smaller, nastier political party home only to the hard and bitter right wing? david, we have right, left, center. we have one guy i know of who seems to have a ballistic purpose, the blow up his political party. rand paul wants to move it to the right. we know that. he may succeed. this guy wants to take it apart starting at the top. >> i think the way to understand ted cruz is to realize he believes he is leading a crusade. there is a theology to this and political calculations but he believes that republicans if they do anything, if they let the obama budget pass they are enabling what he sees as the destruction of the united states and he is taking it, self appointed. >> the function of the american government is his enemy. >> self-appointed to be the one to say no to this gives him part of the tea party base.

i come to the conclusion that he believes he is the conservative savior. if that means electing peep folks to believe obama is like nazi. >> he is out to knock off mitch mcconnell, knock off roberts, knock off cochran. he is going down a whole list of republicans he has lunch with every week that he is trying to destroy. >> i disagree slightly with what david is saying. i think ted cruz is a charlotten. >> you think he is a fraud? >> i have been falling him for 15 years now and i think he is an opportunist. of course he is not loyal to the republican party, none other than his own interest. you saw he switched from being an establishment lawyer-type guy who helped to get george bush elected to suddenly this demi

god from the tea party. he sees this as a way to his own -- >> here is what chris writes in a fundraising letter for something called the madison project. take note of the mccarthiest language in that number. our nation desperately needs more strong conservative fighters in the senate, not more moderate career politicians who will sacrifice principle and compromise with democrats at every turn. it is time to elect some conservatives who won't run from a fight. there he is. run from a fight. these guys are not to be trusted. he is talking about mcconnell. >> mccain, lindsey graham. the guys they are supporting, chris mcdaniel, a guy who went to a neoconfederate group's meeting.

and wolf in kansas. he is second cousin of obama but compares obama to hitler and posts x rays of dead people to the internet and makes jokes about it. and matt beven running against mcconnell who says he was against the bailout who was in favor of the bailout. it is not principle conservatives. it is a civil war within the republican party. >> i did this the other night because this guy wolf, these guys are crazy people. they are saying stuff you would never nominate them if you had an election. this group like this madison project, they find these people and say anybody crazy enough to run against incumbent republican senator is our guy. >> and then they lose in that battle or come to washington and get consumed by the process and become establishment politicians. ted cruz is determined not to do that. >> how do you know he is a fraud? i have heard that story around

town. >> i saw him in austin when he was working in the late '90s for george w. bush and ridiculed by colleagues on the bush campaign by this negatively ambitious guy. the position wasn't as important as ted cruz being the hero. >> one thing interesting about his background, i spent a lot of time listening to tapes of his father speaking, his father is an extreme pastor and as far on the tea party extreme as you can get. there is something about the merging of tea party and religious right that his fatherer -- >> confusion. >> so there is a long legacy of actually believing or at least absorbing. >> he was part -- anyway, it is always murky sometimes. in this case, i don't like cast ro.

i don't like him or his brother or his regime. if we lost it they would be shooting us and he would have been enjoying it. this guy seems to believe that our elected democratic government castro. that is delusion. >> i suspect he doesn't actually think that. he is looking at 2016. does he think he is actually going to be the nominee? not necessarily but he does see himself as the defacto leaderer of this movement. whatever he is doing now if he has to sacrifice mcconnell and others along the way it is ultimately in the service -- >> you think this is a short runner. >> he has alienated everybody in his party. >> earlier this month cruz set a trap for republican leaders in the senate and fill bustered a vote to raise the debt ceiling meaning a hand full of republicans would have to join

[ inaudible ] with the 55 democrats to prevent an economic collapse in the country. the result was chaos on the senate floor. you were there. >> i was there. >> you want me to read your column to you? >> mitch mcconnell was running around with three fingers in the air, the number of votes they needed. they were scrambling. these guys were ring hands and there was ted cruz chewing bubble gum with hands in pocket. he didn't care how it turned out. the whole idea was the disruption was the purpose. the means were the end. >> and you have him smirking at the confusion and hell of the republican party. >> it was great for him and bad for the republican party. who cares about the republican party? it was very nearly catastrophic. >> mcconnell found five people willing to walk the plank. here is part of the ad he just ran attacking mcconnell.

>> when cruz was asked by dana >> when cruz was asked by dana bash about this obvious case of sabotage here is his response. >> i'll tell you several people raised the question like you did there. why are you trying to throw five republicans under the bus and make them vote for raising the debt ceiling? i'll tell you my response. my response is i don't want to throw any republicans under the bus. >> he did. was that done out of sadness? >> he was saying it was an easy vote and should have agreed with with me and allowed the nation to go into default. he can afford to because he knows mcconnell is going to be the grownup. >> he had the ability to be pure and not suffer the consequences. he knewt that somebody else

would save the bacon when the government shutdown happened he was left on the cross. here you can get out there and say i am going to be as pure as any tea partier is and let mitch mcconnell ride to the rescue and no one is going to blame him for default. >> the way i try to figure out how it will lead to politics. last february a piece noting cruz voting against pretty much every piece of legislation in the senate. when they asked cruz's office about it his spokesman beamed saying he didn't come to washington to make friends but came to save the country. let's talk about the theory. the latest numbers, you like people to run for president. he is running among 2016 hopefuls. this is not who you want. when asked about each candidate individually only 24% of republicans said they want to see cruz run for president.

that puts him dead last in a list that includes chris christie, marco rubio, rand paul and jeb bush. >> that poll doesn't capture the intensity of people. he is going for the guys who will outlast everybody in iowa caucuses. he is looking for the absolute true believeers in the party. i can't imagine -- he can't imagine he is going to win the republican nomination much less the presidency. he can become a hero. >> they all think they can win. listen, jeb bush doesn't run, chris christie doesn't run that leaves rand paul, marco rubio. he has the energy. and the crusade rolls on. >> they are meeting in las vegas. and then ted cruz giving speeches like this and rand paul is the moderate compared to him. i wonder why they are self-destructing here.

that is what i think is going to happen. i think rand paul against hillary clinton and she is going to clean his clock. thank you. coming up democrats have a is simple plan for 2014 win women and win elections. today democrats took a big step on economic fairness important to women. they move to force a vote in the house. force the republicans to say yes or no to the petition. also, we are used to seeing actor seth roguen in comedies like "knocked up". >> when i found out about -- i just had this flash of me like in a white ford bronco ask just hauling [ bleep ] for canada and the chopper and the whole thing. and i bust through the border and i'm a free man. that is all i kept thinking, man. >> today he took on a much more serious role on capitol hill, alzheimer's disease. what's in a name? a lot if your name is bush, jeb bush.

no surprise jeb thinks sharing the last name of two former presidents isn't going to help him when he runs in 2016. finally let me finish with how president obama is better on fiscal responsibility than cheap shots who attack him. this is "hardball," place for politics. you've tried to forget your hepatitis c. it's slow moving, you tell yourself. i have time. after all there may be no symptoms for years. no wonder you try to push it to the back of your mind and forget it. but here's something you shouldn't forget. hepatitis c is a serious disease. if left untreated, it could lead to liver damage and potentially even liver cancer. if you are one of the millions of people with hepatitis c, you haven't been forgotten. there's never been a better time to rethink your hep c. because people like you may benefit

from scientific advances. advances that could help you move on from hep c. now is the time to rethink hep c and talk to your doctor. visit hepchope.com to find out about treatment options. and register for a personalized guide to help you prepare for a conversation with your doctor. chris christie held another town hall today. listen to what the government says about politics. >> the fact is that i have an obligation to tell you all the truth no matter what. and let's remember something else about politics, too. i'm in my second term now. according to our constitution that means i can't run for governor again. i can tell you something that's really good news for you.

really good news for you. here is why. i'm not worried about politics anymore. this is it. i'm on the back nine. and you are on the back nine and you don't have to worry about playing another front nine your only obligation is to tell people the truth. >> i'm in the back nine. that's what is called spin. all the charges that lay against him in the court system and in the legal system are somehow all just politics. very clever. so does that mean that when he said he is not going to run for president? a lot of republicans hope that is true. take another look at that "new york times" poll, republicans say they don't want christie to run for president. we will be right back. ♪

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on the national minimum wage to $10.10. a lot of republicans believe in a higher minimum wage. it is hard to disagree with an effort to give america a raise. democrats hope to push the raise especially women voters and motivates them to vote. here is nancy pelosi. >> over 60% of the people getting minimum wage are women. and what the impact of this is on women and when women succeed america succeeds. mr. speaker, give us a vote. >> well, democrats can't do it alone. they need a majority in the house and 218 to get this passed. congressman bishop filed a discharge petition to force the house vote on the $10.10 minimum wage. he pointed out there were no republicans lining up to sign on. >> when i left the chamber there

was a long line of members signing the discharge petition. i regret to observe that in that line were only democrats. >> congressman jim clibert of south carolina and long-time advocate of raising minimum wage and also joining us is casie hunt. congressman, i'm curious is this an issue for the democrats or a victory? if you win you win before november, before the house adjourns. if you don't win you talk about it. what is the goal? win or talk about it in the election? >> it is always to win. i would much rather see the people on main street of america, those hard working men and women get the raise they deserve. that's why we are doing this. we believe that to raise the minimum wage will lift a couple of million people out of poverty. it will affect 60% of the people

affected are women. so many of the women are heads of households. that is what we want to do. we want to give america a raise and we will worry about the politics of it later. >> i got to talk about it now because i'm not sure this thing can win. you have 199 members. you need 218. you need at least -- how are you going to get the reasonable republicans mostly from the northeast to midwest to vote with you? how do you put the pressure on these guys to sign your petition? >> i do believe that if all the democrats were assigned this discharge petition and i have already heard that two or three republicans said they are open to this, then i believe that the pressure comes from the voters. over 70% of the american people say that we ought to raise the minimum wage.

and so it won't be us doing it. we will have done our part when we sign. i was number 111 today which means we only need 107 more. so i would hope that we can get to that because all we are asking is for a vote and then let the people decide whether or not they want to vote for it or just bring it to the floor. that's all this does. >> you are an expert at politics and civil rights. i have great respect for you. let me suggest street tactics. why don't you go to suburban districts around philly, go to those districts and peter king out there and go to talk radio and put in tag team out there. and get in there and talk it up. and then go into the guys' office and say are you going to sign or not? when he says no you come out and refuse to sign. build on the fact that he is refusing you.

hit him for not signing now. what is going to change between now and november? make him say no. when he says no you nail him. just a thought. >> i agree with you. we do plan to do that. and we do plan for our challengers out there to raise this issue, run on this issue. and i really believe it is a winning issue. we are seeing that even in the statewide base down in kentucky running for united states senate is pushing for minimum wage as one of the things she is far. i believe this is a winning issue for any of our people who are challenging in the districts like pennsylvania and new york. >> i want you to watch what governor of connecticut. here is how he made his case. he was fighting with bobby jindal at the white house. he came on here last night and kept the fight going. here is how he made the case machine gun style on "hardball"

last night. >> the people who will benefit the most are women. and women are supported by 79%. we need to move people out of poverty. we particularly need to move women out of poverty. women in our country deserve to work 40 hours a week and not live in poverty. women in our country deserve a minimum wage that will lift them out of poverty to raise their children, to raise their families and to contribute, either you are for women or for building middle class or against it. >> pretty good, huh? >> absolutely. i could not have said it better myself. >> just listen to this guy. let's bring in casie hunt on the numbers. let's get a reporter to talk about the numbers. 218 to get a bill on the floor. 218 to pass it once you get it there. a petition could put pressure on republicans but doesn't deliver the 218. does it between now and november? >> i don't see it delivering 218 because i don't think that many

republicans are willing to cross speaker john boehner. it is one thing to want to vote for this if your leader decided to put it on the floor. it is a little bit of a thumb in the eye to sign this at this point and sort of say you are not running the floor the way we want to. i think you sort of outlined it pretty well, i think democrats see it as an organizing tool, something to take in the districts and swing areas and across the country as sort of a unifying message, especially one they can use to appeal to women that goes beyond arguments about reproductive rights and into broader themes that we see driving the election. >> what about labor areas where you have a lot of labor influence and a lot of organized people and workers? it is like card check. it would work. you go around to the guy or woman and say sign or don't sign but you are not with the worker if you don't sign. you are not one of us. you are a free rider here. they have to go to the speaker and say you have to release me. there is too much heat on me.

>> that is the other potential effect that this could have. districts have been used to put pressure on the opposing party to offer their own version of similar legislation. if there is enough internal pressure it is possible that they could eventually put pressure on to do another type of bill. what the congressman was saying earlier there is already divisions running on minimum wage. mark prior in arkansas is running away from a federal bill. he embraced a state level hike to minimum wage. he says the bill before congress is too much too fast. >> he is in the right to work state. congressman, you are hopeful of this happening, right? >> i really believe it's possible to do. i think you are exactly right, both of you, i think are right on the money. we have to create a climate among the electorate to make

them clamor for this. we are not going to be able to make it happen ourselves. all we can do is get our people to sign, get our challengers to run on this issue. and those of us here help them make this the issue that it can be. if we do it then i do believe that we can see some people saying to mr. boehner you got to bring this to the floor. >> "hardball" supports a $10.10 national minimum wage, sir. now it is official. you heard it here. thanks for coming on. casie hunt, thanks for reporting to us. actor/comedian seth rogen today in town on a much more serious mission, a family mission, if you will. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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a new poll shows half of new jersey residents believe chris christie was involved in the bridge gate scandal, half of them. while the other half know how to keep their fricking mouth shut. >> the turmoil in the ukraine has some in this country speculating about the potential impact on the 2014 and 2016 elections. as jon stewart pointed out it is unclear it will have any effect. >> ukraine does rank as an issue just under equal rights for ghosts and should evolution be taught in pools. and i'm sure that ukraine is equally as fixated on american politics. only one way to find out. >> translator: i believe the surprising will help christie.

we have done it to distract from bridge gate. >> next up jeb bush may be considering a bid for president in 2016 but the question looms, how many bushes are too many bushes? he addressed the concern acknowledging that his last name might be a big hurdle for voters. >> we had a bush, then a clinton, then a bush, then a clinton and then turned to me and goes and then a bush. i get the point. and it is something that if i was to run i would have to overcome that. and so will hillary, by the way. >> not the same way. however, on the late show last night david letterman had a different take on what the bush family legacy means for jeb in 2016. >> i would say to jeb bush really if you are thinking of running for president you, jeb

bush, my friend, have mighty big shoes to fill. take a look. ♪ ♪ >> i love that at the end. up next the great comedic actor seth rogen coming to the table. today he is here in town for serious business testifying before congress on his fight against alzheimer's disease. a lot of us know about that. you are watching "hardball." [ male announcer ] start engine.

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well, this is good even though it is a sad subject. actor comedian seth rogen sits here. he kept us laughing in movies like "knocked up", "pineapple express". he came to testify today on

alzheimer's. he is a spokesman for national alzheimer's association. he used comic relief to show how the deadly disease has touched him personally. >> thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for the opportunity for me to be called an expert at something because that is cool. i don't know if you know who i am at all. you told me you never saw "knocked up". >> i want the record to note this is the first time in any congressional hearing in history that the words knocked up have been used. >> you are not going to like the rest of this, then. after forgetting who she and her loved ones were, my mother and law forgot how to speak, feed herself, dress herself and go to the bathroom herself all by the

age of 60. that's right, the situation is so dire that it caused me, a lazy self-involved generally self-medicated man child to start an entire charity organization. >> your mother-in-law diagnosed at the age of what? >> 54 i believe. >> when did she loses wearness of who everybody was? >> a few years after that around 60 which was around when i was getting married. we feel like our wedding was kind of the last time we saw like some recognition. >> and people learn how to fake it, too. >> she seemed like over the years there was kind of some mechanisms that she would come up with but eventually it became to the point that there is no hiding it or faking it. >> it struck ronald reagan, if you talk to nancy reagan she says it is worse than anything. you lose your company, the person you love. >> it has been unbelievably sad

to see and so unlike how i have seen it portrayed in the media and real life. that is one of the things that made me start doing this is that i had been so uneducated. >> the nicest thing people say is my mother watched you to the end meaning people are aware of it. i call it the long good bye. i lost my mom this way. are we getting closer to find -- do we know anything we didn't before? >> i was just at this hearing. and there were people who know much more about this than i do testifying. and the overall answer they seem to have to that question is they don't know. it seems like the biggest problem and they don't have enough money to fund the ideas they have to pursue these avenues of thought. it seems like they are not even quite at the place to answer the questions because the money is so inconsistent that they don't

know. they are just now, it seems like, getting enough to start moving the direction, to start answering the questions but even still the frustration i can hear in the voices of the researchers. >> who is doing the work? nih? >> nih it seems on the forefront. >> a friend of ours got alzheimer's at the age of 50. >> my wife's mother was in her 50s. >> he died in a few years. my mom was 15 years. i think it is more normal, it takes a while. >> it is unbelievably painful. i didn't realize it was a fatal disease. >> let's go to "hardball." one problem i saw i didn't see senators sitting there. i saw harkin and moran and other seats empty. usually the senators at least show when the cameras were there. why weren't they there?

>> i hope they had somewhere better to be. >> you think so? >> i think it is indicative of the mentality that we find so frustrating is that it seems to be low priority. it seems like these people don't care. that's the direct message they are giving by leaving during the testimony is that they don't care. two of them were falling asleep during the first part of the b. so they don't care. two of them are falling asleep during the first part of the testimony literally. i saw it happening. and then they ask questions that have already been answered in the testimony because they clearly weren't paying attention. on a very ground floor level, there are some very distressing things i witnessed just being in that room how two people seemed to care and earn else, i don't know what they were doing. >> what's hilarity for charity? >> it's a charity that we started to get young people

involved. >> once you get alzheimer's it's too late. >> it's not just our parents or grand parents. we looked around and saw no attempt being made, really, to educate young people about what is happening, so we decided -- >> you know what's important -- sorry to interrupt. >> no, i like it. >> it's not like somebody isn't that bright and becomes a little less bright. >> yeah. it strikes like thunder. my mom was wanting to run for city council. it strikes people that are gung ho. you read the paper every day. they are thinkers. they do everything to fight it. it just keeps coming pt. >> yeah. it's unbelievable. i've been shocked by watching my mother-in-law how she literally can't walk or talk or feed herself. and she's in a wheelchair now a lot of the time. and there's literally no communication. a brief moment of eye contact is

considered -- >> are there any wonderful flashbacks where she does no somebody? >> no. like my mother-in-law, once in a while, she would come back. >> no, if she said two words in a row, we'd be thrilled, hello. >> we're here, live. tell me what people should do. they care about you personally. >> yeah, i mean, people need to, think needs to be made. >> write your congressman? >> write your congressman, that it is a relevant issue, and people are not going to accept that america has no means of dealing with this disease at all when they pride themselves on being on the forefront of scientific and technological agreement. >> i can always do that one. 202-224-3121. that's the united states senate. anyway, seth rogen.

thanks for coming on. >> up next, there's a big push across the country to legalize marijuana. it's a billion dollars industry in colorado right now. we're going to find out, harry smith's joining us about a brand new documentary. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms,

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governor is one of the most volatile politicians in the country. and the one who beats him by the biggest margin is a newcomer to politics. according to a new quinnipiac poll, wolf leads corbett. they should run this guy. wolf came out of nowhere thanks to a statewide tv ad campaign. >> guess what, the money we need to fund our schools lies right underneath your feet. that's right. deep underground pennsylvania has deep deposits of natural gas. but we're the only state that doesn't make oil and gas companies pay an extraction tax. as governor i'll make the companies pay up to help fund our schools for a change. >> ads like that have rocketed him to the top of the democratic

field. wolf's getting 36% of the democrats meanwhile allison schwartz is down to 9%.

we're back. for bether or worse, the country is witnessing a speed change when it comes to legalization of marijuana. with more than half of americans now saying it should be legal. in january, colorado became the first state to allow small amounts of the drug for medical use. 18 other states and the district of columbia allow marijuana for medical purposes. a handful of states are flirting with the idea of joining

colorado and washington state and permitting the state for more than medical reaps, in other words for recreational, casual use if you will. here's one reason -- money. it will be a billion dollars industry. that means a little more than $130 million in tax revenue for the state. a documentary marijuana in america, colorado's pot rush premieres tonight. >> reporter: everywhere we went, we found businesses cashing in on colorado's green rush. security firms protecting profits. >> i think this would be an ideal location. >> reporter: brokers leasing warehouse space to growers. at denver's incredible edibles, they're kransing out 40,000 marijuana infused candy bars a month in a kitchen unlike any

we've seen before. >> that's a lot of marijuana. this is a small portion. we're going through 500 pounds a month, and we can't keep up. >> you're scaring me here because i think of lennon who says that the canpitalists will study the rope to hang them with. everybody gets it. is it a smart move? >> you know, john hickenlooper who is the governor there is a pretty smart guy. and he say this is a giant social experiment. he told the other governors to slow down, everybody slow down. there's no blueprint for this. nobody knows where this really goes. nobody knows what the real down sides are. and so we're in this brave new world. >> what happens when somebody drives, there's so many states around colorado. you know, they're all there.

there's about five or seven states around colorado. you drive akroshs like we used to do when it was 18 to drink in new york. you drive in to get some beer when you're 18 or 19. >> get cases of coors and stick it in your trunk. >> if you're not driving, who cares. but what happens when you're in the car and everybody else in the car is smoking dope or eating tootsie rolls with dope in them? >> they're trying to figure all that out. do you start giving blood tests now when you suspect someone is drive high? they've done tests on this now because they've found out in the corpses of people who die in car accidents there's this sudden rise over the last couple years of people who have thc in their system. were they driving and caused the accident? we don't know if there's a cause and effect. there's a whole lot of unknowns out there. and hickenlooper is saying

everybody let's slow down, let's get an understanding on this of about everybody thinks they're just going to cash in. >> hickenlooper opposed the legalization, here's what he told you. let's watch the interview, the governor and you. >> reporter: as a parent yourself, i'd just be curious, if a state comes along and says it's legal, what do you think the message is to minors? >> oh, no. it's terrible. lots of kids. and we've got surveys now that demonstrate this, pot's legal, how bad can it be? seen tests are very concerned. you take this high potency, intense thc and give it to a kid whose brain is still growing, that rate of growth affects things like long-term memory. that's very disconcerting. >> you don't have to smoke to get marijuana now. apparently it's all candy. a lot are eating it like tootsie rolls. >> 40% of sales now are edibles

and what they call non-smokeables. it's an e-cigarette with hash oil in it. no stink. you don't have to have incense. and the edibles things, they can't produce these things fast enough because it's 40% and the arrow on the sale of that stuff is like this. >> and i hear you can't tell, you can get one piece of candy ha has lots of it in it and others that don't have a lot. >> they've started testing it. and there are higher bars and embassy kri some regimens that these companies have to follow because the testing is really going to start coming in. you're going to have to prove that what you say is in the bar is actually in the bar. >> i'm waiting to see what the ambition level is of coloradans is in about five years. my experience with dope is that it doesn't encourage a lot of ambition. thank you.

it's called marijuana in america. colorado's pot rush. good luck with that program. i'm sure we'll learn a lot from it. we'll be back after this.

let me finish tonight with a small, overlooked fact on this debate about which blit cal party is serious about fiscal responsibility and which party is focusing on games.

the knock is that the president's buckling to his democratic base. you hear this everywhere. democrats don't want to touch entitlements, republicans are dying to do it. president obama did make a proposal in the last budget to refine the social security cost of living adjustment. it did it only to have the republicans pull the rug out from under him and adding insult to injury jumping on him for even trying. no sooner had the president proposed the change to the cost of living' justment last year than he was hit with a one-two republican punch. first paul ryan refused to put the reform even in his house bill resolution. second, the president was blasted for trying to balance the budget on the backs of seniors. it was of course a shot across the bow to president obama that he and his party were going to be savaged by his opponents.

next time you hear about entitlement reform, remember, this president stuck his neck out, only to have the republicans go shopping for a guillotine. and that's "hardball." all in with chris hayes starts now. good evening from new york. brakes news out of arizona. just moments ago where governor january br jan brewer has vetoed the most controversial bill in the country, it would allow businesses to discriminate against gays and the governor vetoed the bill saying it was overly broad. congresswoman, your reaction to the governor's decision?