wendy davis wants to turn it blue. can she do it and can the tea party help her. we start with ukraine. in particular, the u.s. response not just to russian troops but vladimir putin claims that there are no russian troops in crimea. this morning the russian leader held court, stunning the world with a claim that russian troops do not occupy crimea. rather, those armed troops that people see in front of them and on their tvs, those are pro russian local forces of self-defense. president obama appearing at a function had this to say regarding putin's claim. >> there is a strong belief that russia's action is violating international law. i know president putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but i don't think that's fooling anybody. >> secretary of state john kerry

who arrived in kiev also dispute putin's claim when he was asked about it by my colleague, andrea mitchell. >> it's clear that russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further. russia has talked about russian-speaking minority citizens under siege. they're not. >> kerry talked about a meeting with the new government and protest leaders including former pro boxer klitchko. the package includes a $1 billion in loan guarantees. still, the question is how to interpret putin's remarks today. not only did he deny russian troops had invaded crimea, he

said that should russia wish to do so, they have every legal right since they would be doing it at the request of the former but in russia's eyes legitimate president. ian williams joins us from kiev. what's the reaction from ukrainen officials to what putin said today? >> a good day to you, joy. it's fair to say that a lot of people have been left wondering what planet the russian president lives on. the leadership here, senior government officials, have avoided commenting directly on what he said. but this evening the ukraine yn prime minister who was described by putin as being illegitimate and having come to power through an unconstitutional coup, said nothing should break the unity of this country and russia should acknowledge the responsibility for destabilizing the safety of europe. on the social media there

weren't those restrains and some of our ukrainian colleagues here looked through the comments and they were element universally angry in terms of what they say. in terms of the cartoons really not the kind of thing you would want to repeat on a family show. >> give us an idea about secretary kerry, the u.s. secretary of state. how is he being received right now in ukraine? >> he's just leaving as we speak, but he has been received very well. his decision to go to the barricades here on the edge of the square, he was mobbed. i mean, it was a very moving moment, i think, for him and for those who witnessed it. this is being turned into a shrine, flowers everywhere in remembrance of those who died, many shot dead by snipers, you'll recall. his comments were also very well received. a combination of passion really

but also disdain towards russia. now in terms of practical -- the practicalities of what he said, obviously any economic aid here is going to be welcome because the economy is in such a dire state. that isn't helped by russia turning the screw, the latest development today being gas prices going up. clearly this is a beginning, a $1 billion loan guarantee sounds like a lot of money, technical expertise to help the bank of ukraine, to help in organizing the elections. this is all important, but people will now look to see what comes next. crucially it's how the u.s. can cooperate with the imf and other european countries, in putting the economy here on a much firmer footing. that's a pretty urgent need. >> thank you so much. steve clemens is here.

listening to what ian said on the ground there in kiev, is this going the way that vladimir putin might have hoped? we're talking about the u.s. secretary of state in ian's words being mobbed and received and then putin having to deny that there are troops there at all and seeming to say that these are news natural forces when it's quite clear they are russian troops. what do you think? >> as most things that you and i discuss, joy, there's not a clear black and white. for all those people that are outraged by what putin has done, he lied to many western leaders and to the president of the united states about his intentions in crimea, that he would do nothing to move in the way that he subsequently did move, that said, a number of the stories are ethnic russians and

eastern parts of the ukraine and crimea itself that are very pro russian and see vladimir putin as the ronald reagan of their country and world, that they see this as mourning in moscow, a time of ascendsy and the rest of the world better watch out. it's important when we see john kerry and these visuals of the moving tributes he's given, his task is not to be one sided in helping part of the ukrainian establishment that is thrown at yanukovych but basically to try to weave together a ukrainian civil society and democracy that can co-exist between the reaelts of moscow and europe. people think it's easy to be on one side of that line or another and it's simply not. they have to exist geographically next to russia and hopefully that is what will hopefully get through to putin.

>> steve, is co-existence possible with russia still occupying kiev? can you foresee a stable future in which russia does not give back that territory, does not seed it back to the ukraine? >> russia is occupying crimea which on march 30th will have a vote that will most likely indicate crimea taking the steps it had will declare independence. it's unfortunate in some ways that russia did bring in troops and did invade because it will throw the legitimacy of this vote into question on march 30th. i've used this over and over again. it's not as high stakes but this is similar to green land and denmark. greenland is in the territory of denmark but it wants to be independent. imagine russian or canadian or american troops helping greenland become independent before a vote. there are similar analogies in the world for what's going on. but what i think is the more important piece of this, even if crimea is independent and under

russian control is that russia will try to keep ukraine itself in a tight vice, and it will use political, economic and cultural levers it has to continue to remind ukraine that it is in an easily compromised and fragile place and that's going to be tough for the government of ukraine to struggle through. >> let's go back to the government of u.s. because there does seem to be a consensus around this aid package. it's nonmilitary, it's similarly an economic package. can that posture remain, or do you sense resistance to even doing that in washington? >> i think that leaders are coming together and barack obama and john kerry and chuck hagel have done a good job of reaching out to leaders on both sides of the aisle. eric cantor has had an impressive posture towards the

white house working out things with barack obama. that said, $1 billion is too small. the former deputy of the treasury said a $20 billion package of various things would be needed to stabilize the ukrainian economy. remember, the russians were going to buy $15 billion of bonds from ukraine to try and stabilize that. we're talking about $1 billion. it sounds big to us but it is five or six percent of the packages that are otherwise being discussed out there and that's simply not enough. we can't do this kind of nation hugging of countries that are in a true crises on the cheap. that's where i think people are falling down right now in washington. >> absolutely, but in an age of aus tearty, pretty much everything is done on the cheap. i'm surprised they came together on that. steve, thank you so much. next the battle over here over the battle in ukraine. republicans are piling on the president but what's their idea to deal with the problem. then the 2014 election

starts today and in texas. why what is happening there is a huge test of whether new voting restrictions will help the voters that many have said they would hurt. right now harry reid is on the senate floor talking about the coke brothers and we're on it. 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.

it's amanda. hey sweetie. what? [phones rings] okay, i'll send it. one hundred seventy-two dollars for a chemistry book, what is it, made of gold? just use citi popmoney. boom. ah, she's feeling lucky. hey sweetie...cancun, yeah no, you'll be spending spring break with your new chemistry book. with citi popmoney it's easy to send money to just about anyone, anytime. visit your local branch or citi.com/easierbanking to learn more.

. >> we're ashamed the president of the united states is from texas. >> move to france, dixie chicks. >> try not to be judgemental of the president and i'll tell you why. he's got sky high approval. the war couldn't be going better. >> they should send her to iraq,

strap her to a bomb and send her there. >> they had the hottest song in the country and it died. >> made a decision from corporate headquarters that was binding on your deejay and prior to that you say that you are an independent radio station. that's a total contradiction. >> contradiction. that was senator john mccain more than a decade ago calling out a radio conglomerate for the national damning of the dixie chicks. their crime, speaking out against the bush administration. senator mccain's party's message was clear, only traitors call out their president in a time of crises. senator lindsey graham today tweeting, it started with benghazi, when you kill americans and nobody pays a price, you invite this type of

aggression, @ukraine. that tweeted followed these reactions to the obama administration's foreign policy. >> he has taken $480 billion out of our military and that sends a message that we're not going to maintain this weakened condition that we've ever experienced before. >> people are looking at putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil. they look at our president as one who wears monthly jeans and e kwif kates. >> this is an effectless policy where nobody believes in america's strength anymore. >> sounds like those rules about criticizing the president don't apply anymore. wonder what happened there. back to that idea of contradiction. here's what dana mill bag writes in the "washington post" in which he zeros in on what he calls the gop's operation oxy moren. he writes, last wednesday i sat in a house hearing and listened

to republicans describe obama exercising unparalleled use of power and operating an uber-presidency and used him of acting like a king and monarch and making the united states like a dictatorship by exercising imperial and imagine steer yal power. after events in ukraine this tyrant was said to be so weak that it's shocking. this morning, my republican colleague, joe scarborough also pointed out what you might call some thinking points for his party to consider. >> republicans who are crowing about the democrats' failed policy in russia need to remember three things. first, it was george w. bush who claimed to have looked into putin's eyes and seen the goodness of his soul. remember that? second, it was the george w. bush administration that did very little to stop putin from invading georgia in 2008. and third, there remains a kwant notion that someone we still

hold closely in our hearts and despite all the shabby behavior over the last quarter century politics should still end at the water's end. >> when does the rhetoric from the right cross the line and when is it back seat quarterbacking and more importantly, what would the gop do differently? >> michael med ved is an author and syndicated talk show host. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> i don't expect you to defend every single word but i want to talk about the overall theme. i want to reread this tweet that senator lindsey graham sent out. it started with benghazi, when you kill americans and nobody pays a price, you innovate this type of aggression. just in general, do you think that it's appropriate for a united states senator to blame

benghazi, completely unrelated crises, for what a foreign leader, vladimir putin, is doing in ukraine? >> i do think the problem is that we have defiance of the united states and various red lines where we said there would be consequences where there were no consequences. president obama said there would be consequences for benghazi. there haven't been. president obama said to putin that there would be consequences if he gave asylum to snowden, and no consequences. then of course there's the matter of syria. all of this, it seems to me is valid criticism. having said that, i think the administration is catching up to this situation. i think secretary kerry did a good job today, it appears, in his visit to ukraine. the house majority leader, eric cantor, has actually supported the administration and i think that's appropriate because right now we need a strong secretary of state, we need a strong president, and it's appropriate to back president obama when

he's trying to negotiate with vladimir putin. >> i want to go back just for one second. in the case of benghazi, the people who did that are being investigated. when you talk about what is happening in russia, this is in russia's sphere of influence, they have done something and now we have not only consequences, bipartisan consequences coming together. meaning we're not going to invade, go to war with russia over what they're doing in crimea, but there is a package of sanctions, economic assistance going to ukraine, talk about potential sanctions. we are negotiating what to do. what is it the gop wants done? >> i think the response to ukraine, it's been a little bit tardy but it's basically reassuring. there are all kinds of other problems here where there have been no consequences and where we have drawn red lines, and

it's perfectly appropriate to make this case. there was a disastrous timing with secretary hagel to announce that we were going to cut our military all the way back to troop levels before pearl harbor which attempted the japanese? that was a mistake. >> which of those comments would you have want to see military action taken by the united states? i don't believe it's appropriate for -- >> you're talking about military troops. that means you wanted to see some sort of robust military response. >> i do believe that what president reagan laid out, steve clemons claimed that vladimir putin was like the ronald reagan of russia. president reagan believed in peace through strength, the best way to make sure that your military is never used is to make sure it is the most powerful in the world. it doesn't promote peace. it promotes risk.

by the way, secretary hagel admitted that. i think that's a huge problem. it's precisely because i don't want those troops to be used and i don't want them in harm's way and neither does any republican, that you need to have an army that's beyond challenge and dominant in the world. >> i believe our military in the strongest in the world and i think we've proved that over again. i don't think there's any military that can test the united states drawdown troops or not but i always appreciate you coming on, sir. thank you. a quick housekeeping note. on idea's show we cited a pole on the midwest and said it was conducted for a foreign policy magazine. it was designed by a university professor who is a senior fellow at the brookings institution and was conducted by gfk. new outrage in the case of florida mother whose conviction and 20 year prison sentence for

firing a warning shot at her husband was thrown out. her case made headlines when she tried unsuccessfully to use florida's controversial stand your ground defense. she's currently waiting a separate ruling in which she could face three 20-year sentences. that's right. she could get 60 years in prison if convicted for firing a shot that hit no one. florida. ing with chantix. as a police officer, i've helped many people in the last 23 years, but i needed help in quitting smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced the urge for me to smoke. it actually caught me by surprise. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking, or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history

of mental-health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away, as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood-vessel problems or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping, and unusual dreams. i did not know what it was like to be a nonsmoker, but i do now. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you.

it's not the "juggle a bunch of rotating categories" card. it's not the "sign up for rewards each quarter" card. it's the no-games, no-messing-'round, no-earning-limit-having, do-i-look-like-i'm-joking, turbo-boosting, heavyweight-champion- of-the-world cash back card. this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. now tell me, what's in your wallet? still ahead, reading between the lines on paul ryan's anti-poverty crusade. now it's time for the stories you can't stop buzzing about on social media in a segment we like to call, we the tweeple. there are con ten sshs debates

going on right now. you're heated about statements made by benjamin netanyahu today about palestine spawning another hashtag in the defense of palestinians. that's bds standing for boycott, investment and sanctions. many of you believe that sanctions should be used against israel to end what critics see is unhumane treatment of palestinians in gaza. you're taking a break from the world's most difficult conflicts and keeping an eye on mardi gras. it's fat tuesday. celebrations are popping up all over social media. america's biggest mardi gras celebration takes place every year in new orleans but similar celebrations can be found in mobile, alabama and germany. who doesn't love a good party? some of us are in mask when they

party when lent starts tomorrow while the rest of us will live vie sar slee through you. mcdonald's has been tapped as a source of inspiration for moscinos latest line and used for the motif of $1,000 dresses. the first design has stars like katy perry loving the look but leaving real fast food workers with a sour taste. real mcdonald's workers bulk at their uniforms becoming costumes. please keep it going and join the conversation with fellow "reid report"ers on twitter, facebook and tell us what's important to you. coming up, pot pancakes and

palestine. we'll connect the dots for you on the "reid report."

[ ship horn blows ] no, no, no! stop! humans. one day we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... not so much. but that's okay. you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car, and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

senator harry reid went to the senate floor last week and called out the koch brothers saying they were, kwoek, trying to buy america and called them unamerican. senator reid is not through talking about the billionaires. he did so again just moments ago. >> like most shrewd buzzmsiness, the koch brothers are very good in protecting their future and their fortunate. there's nothing unamerican about that but what is unamerican is when shadowy billionaires more unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system and benefit themselves and the one percent. >> we reached out to the koch brothers about this statement.

they have not gotten back to us but in the past they've offered this statement regard to the senator. using the kochs name is part of the playbook. they demonize us. we saw it in 10, in 12 and now we're seeing it again. a lot of the democrats use it for fundraising. it's also to intimidate those who disagree with the administration. speaking of elections, everything is big in texas including today's kickoff to the 2014 election season. dozens of candidates are facing off for everything from governor to u.s. senator and on the republican side the candidates aren't so much running against each other as they are against president obama. the rhetoric has been heated including this ad from lieutenant governor candidate todd staples. >> wherever and whenever, i can take steps without legislation that's what i'm going to do. >> mr. president, you're not a king. texans bow to no one. i'm todd staples and i'll fight obama's liberal agenda. >> meanwhile the guy at the top

of the ticket is attorney general greg abbott. he's the guy who brought ted nugent along for the ride. nugent called president obama a, quote, subhuman mon grel. the left was outraged when a tweet came out on senator davis, calling her, quote, too stupid to be governor. all eyes will be on the race seen as an early test of democrat strategy to turn texas blue. republicans challenge to hold onto their power in the face of changing state-wise demographics that may not be in their favor. joining me lisa frich who says she's a new kind of conservative. let's watch her ad. >> being conservative means fighting obamacare. being conservative means protecting the unborn while demanding women's rights.

being conservative means economic opportunity for rich and poor. it's time to say yes to a new kind of conservative. i'm lisa fritch. conservative republican for governor. i'm not your father's conservative. >> so, lisa, you talk in your ad about being a different kind of conservative and it means more than just saying no. i want to ask you about one of the most prominent politicians in your state whose specialty is saying no. that would be ted cruz. what do you think about his work so far as a united states senator? >> well, i think that ted cruz was elected by the people, he had his own unique mandate but the reason i'm running is exactly because of the intro you just mentioned. it's no longer good enough in texas as conservative as we are to be anti-obama. leadership means having solutions-oriented policies that work for all texans. that's exactly why i'm running. i know if we're going to be

relevant in the 21st century, the republican party has to have new leadership. >> let's talk about the affordable care act. your thoughts on the affordable care act? >> i think the affordable care act is not the best plan for texas. texans know how to come up with their own solution. i think that in texas we have a high rate of uninsured and it's going to be up to leadership not just to say no to the affordable care act but to come up with solutions so that texans can have a choice and have access to health care. >> let me ask you specifically because texas has not just a high rate of uninsured but the highest. if you were the governor would you accept a medicaid expansion that would specifically help texans who are more in need, let's say than the average? >> it's interesting you say that because one of the groups that have reached out to us to advocate for them is communities of disabilities. we have been looking into policies for them that talk about accepting the medicaid

expansion as it relates to their specific community. there are underrepresented communities and people who have not been heard in texas who do need access to kwat health care. i would be in favor of looking at the expansion as it relates to that. where we have to be careful is that going down the road that going to the emergency room is not quality health care and in texas we want to make sure that we start something that we can finish, that we can afford to keep, and that's available long term. >> lisa, thank you and good luck. >> thank you. there's tons to look at in texas including some new voting rules, changing demographics as well as democrats trying to turn the state blue. for that we turn to senior executive editor at texas monthly, brian sweetie. you just heard from lisa who is very low in the polls but she said she would look at the medicaid expansion. is that message part of the reason she's not doing very well in a very conservative state.

she seems to be a reasonable view on things like the affordable care act. >> it is certainly one of the reasons. the state-wise candidates on the republican side are very conservative in this race. they have been fighting over themselves to get as far to the right on issues like that. anything they can say to make themselves be anti-president obama that's what they're going to do. but it does open up opportunity for the democrats. those are the issues that i think the democrats can say have been overlooked over the last several years and that are the types of things that texans are interested in. they want solutions. they don't just want to hear the word no all the time. >> i'm curious about greg abbott's standing in the poles. he seems to be leading over wendy davis in many of the poles. if that's true and there is a more moderate texas waiting to shine, why is it that wendy davis is not doing better in the

poles? >> there are a lot of different reasons to that. you're exactly right, general abbott in one of the last major poles that came out showed an 11-point lead by him. i suspect that will actually go up. the fact is that this is all about math. texas is a republican state, a very conservative state. as you may know, democrats have not won state wide office here since 1994. it's positive that the democrats have candidates who have captured the public's attention. on the other hand what they have done is positioned themselves at the first step of a very long staircase and the change is not going to happen in this cycle. >> the elephant in the room is the latino vote which is very large. the average age of a nonhispanic woman is 42 and the while

average of a latino woman is 28. why hasn't that helped them do better? >> potential is the key word. the way that texas politics is skewed and the way it was when the democrats ran the state, the primary was the default general election. today as texans go to the pole to choose their candidates for these major positions, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and down the line, you're going to see fewer than ten percent of texans show up. we expect that voting patterns are going to be similar to previous elections. that means around 1.4 million republicans coming out and somewhere in the neighborhood of 600,000 democrats coming out. obviously davis would like to see those numbers come up. there has to be a connection that both parties need to make but certainly the democrats are playing seriously into this strategy of bringing out the emerging hispanic population, getting them registered, getting to the poles.

i think the first step of that process begins now, but it is a process. >> poles close tonight at 7:00 p.m. local time, 8:00 p.m. eastern. we will be watching. brian sweeney, thank you. >> i appreciate it. right now senator mccain is speaking on the senate floor about the crises in the ukraine. we will monitor and keep you posted. it's got 1080p video, three times zoom, and a twenty-megapixel sensor. it's got the brightest display, so i can see what i'm shooting -- even outdoors, and 4 mics that capture incredible sound. plus, it has apps like vine -- and free cloud storage. my new lumia icon is so great, even our wipeouts look amazing. ♪ honestly, i want to see you be brave ♪ ♪

predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. 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. we have a lot of conversations in our "reid report" news room and today we carefully weighed which stories are happening today and are of interest to our viewers and we landed on an interesting trifecta of topics. on capitol hill right now the house oversight and reform committee is holding a hearing called mixed signal. the hearing opened with subcommittee chairman my ka referring to president obama's quote, schizophrenic

characterization. >> i would submit, with all due respect to the fellows on the other side that schizophrenia which my father was a psychiatrist and taught me something about, could be described as a party that talks about saving money all the time and being concerned with deficits and being totally driven by that but not being concerned in saving money when people are in jail for marijuana and mandatory minimums that judges have said were awful and for nonviolent first time offenders serving lifetime sentences in jail costing us $30,000 a year. >> comcast is running this ad in new jersey where medical marijuana is legal. >> yo, you want sushi? i got sushi. i got tuna, salmon, sweet shrimp. i got the finest this area has seen in years. >> you wouldn't buy your sushi from this guy so why would you

buy your marijuana from him? >> did i mention that it's national pancake day. marijuana, pancakes, sushi. benjamin netanyahu stirred up controversial and joining me to talk, comedian and "daily beast" columnist and friend of the show, dean ovadala. let's start with pot. marijuana has been huge this year and the pot jokes are a gold mine, i'm sure, for your profession as a political comedian. >> on some level it is but i think we've jumped the shark on pot. when pat robertson came out in front of legalizing pot and i don't site him in a positive say too often where you know we're at the point where let's go, get on board. 51% of americans support legalizing pot. 86% support medical marijuana.

when is it going to be implemented in this country. i'm not a pot smoker, but why not have it. if you can have legalized cigarettes which the cdc says killed over half a million people last year, pot has no numbers for that. i think it's time to legalize pot and put this behind us. >> obviously there are the disparities in terms of the arrests on a serious note, african-american men are far more likely to be arrested. there's another issue that i find interesting when you talk about the legalization discussion. are we going to risk see where people who can afford to open a nice dispensary can do it legally but an underground trade can still snare mainly black and brown people? >> it depends. if it becomes legalized and governorened by the state, where there's a need people will come in and open up their places. there will probably be a

starbucks of pot selling out there. look at colorado. if people need an incentive to get on board with marijuana, the governor thinks it's going to bring $600 million of revenue, 1$135 million in tax revenue alone. i think it needs warning labels like cigarettes do. people haven't talked about it. the jury is out on how effective or destructive marijuana can be on you. can it cause cancer in they don't know. can it hurt your lung capacity, cause psychosis, can it affect a pregnant woman? you can read studies on both sides. we need a defined study and warnings. if it's legalized and informed, you know the risks. i'm not a pot smoker but it can be fun. i see my friends giggling but as long as you know the downside it's fair. >> very important discussion. you're right. it should be on a national level. i want to turn to a much more serious subject. obviously what is happening in washington is you do have

discussions going on between the president of the united states. the prime minister of israel was in the white house speaking about this deadline to at least get to a framework on a deal between the israelis and palestinians. when you talk to family members how hopeful are you that we can have some progress on this issue? >> i have a lot of family in the west bank. they live outside of bethlehem. they are optimistic or hopeful about peace. how you define peace is the question. i think there are few israelis and palestinians who want war. it's how you define the terms of peace. the issues are land, refugees and the idea of jerusalem being shared or not. poles showed a majority on both sides still support two states. however, the same poles showed very little optimism on israelis or palestinians. we've been told this is the time, we are going to give you a

peace deal, and it doesn't work out. i hope they don't give up on this. the negotiations are going on. they're supposed to give us framework in the middle of this year. i love to be an optimist and hope that perhaps this might be the time. >> i feel like that optimism ebbs and flows. everything time you think something positive is going to happen it gets dashed. >> it's hart breaking at times. >> absolutely. thank you. next, paul ryan's war on the war on poverty. read between the lines on who's really being targeted in the budget chief's plan. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® campbell's healthy request. your hepatitis c.forget 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.

[ male announcer ] even more impressive than the research this man has at his disposal is how he puts it to work for his clients. morning. morning. thanks for meeting so early. come on in. [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing.

he's back. paul ryan, the uncaped crusader and romney running mate. from voucherizing medicare to slashing food aid, remember how the nuns on the bus dug that

one. now ryan is out with a new house budget committee report today, a 204 page precursor to his latest budget. launched 50 years ago by president johnson before the funding was cut short by vietnam. ryan says the war on poverty has failed and he points to the 15% current poverty rate, not much below the 17.7% rate back in 1965 as proof. he concludes that many of the some 90 federal programs designed to fix poverty actually make it worse, creating a poverty trap and penalizing families for getting ahead. ryan's report does concede that some programs work. it has good things to say about the veterans' health administration and says the child tax credit protected by 2.9 million people and kept them from falling into poverty,

including about 1.5 million children. he takes a dim view of programs like job core who he says costed outweigh the benefits. federal assistance to college students and the low energy assistance program, the national school breakfast program and even head start. the report claims snap discourages work among female head of households and married men and concludes that the national school launch program created by congress in 1946 to ensure that war drafties were fit for combat, quote, contributes to obesity among school children, i guess by giving the little ones too much food? what he says does work, wait for it, is tax cuts. that's what he wants to do while consolidating or cutting federal anti-poverty programs, all of which combined amount to about

12% of the $3.5 trillion federal budget when you take out medicare and medicate at 21%, social security at 22 and defense spending at about 19. this debate between republicans and democrats about how to really help the poor is just getting started. paul ryan is daring his party to embrace these ideas and to run on them. your move, gop. that wraps things up for the "reid report." i'll see you back here tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern. the cycle is up next. >> how is it going? great commentary on paul ryan there. we have excellent stuff coming up today. we have howard fineman to talk about politics in the ukraine. our friend jimmy williams to talk about the president's budget and we have rosie perez to talk about her new book. we're super excited about that. back to you, joy. >> can't wait to watch. hey, rosie. cycle is coming up next. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker?

i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ♪ see what's new at projectluna.com

[ male announcer ] nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. cycling right now, united

front, president obama from here and secretary kerry from ov overseas spread the same message. the u.s. is tired of putting up with putin. and frozen solid, something pretty incredible has happened this winter, but i'm guessing most people would agree it's not something to be proud of. secretary of state john kerry lands in paris this hour after meeting with leaders in ukraine as russia's vladimir putin says he doesn't need to use force in ukraine. putin's last resort comments came as russian warning shots were fired today in crimea. as many as 16,000 russian troops are there with no plan of ending the occupation. >> the fact that we are still seeing soldiers out of their barracks in crimea is an indication to which what is happening there is not based on

actual concern for russian nationals or russian speakers inside of ukraine but is based on russia seeking through force to exert influence on a neighboring country. that is not how international law is supposed to operate. >> meantime, the ukrainian army is seeking new recruits in kiev. washington is preparing economic sanctions against russia and putting all military ties on hold. this after the national security team met for two hours last night at the white house. secretary kerry said the white house is not seeking confrontation with russia, but demands that moscow deescalate this crises. >> if you were jlegitimately worried about your citizens, go to the government and talk to them about it. go to the u.n. there's a better way