the wild things. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. the right, the far right, the far-out right. this week the right wing wild things were out there as far as the eye can see. mitch mcconnell waving his rifle. lindsey graham blaming all the world's ills on benghazi. both these characters, both up for re-election, both pandering so far to the right, they're about to land on their butts. meanwhile, at a meeting called the uninvited were those judged too far right even for this

week's cpac convention. ted cruz joined steve king who says illegal immigrants have calves as big as cantaloupes and louie gohmert who says the president is one of them. but hold on, if you think you have reached the full crazy, meet the truly far-out right. folks like frank gaffney who believe that antitax pitchman grover norquist is an undercover agent of the muslim brotherhood. justice clarence thomas' wife who suggests the president may be secretly backing terrorists. or the panelist who says john boehner is covering up benghazi, boehner is. from right to the far right to the farout it's a daisy chain pulling rightward with even establishment figures like mitch mcconnell and lindsey graham trying to join the crazy. with ted cruz pushing his way through the right wing crowd, calling people like bob dole and john mccain names all the way, anything to get to the hard right frontier where to lead the country he intends to plant his flag. dana milbank is a columnist for "the washington post."

and jonathan capehart is an opinion writer, also with "the washington post" and an msnbc contributor. gentlemen, this was something. this week went really far right. >> it's always a bit of a circus at cpac when they come to town. and of course everybody is under pressure on the right to provide all the red meat. but this did go further. this was the time when you had ted cruz not just speaking to cpac, but speaking to the further right group called the uninvited. >> further right. >> people who were too far right to be invited there. you had the spectacle of cpac not inviting the leading republican in the land, the speaker of the house, not eligible there. you had republican candidates in turn snubbing cpac -- >> is this the republican party of 2014? people working here, i've been talking with people today, they say you could argue this is the republican party. it's no longer the fringe of the fringes. >> right. paul ryan was saying it's not necessarily a civil war within

the republican party, and he is right, because there is not really an establishment versus the tea party. it's really a free-for-all. >> it's a jamboree. >> it absolutely. and the in a way, the establishment has been taken over by the tea party. it's infused the whole thing. >> to make your -- are you agreeing tonight that what we saw was this little sort cotillion of the crazy right? is it really the republican party that represents the nation of republicans, which is about -- you have a license, pretty much half the country sometimes? >> look, remember, you've got senators lindsey graham, john mccain, john cornyn, people who have been in congress, in the senate, before 2010 when the tea party came in. they are now saying and doing things that we would think were unimaginable ten years ago, and that's why the tea party has come in and has yanked the party to the right, made them all fearful ever since bob bennett lost his senate seat during the primary. >> so they're not stupider than they were five, ten years ago. >> no. >> lindsey graham is just as smart as he has ever been.

>> absolutely. >> and yet he is scared to death. >> he is up for re-election. and because they have seen one too many of their colleagues go down to defeat -- >> how about the number to make your point -- i'm sorry to jump on you. to make your point, this week in texas, john cornyn, who had no real opponents had 41% of the primary voters vote against him. that's pretty scary. >> yeah, it's pretty scary. that's why you see, that's why i agree with dana. i think we're all here in agreement that the republican party, it's not that the republican party has co-opted the tea party movement. the tea party movement has co-opted the republican party. it is the republican party now. >> they must think of the future, i suppose. a terrible phrase. as which mentioned, cpac wasn't ted cruz's only stop yesterday. as dana said. while the far right held court at cpac a group even further to the right, if you can believe that place exists, set up their own shadow conference dubbed the uninvited. well, look at the list of attendees at the uninvited. steve king, he is the cantaloupe guy of iowa. he says all immigrant people coming across the border from the south have calves as big as can't lobes because they're

carrying, i guess 150 pounds of mare juanny, which i would think is as big as a room anyway. and louie gohmert of texas. both are recognizable members of the clown car of course. there's mo brooks of alabama who once said this on the topic of undocumented immigrants. i will do anything short of shooting them. well, that's kind. and then trent franks of arizona. franks once referred to president obama as an enemy of humanity. and jim bridenstine of oklahoma who made headlines when he refused to challenge a town hall attendee who told him that president obama should be, quote, executed as an enemy combatant. as i said, the far right is now the far out. and then there is this group of full mooners at the event. here is some more color from the conference as reported by mother jones. a nonprofit called empact e-m-p-a-c-t america schooled attendees about the threat of a terrorist attack by way of an electromagnetic pulse. former reagan defense department official frank gaffney

articulated his view that anti-tax activist and american conservative union board member grover nord quest is an undercover agent for the muslim brotherhood. got that one? grover norquist is with the muslim brotherhood. ginni thomas, i don't know her, but a daily caller contributor and wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas, she alleged that president barack obama may be guilty of providing material support, material support, like guns and ammo i suppose for terrorism. and at least one panelist at cpac suggests that john boehner was part of the benghazi cover-up. >> yeah. >> this reminds me, you know, of what was it called? the john birch society when they accused the eisenhower brothers milton and dwight eisenhower of being commies. >> right. >> when you start calling boehner part of this, the benghazi cover-up. when you start calling people like grover norquist of the hard right some kind of secret muslim brotherhood guy, you're a full mooner. >> i think they left out the

obvious situation going on here, that president obama is controlling the country with fluoride in our water. >> what is the electromagnetic. >> what is the latest variant of that? >> i don't know. maybe it's from using our cell phones too much. you see what is going on here, as we were saying, the establishment has been coopted by the tea party. so what do the guys who were the tea party, the ted cruzs, the louie gohmerts, what do they do? well, you have to stay one step ahead of this parade now and i think that's what is causing that. saying cpac isn't conservative enough. we've got to go further. we've got to go in the direction of the magnetic pulse. >> you guys take sides a little bit. what ask this thing with the dynamic out there? because they're not going towards winning a presidential election. they're going towards winning something. i think cruz wants to get to the farthest right rail, because he believes in the race that is coming the next two years that will be the best post position to be in. i think that's pure politics. why does that whole crowd seem to be going right? >> i'm mystified by what is happening.

i can't quite tell you exactly what their -- what their number one goal is, because it certainly isn't winning the white house, that's for sure. but here is the thing -- >> hillary must love this. >> the reason we're talking about how we went from having cpac, which was the far right, and you couldn't get any farther right than that to this uninvited conference is that there is no one in the republican party now who can tell the full mooners, who can tell the crazies what you're saying is wrong, what you're saying is factually incorrect, what you're saying is disrespectful, what you're saying is un-american, what you're saying is bad for the party there is no one within the republican party who can say that. and so that's how you have this. >> i will be contentious on this. do you mean to tell me, gentlemen, that the republican party chair of say ohio, a middle of the road state, or pennsylvania or virginia even now middle of the road, the republican party chairs, men and women of those states are happy with this zoo they're watching on television?

that they think this is good advertising? >> i don't think they necessarily. look, they're not necessarily worried about 2014 because this is going to be a good year for republicans. cyclically it always is. cpac has a presidential ballot. they always do. 26 people on it this year. how do you differentiate yourself in that field of 26? well you got to be one step further to the right than all the other guys. >> the right person always win? >> not necessarily in the primary, but you get the attention, at least early on. >> no does the furthest right candidate at cpac win at cpac? >> this is sort of a ron paul/rand paul crowd. >> so cruz could win this thing? >> coming up, things go better when you attack. at least that's harry reid's assault on the billionaire koch brothers who are spending tens of millions of ads against democrats. democrats got a villain in the koch brothers, two for the price of one. plus not enough whites for republicans to win the white house. how's that for math? and not enough minority voters in enough places for democrats

to win back the congress. why this could be the new normal. also as every day goes by, vladimir putin looms as a major challenge to president obama. and last night, david letterman, and jon stewart had lots of fun at his expense. finally, let me finish tonight with jimmy carter's success. yes the subject of the new play, camp david opening here at arena state in washington on march 21st. ♪

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welcome back to "hardball." democrats find themselves facing an uphill battle to hold onto the u.s. senate in this year's midterm elections. there are as many as 13 democratic seats in play, in other words vulnerable versus just two republican seat that are vulnerable. if republicans pick up a net of six out of all that, it's game over for democrats, because they only have a five-seat advantage now. well, democrats have one mission right now, take down the far right's money men. we're talking about the billionaire koch brothers, of course, who have made it their

mission to create pure tea party chaos for democrats on the ballot by bankrolling an onslaught of attack ads. over the past ten days, harry reid, of course the senate's top democrat has waged an unrelenting assault on charles and david koch personally. here is how it started late last month. >> this is the truth. what is going on with these two brothers who made billions of dollars last year in an attempt to buy our democracy is dishonest, deceptive, false, and unfair. just because you have huge amounts of money, you should not be able to run these false, misleading ads by the hundreds of millions of dollars. >> well, early this week, reid doubled down. >> what is un-american is when shadowy billionaires pour unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system to benefit themselves and the wealthiest 1%. senate republicans, madam president, are addicted to koch. >> addicted to koch.

and yesterday he told reporters he would not let up, saying, quote, i've been told by lots of people don't pick a fight. they're wealthy. they're very vengeful. but without sounding too melodramatic, if not me, who? that's harry reid speaking. i am after the koch brothers. they are two people who are trying to buy america. they have the money to do it. rick tyler, a republican strategist and steve mcmahon is a democratic strategist. is anybody making money off of these guys? they spend billions of dollars. are the consultants or ad copywriters making money? they're paying the checks to somebody. tv stations, i guess. >> on himself. harry reid spent $14 million on his last election. >> on himself. but harry reid doesn't like -- well, the unions also gave him money. >> let's get to the point here. why is harry reid going after the koch brothers? why is he making it personal and admitting it's personal. he doesn't like these guys. >> well, he doesn't like them. but he also wants to make it much more difficult for them as

business people to be successful in business if they continue down this road. so he wants them to be shunned at cocktail parties. he wants their business associates to question their motives and what they're doing. he wants to make their lives difficult in their communities. and i think he -- >> here is what i know about the koch brothers. they don't like being talked about. they like spending lots of money. they like to be able to dive-bomb into a campaign. jump into somewhere like north carolina, splurge a ton of money when they find a vulnerable democrat and then come out anonymously. but the democrats i think would be stupid to let them be anonymous. your thoughts? aren't the democrats smart to jump the guys and say these are the boogiemen. these are the bad guys. >> that's what he wants. i think he and elijah cummings went to the same faux outraged acting school. >> that was real. that was real. i know the gentleman. >> this is about changing the subject because harry reid doesn't want to talk about people who have lost their health care. women that lost their health care. he's tired of women who lost their health care. he is talking about a stagnant economy. >> presumably, rick -- >> sure, whatever. >> say benghazi. >> why do you want me to say benghazi? >> because it's on the list.

>> is it a game? >> it is a game. it's called change the subject from the koch brothers. should a couple of brothers who have made a lot of money in oil and gas decide who wins the senate race in north carolina for united states senate? >> of course not. everybody is free to give as much money as they want. >> but nobody has the kind of money they have to throw around. who else can write a check for a couple of million. >> it's okay for c-5s is that what you're saying? so the unions from 1989, c-5s put in half of the -- >> there's some democracy there. >> it's okay for the unions when they agree with harry reid. >> okay. let's talk -- the goose and the gander kind of thing here. george soros. don't the democrats have some money men who just go around spending money where they want? >> yeah, they do. >> so how is it wrong for these guys? i'll be honest here, i don't like any of this stuff. >> that's why so many democrats and some republicans like john mccain think we immediate campaign finance reform. because nobody should be able to slip into a state under the cover of darkness, spend several hundred million, not in just one

state, but several, and pick the united states senate that is going to work for their business. that's not the way democracy is supposed to work. and frankly, i'm surprised that the stations are so anxious to take this money. because they used to actually have standards, and they used to make people prove things. one of the things that is true about these koch-brother funded ads is many of them, if not most of them, turned out to be downright false. they've been demonstrably false. they continue to run them. so they have a first amendment right to do this. but they're not above the law with respect to slander and other things. >> let's take a look at this. i want to get to the interest of these groups. soreos is the man on the left. but i'm thinking generalized left. but what are the koch brothers' financial interest? i get the feeling they should write off all these expenses. i think every dollar they spend on the republican party is good for their business. tax write-offs, oil and gas industry, the whole deal. this is economic investment for these guys, isn't it? >> i don't think so. >> they're not doing it for philanthropic reasons or ideological reasons, are they? >> i don't know them individually. >> they're oil patch guys.

>> i think they're actually patriotic. i think they actually believe in america. i think they actually believe in free enterprise. i think they believe in freedom. those are the things that harry reid doesn't seem to believe in. that's why he is upset. >> okay. well i think harry reid is a guy that pulled them up by his bootstraps and he believes in this country implicitly. anyway, here is harry reid taking on the koch brothers. according to "the new york times," by the way, since september, americans for prosperity, a group financed in part by the billionaire koch brothers has spent an estimated $20 million on television advertising, since september. look at this. groups backed by the koch brothers are airing ads literally thousands of times against vulnerable democrat incumbents. look at these numbers. they pay for over 3,000 ad spots attacking senator kay hagan, a democrat in north carolina who is a senator there. they financed more than one thousand ad spots against senator mary landrieu down in louisiana. nearly 700 against senator mark begich. this saturation campaign adding, do you think that's good for democracy? over and over again blasting people. >> the only thing that is different is citizens united

where now corporations can run ads. most of them are mom and pop shops. >> do you think this is good? it's a good call? >> i think you should allow candidates to raise all the money they want individually because it's their name on the ballot and put them on it. they're limited. >> but you don't like the outside. >> that would be better than what we have now. it's funny because it's sort of what you see depends on where you sit. i can remember back in 2012 when mitt romney's little mysterious funders were taking newt gingrich to task and taking him out of the primaries there was a lot of outrage from rick and some of the folks in the newt gingrich camp. and it sort of depends on where you sit. these guys come in, they come under cover of darkness and they do what they do because they want to pick a senate that is going to be more reflective of their business interests. >> first of all, what i don't like is the tag line, you're getting at it here. if it says at the end of the ad paid for by the americans for prosperity, nobody knows what that means. it sounds sort of vaguely good. it doesn't say paid for by a couple of guys who made billions of dollars in the oil industry

that would be useful information, that tag line. on the other point, to your side do you think democrat working people, middle class democrats give a rat's butt whether some rich guy is paying for ads? does it work as a negative attack line to say that there is koch brothers? in other words is harry reid -- >> no. here is the thing. it works as a fundraising line. you remember back in day when i worked for ted kennedy. ted kennedy was used repeatedly to raise money for republican causes. so symbols do work in politics. but this symbol isn't well enough known to enough people to have an impact broadly. >> thank you, steve mcmahon, thank you rick tower. the more vladimir putin acts like a dictator the more the late night comics pepper him with jokes. the sideshow is coming up next. ] [prof. burke] at farmers,we make you smarter about your insurance,because what you don't know can hurt you. what if you didn't know that home insurance can keep your stuff covered,even when it's not at home? or that collisions with wildlife on the road may not be covered. and what if you didn't know that you could be liable for any accidents on your property?

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all of a sudden vladimir putin invades the ukraine.

nobody knows what is going on. so we put together an informative segment for you tonight called understanding the ukraine crisis. take a look at this. >> the current crisis can be traced back to -- >> there is nothing to understand. here is all you need to know. mind your own business. >> i think we've been hacked. >> time for the sideshow. that was of course david letterman's not so subtle commentary about vladimir putin's control of the media. it's not so far from the truth, actually. yesterday putin blocked two ukrainian tv channels from being broadcasting into the russian-occupied crimean peninsula. as the old proverb goes, truth is the first casualty of war. putin of course sees it differently. he held a press conference yesterday to show off how open he is being with the media and to explain his side of what is going on. and surprise, surprise, putin blames america. quote, this is putin, they sit across there, across the pond as

if in a lab running all kinds of experiments on the rats. why would they do it? no one can explain it. well, here was jon stewart's reaction to that putin press conference on "the daily show" just last night. >> this is what i'd like to suggest. let's have a conversation rather than an interview. >> you know what? i did not see that coming. a conversation, a rap session. i never saw putin as the cool dad. well, let's get to the conversation. >> i would ask you to begin by stating all your questions. i will jot them down and try to answer them. fine. let us stop here for now. i will begin. don't interrupt me. >> i forgot it was an interesting fact. in russia, the word for conversation is the same word as the word for shut the [ bleep ] up. >> well, "the post" and anna applebaum may have summed up that well.

she did it. putin's press conference reveals that we may have reached the weird moment when the dictator believes his own propaganda. that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. polident kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains. that's why i recommend polident. [ male announcer ] cleaner, fresher, brighter every day.  ...return on investment wall isn't a street... isn't the only return i'm looking forward to... for some, every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire.

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a baby-sitting company whose employees are all artists. small business lessons from the creators of daily candy and where's the money. alternative funding sources. we'll have that and more coming up next on "your business." small businesses are revitalizing the economy. and american express open is here to help. that's why we are proud to present "your business" on msnbc.