>> thank you, ari. >> i am ari melber in for lawrence o'donnell. you can find me on facebook at facebook.com/arimelber. and chris hayes is up next. ten days later and still more questions than answers. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm joy reid in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, why, where, and how? it's been ten days since malaysia flight 370 vanished, apparently into thin air. it's now a criminal investigation, with 26 countries involved in the search effort. countless teams of investigators are poring over information, investigators are raiding homes. the most sophisticated tlnl in the modern era is looking for clues and remarkably we are no closer to answering any of these basic questions than we were ten days ago, when malaysia airlines

first confirmed flight 370 had disappeared. it's a frustrating and agonizing mystery that has engulfed and embarrassed the entire malaysian government and time is running out, quickly. then there's the politics behind the investigation, which we'll get to in a minute, including the regional tensions that, until now, were considered secondary pieces of this puzzle. was the investigation compromised due to incompetence, or was it bungled to protect malaysian leaders or was it both? well, it's also still a huge mystery, but here's what we do know. something very disturbing has happened. robert hager is an aviation analyst and a special correspondent for nbc news and peter goals was the managing director at the national transportation safety board. well, so far, here's the latest. while information has been scarce, and at times, contradictory, new statements from malaysian officials and other reporting has given us perhaps the best picture, at least for now, of what happened to flight 370 the night it disappeared. it starts a little after 1:00 a.m. local time, when the plane's onboard computer and

diagnostics system sends an update, then stops working, though we don't know why. at 1:19 a.m., the copilot is the last person to talk with ground patrol. he says, all right, good night. no hint that anything is wrong. just two minutes later, the plane's transponder stops communicating with ground-based radar, but the plane seems fine. because at 2:15 a.m., the flight shows up on malaysian military radar screens as it veers off-course, back across the country and out to sea. from there, it's a mystery. except we do know that at around 8:00 a.m., a communications satellite registers a working signal from flight 370, suggesting that it continued flying for another six hours until it truly disappears for good. because of the lack of information from that last bit of satellite data, the possible flight arc, and the corresponding search area is enormous, stretching from kazakhstan to the southern indian ocean. but nations to the north,

including kazakhstan and vietnam, says they have no evidence that the plane entered their air space, so the search is now being focused primarily on the southern corridor. but this is still an incredibly daunting task. an investigator involved in the search effort told reporters, quote, this is not just a needle in a haystack. it's a haystack that gets bigger and shifts under us due to the ocean's drift. so gentleman, i want to start with you, peter, and talk about this issue of time running out. explain to us why we have so little time left to try to find something, some evidence of this plane. >> well, there's really two reasons. one is the flight data recorder and the flight voice recorder both have a limited life battery on them. somewhere around 30 days, sometimes 35 days. so, some time in the next three weeks, those crucial signals will go dark. and then we're in a whole new series of challenges to try to find them. secondly, whatever wreckage

might have been available has now faced the tides, the winds, and the currents. we're going to have to work hard if we found a wreckage field to trace it back to where the aircraft was located. >> give us your best sort of guess as to what happened here. >> well, i can tell you, it is still a mystery, but i think it's correct that we are focusing inside the cockpit. there simply is no other explanation, if the facts that we have been able to verify so far are true. somebody had control of the plane, made the turn, and caused it to not be seen on radar. and that's the best we can do so far. >> and bob hager, does the fact that the pilot did communicate at some point with ground control give us any clues whatsoever as to whether, for instance, these pilots could have been in distress? wouldn't the pilot have

reported, logically speaking, that they no longer had the ability to be tracked by radar? doesn't that seem like something that logically could have happened? >> well, we don't know exactly the timing on that, whether he would have been aware yet that they weren't being tracked on radar, because i think that happens, the transponder gets turned off after his last communication. they're trying to do some analysis that malaysian said on that voice transmission, to see if they detect any stress in the voice. certainly, the wording sounds, right now, good night, it's very routine. it's very hard to tell from that what was going on. i mean, this is a case where we've got so little to go on here. you almost have to hope, if they get any shred of evidence from the investigating the pilot, the copilot, the passengers, if they stumble on something about somebody who had some reason to commit suicide or hijack the plane or go on a joyride, inexplicably, you almost have to

hope there's some break on that side of it. because this other angle. the wreckage, the flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, that's looking slimmer and slimmer, in terms of locating any of it. >> well, new information is also emerging about the pilot of flight 370, zahaire ahmad shah. investigators have raided his home, where they've confiscated a homemade flight simulator and a laptop. shah, 53 years old, active in malaysian politics, specifically for the opposition party. his co-pilot, much younger, 27 years old, and local media is reporting that he was planning to marry his girlfriend. and so far, the material found in both their homes has offered nothing conclusive about any type of scheme or sabotage attempt on the flight. and peter, i want to go back to you on this. you were involved in the investigation of the egypt aircraft, which was found to be a suicide. is there anything about the way this scenario has played out that reminds you or is reminiscent of what happened in egypt air?

>> well, there really isn't. because in egypt air, we had indications early on that there was a potential problem with the copilot, that he had run into trouble the night before, that he had not had a successful career at egypt air and we had very solid radar from five different radar sites that showed us a very erratic flight during the final moments of flight 990. so we had much more evidence to go on than the investigators have in this case. >> bob, i have to ask this, because so many people are asking it, it is part of the conversation out there about flight 370. is there any chance that thing landed somewhere? that it's in tact somewhere? >> i don't have the facts, but i think that's zero chance. i mean, i've been thinking if this plane is found on the ground, it will be a little pieces in the himalayas or at the bottom of the seabed in the south indian ocean.

i just can't see a circumstance under which you could land a 777, keep it on the ground for, what is it, 11 days now, without it being discovered somewhere. >> and same question to you, peter. any chance at all that this plane can be found somewhere in tact and it is not, as bob just said, in pieces somewhere? >> i agree with bob completely. it's infinitesimal. i mean, unfortunately, i think we're looking for a wreckage field and if we're unlucky, it's going to be in the bottom of the south indian ocean. if we're in some ways lucky and that's a strange word to use, it may be over land and we'll be able to find it on an expedited basis. >> and bob, going back to looking at these two pilots, the pilot and the co-pilot, what would investigators be looking for in their lives, obviously, owner obvious signs of potentially suicidal motives in their lives. beyond finding that, what could investigators be looking for that would be helpful? >> first, you'd look for any hard evidence, you know, something they wrote, something they left, some idea that they'd been planning something like

this. otherwise, you look for those subtle psychological issues, like unhappy marriage or failed relationship. those are the kind of things, you can imagine, i mean, ordinary psychological kind of scenarios that come with everyday life. looking for something that would make a person very unhappy. unhappy experience at work, you know, that kind of thing. but that's touchy work, i mean, it's hard to uncover that sort of thing >> and you're also, peter, looking at every single passenger and every member of the crew. this is not just a look at two men. this is looking at more than 230 people. do you think that the investigation, so far, has been efficient enough and has started early enough, digging into the backgrounds of the people on that plane? >> i can't comment on that, i don't know. but i think, clearly, you're going to have to do that for each and every passenger. and for the flight crew, you've got to dig in, maybe there were some financial stress going on certainly, the flight recorder, the flight simulator that

captain shah had needs to be examined very, very carefully and forensically, to see whether it shows anything that might shed some light on his either state of mind or his plans. >> all right. >> joy, can i jump in for just a second? >> please do. >> why, if you intended to commit suicide or murder this plane full of people for unknown reasons, why wouldn't you take the plane in right away? why fly it around for seven or eight hours? there are just a lot of questions in this case. >> yeah, the fact that the plane just continued to be airborne for some hours after the initial incident, that is what is really confounding. thank you so much to both of you for your insights. coming up, much more on the investigation and what we're learning about the pilot, his politics, and what's going on inside malaysia. does any of it help get us any closer to finding a motive, let alone the plane? and the far right is using that missing malaysian jetliner to blame, wait for it, president obama.

wait until you hear this tortured logic, if you can call it logic, from former u.n. ambassador, john bolton. plus, it's been a year since the republicans acknowledged in an autopsy report that they need to be more inclusive of women, minorities, and gays. and while the chairman's party says they're making progress, even he concedes they'll have a hard time winning a presidential election when lots of people actually get to vote. and finally, on this st. patrick's day, a certain conservative media titan is urging irish americans to boycott guinness. seriously. this is "hardball," the place for politics. s twice the everydy grease cleaning ingredients of one drop of the leading non-concentrated brand... to clean 2x more greasy dishes. dawn does more. so it's not a chore. to clean 2x more greasy dishes. [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them.

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third with 11. then it's mike huckabee and jeb bush, not a lot there for anyone. on the democratic side, it's just what you'd expect. hillary clinton has a commanding lead over vice president joe biden. she has the support of nearly two-thirds of democratic voters. we'll be right back. 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.

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welcome back to "hardball." as search teams beginning thount for malaysia airlines flight 370, the investigation has turned to the pilot and his politics. zahaire ahmad shah is described as a supporter of the malaysian opposition leader, ibrahim, and slates william dodson says he's been characterized as a fanatical supporter, but that's not the whole story. dobson writes, a fanatical supporter of anwar ibrahim does sound scary, as long as you know nothing about him. anwar is trying to defeat malaysia's authoritarian regime through elections, not terrorism, let alone revolution. so to be clear, what we know is that the pilot of mh 370 is a fanaticical supporter of a nonviolent man who supports a

pluralistic and democratic malaysia. the country and its government has been thrust into the global spotlight. the stakes couldn't be much higher than simply figuring out what happened to flight 370. william dobson is with slate magazine and steve clemens is an msnbc contributor with the atlantic. i want to go to you first, william dobson. can you just describe to us the government of malaysia as it is now and what anwar ibrahim's relationship to it is? >> the first thing you need to understand about the malaysian government, what you're dealing with is a ruling party that has been in power continuously for 56 years. so this is the type of country which many would describe as a semi-authoritarian one. it's one in which you have elections, but not a lot of political change.

however anwar ibrahim has begun to make inroads against that behemoth that is the malaysian state, in that the last several years, his coalition of opposition parties has been successful at the ballot box. in 2008, they won five of 13 state governments, and then on top of that, they won more than a third of the parliament seats, which was the first time that the ruling party lost its super majority. and then, last year, the party, at least, anwar's supporters, said they won the election. what we do know for certain is that they didn't win a majority. so, this is a party that has been able to maintain itself, increasingly, in the last 10 to 15 years, through vote rigging, allegations of fraud, and certainly, corruption. >> and so, steve, this is the government upon whom we're relying for the data and information about this investigation. should americans be a little bit dubious about the information we're getting out of the malaysian government, given what william dobson just said? >> well, this incident of the tragic case of the disappeared airliner has become so

political-sized that it is animating right now every move that the malaysian government makes. so there is a sense that the incumbent prime minister, najib, is seeing, you know, a fragility and seeing concern in every move he makes. i think dobson described anwar ibrahim in the growth of opposition beautifully. so you're both at an inflection point inside malaysia, over a very controversial, really an indictment, if you will, of malaysia's government at home. we don't only have the disappeared airliner. we had other cases of the passports that had been bought on the thai market and brought on with passports that had been declared in interpol. and it so raises a fundamental question about corruption in malaysia, competence in malaysia, and the solvency of that government writ large. so while we're all looking for where the airliner is, malaysiaen themselves are looking at a big spotlight for their government and how incompetent and corrupt it appears to them. >> and william, now an increasing light being shined on

this pilot, what do you make of now describing him as fanatical supporter of anwar ibrahim. >> it definitely is a distraction. and it's important to note this story sort of began the way stories like this often began, which is unnamed sources, many of them appearing to be police sources. and the story beginning, first, to be picked up by tabloid publications in the uk, somewhat in malaysia, and beginning to spread from there. in many ways, it would make a lot of sense that it would be eight days into the investigation that you would begin to see something like this. as i said in my piece, almost everything that happens in malaysia, if you wait long enough, it comes back to anwar ibrahim. we don't have a crime scene or a clear suspect, but we have an anwar ibrahim suspect that they're trying to tarnish some of the blame that's focused on their own actions and lack of clarity in the investigation.

so, i think that the important thing is, you know, could this man have been responsible for this act? it's possible. but, his politics aren't dispositive, one way or the other. his politics don't tell you one way or the other that he's the person behind this. and it's a little bit of a red herring. >> and it does strike me, steve, as, it is an opportune time to bring up ibrahim, when you have the focus on the investigation that seems to be going nowhere, no idea if the plane went north or south, it does seem like the timing is opportune, doesn't it? >> it may be opportune, but it's also weird. it's weird in the sense for all the reasons will dobson outlined. if there was some great conspiracy through authoritarian regimes in the region to have a proponent of healthy civil society, inclusiveness, you

know, fair and free elections, a freedom of the press, that is what anwar ibrahim represents within the malaysian political system. so if that is what the pilot was trying to reach out to and land a plan for folks to do it, but that's completely illogical. and so i think if the malaysian government has done this, what they've done by doing that is shown how brutal and thuggish the nature of their regime is. they're shining a spotlight and the affiliation, potentially, of this pilot and someone who represented a real foil to the thuggishness of the current regime. >> and a regime that americans are quite unfamiliar with up to now, but definitely getting to know it more. thank you so much. >> thank you. all right, up next, boycott guinness, on st. patrick's day? that's what one conservative wants, after guinness stands up for gay rights. that's next in the sideshow. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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time for the side show. what do you get when you mix mayor rob ford and st. patrick's day? a hot mess. yes, rob ford is in the headlines again. this time, he was filmed in an apparent drunken stupor outside of toronto's city hall. what's worse, he was cursing in front of a 13-year-old boy, which prompted the boy's shocked mother to release the video to the media over the weekend. here's how toronto's ctv covered the incident and its aftermath. >> i need a -- i need to take this home. i'm no pro, but i've got to take this home. >> that's ford stumbling and speaking strangely, and loudly swore in front of the 13-year-old. >> [ bleep ] [ bleep ]! >> you weren't drinking last nigh? >> we're good. i'm here, right? >> but, do you just want to -- >> are you serious? >> -- your part of the story? >> were you drinking last night? you never drink, right? >> hot mess, indeed. up next, it may be st. patrick's day, but billionaire media mogul

rupert murdoch is raining on the parade, literally. he wants to boycott guinness, ireland's most popular beer, on st. patrick's day. on sunday, the famed beer company announced its decision not to participate in new york's parade, because organizers of the event bar gay and lesbian groups from marching openly. quote, guinness has a strong history of supporting diversity and being an advocate for equality for all. we were hopeful that the policy of seclusion would be reversed for this year's parade. as this has not come to pass, guinness has withdrawn its participation. but their decision, in solidarity with new york's lbgt community, didn't sit well with murdoch, who tweeted his outrage earlier today. quote, where will this end? guinness pulls out of a religious parade, bullied by gay organizations, who tried to take it over. hope all irish boycott this stuff. yeah, good luck with that. finally, a republican lawmaker

is taking a stand for discrimination in his home state of south dakota. state senator phil jensen is still defending a bill he introduced last month that would have made it legal for businesses to deny service to customers based on sexual orientation, religion, and race. according to the rapid city journal, the self-described reagan conservative says that nondiscrimination laws are necessary in a free market economy. quote, if someone was a member of the ku klux klan and they were running a little bakery, for instance, the majority of us would find it detestable that they refused to serve blacks. and guess what, in a matter of weeks or so, that business would shut down, because no one is going to patronize them. while jensen may think public shame is enough to stop discriminatory practices, a republican colleague called his bill mean, nasty, hateful, and vindictive, and the bill died in committee. up next, it's been a year since that republican autopsy report found the party needs to be more tolerant of women, minorities, and gays. but it still doesn't look like the gop has learned its lesson. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

if there's one message i want everyone to take away from

here, it's this. we know that we have problems, we've identified them, and we're implementing the solutions to fix them. >> welcome back to "hardball." one year ago, rnc chairman reince priebus unveiled the growth and opportunity project. a post-mortem to republican losses in 2012. a report that became known simply as the autopsy. among its conclusions, republicans had a lot of work to do on outreach. so how's the party done? well, it depends on who you ask. but keeping all republicans on message proved a challenge this year. case in point, mike huckabee. >> if the democrats want to insult the women of america by making them believe that they are helpless without uncle sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control, because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then, so be it. >> huckabee said he has comments were intended to criticize the way democrats politicians treat women, but the effect of his words was to highlight a gop

that's sorely out of touch with them. to be clear, uncle sugar may be hilarious, but it's no way to address the gender gap laid bare in the 2012 presidential race, when president obama beat mitt romney by 11 points among women. and more recently, there's congressman paul ryan's inartful wording on the insights of policy. >> you know, your buddy charles murray or bob putnam over at harvard, those guys have written books on this. which is that we have got this tailspin of culture in our inner cities in particular of men just not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work. and so there's a real culture problem here that has to be dealt. >> ryan quickly backed away from the language, after taking heat for his comments, saying he was inarticulate about the point he was trying to make, and not implementing the culture of one community, but a society as a whole. on sunday, reince priebus defended ryan.

>> i mean, paul had said that he thought it was inarticulate, but quite frankly, i mean, democrats are lying in wait as well to pounce on whatever -- >> but, that's how -- >> but whether democrats pounce or not, comments like ryan's won't help to erase the enormous deficits republicans have with african-american voters, as shown in 2012 presidential exit polls. an 87-point gap. joining me, "washington post" opinion writer and msnbc political analyst, jonathan capehart, and pulitzer prize-winning columnist, cynthia tucker. cynthia and jonathan, i'll give each of you a chance to give the republican party a grade one year after they released their manifesto on how to improve their lot with women and minorities. starting you, cynthia tucker, how do you think they've done? >> f! for heaven's sake, reince priebus should have said -- what he should have said is, we identified the problem and we

have set about making it worse. what have they done in the last year? proceed to continue to alienate black voters. it's not just so-called inartful comments, such as those paul ryan made. what about all of those continued barriers to voting they're setting up in state after state? brown voters with republicans refusing to do anything on immigration reform. so i have to give them a failing grade, joy. >> jonathan, a harsh grade so far from cynthia tucker. what is your grade for the republicans thus far? >> maybe it's st. patrick's day that's giving me sort of a warm heart here. i'll give them a d-plus. and i'm not giving them an "f," because i know that they have made efforts, in their own way, to reach out to the african-american community. last month, they did a black history month program here in washington for black

republicans, that i have to say, quite frankly, when i went there, i was invited to go there, they thought i wouldn't show up, and i was surprised by how many black republicans were in that room and the speeches that were given had nothing to do with, you know, slamming the president or slamming the democratic party and talking all about growth, opportunity, education, and so, i came away from that feeling, actually, you know, rather impressed by the republican party's outreach of the african-american community. chairman priebus was there. that being said, they still get a d-plus for all the reasons cynthia just laid out. but also, i would add to that the disrespect shown by members of the republican party to this president of the united states, i think, is something that the republican party is going to spend years trying to clean up. >> including by some of their african-american surrogates, like ben carson, for instance. >> absolutely. >> in that category too.

>> okay, since jonathan's charitable grade is d-plus, which i don't know how charitable that is, i want to get you both to react to the republican national committee's new, they have an ad. they're spending six figures on cable and digital, to buy an ad that features minorities and young voters explaining about the republicans. take a look. >> i believe in opportunity for all. >> i think children should be the focus of our education system. >> i believe a strong military equals a strong america. >> i believe there shouldn't be so much red tape. >> i vote for religious freedom. >> every human life is worth protecting. >> i vote for an all of the above energy policy. >> i'm a republican. >> i'm a republican. >> i'm a republican. >> i believe in opportunity for all and i'm a republican. >> okay. cynthia, that looks like a really awesome party. it's super diverse, look at all those diverse people. who is that ad designed to appeal to? >> well, if it's designed to appeal to voters of color, it's not going to do very much to overcome the real problems that the republicans, the real

messaging problems the republican party has. you know, joy, you and jonathan both know that every four years, at the republican national conventions, they manage to gather all eight black delegates and the two brown delegates in the room and put them in the very front towards the cameras. and that is their messaging, so the camera focuses on this very small group of voters of color, when, in fact, the hall is filled with white people. there's a reason for that. you know, there was nothing in that ad that i haven't heard voters of color say before. there are many black and brown voters who are anti-abortion. there are many black and brown voters who would like to see less government red tape, if

they get ready to start a business. there are many black and brown voters who are concerned about educational opportunity. but the messages that the republican party has put out, they've hung up this big, you are unwelcome sign, that people cannot get past. so it doesn't matter how many warm and fuzzy ads they put out there. as long as paul ryan is pretending that the only black, the only men who were out of work are black men, republican voters, excuse me, black voters, recognize that and want nothing to do with the republican party. >> yeah, i mean, jonathan, you talked about going to an outreach event, but that is in a small, closed room, right? can the republican party, with just gauzy messages that look really diverse, get past the images of ted nugent, who called the president a subhuman mongrel, or even paul ryan seeming to denigrate inner city, quote/unquote men. can they get past that with warm and fuzzy images? >> no. the only way they get past that is having policies match the

rhetoric. i would argue that that ad, sure, there might be some asians and african-americans and latino who is look at that ad and say, hey, this is a party for me. but i actually think that that ad probably is geared towards independent voters, who would like to see that the republican party isn't this sort of hateful or mean-spirited party, but a party that is open and welcoming to all. but, you know, as cynthia, again, laid out, the republican party has a whole lot of work to do when it comes to convincing african-americans, asian americans, women, and latinos that the welcome sign actually is out there and that they are truly welcome within the republican party. >> yeah, apparently they should get the people in that ad to run for office. that might help as well. thanks so much, jonathan capehart and cynthia tucker. appreciate it. up next, the crisis in ukraine.

president obama doesn't have a lot of good options after crimea votes overwhelmingly to leave ukraine and join russia. that's ahead and this is "hardball," the place for politics. those little things still get you. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial.

iowa has voted for a democrat for president every year but one since 1988. and new polling for 2016 shows hillary clinton in a strong

position to keep it in the democratic column. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. according to a new poll from quinnipiac, clinton leads rand paul by ten points in iowa, 49-39. that's as close as the republicans get. against chris christie, clinton leads 13, 48 to 35. christie led by 5 in iowa back in december. jeb bush trails clinton by 14, 51 to 37. and ted cruz does the worst among republicans. he's down 16 to hillary, 51 to 35. we'll be right back.

and we are book. the crisis between russia and the west over the future of ukraine grew more heated today. the white house announced it was imposing sanctions against officials in russia, while vladimir putin signed a decree, recognizing crimea as a sovereign and independent country. both moves come a day after an

overwhelming majority of voters in crimea chose to break away from ukraine and join russia. today, the president called the referendum a violation of ukrainian and international law and he announced there would be a cost for russian actions there. >> we are imposing sanctions on specific individuals responsible for undermining the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and government of ukraine. we're making it clear that there are consequences for their actions. if russia continues to interfere in ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions. we'll continue to make clear to russia that further provocations will achieve nothing, except to further isolate russia and diminish its place in the world. >> the white house said these would be the most extensive sanctions on russia since the end of the cold war. all told, 11 people are targeted, all of them top advisers to president putin. the sanctions include asset

freezes and travel bans. the european union also imposed sanctions today against 21 russian and ukrainian officials. one of president obama's strongest foreign policy critics, senator john mccain, said that short of doing nothing, the president's response couldn't have been weaker. >> i think of vladimir putin must be encouraged by the absolute timidity the president said we will, quote, consider other options. the president should have said, we're going to provide military assistance to ukraine and that will be in defensive weaponry. >> howard fineman is editorial director for the "huffington post." david corn is washington bureau chief for mother jones. both are msnbc political analysts. i'm going to start with you, howard. john mccain going with john mccain goes which that that we should be providing military support to ukraine. i don't mean to laugh, but, i mean, is that a serious option that would ever be on the table for the united states? >> well, it might be at some point, but highly unlikely. the fact is, we don't have the

money, the material, or the strategic presence in that part of the world nor do we have desire to confront the russians directly in their own backyard with military assistance. as you know, assistance turns into other things pretty quickly. i do think it's true that at least over in russia, the cronies that the president purported to isolate today are basically laughing and are heroes of mother russia, at least according to the reporting that we have in the "huffington post." so, at least as far as the russians are concerned, this wasn't much. >> much the same is reported in the "daily beast" where the president's moves are said not to be likely to put a ton of pressure -- >> i prefer to quote the "huffington post." >> i actually think that probably is wise. david corn, okay, we have the "huffington post" and the other publication which shall rename nameless saying this is a relatively weak response. the american people have no

interest in starting some sort of armed conflict over ukraine. >> well, john mccain has the support of lindsey graham in this endeavor, and virtually no one else. i mean, it's kind of, you know, it's highly provocative to talk about military engagement with russia, and the ukraine. and at the same time, the u.s. has the perennial issue of having to deal with our allies instead of impose sanctions that are not undermined by the europeans because they don't want to go that far. at the same time, we sue putin has some choices ahead of him, whether he stops where he is now, whether he goes into other eastern parts of ukraine. and so i think these sanctions were designed, even if the oligarchs are laughing in moscow, to get tighter if putin goes farther. it's a tremendous balancing act. this is the problem with foreign policy. you know, they're talking about foreign policy in a political context.

politics is binary. people win and lose elections. legislation passes or doesn't pass. foreign policy often what you're doing is nuance and trying to prevent something worse from happening. it doesn't translate well into a political environment many times. >> i mean, howard, is the other issue that there is no way to sort of have a kind of big moment that the american people can grasp as sort of definitive, right, the way the killing of osama bin laden was definitive, a win. you have a country that most americans don't know much about. you have a country, ukraine, in the sphere of influence of russia, not of the united states. you have the europeans who are the principle people at issue when it comes to trade with russia, when it comes to oil, et cetera. i mean, is there any winning this for the president? >> no, probably not because the only victory will be the absence of a loss. the next thing up, as others have pointed out, is the possibility of putin making a move on eastern ukraine.

i think as david said, the president and the national security officials at the white house started low with the first measure against these cronies because they want to reserve the right to have a fairly long list of other menu actions short of military action to take. at some point, presumably they're going to bite. one thing, though, these oligarchs according to the reporting i've seen were moving their money out of american and european banks months ago which indicates to me that they knew they were getting the signal that something was going to be up because of unrest in ukraine. and, you know, putin's going to make additional moves and at some point it's going it be in our more direct interest to slow him down. this apparently, at least to the white house people, doesn't seem to be the moment. >> howard fineman and david corn are staying with us. when we come back, the latest example of obama derangement syndrome. the high-profile conservative, believe it or not, using the missing malaysian jetliner to

bash president obama. you're watching "hardball." the place for politics.

i think it's so weak that it's embarrassing. i mean, naming 11 individuals and imposing visa restrictions on them and freezing their assets in the united states is nothing in the big picture. i think this simply reinforces in putin's mind that he has the high cards. he has the upp hand.

and he's going it continue to do what he's been doing. >> and we're back. that was former ambassador to the united nations john bolton today complaining about the president's weak response to russia. the man who called president obama our country's biggest national security crisis rarely misses an opportunity to knock the commander in chief. why should anything be different if he's talking about the missing malaysian airplane? a story i think is fair to say has nothing to do with the president. well, watch mow bolton and fox news host do exactly that, turn the airplane mystery into an indictment of the president's world view. >> what about the united states? i mean, we didn't jump in right away. it's an american-made aircraft. we've got three americans onboard. clearly, ambassador, we have the best capabilities of anyone in the world to get information and to solve something like this. why did we hang back? >> i think the united states really had enormous interests and i think the administration,

for fear of acknowledging that, perhaps, it was a terrorist incident, that perhaps it involved islamic terrorists, drew back, and at the top levels just did not want to give the impression this was as serious as it may turn out to be. >> we're back now with howard fineman and david corn. okay, david, this i'm going to start with you. i just sometimes -- i'm just a little flabbergasted and wonder what it is that the right that people like john bolton, what is it they would want the united states to do? because now they're saying the palation plane is showing weakness. >> it's very easy. i know what they want them to do, act without thinking. that seems to be what they're responding here, what he's calling for. god forbid, you wait until you find out whether it's terrorism or not before you call something terrorism. that's the whole genesis of the complaint with benghazi that the president waited five days or whatever it was to attribute it

to possible terroristic motives. so it's really about using any club you can find in the golf club bag to whack the president at a time when people still don't know what the facts are about the tragedy of this missing airplane. it's, you know, it's low, but unfortunately, not unexpected. >> it's quite a long route, howard, to get from the malaysian airplane to a benghazi-like situation with president obama. i mean, there's almost no concept, is there, of sovereignty? this took place and this is a malaysian issue. how would the united states have imposed itself upon malaysia in the right's view? i don't understand the criticism. >> obviously because the united states made the airplane. don't you get that, joy? >> it's an american plane. >> it's an american plane. i'm surprised that ambassador bolton didn't imagine that the plane had somehow landed in benghazi. where it's now being kept under a tarp by the radicals who attack. that's what -- you grade people on different curves. john mccain is always going to be looking for the military

option. that's who john mccain is. he's sort of the bad cop in the american routine. he always has been. john bolton, at least in theory, is a diplomat. he was ambassador to the united nations. now, i know they didn't care about or believe in the united nations when he was there, that is the administration that sent him, but he should know better. that was one of the purest, rankest pieces of destructive speculation i've heard in a long time, and if you watch a lot of tv, you hear a lot. >> yeah. and this also the guy who said the united nations could lose several floors and wouldn't be a problem. >> the ambassador. >> indeed. thank you, howard fineman, david corn. appreciate it. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now.

good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. tonight, ten days after the disappearance of malaysia airlines flight 370, investigators say it was taken off course deliberately. exactly where it was taken and where it is right now is still the greatest mystery of all. >> this movement are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. >> here's why investigators now believe the plane was deliberately steered off course. mh-370 took off at 12:41 a.m. local time. at 1:07 a.m., the aircraft communications addressing and reporting system, or acars, which send maintenance information to the ground, sent its last transmission. it was, apparently, disabled sometime within the next half hour after that transmission. a maneuver that may have required someone to climb