and 22% said no. she doesn't need to enter politics. thanks to all of you who voted and please go to our facebook page to post your comments. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. have a great weekend. "hardball" starts right now. shinseki out. hillary definitely in. this is "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews up in new york. let's start tonight with this battle over benghazi. secretary clinton has blown the bugle on this, making it clear she's going to go punch to punch with any republican trying to battle her in her book about life as secretary of state. blasting those who try to exploit this as a political

tool. she said she will refuse to take part in what she called as a political slugfest on the backs of dead americans. but a political slugfest is just what she joined today with this friday morning leak of her book. for whatever reason, the former first lady, u.s. senator, and top diplomat wants to make it clear, especially to her tens of millions of backers that she's entering the season with her dukes up. will it scare opher enemies, will it wear them off before the book tour begins, or if she says if you want to know what i think about the subject, buy my book? david is here, and jennifer g n granholm, governor of michigan. it includes knocks on congress. many of these same people are a broken record about unanswered questions. but there is a difference between unanswered questions and unlistened to answers.

one of the questions the right has for hillary. they say she ignored pleas for help for more security before the attack. she said those never land on the desk of secretary of state, and she never saw them. republicans say she could have done more, but she said, quote, president obama gave the order to do whatever necessary to support our people in libya. when americans are under fire, that's not an order the commander in chief needs to give twice. our military does whatever humanly possible to save american lives. if someone to suggest otherwise is something i will never understand. david, what will this do? this very strong set of words that were leaked, apparently, out of the book to politico, to show fighting words. it doesn't give a lot of new information, but it certainly shows defiance, i think, on the part of the former secretary. >> there's new information.

in fact, a lot of ways there hasn't been a lot of new information, and a lot of questions the republicans have been throwing at her and others have been answered, although they don't want to believe that. but you're right, what is important is the tone. the best defense is a good offense. she goes right to it. she is create agframework for other democrats to defend her as they'll have to on this point if she goes ahead with a presidential bid. they noted her representatives are meeting with people of other democratic groups in d.c. this week to talk about hillary's defense on benghazi. they're reassuring errand. it's like paraphrasing elton john. you can tell everybody, and she's going to stick to it. >> the ones who like it are going to be with you. the twos that might well be with you, and the threes that are

never going to be with you. it seems like it's written for the ones primarily, those who are attacking her and she wants to come out and fight them. >> i, for one, as someone who is with her, am so happy she's coming out swinging, but i think she's shooting for the twos as well, which is it teal people that this benghazi, republicans frothing at the mouth to try to find whatever they can in benghazi, really, they're not going to find anything more. she has taken responsibility. she has taken action by appointing the accountability review board and adopting all of the 29 suggestions they make for change, and she's been totally transparent. >> what do you think they think after three months of hearings or a year of hearings or three more years, what are they going to find? that some memo didn't get to her? something didn't happen oven though she didn't know about it.

there were soldiers within five hours but they said they were four hour as way. what are they trying to get. >> they're hoping, pleading that something will fall and they'll be able to use it against her. they want to taint her term as secretary of state. >> you think it's another white water? >> i think it's, as she said, so disrespectful of those who lost their lives in this tragedy. i'm glad she's coming out before the book. if i were her, i'm sure i would prefer to talk about my term as secretary of state, given all the stuff she did when she was secretary of state. >> do you think she could outtalk the right? i'm afraid two weeks from now, three weeks from now, she goes on fox with greta and goes on with bret bayer. they're going to ask about

benghazi. i don't care how many releases or leaks go on. do you think you're not going to start with benghazi and end with benghazi. everybody is going to do it, aren't they? can she say, look at my chapter. that's what i say, read my chapter in the book. >> how many times does she have to say it in a different way. she's not going to change her story. it is what it is. these are the facts. >> it's good for her to get this fight done early. >> you think it will be over in two weeks? >> no, this will never be over. what they did with whitewater, what politicians like to do is get to the point where the public is tired of the debate and you can say, i answered this. you can do that if you're right, if you're wrong, and she's coming out with all the book attention and she's going to have the fight beforehand, and i bet when the book comes out, she

can say, we have done this. move on. kwl i have been through this, obviously not at her level. anyway, in her book, she's likely to lay out what she did the night of the benghazi attacks, to refruit the charge that she didn't do enough. last year, this is what she testified regarding that question, and this is on the public record before hostile members of congress. let's watch. >> regarding what i was doing on september 11th, i was at the state department all day and late into the night. i was notified of the attack shortly after 4:00 p.m. over the following hours, we were in continuous meetings and conversation conversations both within our department, with the team in tripoli, with the agency and internationally. i participated in a secure video conference with senior officials

from the intelligence community, the white house, and dod. we were going over every possible option, reviewing all that was available to us, any actions we could take. >> jennifer, every action we could take. it does seem to be a pretty good tick to krrb. a good idea of the coverage of the guys doing whatever they could to save those still alive. i don't know what more even a tough guy, trey gowdy, is going to get beyond this. especially when he goes against john kerry. nobody knows more than hillary clinton about what she did. >> you can't get more information out of it when she's laid the facts out. she testified for five hours d tail by detail. she has a 32-page chapter.

it's been asked and answered. yes, it was a tragedy, and yes, she has said everything she's going to say, including taking responsibility for it actions and implementing every recommendation of the accountability review board. what more can she do? >> here's something i think she may have a problem with, and david, you and i are in the business. putting out the idea that there's a problem she didn't go on the sunday programs and saying that's just washington beltway talk. i don't think that's going to sell, especially with the press. the pres still, even though cabe sl pilt on more, but the sunday shows are the place you make your big defense. for her to say, well, that's like late night television. it's not. >> i don't know. >> she wasso on duty. it was her responsibility. she's addressing it now.

why didn't she confront it right when it happened? i would have liked today have had her on tv. >> at this point, it's relatively small. >> it's addressed in the book. >> it's a process question. i think most voters who care about their paycheck, won't care that much about her. some in the washington media might get their collars ruffled a little bit. >> are you taking sides inyou're in the news business. didn't you want answers at the time? couldn't you have loved to have a sunday morning show and have her as a guest? >> i'm just saying i don't think this is going to end up being as big an issue. >> what she says in the book is that appearing on a sunday show

is not like jury duty. it's not require. this is a beltway centric attack. >> we have never gone to war, and we're going to go to war. i watched susan rice, and afterwards, i cheered for her. not because she did everything as a public servient. i thought she was a damn good politician that day. she got the facts out there the way they wanted it done. i think she earned the job that day as secretary of state and had just beaten out john kerry. that's the way i watched that. there is a politics to this. when you're in trouble, come out and meet the press. don't hide. never hide. she should have gone on the sunday program that day and confronted the charges. and david, you know that's true. you know that's the smarter, stronger move, don't you? >> i think they should have put someone on the sunday shows who

knew what happened rather than susan rice who had to be briefed. i think that would have been the smarter move. >> susan was working for the team there. >> this is such a non-important point given the whole spade of things. this sunday show issue, that's the big scandal? it's a non-effective issue. >> as important as you are, even when you use hand gestures, you're wrong. thank you for coming on. coming up, so, v.a. secretary shinseki has resigned. end of story? not really. republican leaders going to troy to keep this alive by pinning the blame on president obama, of course. and also reince priebus, remember him. he wants to know why the republican party doesn't get more attention as the party of racial tolerance.

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welcome back to "hardball." a wild day in washington today. let's get right to it. it took ten days actually the finding of several reports, more than 100 outraged lawmakers from both parties and countless attacks from republican outside groups, but today, the president said the misconduct at the v.a. boiled over. secretary shinseki is out. >> last week, i said if we found misconduct, it would be punished, i meant it. secretary shinseki offered me his own resignation. with considerable regret, i accepted. he has worked hard to investigate and identify the problems with access to care. but as he told me this morning, the v.a. needs new leadership to address it. he does not want to be a distraction because his priority is to fix the problem and make sure our vets are getting the care they need. that was rick's judgment on behalf of his fellow veterans, and i agree.

we don't have time for distractions. we need to fix the problem. >> the president does not look happy there. anyway, republicans responded a clear and predictable counter attack. here's john boehner reacting to the president. >> today's announcement really changes nothing. one personnel change cannot be used as an excuse to paper over a systemic problem. our veterans deserve better, and we'll hold the president accountable until he makes things right. >> even after the president made his announcement about shinseki's departure, the bad headlines continue. wait times are manipulated at more than 60% of v.a. facilities nationwide. and there are bipartisan calls for a investigation into what happened. the president made an unscheduled appearance in the white house briefing room. he marched into the room with jay carney in midsentence to announce jay was leaving.

>> jay has become one of my closest friends and is a great press secretary and a great adviser. he's got good judgment, good temperament, and he's got a good heart. >> you can't beat that from the president of the united states. >> beth and john, thank you for your service, john, and cofounder and chairman of votevets.org. thank you, both. beth, it doesn't look like our friend jay was forced out. it sounds like he went out with kisses from the president. the president really sort of pierced the boil today. he said look, let's stop the talk about getting rid of shinseki, but what is the rest of the story going to be like, the problems far worse than anyone said they were, far worse than the president said they were, far worse than shinseki did. >> this is a president that distained the rituals of washington. walk something down the plank, toss them over, and he resists

doing that, and you could tell he regretted having to do it, not even perhaps because he loved shinseki, but rather it doesn't get to the bottom of the issue. >> it's forcing him to do something. >> shinseki is the boss. he has to take responsibility for what happened, but they both said there underlying problems at the v.a. that need to get addressed. it's to go deeper down and find out what is going on there and applying the resources to fix it. >> what do you make of how long it took the president to accept the resignation of shinseki? it felt like a long period. it was good he did today rather than tomorrow, but it would have been better two days ago. what is the feeling among veterans? >> this has been going on for a long time. in regards to people attacking the president on the v.a. backlog, which is how long it

took to get claims. so there's been a long fight here. then we get to the second story, the idea that the wait times are long. and they have been hammering on that now for about three weeks. eventually, i think what happ happened is when the second ig report or internal ig report came out, people lost confidence. they realized it was very extensive what was going on. in this issue transition, it's not about general shinseki as a general or a secretary. you have democrats in the senate who are in hard states that are getting ads run against him that are asking for his resignation. this did not become about the v.a. anymore. and shinseki didn't understand public affairs. he didn't understand it when he was chief of staff in the army. it became apparent he couldn't get out of the situation. >> i had experience with a friend of mine who was a

roommate in college. to beth, you cover all this stuff, why, when we know how congress works, they have people in each office, and a good number are working on case problems. if there's a four-month delay in 60% of these facilities around the country, why doesn't every senator, every member of congress or both parties know this was they have veterans calling up congress. can you help me? i have been waiting for a doctor's appointment for four month. why dont we know. it's horrible. what about the case work. it doesn't fit? >> it's selective outrage. there's so many problems dealing with veterans in the country anyway. numerous homeless veterans. congress has never appropriated enough money for assisting

veterans. suddenly, it was a political opportunity to jump. they have been made aware. their offices have been made aware, the staff has been made aware that they need help. >> i'm stunned. i don't know whether you have a rotator cuff problem, something wrong with your hips, you've got diabetes, but four months is a dangerous long time to await treatment. we're not talking about people pleading to death, but people with real problems that are real enough to go to a doctor and need treatment, is it really four months on average to see a doctor for the first time? >> my experience when i went to the v.a. in 2004, there wasn't this long wait time. things have changed since then. the president has allowed more veterans to come into the system. if you had type 2 diabetes, you couldn't make it, but you can now. then you had obamacare and you had a million veterans who were

uninsured and sought care. and then you had returning veterans. you know, everyone is torn in the system. i would go right back at you. a lot of veterans say we're making a big deal out of benghazi, and there's no smepecl investigation. they 10 cover. it's all about kim kardashian and the pop things going on. >> i don't think i have ever spoken the word kim kardashian until now. i have said a lot of times there's a lot of ambushing on the war fronts. they happen, and the fact ieds and these things are more generally surprise attacks, i have tried to bring attention to that in all fairness. >> i'm -- >> this is "hardball," and i'm proud of it, and we talk about this, and we talk about the v.a. problems that emerged.

they should have been reporting. i thought the washington post did a good job with dana priest. she won the pulitzer prize when she talked about problems at walter reed. they're looking for trouble for veterans. >> i'm not arguing that certain, and for instance, we're on the show talking about this, but you know, again, i think a lot of veterans feel these stories aren't being covered because this isn't a new issue. it's not this network or this show, but pop culture are the things people talk about. it's my generation. my generation of people who didn't serve who don't even know there's a war still going on in afghanistan. and there's a huge disconnect when we come back. because there's mow surprise to people there are issues a the v.a. >> i will say this now since you have given me the opportunity. i think it's very important for people who cover politics for a living to think occasionally

about the real stakes. there's someone right now in real time, there are men and some women out there on post in scary situations fighting for their country, and they don't know what's going to happen in the next ten minutes, but they do it for our country and it's very frightening and courageous. we should think of those people on post in very scary situations because they're the stakes. we'll be right back after this. [ brian ] in a race, it's about getting to the finish line. in life, it's how you get there that matters most. it's important to know the difference. like when i found out i had a blood clot in my leg. my doctor said that it could travel to my lungs and become an even bigger problem. and that i had to take action. so he talked to me about xarelto®.

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his first pitch was not great. just a bit outside. what can you say? >> well, time now for the side show. that video of 50 cent's ceremonial first pitch at the mets game this week was quick to go viral as being widely panned as the worst pitch in the history of the tradition. when it comes to ceremonial first pitches american presidents and politicians have long played a part starting with william howard taft in 1912. since then, believer it or not, every president has followed his lead including harry truman, jack kennedy, lyndon johnson, nixon, and both bushes, but some of the pitches were better than

others. the washington post did some research, actually, and charted the best and worst ceremonial first pitches in recent american history. among the political figures ranked, president obama came in at number four behind supreme court justice sonya sotomayor, president clinton. he threw a respectable pitch in the strike zone, but the award for the best pitch went to george w. bush who threw a perfect strike at the world series shortly after 9/11. i remember that. finally, actress gwyneth paltrow who i really like is under fire for saying the nasty comments she received online for suggesting it's easier to be a mother when you're not an actress is like surviving war. she said it's very dehumanizing. it's almost like how in war you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing. cindy mccain, wife of john

mccain and mother of a navy lieutenant and marine tweeted her outrage at what she said. gwyneth paltrow is like a joke. her life is like taking bullets for a soldier? what a joke. high two sons serving in the military should talk to her. perhaps she should go out on patrol with the soldiers. mccain then appeared on headline news and invited paltrow to visit the troops with her. >> i think it was an ignorant thing to say and certainly a selfish thing to say. i would encourage gwyneth paltrow, and i would be happy to go with her, to sit down with troops who have served in afghanistan or iraq and talk to them about what really goes on and perhaps meet the young men and women who have lost limbs from this. you know, it's hollywood. i don't know what else to say. >> of course, we'll keep you posted on this. >> up next, reince priebus wants his party to get credit for being the part y that promotes

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i'm milissa rehberger. p po visited fema's headquarters earlier and urged americans to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season which begins on sunday. >> the nba and donald sterling's wife had reached an agreement with former microsoft ceo michael ballmer. and troupes in ukraine have been withdrawn. back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." we all remember the republican autopsy conducted after the presidential election in 2012. reince priebus outreached, but

the party hit road blocks on the way to inclusiveness. at last night's republican leadership conference, the gop problem was on full display. the chairman ignored the last 50 years of the gop, cashing in on white resentment with its cynical southern strategy and highlighting what the republican party did before that, way before that, 150 years ago. >> we have got to recapture the history of our party. we're the party of freedom and we're the party of opportunity. we're the party of equality. we're the ones with that history. it's the other side that has a shameful history but you wouldn't know it because we don't talk about it. >> on that same stage about 90 minutes later was "duck dynasty" star phil robertson. in case you need a reminder who he is, these are the comments on gq that got him suspended. i never with my eyes saw the mistreatment of any black

person. not once. where we live are the farmers, the blacks work for the farmers. i'm with the blacks because we're white trash. we're going across the field. they're singing and happy. i never heard one of them, the black people say, i tell you what, these doggone white people. not a word. were they happy? they were happy. they were godly, no one was singing the blues. yes, this is the person the republican party allegedly seeking outreach, invited to speak at their conference. even the "duck dynasty" star himself was mystified. >> i'm not a political person. i guess the gop may be more desperate than i thought to call somebody like me. >> well, there's a statement. bengie and michelle. i want to start with michelle on this. we all know the history of the republican party is uneven. in fact, it's a bit fractured. it had a great history with

ending slavery, fighting for the union, and winning the civil war, and then governing the country as best it could until reconstruction was thrown away. they gave it away in a rotten deal in 1876 and they stopped trying to do anything for the people in the south who were freed, but they weren't so bad in the '50s and '60s mostly backing the civil rights bill while the democratic party had problems with their dixiecrats. ever since they became republicans, they have nothing to brag about it, it seems to me, and showing up with this guy is part of the problem. they're playing to that party, playing to people who have rebel license plates on their cars. that's who they're talking to with this character. >> absolutely. quite frankly, he was probably on to something when he said the republican party must be desperate to call a guy like him. it's reinvoking this obsession we have seen with the modern day

republican party of, you know, of sort of sticking to the white racist in the country, and quite frankly, it's not just a southern strategy we have seen employed in recent years. it's a northern strategy, eastern, western, the entire country from everything from the dismantling of voting rights to everything else we have seen, including people having to stand in line for eight, nine, and ten hours to vote. it's a very, very sad thing, and quite frankly, what is sadder is that quote/unquote mainstream republicans like bobby jindal, the governor of louisiana, and sarah palin, were in an actual competition yesterday to introduce phil robertson at the republican leadership conference. what does that say about today's republican party? >> the same thing ronald reagan said when he talked about the young buck in line using food stamps to buy gin or talking about welfare mothers. the "duck dynasty" star was lauded by republicans including bobby jindal and former alaska

governor, as you said, sarah palin. here's the former governor, halftime governor of alaska. >> this fellow, he's old enough and wise enough and strong enough to not care what the politically correct police have to say about him. and his opinions. >> well, the "duck dynasty" star did not disappoint, hitting all the arogenous zones, guns, creationism, let's listen. >> i'll tell you something else. it's biblical, one man, one woman for life. i'm always about this close to fire power. my college professors told me we call the ocean. i heard that bunk. we have certain unalienable rights to live. i can guarantee you that's what

thomas jefferson meant. to be free, and to pursue happiness. >> bengie, what do you make of that? >> the whole speech seems to be this dismantling of the walls between church and state. nothing he was saying was particularly out of line with the gop platform on guns, gay marriage, abortion, on all these things, but none of them are issues that really comport with outreach, with this goal that reince priebus has identified of trying to bring in new voters. the fact that someone like priebus who knows this is a problem is forced to share a stage with this guy and so captured by the conservative base that he can't distance himself at all from this guy when necessary shows the problem they have. they have really been unable to reach some escape philosophy that lets them leave people like phil robertson behind. >> when they go crazy about things like the court, they're so scared of modearnty, anything

that looked different than it was 50, 60 years ago scares them. everything scares them, it seems. >> this is the problem with today's republican party. i don't know how they win national elections. priebus yesterday was quoted as saying the republican party has to become a national party obsessed with winning elections. well, you've got a country that is becoming more and more brown by the day. the country, i call it the feminization of the united states, where people are beginning to have an understanding and respect for the equal opportunity and equal rights of women at an economic level in this country. you have hispanics volting by larger and larger numbers. the prospect of hillary clinton on the ticket as president in 2016 with maybe julian castro, who is right now the mayor of san antonio as her vice president. that could turn texas into a blue state. and you can't share the stage with the likes of phil robertson and think you're going to win national elections.

the loudest voices in the republican party are destroying it. >> i think, bengie, the issue of voter suppression. if somebody told me somebody was going after my crowd or my ethnic group, if you will, or my race, i don't like that phrase because we're all in the race, to go after me as people we don't want to vote, i would damn sure vote. when i see republicans openly saying in state legislatures like harrisburg, pennsylvania, that their goal is to downsize the electorate, reduce it to white conservatives, it doesn't exactly build an outreach program, does it? because black people, hispanic people are listening, wait a minute, they're systematically keeping me from having political power. they think i want to join their party? how can i believe in that cause. >> that's a good point. there are few issues that are a driver of turnout than the drive to suppress turnout by the republican party. it's interesting of the republican leaders who seem to be most earnestly interested in

trying to find out what black voters are interested and why they're not voting republican, they're interested in this problem. rand paul gave a speech where he seemed to be surprised at this historically black college where he thought there was anything racist about voter identification laws or voter suppression. after a year of talking to voters who wouldn't consider the gop, he said, look, we have to find a way to talk about and deal with this issue because it's a matter of respect that's keeping them from voting for us. >> we have to go. thank you so much. have a nice weekend, both of you. bengie and michelle. up next, first lady michelle obama takes on the conservatives who want to make it easy for schools to keep serving children unhealthy lunches. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪

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well, tuesday may be the last chance or best chance for the tea party to knock off a sitting republican u.s. senator when voters in mississippi go to the polls, incumbent senator thad cochran is battling chris mcdaniel in the republican primary there. mcdaniel, the tea party candidate is guest getting a boost from sarah palin. and he won the endorsement of pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate rick santorum. mcdonnell had a rocky couple weeks after supporters were arrested after allegedly conspiring to take photos of his

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visit www.wellsfargo.com to see how big small can be. we're back. there's a food fight between republicans and democrats over school lunches. and even first lady michelle obama who rarely weighs in to political fights, fired back at republicans, trying to weaken nutrition requirements in school lunches. four years ago, she created the let's move campaign. and then both houses of congress passed the bipartisan act that set healthy lunch. now republicans want to give schools a waiver to opt out of the rules.

a alabama republican told the "new york times," quote, everyone supports healthy meals for children, but they're finding it's too love to repeal entire law but since democrats control senate the republicans look for other ways to frustrate the law by defunding certain parts or adding waivers to water it down. this week the first laedy calle out gop for playing politics with children's health. >> we see congress trying to roll back the standards and undo the hard work that all of you, all of us have done on behalf of our kids. and you know, this is unacceptable. it's unacceptable to me not just as first lady but as a mother. the last thing that we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids' health. especially when we're finally starting to see some progress. now is not the time to roll back everything that we have worked for.

>> agriculture secretary tom vilsack implemented the nutrition guidelines in schools. he joins us. thank you for joining us. let me ask but the politics, what is the republican, if you can generalize it, what is the republican side against healthy meals for schoolkids? >> chris, there are financial and political reasons for some to maintain the status quo. there are food processing companies that benefited under the old system and they want to continue to have meals with high sodium, high fat and high sugar content. we, on the other hand, believe it's better for kids to have more fruits, vegetable, low fat dairy and whole grains. we need to get control of the obesity issue and for whatever reason the republicans think the politics are on their side. it's a very small vocal minority of school officials that raised concerns. the vast majority of schools are complying, over 90%, are

complying and living up to the standards. it's unacceptable, the first lady is absolutely right. >> if you live, obviously i like fast food, hamburgers and fries and cole slaw maybe, but everybody knows if you live on that you get really overweight. you just are. kids will head down to mcdonald's or burger king or somewhere, want fast food, has sugar, salt, peps you up for at least an hour and then you go down, right? >> right. >> doesn't help you at school. what are the foods would you like kids to eat at school that are the issue that republicans don't want them eating? >> fruits and vegetables -- >> roughage, greens -- >> apples, pairpears, vegetable green, red, orange vegetables, good solid food. 30% of our kids are obese or at risk for obesity. there are health and educational and national security consequences. the number of people fit for

military service continues to shrink in this country. we have to get control of the obesity issues. they will do better in school with the meals that we are feeding them. that's why over 90% of school districts are complying with the standards. the experts, doctors, pediatricians, the nutritionists, they all understand it can't be sodium, sugar and fat, has to be fruits, vegetables, whole grain and low fat dairy. >> the chairman of the house appropriations committee saying school kids won't eat the more healthy food so what's the point? let's listen. >> kids are saying they don't want it. we'll go somewhere else and get some food. they do. you're actually doing the kids a disservice. >> here's the thing, i understand where people don't like the nanny state being told how big a coke they can drink when they're 50 years old and when you're 12 maybe do you need a nanny. that's a totally different thing.

kids are told what to eat generally by their parents. what is wrong with telling kids what to eat is my argument, if you let them eat what they want it's going to be junk. all day. >> not only that, we're improving the quality of the meals. we provide me nemenus, tens of millions of dollars in new equipment, new technical assistance, it isn't about forcing kids outside the school, it's about improving the quality of the meals so they want to eat at school. elementary, middle school kids are flocking to these new standards. high school kids maybe they've got some questions and concerns but over 90% of the school districts are come plieg. >> yes or no, are you interested in being hillary clinton's running mate? we're pushing you. just bringing it up. >> we got a long time to go. i'm just hopeful that secretary clinton is giving it serious consideration. i think she would make a great president and we're fortunate in our party to have a lot of good

people. >> i heard you use the word "we" you're part of the team. only political member of the cabinet, complete compliment, sir. i sometimes think your fellow cabinet members -- i always say be the man with the plan but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18

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teacher layoffs. and a 60 billion dollar budget deficit. that's what john perez faced when he became speaker of the california assembly. so he partnered with governor brown to pass three balanced budgets, on time. for the first time in thirty years. today, the deficits are gone and we've invested an additional 2 billion dollars in education.

now john perez is running for controller, to keep fighting for balanced budgets. democrat john perez for controller. let me finish with these invitations to give university commencement addresses that are then rescinded because somebody complains. it's my contention, not a very exciting one f nobody complains about a speaker it could be

because they have nothing to say or at least nothing to say that stakes out a position. tell me something worth saying or hearing on the day you leave college that someone doesn't like. i say this as someone who tries to give speeches that more practical than political but you invite condoleezza rice or big-time newspaper columnist let's agree you're asking for a strong statement of opinion, for some people to take umbrage. why do then the people who invite them crumble when the usual suspects complain, when they threaten to protest? let them protest, give them a platform or microphone to express themselves against the invited speaker. isn't that what college is supposed to involve, the exchange of ideas? a i agree with michael bloomberg and harvard in a commencement speech, let the speakers speak, let the protesters speak. if someone wants to advocate 17 ounce coax let them yell to the

high heavens but don't let speakers not speak because a blogger complains. let 1,000 flowers bloom. why i love the '60s and still do. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. it is done. secretary of veterans fairs eric shinseki went before a veterans group and took responsibility for the scandal that has engulfed his department, in the wake of a report saying that administrators covered up excessive wait time for veterans to get medical appointments. >> that breach of integrity is indefensible and unacceptable. given the facts i now know i apologize as senior leader of the department of veterans affairs. >> shinseki wenten to announce reforms and efforts to right past wrongs but held