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tv   Hardball With Chris Matthews  MSNBC  June 26, 2014 11:00pm-12:01am PDT

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>> it's cable. make it up. tea party mississippi blues. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, rage on the right. the tea party supporters and backers on conservative talk radio aren't giving in quietly accusing thad cochran and supporters of race baiting, cheegt and betraying the conservative movement by chasing the votes of nonrepublicans. they point to flyers and robo calls that targeted african-americans before the election that attacked mcdaniel
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for his civil rights record. chris mcdaniel is the loser from tuesday. he's refused to concede saying thousands of democrats voted, quote, illegal areally for cochran in the run-off. he may challenge the are result in court. meanwhile anger continues to boil over at cochran in the entire republican establishment. >> what bothers me -- and i'm angry about this -- every despicable tactic, false characterization, smear that the left useses against tea party members and conservatives in this country was used by the cochran campaign against a fellow republican. >> cochran doing the political equivalent of shaking a klan hood in the streets to scare up votes is unbecoming of anybody fit to hold elected office in this country. >> i wonder what the campaign slogan was in mississippi? uncle tom's for thad?
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>> i have a question for every black democrat in mississippi. what the hell has this 90-year-old fart, a white republican, the same white republican that for years the democrats have been telling you are nothing but old racists, you tell me exactly what thad cochran did for you. >> are these guys sore losers or do they have legitimate gripes and are headed to a total riff? philip dennis is founder of the dallas texas tea party. i will start with you. i can certainly understand why you are disappointed, upset, why you might be angry at the republican establishment and the cochran campaign. you have your candidate lose this race because they brought in voters and won the primary.
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a basic level listensing to the over the top reactions. do you accept the legitimacy of this victory? >> absolutely not. every registered republican in mississippi that voted in the primary rejected that. we are not talking about registered republicans and democrats. everybody who had a right to vote. is that correct? >> how many of the 35,000 democrats who voted for cochran will vote for him in november? zero are. >> that's not the law though. before we go further i want to make it clear. what's the specific legal gripe? >> if the republicans have to
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depend on democratic voters to get their life long corrupt politicians, big spending pork spending politicians elected what is the need for the republican party? we are seeing very little difference, if any at all in washington, d.c. between the republicans and democrats. what we learned the other night is there is virtually nothing the republicans will not do to keep the people they want elected in office. even wrongly disparaging and lying about opponents and the people who are supporting him as racist, going to take away food stamps. this is ridiculous. as low as the republicans have been this is the lowest i have seen them. >> what do you want chris mcdaniel to do now? you want a lawsuit? what would the basis be? maddow want a write-in campaign? i know austin basher, they say you can't do that in mississippi. what do you want mcdaniel to do if it's this bad fwr you?
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>> i would like to see the people of mississippi who supported chris mcdaniel to write him in or support his democratic challengerer. if the republicans are going to rely on democrats to get their rhino republican senator who's been there since 1972 in office, a big pork spender, use democrats to get him elected perhaps the tea party republicans who supported mcdaniel should also vote for the democrats in november. >> you would rather have a democratic senator in there voting for harry reid than have thad cochran go back? >> absolutely. we see very little difference between the republicans and the democrats. i know a lot of tea party people think mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell will be harry reid like. >> they did shut the government down.
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is this a problem? >> in my mind this is a legit mat victory. but your base says this is too tricky what you did. threatening pay back. do you have a problem with making the base too angry? >> i think the most important thing about this election is to stop barack obama in the last two years. if you get barack obama and harry reid a blank check they will fill up the judiciary with people that the tea party and establishment republicans will hate. this is the most important election i have seen in a midterm election. >> just listening to what you heard, this is what -- he took it a step further than what i have heard saying we should just go ahead and vote for the democrat this november.
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when you listen to what he's saying about the tactics, getting democratic voters. can you understand why the base of the republican party now is upset? >> i get they lost. it was a legitimate election. the cochran campaign was within the law. they appealed to a broader base of voters and he won. now we have to join together and stop barack obama in the last two years. i think the stakes are high. for him to say he wants harry reid to be the majority leader is so stunning he has to say, does he want to be the guy to get are barack obama a blank check? i don't think it's right. >> what have you done? mr. establishment, what have you done? >> take a breath.
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>> when we returned you to the house -- >> we got the point. i want to move to the next thing. conservative radio mark levine interviewed mcdaniel and this is what he had to say. >> could you have imagined how corrupt the prubl establishment is and the race baiting and nasty tactics used against you? did you accept that? >> these are people that talk about party unity and party cohesion. how we are supposed to stick together. they did the most despicable things to me and those around me that i have seen. >> joe scarborough of "morning joe" had a different take. >> these people were my children, i would be laughing at them calling them the biggest whiners. >> they cheated. >> no. they didn't. they followed the rules. they followed the law. you lost. they were smarter than mcdaniel.
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as laura ingram said, mcdaniel ran a tea party race in an open primary. that's stupid. if you are too stupid to win an election don't whine and say the other side cheated. >> i want to get back to the point about the future for the tea party movement in mississippi and a candidate like mcdaniel. you are saying you would rather have a democrat win this thing in the fall than have your candidate. you are talking about the republican process or if you are a democrat, the sanctity is you give it your best shot. play by the rules. if you win, congratulations. the other guy supports you. if you lose, you support the other guy. >> normally we vote conservative in the primary and republican in the general election.
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in this case the democratic-opponent was opposed to obamacare. he's anti-gun law and may be more conservative than thad cochran who has a history of big spending and for this guy with the republican establishment guy to talk about how the republicans and giving obama a blank check you passed every continuing resolution. we have a $17 trillion debt. you promised to cut $100 billion in spending. in 2010 we returned you to the house. you cut nothing. you have lied the whole time. you disparage us as racists to elect a guy that's been in office. we don't need it. if you are going to insult the base you will lose it. normally i would vote for a republican if he's won to primary even to the left of the candidate but not when they have disparaged us. thad cochran ran on i'm going to spend more money than anybody else. that's contrary to the tea party message. >> i can't think of how many times in the past few years i
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have heard conservatives rail about how terrible harry reid is. now i'm listening to a conservative say i would rather have a democrat elected and harry reid as leader. you listening to the voice from the base of a party are you listening to an example of why republican leaders in washington had their hands tied? every decision they risk a revolt. >> republicans are in a good decision to capture the senate. they can finally put legislation on the president's desk to have him sign or spirit. hopefully reveal a big chunk of obamacare. it won't happen if harry reid continues as majority leader. he was the one who wanted to make barack obama president.
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he's been uncooperative. i understand how upset they are. they lost, they're mad. barack obama will have a blank check the last two years and we don't need that. >> i want to ask you one more thing. this is the question i have. i think glenn beck who said african-americans whos crossed over to vote for thad cochran, if he's re-elected to the senate what are those voters going to get from cochran? these are now his constituents. they put him in office. >> thad cochran has been someone who's protected the interests of mississippi. that's his constitutional role. i don't think there is a special deal. the democrats in mississippien didn't want african-american voters to vote for thad cochran. they wanted mcdaniel to win thinking he's the most vulnerable person to beat.
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we have thad cochran because he's been a good senator and he's a conservative senator. he will continue to be conservative. i think the african-american voters within mississippi said, we would rather have him because he'll look out for the state. thad cochran is broadening the base of the republican party which we should be for. >> all right. thank you. coming up next, the house lawsuit against president obama, speaker john boehner is doing what he can to make the right feel good. not everyone thinks boehner realizes what he got into. also, the lost irs e-mails. republicans are crying cover up. the irs is saying, hey, what can you do? how much might it hurt democrats in the fall? plus, president obama takes on the what me worry faction of the republican party who denies there global warming by saying, i'm no scientist. why the republican establishment may not be celebrating that
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ask your doctor about experiencing cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial. here are the poll results people didn't see coming. let's check the score board. a survey usa poll shows kansas's republican governor sam brownback trailing his democratic opponent. 47-41. kansas has been the tip of the spear for much of the conservative movement in the country. this poll may suggest kansas has had enough. there is only one poll and it's automated but the result is still striking. we'll be right back. female announcer: don't miss sleep train's 4th of july sale
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placate an angry, volatile and cannibalistic base that just swallowed and spit out eric cantor. boehner has once again allowed the tea party to control the agenda. if history is a guide that's dangerous thing for him to do. michael steele is an msnbc political analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee. let's get to some of the reaction of the last 24 hours. boehner is facing intense criticism within his own conservative ranks from groups that are outraged his vote goes tooer far and not far enough. yesterday on fox neil cavuto called it a waste of time. he ripped into michele bachmann for trying to draw the irs into her argument. >> we need to, where they have broken the law and the irs gave private donor information to the political friends of this administration, they gave the private --
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>> congresswoman, separate issue. >> no, it isn't. >> where was your rage -- congresswoman -- >> listen, listen, listen. let me have one minute. neil! one minute. >> no, you are being silly. are where was your rage -- >> no, i'm not. >> where was your rage when democrats after president obama on the use of executive orders. you knew then it was a waste of time. you know in your heart of hearts this is a waste of time. there are more important things you guys have to address than filing lawsuits. >> we can do further is impeach elected officials -- >> oh, man. rome is burning and you're filing. >> the national review's andrew the mccarthy who wrote the book on president obama's, "fifthsless execution" says speaker boehner's proposed suit is nearly as wayward as president obama's violation of his solemn oath to execute the laws faithfully.
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they are asking the courts to do their heavy lifting for them. a classic case of assuming the pose of meaningful action while doing nothing. mieblgle, let me start with you. you hears this is way too much from one end and whoa, this isn't far must have from the other end. my anti-depressant on the situation and i said it yesterday. my read is that john boehner and this is the story of his term as speaker of the house. he knowses he's at the mercy of the tea party right. at the same time he has decent little bitle call instincts. he understands impeaching the president in the mid le of a midterm election year is one of the few things republicans can do. this is the solution. do this and they will stop talking impeachment. i'm not sure it's working. >> no, it's not. oh, to be john boehner. that's amazing. the back and forth here. the reality is neil cavuto was right. i think there are bigger issues, legislation, processes, owl of
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that, that republicans in the house could have put to good use over the last few years to legislatively and on policy box this administration into an appropriate political corner leading into an election this fall. this right now, i think, is a lot of extra effort that's going nowhere with. so there is no guarantee that a court is going to give john boehner and the congress standing to bring the suit. >> right. that's the key point. >> you think lawyers would tell you that before you file a suit. >> what happens if the courts do eventually say that? there is a lot of smart consensus here. >> obama won't be president of the united states. >> right. but the republican base which has been talking about impeachment and is being thrown a bone by the leadership in congress will find out, oh, it's another meaningless thing the republican leadership tried to
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do. if this goes nowhere, three months from now the appetite for impeach with the republican base that a guy like boehner is trying to tamp down will only be harder. >> it may be. the party has to think about governing at this point. you have the house and the senate. you have to position yourself on the arguments on policy, not progress and not talk about impeaching the president at the beginning of a political fight. >> michael, what can somebody in john boehner's political position do? if my explanation is right, maybe i'm off base. if he's trying to fore stall an impeachment push from the base they have been talking about it from the day obama was inaugurated and it's only increased in number. what else can he do? >> not much. explanation is right. he knowses that impeachment would be really a problem for
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the republican party headed into the election. there is nothing right now that the left base, the liberal base is really worked up about and fired up about. boy, if they start impeachment proceedings before november you better believe there is going to be something that the left base will be fired up about. that's one thing that would screw up the year for them. he's trying to avoid that. ifs there is a court decision that decides he and the house of representatives don't have standing before november, that's a big problem for boehner. he probably knowses a court may decide that. courtses are reticent about getting in the way of these branch battles. he'll hope it happens after november. >> boehner remembers he was there in 1998 when impeachment screwed up a midterm election for republicans. not since james monroe was president has the opposition party lost a six-year election like that. democrats are using the lawsuit as an opportunity to revive the attack on the, quote, do nothing
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republican party. this is chuck schumer at a press conference today on immigration reform which stalled in the republican-controlled house. >> the president decide tts to do something by executive order doesn't that correlate with what speaker boehner said? >> speaker boehner has a good antidote to what he fears. put a bill on the floor. he's like shooting his parents and throwing himself on the mercy of the courts as an orphan. pass a bill and it won't happen. the president has no choice. we have made it clear publically and privately to our republican colleagues. if, if, if, they don't bring a bill to the floor, the president has no choice on a humanitarian and policy basis to act where he can on his own. is it as good as a comprehensive bill? not even close. it's better than nothing. >> michael steele, i'm watching that. chuck schumerer, not always the easiest to read but i think he's enjoying this. >> of course.
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>> this is a gift to democrats. >> of course it is. it is a gift that will continue to give over the course of the summer if republicans wind up saying you have standings and proceedings begin on litigation or if the court says you don't have standing and as michael noted the drum beat for impeachment begins into the fall. this is a no win. if you think 17% increase that we saw in mississippi in that run-off election was largely driven by the black vote for thad cochran was something, wait until you see happens if the gop starts leading on impeachment going into this november. it is not something that the country wants. they want resolution on jobs, the economy. look. there is enough stuff we can throw around on both sides about what the congress, the senate and the white houses has not done. i think when you look at november, you're going to see incumbents pay a dear price for that.
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both parties need to be smart. chuck schumer may enjoy the moment. longer material it could be a problem for democrats and republicans. >> that's the problem. the republican base is clearly already there when it comes to impeachment. it's been leaders like john boehner trying to fore stall it. >>le exactly. >> see if he can string it out past the election. thank you. up next, one of the american soccer fans you will catch in brazil is the 26th president of the united states. we'll explain in a minute. this is "hardball," the place for politics. we don't typically buy new, but with truecar...
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his fans call him teddy goalsavelt. he's mike domica from chicago and came up with the idea to get other fans pumped up at the game. you can't help but cheer along with a president from 1901, i guess. from president roosevelt to proem president obama on a soccer team. this is supposed to be manchester united's chris smalling but the company actually put barack obama's photo on instead. the company bought the entire stock and explained the mistake saying the apprentice claims hes used a well known search engine, google, to source the pictures. when he searched for chris smalling he copied the first picture he liked the look of. the result was the president of the united states. here is the best part. they have marked up the mugs 300%. they are now selling for 2,000
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pounds or nearly $3,400. talk about a profitable mistake. finally the president took a sarcastic shot at climate change deniers last night. take a look. >> they duck the question. they say, i'm not a scientist. which really translates into, "i accept that man-made climate change is real, but if i say so out loud i will be run out of town by fringe elements that think climate science is a liberal plot so i will pretend i don't know, i can't read." >> he may not be a scientist but maybe president obama has a shot at comedy after his term is up. up next, the case of the missing irs e-mails. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.
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he spoke about issues ranging from climate change and wages to student loans. now we take you back to "hardball." >> welcome back to "hardball." a new poll by fox news indicates the missing e-mails have broadened anger and suspicion about the irs scandal and have now crossed party lines. three-quarters of people polled say the e-mails were deliberately destroyed. it breaks down this way by party. 90% of republicans say the e-mails were deliberately destroyed. 74% of independents and 63% of
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democrats. there is a big appetite to keep the story alive. three-quarters of people polled say congress should investigate the irs until someone held accountable including 66% of democrats. the irs scandal is politically damaging. does it stick to president obama? joining me robert costa from the washington post and alice stewart. robert, for various reasons i have not followed this as closely. i saw early on last year when this broke there were democratic groups target theed. when i saw the missing e-mails i perked up. i'm trying to see. i have no problem seeing the irss as a pretties nasty agency and how it deals with people, tries to intimidate people and the hypocrisy of this. how do you connect that to the white house and to the president
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and make it a winning political lesson? is there a way to make that happen? >> you're already seeing it happen. republicanss are focused on oversight and focused perhaps even moren than they have in the past on obamacare. the administration's handling of benghazi and the irs will get conservative voters out to the polls. the latest questions about an inquiry into senator grassley and missing e-mails. the questions are unanswered. it is a murky situation. it is fuelling republican fury toward the administration. that will be a political issue for democrats to handle and address ahead of november. >> alice, i want to get to the grassley thing in a minute. take me through this as a conservative. you have been outspoken in saying you have a problem with this politically. i have no problem seeing the questions about the missing e-mails. the irs wouldn't accept that kind of excuse from a taxpayer.
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i understand being upset about that. connecting this to the obama administration saying there is will a plot involving the obama administration. what is the case, the argument you are making? >> the connection back in the 2012 election when the conservative groups were targeted, initially the white house said this is a rogue bunch of agents in cincinnati. now we know the connection to washington, d.c. >> alice, i don't mean to stop you there but that's where i sort of stop following this closely. there were liberal groups targeted, democratic groups targeted. what is this about? this is about adjusting to a new world of campaign finance where groups claim tax exempt status and don't have to disclose who donors are. it's finding out what groups are partisan. there is a group called emerge nevada, emerge massachusetts to promote women candidates. where is the targeting of conservatives?
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>> i will refer you to may of 2013. robert is on paper in the washington post. headline says the irs acknowledged they targeted conservatives for tax scrutiny in 2012. they apologize for this. we had dozen s and countless conservative groups targeted. prior to the 2012 election. just seven progressive groups who have all been finalized and approved for their tax exempt status moving full speed ahead. when you have questions in 2012, we have the irs ak knowledging now they targeted. when the heat comes on, manual -- magically e-mails disappear. >> i want to be clear -- i want to be clear about what we are talking about when we say targeted. there is scrutiny here. i have read are it as entering a new world of campaign finance laws where there is dark money. tax laws that allow groups to claim tax exempt status. they don't have are to disclose
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donors and they can spend millions, tens of millions. nobody knows where the money came from. it's finding out which groups are partisan. a group like emerge nevada, emerge massachusetts. they are groups that the irs denied them tax exempt status because they were training female democratic candidates. they are denied. some of the conservative groups are targeted. there is a tea party group in alabama doing training to, quote, defeat president obama. should they have tax exempt status or been targeted? what would you say to that? >> these are groups working to get their message out across the country. as we have said the irs has acknowledged they targeted conservative groups. this is bad news. now it's moved into the scandal era of it. the evidence to discount any kind of scandal is manualcally disappeared. that's concern. now we have news about lois lerner, head of the irs going
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after one of president obama's political enemies or opponents. that's truly moving into the area of a scandal. republicans and democrats should be concerned about this. this is the irs. >> let's do context. this is important. republicans hoped they found the proof that lois lerner was targeting them in an e-mail exchange about chuck grassley. the actual e-mail between lois lerner and colleagues don't read like a smoking gun. the exchange was kicked off because of an invitation mistakenly sent to lerner. lerner writes, looks like they were inappropriately offering to pay for his wife. perhaps we should refer to exam. that's another department at the irs. her colleague says not sure we should send to exam. i think the offer to pay for grassly yes, sir ief is income to grassley and not prohibited on its face. that's where the exchange ends. there is no audit. she backs off. this is one of the things the headlines are shouting that lois
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lerner was looking to audit chuck grassley. i don't see it. >> i don't see an e-mail like that to democratic senators who got the same invitation to pay for airfare for wives because it didn't happen. >> if there was a plot don't you think if there was a plot by the irs, politically motivated when the response comes back, i don't think we can do that wouldn't she say, no, we are doing it. that's when there is a politically motivated plot. she says, okay, we are not doing it. seems like it's ham-handed but there is no political plot there. >> it's hard to says there is no there there when there aren't e-mails going out to democratic senators. the fact that this comes on the heels of two years of known targeting of conservatives and political opponents of the president, that's when you have to perk up and go, what's going on? why is she trying to silence anyone speaking out and why is
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she trying to give the strong arm of the irs to a senator whos has spoken out against barack obama? this should be really seriously a concern for republicans and democrats alike to take abuse of the irs like this and to have the current commissioner out there speaking as he did. even claire mchaskill saying he was arrogant answering questions. it's not a good symbol for the irs. it's not good for fact that these are people that have been beholden to democrats for years. >> all right. there it is. we heard the case. robert costa, i'm sorry. i didn't mean to push you to the side. i got into it with alice. i appreciate you coming in. appreciate your time. up next, a lot of us are have world cup fever, myself included. why does it make some americans grumpy? this is "hardball," the place for politics. so this board gives me rates on progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive and they're them. -yes. -but they're here. -yes. -are you... -there? -yes.
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one of the giants of the senates passed away. howard baker of tennessee died from complications of a stroke. bark was best known for asking the most famous questions of the watergate hearings. take a listen. >> what did the president know, and when did he know it? >> baker was part of a fading breed of republicans, a moderate who got along with democrats and worked to make deals. made him a successful senator and a failed presidential candidate in a party moving to the right. baker was 88.
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we are back. good news and bad news for american soccer fans. germany beat the u.s. 1-nil today. that's the bad news. but america is advancing anyway to the next round. thanks to ghana's loss to portugal. expected today's matchup could break ratings records in the u.s. the president took time to watch while en route to minneapolis. later he congratulated the team for advancing. >> we were in what's called the group of death. and even though we didn't win today, we were in the toughest grouping and, you know, we got through. and so we've still got a chance to win the world cup. and we could not be prouder of them. they are defying the odds and earn a lot of believers in the process. and i want everybody on the team to know that all of us back home are really proud of them. >> well, almost everyone, that is. every time soccer is said to be taking off here in america, some
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people seem to get upset. and now it's taking on a political edge. here's ann coulter's opposition to the sport. "i've held off on writing about soccer for a decade. or about the length of the average soccer game. so as not to offend anyone. but enough is enough. i think growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation's moral decay. i resent the force-fed aspect of soccer. same people trying to push soccer on american are the ones demanding we love hbo's girls, light rail, beyonce. if more americans are watching soccer today, it's only because of the demographic switch affected by teddy kennedy's 1965 law. i promise you no american whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer." last week, fox's "the five" had a somewhat tongue in cheek conversation about the sport asking the question, is soccer un-american? nate scott is a sportswriter for "usa today" and david freddoso
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is an editorial page editor for the "washington examiner." david, my great-grandfather was born in america. i'm following soccer, watching soccer. cheering along with everybody today. i was excited. most excited i've ever been when a team i'm cheering for lost a game, but that's way it goes in the world cup. i hate when something like this takes on a political edge. we do hear this it seems every world cup from somebody like ann coulter. i generally hear this from the right. where is this coming from? where is that attitude she's expressing coming from saying this is a liberal thing, not a real conservative activity? >> i think it's probably about as tongue in cheek and half trolling as the conversation that you referenced, but, yeah, look, americans have their things. unfortunately soccer has never been one of ours. we've never had a world class soccer league in the united states. the best soccer is played in spain, italy, england, places like that. and, you know, we also have sports that we really do love.
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so there's a lot of competition if soccer is ever going to become a big deal. it's got to overcome a lot of obstacles that some of them may be insurmountable. it's a great game, and, you know, europeans also like red wine. are we going to stop liking that because of that? i know that there's -- i think this is just an excuse for a lot of conservatives to poke fun at europe. i don't think it's much more than that. >> maybe, nate, is this the new -- i remember at the start of the iraq war they renamed french fries in the capital, you know, freedom fries. you know, god forbid we have any association with the french. do you pick up on that? is there a strain in this country that looks a soccer and says, that's europe's thing, too european, not american like football where we have tackling. is there something like that that's holding soccer back here? >> i think a bit of it. more so, we like being the best at things. there's the american exceptionalism that we like being the best. with soccer, america hasn't produced a world-class talent yet and i think that might play into it, but also, yeah, i think it's a little bit trolling, it's a little bit -- it's different.
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people fear what's different. >> i love that we're not the best at it. i love cheering for underdogs. i love cheering for the team that's not supposed to win. i love the upset and come from behind victory. all of that. there's no international sport the u.s. competes in that i love more than soccer. i think it's great. every game we win, it's a surprise and great feeling. there are skeptics that soccer will catch on as a force in the u.s. permanently. kurt smith, author and sports historian said, "i have the maximum number of fingers and toes and not enough to count the number of times soccer purists have counted this, that, or the other event that will make soccer big-time. it's never happened and i don't think it will now." david, play this out. record television ratings. 25 million people watching the u.s./portugal game the other day. it does seem every four years this thing gets bigger and bigger in the u.s. next year, world cup is gone. not going to come back for four years. anybody going to care about the mls in this country? >> well, i think it adds
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marginally each time you do this, but let's keep that in mind. the number you just cited, 25 million. that's the same number of people who watch the college national championship football game in january. just about. that's actually a pretty big deal. if we advance further, the numbers will be bigger. so, you know, soccer is never going to be baseball. the mls is never going to be the nfl. maybe it can come close to the nhl at some point. it's always going to be one of the sports that has some people pay attention, some are fans, and a lot couldn't name who won the last stanley cup. you know, major league soccer in this country has a chance but it's not going to be the biggest sport in the country. that's all. >> it was the l.a. kings. i'm here in new york. i saw the depressed faces on the fans. thank you, nate scott, david freddoso. when we come back, the win that republicans may live to regret. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ]
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and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. finally let me finish tonight with the cries of betrayal we're hearing from the tea party right after that surprise victory the gop establishment pulled off in mississippi this week. in a way, this is nothing new. the tea party movement sprouted up five years ago and it's always been a two-front war. the first front you know all about. it's the right's reaction to the election of barack obama as president. but the second front is more complicated. it has to do with how obama came to be president in the first place. what conditions were in the country in 2007 and 2008 that made his candidacy take flight.
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what you had back then was a miserably unpopular republican president, george w. bush. when obama came to power, the right blamed bush. they blamed him for growing government instead of shrinking it. remember compassionate conservatism? bush gave conservatism a bad name. that's what they told themselves. because he gave it a bad name, country turned on republicans and turned to barack obama. so that's within the second front in the war the tea party has been waging. it's not just against barack obama. it's also against the republicans who helped bush last decade. the ones who betrayed, quote, real conservatism and hastened the rise of obama. that's why what the republican establishment pulled off this week in mississippi may end up being a nightmare for them. sure, thad cochran was able to beat chris mcdaniel. look at the cost, outrage. listen to the vows of retaliation this kicked up on the tea party right. these people are furious and not about to forget. cochran/mcdaniel is something they're going to talk about for a long time.
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to the tea party right this is the ultimate betrayal. the establishment is so scared, so intent on knocking us down they'd rather team up with democrats than let us win. that's what they're saying. really this to them is the ultimate confirmation of everything they've been saying and thinking and even suspecting about the republican establishment. i remember the story of the 1952 republican convention. it was the establishment's candidate. dwight eisenhower against the conservative hero robert taft. the conservatives showed up at that convention with the voters to win. or so they thought. because the establishment forces knew a lot of tricks and got a bunch of taft delegates disqualified and it was just enough to muscle-ize a victory. the right did not forget the betrayal of '52. instead, it became their rallying cry. proof of the exactly what they were up against. motivation to never let it happen again. it was grit for a movement that grew stronger and craftier over the next decade until it got its revenge in 1964 when the republican establishment had to
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look on in horror as the right nominated barry goldwater for president. it's a story that republican establishment might want to keep in mind right now. yes, they found a way to get thad cochran through the mississippi primary. because if they just give the tea party something even more valuable? 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. republicans in congress are taking a victory lap today after the supreme court in a unanimous decision, ruled president obama lacked a constitutional authority to appoint three members to the national labor relations board while congress was effectively, though not officially, in recess back in 2012. the ruling, which puts into question hundreds of decisions the labor board issues after those appointments, was hailed by senate minority leader mitch mcconnell as a rejection of obama's brazen power gra