lot of children who frankly right now feel awfully miserable when they should be in school. chris hayes is up next. devastating. let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. here in an elevator, we see a man beating a woman to unconsciousness. we see him drag her limp body the elevator floor. for this he was fired today from his job. fired not because of the beating he gave this woman, but because you and i just got to see it. these are the facts of the national football league today. beat up a woman and you get a two-game suspension. have the pictures get out and suddenly the league takes action. because of this, this is a fact brought brutally to light in this picture, it's our top story tonight.

also, president obama will try this week to sell his diminishing number of supporters on war in iraq and syria. can he do it? can he get anti-war democrats to bring drones attacks, air strikes and special forces to destroy the islamic state? two other stories, a juror in the mcdonald verdict condemns all politicians and deborah norville joins us on what it was like to speak at yesterday's funeral for joan rivers. back to the big news tonight. baltimore ravens running back ray price was fired today and suspended indefinitely by the national football league after this morning's release of this video punching his fiance, now his wife, and dragging her unconscious out of an atlantic city elevator. the ravens announced the termination of his five-year, $35 million contract shortly after 2:00 p.m. today. that was this afternoon. rice was charged with felony assault back in march, but his wife refused to testify. this case became notorious when

rice got a slap on the wrist, a two-game suspension from the baltimore ravens and the nfl. they cared more about rice playing on the field than they did about his violent behavior off it. it took getting this gruesome footage out there today to pressure a professional football team to take serious action against a serious crime. senator richard blumenthal is a democrat from connecticut who called for a tougher punishment before rice before what happened today. and michelle bernard is president of the center for women and public policy. center blumenthal, as a former attorney general of your state, give us your sense of what criminality looks like. this picture looks like a serious crime to me. >> looks like a serious crime. it's an assault. domestic violence. and you're absolutely right that the punishment was in no way adequate. i protested and complained about it. and it took this gruesome footage to reach this result. shouldn't have been necessary. but it also shows how inadequate, how sadly deficient

the nfl's new policy is. roger goodell has lacked the leadership to move directly to a lifetime suspension, if there is this kind of assault. if there had been even the new policy, probably a six-game suspension would have been all that would have been without this gruesome video. >> michelle, your thoughts? >> i'm stunned on watching the video over and over again. i keep wondering how anyone in the nfl could have watched that video and not known to throw him off of that team immediately. i have to believe they saw it before. we have a serious problem in the country in that people do not take domestic violence seriously. we have a congress that earlier in the year did not want to vote on the violence against women act. there's this belief that it doesn't happen. we have evidence here when we look at this video that there are still people who pummel their wives and others who think that there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

>> well, the calibrations of domestic violence. that was a heavyweight knockout punch of your girlfriend, of your fiance, punching her like you're in a boxing match with everything you've got. and she's prone on the floor, unconscious there. senator, you know the law. what is that? it's worse than assault and battery? what would you call that in a regular criminal case? if somebody saw a stranger on an elevator and did that, what would that be? >> that's definitely aggravated assault. it could come close to an attempt at even more serious damage. but as pernicious and insidious as that assault is the fact that janay was then stage managed to apologize for complaining. that is really the antithesis of what is required in these situations. blaming the victim, having her apologetic and then the ravens

tweeted it as exonerating rice himself. so this kind of syndrome, the cycle of violence, blaming the victim, and as far as the law is concerned, that would have landed rice in prison in my view. i would have prosecuted as an aggravated assault. >> the ravens organization and head coach john harbaugh stood by their running back in may when rice held this press conference to apologize. >> i just want to first off apologize to, you know, steve bisciotti, ozzie newsome and coach harbaugh, and also want to apologize to my fans. i really treat my job as a very special job. and i failed miserably. but i couldn't call myself a failure. because i'm working my way back up. >> i do deeply regret the role that i played in the incident that night. but i can say that i am happy that we continue to work through it together. >> jamal, what do you make of

the two people there testifying? she's saying basically everything's fine. >> yeah, i mean, i think it speaks to the level of ignorance, how tone deaf the nfl, the baltimore ravens, how they were with this entire issue. anybody who i would like to think has just a cursory knowledge of the complicated dynamics of domestic violence, would understand the optics of having the woman who was victimized standing next to her batterer and apologizing for her role. i mean, what was her role, that her face hit his fist? that was her role in that and certainly that has been supported by the video. and so i think you had a collection of willful ignorance by the ravens, by the nfl, that have led to this public relations blowup and nightmare. and that's why it's difficult for me today, to give the ravens any sort of credit for terminating ray rice's contract, when this was clearly a

situation they didn't understand from the very beginning. >> michelle, do you think this was -- the use by this professional organization, the ravens, to take this syndrome we're somewhat familiar with, where the female spouse has been beaten up by the husband or boyfriend, and for whatever combination of psychological or economic reasons, decides to let it go, and they use that here and put her out there and basically apologizing for being part of that syndrome and she's a victim of it. >> by doing that, they're revictimizing her. october 1 begins domestic violence awareness month in this country. if we look at what happened to her, the fellow in south africa, the olympian who was accused of domestic violence and killing his girlfriend, seen it with chris brown, even locally, there was a woman who went to a judge to get a temporary restraining order, the judge poopoo'd it and the husband throws oil on her and lights her up and almost burns her to death. it's a very serious issue.

when you put women in the position of apologizing for something that allegedly led someone to batter them, you're revictimizing them. it's a horrible thing. it's very sad this video has become public, but on the other hand, maybe it will allow people to actually begin to start taking it seriously. he could have killed her. that's a lot more than assault and battery. if she had suffered a brain injury. if she had died, he would have been guilty of murder and what would the ravens have had on their hands? >> senator, what is the legal aspect? is there legislative action you can take in regard to this case and cases like it? >> i'm certainly considering what legislative action there should be. because what we need in this instance is not blaming the victim and stage-managing and apology from her, but emphasizing the courage and strength that women who are victims of domestic violence, survivors of this brutal crime, need to come forward and break with their past.

i've worked on this issue for a couple of decades now as a attorney general and now as a senator. and the scourge, the epidemic, the cycle of domestic violence which is repeated because young men see or experience it in their own lives, requires role models from these athletes that is exactly the opposite of what we saw with rice. and exactly the opposite of what we saw from the ravens and the nfl. so whether we can do it legislatively, whether we can seek more aggravated penalties at the state or federal level, my hope is that this incident will lead to changes in practices and much stronger penalties from the nfl. >> great to have you. senator, thanks so much for coming. michelle bernard, i think you'll be back later in the show. and jamal hill, thank you for your reporting. and thanks to tmz for having us know about this stuff. sometimes without the tape, you don't believe it until you see it.

coming up, we elected president obama to end wars. can he now sell anti-war americans on his battle plan against isis? can he take us to war with the anti-war crowd? and we'll meet a jury in the mcdonald corruption trial that delivered that verdict against the former governor and his wife. plus, if 80% of life is about showing up, look who showed up to say goodbye to joan rivers. deborah norville is going to join us. she was inside, she spoke at the funeral. that's all coming late in the show. finally, let me finish with quid pro quo politics, getting something personally for what you give a politician. this is "hardball," a place for politics.

we have new nbc news. polling in three key senate races. check the scoreboard. first to arkansas, tom cotton leads mark pryor by five points among likely voters. it's cotton, 45, pryor, 40. in kentucky, mitch mcconnell is up 8 over democrat alison grimes. final to colorado, udall leads gardner by 6, 48-42. so arkansas and kentucky, both red states are favoring republicans. while colorado, trending blue is right now going for the democrat. people are going home politically. and we'll be right back. of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right.

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and why with our partner in brazil, we are producing a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane to fuel cars. let's broaden the world's energy mix, let's go. >> welcome back to "hardball." on wednesday night of this week, president obama will address the country about the threat from

isis and how we're going to destroy it. yesterday on "meet the press" the president spoke clearly about eliminating the threat posed by the radical terrorist group which has overtaken regions of iraq and syria and has publicly beheaded two americans. here's the president yesterday. >> keep in mind, this is something that we know how to do. we've been dealing with terrorist threats for quite some time. this is not going to be an announcement about u.s. ground troops. this is not the equivalent of the iraq war. what this is, is similar to the kinds of counterterrorism campaigns that we've been engaging in consistently over the last five, six, seven years. >> well, that counterterrorism campaign could involve the deployment of special forces, more drone strikes, more air strikes, or arming and straining the free syrian army. the question is, can the president sell this war? what will his supporters, his opponents, and the overall public do here?

a new cnn orc pole out today should give the president a sense of where the public stands. 45% see isis as a very serious threat to the u.s. 76% want more air strikes. 62% favor military aid to isis enemies. and 61% oppose u.s. soldiers on the ground. the democrat from washington -- gentlemen, let me start with mr. mcdermott, would you support the use of special ops forces in the area of syria going after isis? >> i'd have to be convinced by the president. right now, you have senator kerry and senators hagel, negotiating with the saudis and with the jordanians. if we don't have support from some of our arab allies going on the ground, i don't think we should get into it. if we say we're going to do it

all from the air and drop a few special forces here and there, it's not going to work. it's going to take more than that, and we have to have allies support us. i wouldn't support just americans alone in this event. >> do you think it's plausible that the saudis or jordanians or the emirates would send fighting units into the field? do you think that's even plausible? >> if it isn't, then it's not possible to win this. because you cannot win it from the air and win it by dropping in a hundred or 200 or 300 or even 3 or 4,000 of our special forces. you're not going to win it that way. we should have learned that over the last 11 years. the president is faced with a pandora's box, that george bush took the lid off of and you're not going to get the lid back on with a few special forces and drone strikes. >> i agree with you completely. congressman, on that same question, the president says no boots on the ground.

but special forces are boots on the ground. they may not be marching in parade fashion like in a trench-warfare situation, or marching across europe to get hitler, but you put men on the ground there, special ops units, they could be captured. they will be killed. do you think we should be doing that? >> i think jim is basically right. you've got to have an overall coalition. that's why i think the president has taken his time. some were criticizing him, thinking that he should act in a knee-jerk way. no, he's not doing that. he's trying to make sure we have our allies on board. it's going to be a coalition of allies who also have things at stake, like those -- the kurds and like those in -- in iraq and turkey and saudi arabia. they need to be all part of this. now, you do these things, i think, in a coordinated manner. so if there happens to be one or two leaders that we know how to get the way that he coolly and calmly got osama bin laden, then

you may do that. but overall, you have to make sure that the free syrian army maybe is the one, we got to know who we are arming and training, that we have those kinds of troops on the ground to do the ground work. but you coordinate it all, so that you can make sure you cut off the leadership as well as get the people on the ground, but do it with other sunni muslims and other allied states, countries. so that we can make sure there's a comprehensive approach to getting this done. >> let me go back to you with the same question i put to mr. mcdermott. would you support a resolution to put special forces into syria to fight isis? would you do that? >> again, if the president lays out his case and talks about that we are having this overall coalition and that there's going to be roles that each of us play, you know, as he did even when we went into libya. he said what the specific role that the united states would

play and he told the truth. and that's what's important. the president telling us the truth as to what his plans are and why he's doing what he's doing. >> it makes me think it's going to be a fraternity frank and we're the only ones doing it. the president drawn on his opposition to the iraq war. he's been withdrawing troops and he's won the nobel peace prize. but now he's repositioning his presidency, after killing bin laden, wanting to strike syria, he will address the country about a prolonged conflict against isis. yesterday the president warned about the dangers facing america if nothing is done. let's listen. >> i want everybody to understand that we have not seen any immediate intelligence about threats to the homeland from isil. that's not what this is about. what it's about is an organization, that if allowed to control significant amounts of territory, to amass more resources, more arms, to attract more foreign fighters, including from areas like europe, who have -- europeans who have visas

and can travel to the united states unimpeded. that over time that can be a serious threat to the homeland. >> let me go to mr. mcdermott. i'm uncomfortable with the phrase homeland. it strikes me as totalitarian. it suggests something strange to me. like who else are we defending except america? why don't you just say america? as if we're facing some existential armageddon threat from these people. do you buy the phrase homeland? i never heard it growing up, never heard it in my adulthood. it's a new word. why are we using it? is there some other place we're defending? what are we talking about when we say homeland? it's the language of the ne-yo cons to get us further into wars. your thoughts, though, not mine. >> from my point of view, it's more of the war mongering that george bush used to get us in in it the favorite place.

we started out hearing about weapons of mass destruction. that was untrue. absolutely untrue. and he knew it. but he took us into this war and then was about getting osama bin laden, and after that, it was a democracy, and after that, it was the awakening of the people out in the anbar province and they have been shifting, but it's all about war mongering, trying to make people at home afraid. because they know that if you can make people afraid, you can make them do anything. they can to keep the american people afraid for him to carry on this kind of stuff. i don't like the term homeland because it's really war mongering. they're stuck trying to deal with iraq. they got dams and all kinds of things they're working with. they're not coming to the united states. >> we talked about the ideology involved in it. the president may be doing what he thinks he has to do, but he's

buying into the lingo. dempsey starts talking like it, then he starts talking like it. >> this is the challenge you have. go back to the bush years and they portrayed saddam hussein as a threat. you -- >> there's not going to be a u.s. anymore. >> right. exactly. it would be a mushroom cloud. the president has the challenge here of trying to talk about isis in a realistic way. it's not a direct threat to us now. it's a threat to the region. it could be a threat to us down the road, in a way that sort of still gets him political support to take step by step action. so what he wants to have is to have a somewhat nuanced conversation. when it comes to the ne-yo cons and the hawks, they don't like that. and his supporters on the left sometimes are uncomfortable if you talk in terms like homeland. so if he can come before the public and sort of talk honestly about why isis is a problem, without it being an existential dramatic problem, that's what he has to do. >> the people who pushed us into

iraq are the same people pushing now. robert kagan, the ultimate ne-yo con. a whole page in the wall street journal, about how this is like fighting hitler. they spoke about a global coalition to destroy isis. let's hear him. >> tomorrow, i will travel to the middle east to continue to build the broadest possible coalition of partners around the globe, to confront, degrade, and ultimately defeat isil. as we build this coalition, i want to underscore that almost every single country on earth has a role to play in eliminating the isil threat. we are clear that president obama and i and the entire team absolutely understand this is something we must achieve and we will be successful. >> congressman, last question to you.

would you support the president if he said, we have to go in there, americans have got to go in there and do it, just us? >> i think the president has said he's not going to do that. he's been very clear. it would have been easy for him to say something that would make people fearful. i agree with jim, that's what was done before. what he said here and the reason he used the term homeland is to distinguish from the immediate attack here in the united states as opposed to who is taking place in syria and iraq now. so that -- and he's been clear. he's saying, i think the ones that are wanting war, they're trying to make it seem like it's an imminent threat on the united states. he's saying it's not. he said it could be in the future if they're left unchecked. but by putting the coalition together and dealing not on the homeland, but doing what we have to do there, then we won't have to worry about the homeland, we'll keep the homeland safe in that regard. >> we grew up with the term america, it's good enough for me. it's america, it's not the freaking homeland. it's our country, stop talking

internationally and weirdly about war in this armageddon struggle that you're obsessed with. it's not world war ii either. thank you for coming in, congressman, and david core, my friend, thank you for joining us. up next, the bubba w. show. former presidents yuck it up together. isn't that cute? we'll take a look at the first debate in kansas between pat roberts and independent greg orman. >> the people of kansas elected me to go the to the u.s. senate. the u.s. senate is in washington. my home is dodge city and i'm damn proud of it. [ cheers and applause ] >> mr. orman, well, i suspect senator, i've been to dodge city more this year than you have. [ cheers and applause ] most people see growing their own vegetables as hard work.

but barney would dig to china for maddy. for a love this strong there's new iams naturals, with meat as the first ingredient, no corn or chicken by-product meal, and grain-free. and it costs up to 25% less than the leading natural brand. to help keep his body as strong as a love that can move mountains. iams naturals. just one of many iams formulas to keep love strong.

>> we were laughing about going to restaurants and having to spend our time about taking selfies with people. >> at least they're still asking, you know. >> that's right. [ laughter ] >> time now for the side show. that was former presidents bill clinton and george w. bush sharing the stage today to launch a program called presidential leadership scholars. but as you can see, their joint appearance was also an opportunity for some laughs. take a look at what happened when clinton took a curious phone call in the middle of their q & a. >> it's hard to make good decisions in complex environments. [ phone ringing ] [ laughter ] >> there's only one, only two people have this number, both related to me, i hope i'm not being told i'm about to become a premature grandfather. >> that's right. that would make national news.

>> and with rumors of a hill clinton or jeb bush candidacy in 2016, they were asking about whether we could expect about political announcements from either of their respective families. >> if either of you has any political announcements, endorsements or predictions you would like to make, now would be a really fun time. [ laughter ] >> it's like the time, remember the woman and i think in canada, asked us about, what about another clinton-bush match-up. and the answer was, the first one didn't turn out too good. [ laughter ] >> of course he's referring right there to the 1992 presidential election where his father lost to the guy sitting next to him there. anyway, next up, hbo funnyman is known to poke fun at the media. in june he went after he. but last night it was the

correspondence of 60 minutes in the spotlight in a montage depicting their curious interview style. watch this. >> and now, 60 minutes anchors prompting people to deliver the exact sound bite they need. >> you got to hand it to them. >> yes, you do. >> he was off and running. >> he was off and running. >> he is sort of the father of hot sauce. >> he's the father of hot sauce. >> does that surprise you? >> it does surprise me. >> and you're saying we shouldn't? >> i think we shouldn't. >> and there's no reason to prepare. >> no reason to prepare. >> and that's essentially a commercial for gopro. >> with the crowd there? >> with the people. >> that's quite an image. >> quite an image. it was almost a cakewalk actually? >> a cakewalk? >> yeah. >> to beat the system? >> yeah. >> to cheat? >> yeah. i think they call that leading the witness. up next, we'll talk to one of the jurors who delivered that verdict against bob mcdonnell

and his wife. you're watching "hardball," a place for politics.

let's go right now to baltimore to hear from the he

the prosecution's never quite proved there was an exchange, which is normally the real deal in this, an exchange for this gift in exchange for this

action. the stuff that the governor was doing just, you know, loaning the mansion, sort of talking the product up, doing things that weren't really official acts in the normal description were enough to prove that there was a deal here and an exchange and a corrupt agreement, essentially, which, by the way, the jury, the jury was acting on the verdict from the judge, i'm sorry, on the instructions of the judge, which gave a very broad interpretation of what should be considered improper actions. >> yeah, i was wondering about that. kathleen, i was watching, we watched it afterwards, the description of the jury being given by the prosecutor, that rolex watch that the governor got through his wife through the contributor. what was it like handling a watch worth $6,000, $7,000? i have an accept most people aren't familiar with that experience. >> no. it was definitely a very heavy piece of jewelry.

that's what struck me most is how heavy it was. >> did it strike you as an odd gift to make to a casual friend? it's a gift you might give to your wife on a 25th anniversary, but you saw it being given by some character that hung around the governor's family and comes up with a gift like that, that he gives to the wife to give to the husband. >> he was not aware at the time that jonnie williams had purchased that for maureen to give to him. >> who did he think paid for it? >> that's a good question. that's a very good question. >> his wife wasn't independently wealthy of him. it sounds like the assumption would be she has some secret checking account she could make these gifts from. what do you think you learned about politics sitting on that jury, kathleen? >> it's, gosh, how to say this. i think, i think most

politicians want to do a good job. whether or not they take gifts or loans or trips, again, i think a limit has to be made on that, whether in virginia or nationally, to make the general public feel that politicians just aren't out to get as much as they can while they're in that position. >> well said. let me go to paul on this. paul, it seems to me these juries are getting tough, and these prosecutors are getting very tough. the b-vich case in illinois, talking about how they can make money off of that. there's a lot of claim in

politics. what are your thoughts? >> what they're looking for, these cases are pretty rare, while it's true we've got a half-dozen governors have gone to jail and in fact blago went to jail after his predecessor went to jail. >> five out of seven in illinois. >> and the prosecutors are trying to make this point that they take corruption at the highest levels very seriously. keep in mind, johnny williams got immunity to do this. it was more important for the prosecutors to put the politician away. they want people to believe that there is not corruption in government and that the people who act corruptly will be prosecuted. that's important for people to believe, otherwise, as your juror is saying, you don't want people to assume, this is how business is done. we'll just give cash and get

favors back. this is an important thing we're trying to establish and these prosecutors are trying to establish that you can't just swap your office for personal good, whether they're doing a good job with those prosecutions is up to you. >> some politicians get into office and think anything that's not nailed down they want to take home with them. >> everywhere. they can have almost anything they fwan they want if they ask for it. >> kathleen, thank you for taking the time to come here and explain what you went through. and thank you paul singer for your reporting for usa today. up next, it seemed like most everybody was there yesterday to pay tribute to joan rivers. coming right back with deborah norville, a close friend of rivers who was inside and gave a talk. this is "hardball," the place for politics. it lifts tough dirt

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last week we showed you that senate debate in north carolina where tomorrow tillis repeatedly talked down to senator kay hagan, repeatedly calling herbie her first name. tillis dismissed such criticism about his conduct in that debate and said it's just silly. i knew senator hagan when she was in the state legislature. i knew her husband chip. this isn't about titles. it's about results.

and in senator hagan's case it's about lack of results. he also said he would have treated a male opponent the same way. right. you call a senator "senator." that's the way everybody appreciates you have to do it. we'll be right back.

welcome back to "hardball." with several thousand onlookers lining the streets, the funeral for joan rivers took place in a in her 2012 book. >> i want my funeral to be -- to be a huge showbiz affair with lights and camera and action. i want it to be hollywood all

the way. don't give me some rabbi rambling on. >> anyway, the funeral featured yesterday a parade of celebrities, everyone from barbara waterers to sarah jessica parker and hugh o'donnell. roger mcdon performed hey big spender and other tunes. bag pipe performers concluded the ceremony. by all accounts, it was, indeed, a huge showbiz affair. a friend of joan rivers spoke at the affair, deborah, it seemed to me that when we first discovered joan rivers as a young woman, she was absolutely -- nobody had ever been that good. she was up there with carson. that good. >> it's so unlikely that she and i were friends, too. when joan rivers first went on carson, i was going into first grade. so fast forward all these years later when i was actually on nbc

on the "today" show. she made just scathing jokes about me. and then a couple years later, i was on her talk show and i had the chance to say to her everybody made jokes about you and i made jokes about you and she leaned forward and said you're sorry, aren't you? i said yeah, i am. joan's comedy was never meant to be hurtful, but it was meant to be sering. she was big for so many years. but, then, when she left carson, she had her show on fox, the first woman to host a late night show. and they pulled the plug on the show when she refused to say to her husband, who was executive producing they don't want you here. she said if he goes, i go. so they said good-bye. and three monts later, he killed himself. that was the trap door of her life. basically fell out from under her.

lost her husband, lost her job, lost her finances. she basically went bankrupt. she didn't throw in the towel and say that's it. good night, gracie. she just kept on going. >> i was impressed by the crowds yesterday. wall street journal comment, which is my favorite, there was nobody like her. in fact, some people are knockoffs or imitations of other, stronger more vivid figures but there was never another joan rivers before her or while she lived. she was a seriously self-invented woman. was she different besides what you see? >> yeah, in person, she was every bit as funny. and she could make something as stupid -- i remember once we were sitting at a luncheon and she sits there and as this guy is putting down the plate, she said who would you rather sleep with. ? him or him? and it's this toothless waiter who basically -- she was so quick.

the timing was brilliant. and she was fall-off-your-chair funny. i rebel one time she had a dinner party. the elevator in her building was broken. so rather than, you know, ask her guest to walk up however many flights of stairs it was, she founded in the yellow pages, 1-800-strong-guy waiting at the base of the stairs. and they were paid to pick all of the ladies up and put them under their arm and just come up the stairs with the ladies. she made everything funny. and even -- i'm just so glad that she wasn't in her hospital bed and knew that she was in her hospital bed. she would have made that funny. and she would have loved that funeral. everybody who was anybody was there. it was invitation only. and i think the one thing that everybody in that temple would agree on, joan made you better. if you were going to be with joan rivers, and you probably ran into her over the years, if you were going to be with joan rivers, she made you smarter. she made you cleverer. she was just so sharp.

and, you know, you just didn't want to disappoint her. and i don't know anybody who has the impact on anybody the way she did. >> deborah nor ton, it's great having you on. and great insighted into what happened in that temple yesterday. what a great sendoff. thank you, deborah norville. we'll be right back after this. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

let me finish tonight with this question. what an elected politician should be allowed to do for someone who gives them money? should they be able to reward

them? if not, how can we defend the practice of awarding em prized amount bas door ships to people who contribute money and raise money for their campaigns. what about showing up at a contributor's house to recognize the host and your perj regard for them? isn't this like governor mcdonald showing his personal support for a businessman? you're showing up lending your prestige to the person because they gave you money. can politicians do other favors like hosting them overnight at the white house? letting them sleep in the lincoln bedroom. what about writing letters of recommendation for their children at top-rated colleges. what about introducing legislation favorable to a contributor? don't politicians do this all of the time? isn't it the reason business people, labor unions and other pressure groups give money to political campaigns? where is the line? if a politician cannot return a favor once in office, who will pay for them to win that office? who, indeed? well, thanks to last week's trial, we are on a very

interesting course right now. that's "hardball" for now. all in with chris hayes starts right now. >> it's something we saw for the first time today, you know, all of us. >> renewed out rage as new video services nfl running back ray rice punching his then-fiance, the league goes into damage control. the ravens cut rice from the team, the nfl suspends him indefinitely but is it too little too late? then, the strategy. the country is going back on a war footing. tonight, we have new details about the president's game plan for isis. and the fallen. as president obama delays action on immigration until after the midterm elections. what now? >> this cannot continue. our families are suffering.