good evening. i'm chris matthews. in washington today terrorism struck to the north in ottawa, the capital of canada, a gunman shot and killed a soldier standing guard at the country's war memorial. he then entered the nearby parliament building and open fire. here's what it looked and sounded like. [ gunfire ] >> the country's prime minister, stephen harper, was in that building, near where the shots were fired. he was quickly whisked to safety. lawmakers, meanwhile, barricaded

themselves behind doors piled up with chairs. the gunman was shot and killed. nbc news has confirmed his name, michael zehaf-bibeau, a common sill gear yan surname. he is believed to have have taken on muslim. it came after another muslim convert ran down two soldiers, killing one in a parking lot outside montreal. last month an isis commander had called on followers to kill canadians, americans and other westerners, whether military or civilian. in united states, three girls in denver have tried to join isis and other cases where we see american residents are joining the other side. we're going to look at how the security breach on our continent is going to affect the u.s. midterm elections coming on strong. michele shepherd is a national reporter for "the toronto star." pete williams is nbc justice correspondent. in the u.s., michael weiss,

editor for "the interpreter" and clint van zandt, former fbi profiler, now with msnbc. we gil begin with michelle shepherd up in ottawa. give us a capsule of what happened today and how it fit in to recent fears we've had about terrorism on this continent. >> it certainly has been a fear that we will have attacks here in canada. i think no one felt ka da would be immune to this. also, we have become involved with the fight in syria and iraq, and that has really raised our profile. as you mentioned in the introduction, there have been calls for those who couldn't go over to fight in the name of the so-called islamic state to have attacks at home. and there have been fear among our security and intelligence services that particularly vulnerable were military personnel and targets. sadly, that's what happened this week, both with today's attack,

the killing of the soldier, and also on monday there was an attack in quebec where another soldier was killed, struck by a car. >> do the canadian people see this as an intimidation to discourage them from joining the coalition against isis? >> you know, i think that's probably what the intent of the attack was. here today in ottawa it's just been a state of chaos and shock. i think that that will be the discussion that comes in the coming days. there was so much uncertainty throughout the day. much of the city was locked down and indeed there's still large parts of the downtown that can't be accessed. and still a lot of information and questions that we don't know yet about what happened. but definitely, i mean, that is going to be something that will be debated and discussed, no doubt. >> i just wonder, michelle, when the president of the united states says senseless violence, this is very purposeful

violence. this is political. you tell me what the people up there feel. this is aimed at changing canadian policy toward isis. it's not senseless. it may be horrible and ruthless, but it does have a point. >> well, we don't -- yeah, we don't know the circumstances, either -- both monday's attack or today. both the shooters were -- i'm sorry, the shooter and the suspect who was in the car, they were both killed. but definitely who they chose as targets would lead you to believe that there was -- there was definitely a message that was being sent, i agree. >> let's get to justice correspondent here in the united states, pete williams. pete, what do we know about how this threatens us and how it's put together? >> in terms of this specific incident, u.s. officials have looked into the back ground of this person, robert michael hall. also his recent convert name, michael zehaf-bibeau. he's just turned 32. he's from quebec.

they don't see any connection between him and people in the u.s. he was not apparently in any kind of u.s. terror database. there are indications the canadian authorities were aware of him. what the extent of their surveillance of him is not clear. so there's no direct connection. you know, to put this in u.s. terms, this would be like somebody shooting someone at the tomb of the unknowns at arlington cemetery and then coming over and firing shots at the u.s. capitol. that is the u.s. version of what happened here. we're told there is no further security at the capitol or the white house or many other buildings, but they did increase security at the tomb of the unknowns at the national cemetery. >> so it is anti-military. >> that's one of the targets. anti-government more than anything. >> and anti-memorial. that's interesting because that's the ritual we observe, the way we are so dedicated to the memory of people who have died in service and they're creating a different torque to this thing. >> i think it's too hard to read into exactly what the motive was

here of this gunman. i think the other thing we should say to ourselves is, despite all of the chaos, one person was killed. now, that's a tragedy, of course, but who knows how many victims this person had in mind. >> well, witnesses describe what happened this morning. take a look. >> we were working on the statue and i heard a bunch of pops. i thought it was firecrackers going off. so i look across the street and there's a man with a rifle shooting at a bunch of people. so, we -- you know, i yelled at all my guys, there's a guy shooting. so everyone, you know, get down, get down. >> whoa saw a man with a mask over his face, well, a scarf. long black hair, long jacket and he had a double-barrel shotgun. he ran up the side and hijacked the car at gunpoint. didn't hurt the gentleman in the car and then took off toward the back and headed in that direction. >> just taking off my jacket. to go into caucus i hear this

pop, pop, pop. possibly ten shots. don't really know. i thought it was dynamite rather than anything else. suddenly the security guards come rushing down the hallways. >> michelle shepherd, let me ask you about the patterns. we have seen the attempt to bring down the world trade center buildings back in '93. they attacked the foundations of the building with dynamite. the sheikh gets picked up because they did something stupid with the rental car and he was prosecuted, in prison. eight years later they came back and brought it down with airplanes. and you wonder, this is a very fundamental question, what stops a terrorist from going after their ultimate goal even when they're intercepted at one point? they go after the monuments, they kill soldiers. what will stop the next people to do the same thing? >> well, i think -- i think it's a good point to compare it to past attacks. and what the security officials have feared and been warning of for some time, it doesn't take sophisticated plots like we saw on 9/11 to really spread

widespread terror. and this -- you know, both today and monday, were what looked like very, very simple attacks. it takes someone with a mission and a gun to go and do something. and the ramifications of that can be huge. and i think as was just mentioned, too, today as devastating as it was, it could have been a lot worse. this is the heart of the capital in the heart of canada. and it was a very crowded area. it's amazing there weren't more casualties. >> they seem like suicide missions. that they knew they weren't going to get through them. you said before, or someone did, if they couldn't get overseas to fight in the battle land over there in iraq and syria, they would have to do it here. but to do it here meant they would probably end up killed. >> there is another part of that debate, too. in monday's attacks, the suspect had had his passport taken. canada brought in a new program. that if a passport could be

seized for those who were suspected of wanting to go abroad and fight for the islamic group or other groups. so he apparently was one of those to that list who had his passport taken. and i think we've seen that in other cases as well, most recently in australia. so that really adds another dimension into how do you protect both abroad and at home? >> let me go right now to michael weiss, a foreign policy columnist, editor of "the interpreter." we are looking at a different kind of war. we've got royal mounted police, our own police, fbi, all kinds of constableary. tens of thousands of police officers in new york, for example. we're up against people who are living a zealotry. i want to read you something from seven pillars of wisdom that lawrence of arabia wrote years ago. i thought it was romantic but now i know. all that dream at night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the morning to find it

was vanity. dreamers of the day are dangerous men for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible. and i just wonder, these people that decide they'll be terrorists become terrorists. nothing stops it. >> right. >> between wanting to and doing it, if you're willing to die. >> well, absolutely. i mean, there are a lot of psychological motivations here. we can't pretend to penetrate the mind of this particular pep trart. but, look, i mean, there are plenty of people who see what's happening in syria and iraq as this great romantic revolutionary struggle of our time. you mentioned lawrence of arabiya. this is what i would call orientalism turned on its head. they think the way to help arab civilizations or arab societies is to join up with these terrorist groups who are fighting equally barbaric regimes, in the case of bashar al assad. if you're isis, we expend all this energy and resources and trying to track their movement to come back to the west and set something off. if you're isis, what's more

pragmatic, to send a commander or rank and file soldier in syria into, say, belgium or germany to blow something up or, rather, to meet with somebody online, who's already kind of tilting toward radicalization, someone living in his mother's basement, let's say, who might be in london or montana or wherever and just tell him, stay where you are, you'll be one of our sleepers. when the time is right, we'll connect you with other people in your community or around the country and when the time is right, then you'll set something off. that's the sort of lone wolf attack strategy which, frankly, al qaeda prior to isis had been pursuing with great gusto. you recall a few christmases ago, nicknamed the underwear bomber, tried to blow up a plane over detroit. he was a student at college of london. his father was a nigerian minister in government who warned the college and uk authorities that his son was tending toward radicalization. so now you're seeing -- >> yeah. it's fascinating what you're saying.

i want to bring in peete pete williams up. work with the fbi all the time. they have to live with this. what do they worry about? >> this is exactly what they worry about because it's undetectable for the most part. if a person is to be radicalized on his or her own, there is no one to tip off the government. later, someone says, that behavior struck me as odd but we've seen it happen. you think about the school shootings we've been through. those young men were -- dreamed up these ideas on their own. in the case of self-radicalization, it's the self part that's the most worrisome. there's no trip wires. no way to catch them. >> a guy or woman could go out and get weapons, explosives. >> absolutely. >> and put them to work. we'll be back now with the threat to the u.s. because this is right on our border. as i said, terrorism without borders is now real. we'll come back with michelle shepherd and our friend pete williams, who covers justice across this country and michael weiss, very impressive right now. stick around because we'll talk about sleeper cells here in the

u.s. after that attack yesterday in canada, how likely is it something similar, something very much like this could happen here at home? for example, right before the elections. we're coming right back with that, a terrorist reality is now too close for comfort. this is "hardball," the place for politics. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives,

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[ gunshots ] you know, i watch that, having spent so much time in the u.s. capitol, as pete has, you

begin to feel that's really nearby. it could be our capitol. those are some of the horrific sights, and of course, sounds on the attack of the canadian parliament. our southern border with mexico dominates the political conversation, especially on the right. there is now a very real threat happening from the north. catch this. in december 1999, an islamic terrorist living in canada was arrested after gaining entry to the u.s. on a miss, his mission, to blow up the l.a. airport on new year's eve giving him the nickname the millennium bomber. the threats aren't isolated to the north or the mideast. there is a growing threat of radicalization on this continent. over the weekend, three american teenage girls from denver were apprehended over in germany. officials believe they were on their way to join isis. earlier this month, a 19-year-old kid from chicago was arrested after he tried to hop a flight to istanbul. the charges, attempting to support a foreign terrorist organization. last month, nbc news tracked down a roman catholic law enforcement official from north carolina who admitted trying to

join isis but couldn't get past the turkish border. the minneapolis field office was worried about somalis you have to would not, if these americans are trying to fight for the isis jihad over there, is it only a matter of time before they declare jihad here at home. michael weiss, clint van zandt and nbc's pete williams. i want to bring in clint. how does this strike you as a pro who goes to bed and thinks about it. how does this strike the canadian capital, this placid picture postcard little place that i would love to be and visit. all of a sudden now has to lock down and start bringing all the big tiger teeth and doors in your face and official ways and metal detectors and everything else that just changes the quality of our democracy and has already done it to us. >> yeah, it's going to change. it's got to change here.

i mean, once it happens one time, you can't get fooled again. you've got to prepare. you know, chris, the government tells us -- our government tells us, you know, plus or minus 100 people that the fbi is keeping track of. now, some of these people are those that have gone to the middle east to try to hook up in syria with isis. those who have gone and come back. and those who have gone and been rejected and they can't get out any other way. so, we've got these kind of hanging out there. and then you've got these guys sitting in their parents' basement on the internet. they may, as one of your guests suggest, be in contact with somebody who says, just stay in place and we'll call you. but i think as pete suggests, the other category that really bothers me, chris, are the ones that just not only -- they self-initiate. they make a decision. they're already radicalized based upon the internet and maybe people and friends, but they make the decision when they're going to strike.

like this guy today he may just for example, seen this other convert two days ago run over these two soldiers and said, a-ha, that's my sign. now i'm going to act, too. and he self-initiates. even though we don't have these cells in the united states, we have people capable of doing this. >> well, you know, we're all in the same media world, pete up. know that. we're on right now in canada. a lot of people watch ms all the time, they certainly watch nbc news all the time. they're exposed to, it both the good people obeying the law and the people who have pretty frightening ambitions in life. >> much more concerning is the fact that this isis propaganda push is something that is especially worrisome to officials because these are propaganda videos produced rather slickly in english specifically to appeal to a north american audience, americans and canadians. they are aimed directly at them. they say, come on over and join

us. it is much different from al qaeda. >> al qaeda never had that vernacular. >> exactly. >> your sense about the nearness of this threat, people living in the united states, below the border. >> well, i'll give what you the former deputy director of the cia's sense of it was. mike morrell said, i wouldn't be shocked if somebody didn't pick up an ak-47 and shoot in rural america. you don't need a spectacular 9/11 or the so-called millennium bomber was planning, to blow up l.a. international airport. all have you to do is traumatize and terrorize an entire country by doing something very small, like this attack. which resulted in only one fatality, you know, one too many, of course, but, you know, this is not what they would call a spectacular. this is a very isolated, specific attack. obviously, waged on a national sort of, you know,

governmental -- a huge symbolic importance, the target. again, anyone can do it. that's what worries me and i think that's what worries most counterterrorism officials. >> one guy with a rifle goes after the war memorial, shoots a soldier who's on duty. >> not even that, chris. you know, any -- a farmhouse, a school, i mean, any kind of remote location which, of course, will become the subject of international attention, right? killing a bunch of people or holding them hostage, that's the kind of propaganda that a group like isis would look to engender. >> well, there's something about listening to the sound of that hallway there, the tile floor, as they're racing down and the bullets echoing through that chamber which grabs you as very iconic. as you mentioned, former deputy cia director mike morrell told krbz in august, if an isis member showed up at a mall in the united states tomorrow with an ak-47 i would not be surprised. eric holder offered this

sobering warning this summer. >> the lone wolfs, homegrown violent extremists keep me up at night as well, trying to monitor, trying to anticipate what it is they're going to do. you know, the experience that we had in boston is instructive. it only takes one or two people to really do something horrific. >> i want to go back to clint and then i'll get back to michael and pete as we finish up this segment. this notion, and i was quoting from "seven pillars of wisdom" about terrorism about terrorism against the ottoman empire. you could blow up trains. you get dynamite, blow up trains. where's the risk? and then it seems to me if people are willing to give their wows in this zealist religious crusade of theirs, how do you stop them as a law enforcement official? >> well, what changes the equation is that most of us want to live. if, in fact, you want to die, then that changes everything.

look, chris, you and i and pete, we all live through the d.c. sniper. we had two guys, $300 rifle, a $20 box of bullets and a 15-year-old chevy caprice and that locked up the entire d.c. area for a month and a half. what if you take that two or three or four times between thanksgiving and christmas in the united states at different locations? that would be isis's dream. >> and do you think because christmastime is coming, when people are packed into malls, packed into downtown areas, outlets, everywhere you can think of, even at movie theaters, certainly walking up and down fifth avenue in new york looking in windows, is this a time they're going to strike? >> every year between -- every year between thanksgiving and christmas scare ares the hell out of me, chris. the bottom line is, a lot of retailers make 50% of their money during that time period. if we had a terrorist group or multiple lone wolves got together and said, let's hit

three or four shopping malls simultaneously at the start of the shopping season, what would that do to our economy sdm? >> well, i know pete's thinking about it. >> of course, that's why you heard the government in recent days appeal for the public to give them tips. you saw the fbi put this video on not too long ago of an unknown person in an isis recruiting video and said, you know, if you know who this is, tell us. he had a mask on. >> with a north american accent. >> that's right. >> they said, if you know of anybody else who's doing anything unusual, tell us. public tips are so important. you saw that just most recently in this case of the colorado girls. now, it doesn't appear that they were steely-eyed islamic zealots. they may have been caught up in the adventurism of this whole thing. what got them stopped is their parents got suspicious and called the authorities. that's how they got stopped in germany. so, people seeing something and saying something turns out to be critically important. >> that's what they say on amtrak. >> that's right. >> michael, we'll have you back. michael weiss, thank you for

joining us from "the interpreter," pete williams as always. clint van zandt, thank you. the attacks today in canada won't help calm a rattled american electorate heading into the election. let's get to the fear factor heading into the midterm and what's it going to do to them less than two weeks away? up next, my tribute to the great ben bradlee.

when i first came to washington i was working in the more thanes in a senator's office and at night in a patronage as appointment to u.s. capitol police. i took the 33 bus down to georgetown passed the white house, all the time glued to "the washington post." it was a broad sheet like the philadelphia enquire, only thicker. as the bus rambled forward, i would struggle to get to the jump of the article, the rest of the story "the post" was driving

home with style that morning. that paper crackled. it was liberal. it had a point of view with great calm. like nicholas van hoffman. it also had audacity. holy -- what editor ben bradlee loved saying when he was handed a hot scoop. that's what the reader got for a quarter. for 25 cents you were in the midst of washington excitement. in 1988 when i made my switch from politics to journalism and one of ben bradlee's top reporters had taken a hard whack at me for doing it, i walked into the famed washington post news room, and started complaining his guy singled me out for this crap. ben, the great ben bradlee, whose newspaper had brought down a presidency, sat there rather quietly, patiently. finally, my rant completed he said, so you came in here to pee on my leg? well, somewhere along the way in the years ahead, ben and his beloved sally invited kathleen and i into their world.

there was no b.s. to the man. he would say openly that he had no real idea what jack kennedy thought of him and their famous friendship. i love saluting him as the lion. into his 90s, he was still the physical presence in the room. still competing with other men as a man. and while you're not supposed to say this when a guy just died, he had this high school toughness still alive in him. if you took a shot at him, he'd just as soon as give you the finger. it was his way of saying, i'm still in the game, pal. it helped he had this beautiful hot ticket wife. what you wanted most from ben brad li bradlee. was to be for that moment a peer of ben bradlee's. there was no greater honor. a couple years ago he sent me a photograph of his pal kennedy with richard nixon, whose his

paper brought down. he wrote, don't you miss them both, really? it was your classic generation guy. he said to me and my fellow boomers. you don't get it, you don't know what it was like to be 20 years old steering a destroyer through japanese waters. he was right, of course, long before he became a pal of jack's or greatest newspaper editor of his times he made his bones in the south pacific navy. he was when you came to realize it, born to be a newsman. he had a nose for, it the news. he wanted to know everything. who was close to who? who had in in for someone? all of it. he wanted to know it first, most of all, before the competition. most of all, before "the new york times." >> why did your paper take the risk that nobody else did to put all the chips on the table and say, we can beat a president, prove he did something wrong? >> because we got into the story quick early. woodward and bernstein did. if you have within three or four days, if you have the source of the money as creep the committee

committed to re-elect the president, you have the white house phone number in one of the burglaries and the fact that the cia is involved, there's no way you're going to pull me off of that. >> he was in his 80s then. he beat "the times" to watergate, "the new york times," and nobody's ever forgotten it. what was he like personally? i think he was a mix of bramine and cia. i said, how great it was for a woman to get a scholarship to boston college. what he said, pretty good day hop school, not missing a beat, after d.c. had gone on to be a great national university and not just a commuter school. almost to the end, ben bradlee was still in the game, playing his harvard against your whatever, his quality newspaper over years, his ka honeys over yours, lovering us in the same company. he didn't have a prejudice bone in his body but loved the tribal

fun because it added to the competitive spirit. the spirit in which he thrived. he was fearless, alive. ben bradlee.

good morning. here's what's happening. amber vinson, a texas nurse who contracted ebola is improving. according to her family, the virus is no longer detectable in her body. ashoka mukpo says he can feel his strength coming back every day. he spoke to kate snow after being discharged from the hospital where he was treated for the virus. an ebola vaccine is being tested in humans in washington. it's the third ebola test in the u.s. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." the world around the voting

booth has changed a lot in the last couple of days because of what happened to our closest neighbor, canada. a frightening scene inside the hauls of parliament. a local radio reporter was on the phone with his editor when the shooting began. [ gunshots". >> i dope know. there's a bunch of gunshots. >> shots out there. >> a guy with a shotgun? >> yeah. i saw him come in. [ inaudible ] >> outside! outside! >> get out! get out! >> where do we go? where do i go? this way. >> out the back. >> first door on the left. >> down the stairs. >> okay. thank you. yeah, are you rolling on me right now? okay. i'm in -- i'm in a security office right now. apparently somebody has walked

up to the front steps of parliament hill with -- a single guy came in with a shotgun. >> a rifle. >> yes, yes, put me on air right now. >> well, when security like that is front and center, the hawkish party, generally the republicans, is the one that dominates. a new ap poll says likely women voters now want a congress controlled by republicans by 2% margin. last month women favored a democratic-controlled congress. you see a nine-point swing. let's go to nbc's kristin welker on the phone from the white house where someone has once again, a new person, has jumped the fence. kristin? >> reporter: chris, that's right. we're actually in a bit of a lockdown mode here at the white house. the reporters, the photographers, not being allowed out onto the north lawn while the secret service investigates exactly what happened. our nbc news photographer was

able to capture some video of it, chris, so you can sort of see the person over the fence and secret service officials screaming at him, yelling at him to get back. the video is hard to see, but essentially it looks like they were able to apprehend him. we have calls out to the secret service. they're trying to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. this comes at a moment when the secret service is already in the process of trying to rebuild, repair its image in the breach of security breaches, when omar gonzalez was able to get inside the white house. chris, as you know, as we've been reporting, there's a new interim director john clancy who's been on the job for several days now. another security breach he'll be looking into. >> kristin welker at the white house. this is not the most dangerous thing in the world little boos, like boo. you know what i mean? >> it's halloween. it's coming up. >> the voters, let's talk

politics. it's crude, but we are talking political implications immediately. if i was scott brown up in ham hm on the canadian border, i wouldn't want to say this out loud but this will change the topic from democratic issues, equality, economic equality, pay equal ty to people are scared. >> already you saw kay hagan who looked like she was ready to break away three weeks ago ahead of tom tillis -- >> lead's gone. >> it was ebola. >> she tried to switch on whether they should put up the wall and put a ban on travel. >> it's interesting to watch how democrats for years have worked their way back into a fighting position with republicans on these kind of issues, national security. over the last month or two they've lost all of that. all of that momentum, all that ground they gained. people look at the president. they don't feel like he's doing a good job and it's hurting the party. they're getting retrenched back into this old style of notions

they're the weaker party. >> it's no longer the 3:00 in the morning question, what we would do in sigh pan. this is the sound in your house, who's going downstairs to check on the foot steps? are you going to check? i think the republicans are in better position to say, i'm the one who can go down stairs with the rifle. >> prior to all of this, even though the economy has been gradually improving, not fast enough, public attitudes have been, there's a lot of unease. people believe we're on the wrong track. so, there's been a pent-up popular anxiety. >> what do you make of that picture we're looking at? look at that picture. >> listen. let me make my point, chris. this has been going on the last few months. then you have ebola, isis, fence-jumpers here, there, what happened today in canada. it really feels, as john said coming n the whole world is going to hell. and so when that happens, the party in power, the guy in charge, the guy you want to fix it, whether he can or can't, is the president and the democrats. so, you know, it makes sense

that right now they would be on the defense because a lot of things are not fixable in the time frame that americans what want them to be fixed. even if they're not the greatest threat to them immediately. like ebola is not an immediate threat to any american. but yet people are still freaked out about it. >> by all rights this is a midterm election where democrats are fijly getting the economy back on track, creating jobs, wages are actually -- >> obamacare is working. >> obamacare is not even an issue now. for some reason, they're losing. and it's because of these scares. it's because of the sense of nervousness. >> they also -- republicans were trying for so long in this election to get this to be about obama. they couldn't do it. they couldn't do it with obamacare, couldn't do it with the economy, and world affairs have dropped this in their lap. it couldn't have come politically at a better time. >> during the great depression when we really faced horror, everybody was out of work, 25% unemployment, there was a tendcy to lurch to the left --

>> and rally around the president. >> but when there's a security threat, what's the lurch to the right about? why do people get more interested in tough military, screw the people, put up a wall, have a travel ban, those instinctive right wing urges? >> it's fear. that's what it is. people are afraid. they look at the outside world. it's a terrifying place right now. everything from the war in israel to isis on to what's going on in canada today. they don't want anything to do with it. they want someone to protect them from that. >> the republicans have been exploiting this really well. scott brown talks about ebola, isis and the mexican border. not the canadian border. >> why the mexican border? >> you tell me. >> because it's ethnic. >> because they had nothing to talk about. they tried to make it about obama. they haven't talked about one single republican policy as they try to nationalize the campaign. finally they had fear to talk about. >> it's also to some degree immediate, yeah right? five years ago we wouldn't have known about a thousand yazidis

trapped on a mountain top or boko haram capturing nigerian girls. now every single issue gets elevated and the president has to respond. >> we're going to hear from the canadian prime minister, stephen harper, any second now. one reason is we had so many soldiers over there for all that time. if we had never been to iraq twice. >> it's also interesting, most of the country, particularly conservatives were over the war. they didn't want any more war. there was so much fatigue with it. you saw a lot of republicans moving to the rand paul part of the party and now they've swung right back and, we've got to be tough on this. we've got to be out there, be aggressive against isis, aggressive against all these things, shutting down the borders because of ebola. it's fascinating to watch this shift of -- >> we're going to come back after the canadian prime minister and talk about what a mistake governor christie made the other day, making fun of people who rely on minimum wage. this could be the next 47%. i mean, everybody makes mistakes. these are following a pattern. david?

>> it's disdain. he's showing disdain for those americans. and i think it's -- 25% -- 50% of people who make minimum wage are over the age of 25. it's not just teens doing summer jobs. to say all those people, it doesn't matter to you, well, you know, hopefully some of those people will tell him it does matter in the voting booth some day. >> why don't republicans encourage people to make good pay so they're not on welfare? it seems you want to create a different s different -- >> they've done a good job of playing this argument of the free market and if you boot strap yourself, you'll be picked up. they're also playing off this reality that most americans identify with a higher economic bracket than they're actually in. they see themselves doing better in certain ways than they actually are. they say, oh, i'm not that guy. i'm not really on -- doing that bad. >> we're going to take a break. good thinking. that is an american tendency, which is not all that bad to be optimistic, even if it isn't

realistic. >> aspirational. >> we are not the british labor party. we'll take a minute. we are waiting for the canadian prime minister to make a statement about the horrific scene we just saw in canada.

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tom foley at 45 apiece. in massachusetts, republican charlie baker has taken a one-point lead now over democrat martha coakley in a new poll, it's baker, 43%. he's coming o i think. down in georgia, a new wxia poll has incumbent republican nathan deal over democrat jason carter, grandson of the former president. deal, 45%, carter 43%. i think jaye jason's going for it.

welcome back to "hardball" and back to our panel of jay, john and david. let's take a look right now.

we're awaiting the address by the canadian prime minister. it's been delayed, stephen harper. here at home, we're two weeks out from election day. and governor chris christie who is definitely running for president takes an elitist view for some reason on his contempt for the minimum wage debate. yesterday in the speech, to the u.s. chamber of commerce, governor christie not on the ballot this year, but will clearly be running for president said he's tired, that's his phrase, about hearing about the minimum wage. >> i've got to tell you the truth. i'm tired of hearing about the minimum wage, i really am. i don't think there's a mother or father sitting around a kitchen table tonight in america saying, you know, honey, if our son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, my god, all our dreams would be realized. is that what parents aspire to for their children? they aspire to a greater growing america where their children have the ability to make much more money and have much greater success than they've had. and that's not about a higher minimum wage, everybody. >> you know, i know he's talking to.

the business guys. but we're all listening. and suppose you're on minimum wage and watching that. suppose your parents or kids are on minimum wage. it's a directed message to a directed group of people that basically dismisses the others. >> well, there's -- there's a whole branch of the republican party that is very cognizant of this. you've got paul ryan out there. you've got rand paul talking about poverty, rick santorum talking about this. but then there is another branch of the republican party that is tone deaf on these issues, business republicans and christie has proven himself. >> i do think the republicans have come up with a bit of a strategy. not too long ago, scott walker running for re-election in wisconsin was asked about this in a board meeting or something. and he says, i don't want people making the minimum wage, i want them making two, three, four times the minimum wage. so i think republicans are trying to say, hey, we don't care about people making piss ants amount of money, we want you to be wealthy. two chickens in every pot. >> that's called loving it to

death. i'm for more money. >> that's right. and so what he was saying in a much cruder fashion is, what we shouldn't be caring about the minimum wage, we should give everybody a unicorn. >> the media in this country is -- not that it's good all the time, but it does have sort of a regular guy's point of view. because the most people watching are regular people. they get mad about the weather with the people. they're going to take a position against this. he's going to pay for this. >> absolutely. he's going to be -- everyone -- i'm sure he'll be out there talking about poverty soon. he'll have to be a poverty tour. >> a poverty listening tour. >> yeah, listening tour, he'll have to come up with a plan to fight poverty. because there's no way. you have to -- this is a big problem for the republican party. so many conservatives that said this is wrong, this is not the party that -- >> he's not the guy, though, to go out and do a poverty tour. one of his big selling points is he's the brash guy from jersey, right? and he owns that.

and he has to sort of accept this and own it. and i do think, republicans believe that the people that are going to be offended by these comments aren't a large part of the electorate. and even if there are, they're not going to identify with those people. and so, you know, cut bait with those people and say we want you only to have that job for a short amount of time or whatever. and you can get a better job later so why should we do this -- >> but two-thirds of the people who are on minimum wage are women and they have a big problem with women already. you know, they've been losing women, you know, every year since 1982. and so that's not necessarily something you want to say when you're trying to appeal to women. >> he's not going to run away from it. >> i'd run an ad if i were a democrat. i'd run an ad. if i were a candidate, run an ad showing the people working at the fast food place where you get your coffee in the morning, or the hamburger, fries, minimum wage person, you want to tell them to their face they're not worth any more money?

say to the guy working in the hotel out front. do you want to say to all kinds of people working for minimum wage? tell them to their face, you ain't worth -- that's a hell of a statement. >> the brash stuff was working for christie once upon a time. then this george washington bridge thing happened and his ability, his temper, arrogance and all that stuff that used to be an asset became a liability. so when he talks like this, again, it's just not as charming as it used to be. so some people still relate to it, some of that jerseyness. but i think he's lost his flow. >> used to say, none of your business, emily. that used to be sort of cute. ever since he started stopping traffic in the morning. thank you, sir, and david, who is always right. stay with us. we have more on that fence-jumper at the white house in just a minute. nbc's kristen welker reports the jumper was tackled by officers and dogs. not tackled by dogs and is being treated for his injuries. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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tonight on "all in" -- attack in ottawa. shots fired at the national war memorial and inside the canadian parliament. one soldier guarding the memorial is dead tonight. and one suspect, too. tonight, questions remain. >> we don't yet have all the information about what motivated the shooting, whether this was part of a broader network or plr