in to help. that was a powerful display of generosity. we ishave to make sure in the next five years we all stay focused on rebuilding and getting 200,000 people out of those conditions. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. is the free world free from fear? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. tonight, the eyes of america remain on far off france with the fear that it's not so far off after all. a decade ago, under w. we were told to mock that proud and fine country for its opposition to the iraq war. we were told like nit wits to call our french fries freedom fries as if that would make the french wrong and us right about the war.

well, it didn't work out that way, did it? i mean, if iraq that war w. and cheney and the neocons took us into, it turned out to the latest example of the old maxumf the french think we're wrong, as they did before when we went whole hog in vietnam, the smart thing is for us to think again. now everything has shifted again with our stars in hollywood, the smart ones at least, standing with the millions in the streets in paris and our leaders, well, here's a good question. wouldn't it have been great to pick up the newspaper today and see an american on the front line of that huge rally for freedom on the streets of paris? wouldn't it have been downright exciting to see the leader of the free world out there actually leading the free world? but i don't know maybe there were good security reasons for neither the president nor the vice president to go but what about john kerry? he's our foreign minister and he speaks french. is this just another example of the white house needing someone, i mean a real chief of staff, to walk into the oval office and tell the president, boss, you got to go. this is bigger than you think.

nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent richard engel is in paris for us tonight. unfortunately, he's the only one in paris for us tonight. richard, the president's not there. was he missed? >> reporter: well this situation is not over. there is a feeling that france is still on edge. there was an outpouring of emotion yesterday with this enormous rally. they had talked about a million people here, and then when they added it up with the rallies here and in other cities around the country, we're talking about 4 million people coming out on the streets. now about 10,000 troops and soldiers have been deployed. that's the biggest deployment of security forces since world war ii. since v.e. day. so this is becoming an event of historic proportions. the worst attack since world war ii. the biggest deployment since world war ii. the biggest rally since that same time period. so for the u.s. not to take

part i think was a missed opportunity, certainly. >> missed opportunity. well said. let me ask you about what the threat is right now. 17 people killed in those incidents at the kosher market and, of course at the magazine. how many more people did they believe now were involved in that conspiracy? >> reporter: well the problem is they don't really know. that's wheyy there are so many security forces out. there are reports tonight that french presidents won't confirm that they are still looking for, the police are still looking for six additional suspects. but, frankly, they don't know. just a few days ago, they were looking very closely for a woman named hayat boumeddiene, and now turkey says she has not only showed up in istanbul but she has been there for, in turkey for about ten days and then traveled into syria. so a few days ago, france was looking for her and had an all-points bulletin.

so i think until they find more people, arrest more people that close in even tighter around this terror cell that has clearly been activated here they won't know how many people they're dealing with. >> one last question about protocol. why didn't eric holder when he was in paris show up at the rally? >> reporter: that's a good question and he was here on related counterterrorism business. he was here with a counterterrorism -- for a counterterrorism conference, a counterterrorism meeting, i should say and apparently conflicted with his schedule. but i don't know the internal decisions that went on of who was supposed to go who wasn't supposed to go. but clearly a convincing explanation hasn't been given because you saw the statements coming out of the white house today. people saying that they you know someone more senior should have come. another reason that i think people at least in on this side of the pond i should say, are

so, a little bit annoyed by this, is there is a sense that the u.s. always champions itself as the leader of the fight against terrorism and then when a terrorist attack happens that it didn't let's say, use every opportunity or every effort it could to express solidarity. >> great to have you on as always, richard engel, thank you for joining us. joining us from washington is the "washington post" columnist, eugene robinson and the "daily beast" christopher dickey both are msnbc contributors. yesterday's rally in paris drew 1.5 million people in paris and more than 40 world leaders, actually prime ministers or presidents. absent from the rally for the free world against terrorism, as we said was any high-level american. today white house spokesman josh ernest said missing that opportunity was a mistake. he's very clear on this. here he is. >> some have asked whether or not the united states should have sent someone with a higher profile than the ambassador to

france and i think it's fair to say we should have sent someone with a higher profile to send there. >> how much higher a profile do you think should have -- or does the president think should have been there? >> had the circumstances been a little bit different, i think the president, himself would have liked to have had the opportunity to be there. the security requirements around a presidential-level visit or even a vice president-level visit are onerous and significant and in a situation like this they typically have a pretty significant impact on the other citizens who are trying to participate in a large public event like this. >> gene, husbands and wives have these fights all the time. why did we do that? it's passed. the galloping horse has passed. the question is what does it tell us about the thinking? because optics. it's a word the president puts down. one of the reasons he's president or a popular president is because he succeeded a guy

named george w. bush who didn't show up attica between katrina. >> not showing up makes a difference. president obama said he doesn't want to pay attention to optics soptic, this is all just theater. give me a break. he's a great politician and great politicians know instinctively and by the book that optics do count. >> right. >> and so -- >> didn't he give a big speech -- >> it wasn't just a missed opportunity. it was a mistake. >> didn't he give a big speech at berlin when he was running for president? >> i seem to recall a big speech he gave in cairo that was all about the optics. so, of course it's important, and, you know, frankly, should have been there. i mean it's not easy to arrange a presidential visit on such short notice. it's a hard thing to do. however, there are a lot of people who get paid to work that sort of thing out. >> you know, as somebody said the other day, that's what vice presidents are for. certainly biden went down to -- christopher dickey vice president biden, you may not have noticed this but he went whizzing all the way down to i

guess, brasilia for the inauguration of rusef recently. i mean we get him around. he moves around the world and he didn't make this stop. kerry is a find maybe one of our best ever secretaries of state. he's a true foreign minister who's fluent in many languages especially french. it would have been nice to have him on the linefront lines there. your thinks from over there? mr. dickey? >> well i think you're exactly right about kerry, particularly. you know, i was out there, and it was a horrific situation from the security standpoint and it would have been even more horrible if the president of the united states was there. i think that he did the french security services french police, and probably the french people a service by not going. but i don't understand why john kerry didn't go. he would have been the perfect man to represent the united states in that context. and i really don't understand -- it's truly strange that you have the attorney general of the united states, a man directly

concerned with security issues in fact he's at a security conference. he's in paris and he doesn't show up at this rally. i -- i think the whole thing was so badly handled that it's just appall appalling, but i have to say, there's more talk about this in washington than there is here in paris. >> well, we're the ones accountable for this. stay in there, christopher dickey. let me go back to gene on this question. we've got this whole thing, when people hack into the u.s. army as we've just learned, central command, what do we make of that going on? i think there's a little spookiness going on which there should be because we don't quite know how many people are involved in this conspiracy to attack the magazine or the secondary action with the kosher shop and all that killing. we don't know how large this is. but we also know they're seeping into every corner of our life. >> well look the atmospherics are spooky, as you said. now, they didn't hack into sent

centcom centcom. they hacked into youtube, hacked into twitter. presumably they used somebody's password. maybe they hacked some place to get a password to bet into these other sites. centcom, i believe, as far as i know right now is correct in saying they did not hack into u.s. defense department computer servers or whatever. nonetheless nonetheless, it is flat-out embarrassing. >> yeah. it's the army. >> exactly. so if you're a u.s. central command, and your twitter feed and your youtube feed are, you know, have this isis flag on them that's a very bad thing. that's really embarrassing. and you shouldn't have social media accounts if you can't protect them better than that. >> sometimes hollywood, although the usual scantily clad women thing last night, the usual parade they put on. there were some serious things they put on. i was impressed when i watched most of it last night, the golden globes. the topic on a lot of the peep people's minds was france. let's listen.

>> today was an extraordinary day. there were millions of people that marched not just in paris but around the world. [ applause ] and there were christians and jews and muslims. they were leaders of countries all over the world. and they didn't march in protests. they marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear. we won't do it. so, je suis charlie. >> to our brothers sisters, friends, and family in france our thoughts our prayers, our hearts are with you tonight. je suis charlie. >> together we will stand united against anyone who will repress free speech, anywhere, from north korea, to paris. >> christopher dickey over there in paris, were the people of france that you met with in the last several hours aware of what a big deal that was to us over here? even if we weren't well represented officially?

>> oh i think there's that understanding, and i feel -- i think generally people feel that the united states is very much behind them. you know it did have a big effect here earlier on in the crisis after the "charlie hebdo" massacre when president obama went to the french embassy and signed the book of condolences. that was something that the french people really responded to very quickly. you know president obama is much more, traditionally, up to this day as far as i know is a much more popular figure in france than almost any french politician is. so i think that there's a lot of sympathy with obama and there's also a lot of sympathy with the american people and i know that they like to hear george clooney say the kinds of things he was saying at the golden globes because it speaks to not only to sympathy but to culture, to the arts, all the things that the french love. >> yes, they do. i just want to remind everybody of something, when john f.

kennedy was killed it was a year after charles de galle of france, the president, war hero charles de galle had been almost assassinated. many bullets shot into his cars. four tires were shot at. the generals mad about giving away of algeria were trying to kill him and almost not him. he came over here there he is marching along for the entire parade, funeral march for john f. kennedy. de galle came and stood up in that crowd and was part of the honoring of our lost president. that was a big deal for us and i think we ought to reciprocate now and then. lafayette, we are here. we should say that more often. anyway thank you, eugene robinson, thank you, christopher dickey. before we move on i want to show you the latest cartoon, by the way, from my friend chris hammen over there. he was on the show friday night. it shows basically the continued power of the pen over the sword. great picture there. and a great meaning. coming up mitt romney's gearing up for another run. perhaps this is from the sublime

to the ridiculous. but the romney camp is taking pops at jeb bush. the battle for the center of the republican party such as it is appears to be on. i guess the republican establishment think they can beat hillary. also, federal prosecutors are recommending criminal charges against america's most famous general. general petraeus. the question did general petraeus actually leak anything important? plus president obama's calling for tuition-free community college. house democrats want a tax cut for the middle class paid for by the rich. it looks like the dems are finally getting into income inequality. i'm going to finish tonight with a case of "selma." voting rights for all americans. this is "hardball." the place for politics.

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welcome back to "hardball." we got a big story now. mitt romney wants do be president president. he's saying so. he shook up the 2016 race late on friday when he told a group that he's weighing a presidential bid and today he's almost certainly going to run according to the "washington post." he's running. not only would romney join an already crowded field of presidential hopefuls but it would pit him against another mainstream republican and rich guy, former florida governor jeb bush in a battle for the party's center. jeb has already taken steps to differentiate his campaign from romney's failed bid in 2012. he's resigned from several corporate boards and he said he's already prepared to disclose over ten years of his personal tax returns.

big deal there. and at a subtle jab, or not, at romney last month, bush told a local tv station he wouldn't succumb to pressure from the hard right like romney did in 2012. let's watch. >> he struggled in the primary because the emphasis on subjects that he was uncomfortable with he got off -- i think he got off message. and he got into sucked into the, you know to the -- >> vortex. >> sucked into other people's agendas and i think it hurt him a little bit. so winning with purpose, winning with meaning, winning with your integrity, is what i'm trying to talk about. >> romney's people are returning the fire of course saying bush is too liberal for the party. in his article, "the last temptation of mitt" mckay coppins of buzzfeed reports a former romney adviser said this of bush. "look, jeb's a good guy. i think the governor likes jeb" the adviser said." jeb is common core jeb is immigration. jeb has been talking about

raising taxes recently. can you imagine jeb trying to get through a republican primary? can you imagine what ted cruz is going to do to jeb bush? i mean that's going it be ugly." with the barbs already flying the first ground for romney and bush will be to win over the republican donor base. the money guys. the fat cats. and both candidates are able fund-raisers. we know that. joining me right now, msnbc political analyst, david corn of "mother jones" looking at this from somewhat of an ideological distance. and robert costa of the "washington post." robert, i want to start with you. dead center. this guy you're mainly hearing jeb is going to be centrist. he's going to be for respecting same-sex marriages. he's going to be for immigration reform. meaning people are allowed to come into the country to become znts citizens at some point. what else? he's for common core he's for educational standards. romney immediately says you have principles, i'm going to screw you. i'm going hard right on everything you stand for because i know you believe in it and i don't believe in anything. it sounds like that's what

mitt's saying. >> calling around romney world, i get the sense they see jeb bush as a possible entry. they're loving it. they think they can run to the right of jeb bush. >> on every issue. >> what does romney believe? does he believe there's something wrong with the common standards of education? people who shouldn't have unions of some kind? >> he's going to run as the conservative alternative if he runs against jeb bush. >> you're saying it so properly. >> remember romney in 2008 tried to be that guy in 2008 -- >> what guy? >> the conservative alternative to mccain. >> in 2012, he was severely conservative. remember? i think this is still, i think, to most people a fight between two establishment-oriented candidates. >> one guy believes in something. >> yeah, but they're both kind of establishment-oriented when you compare them -- >> you don't see a dime's worth of difference. i do. >> i don't think on the basis of where they're coming from and where they stand in the party now, romney may think he can run with ted cruz and rand paul. i don't think he can. it seems to me what they're basically competing for, if you put romney up against jeb bush

is the right to make a salad at a canibal's convention. >> romney is saying he'll say what he wants them to say. >> based on what i'm hearing on my reporting romney is actually playing close attention to jeb. he's talking to donors this weekend, talking to a lot of senators. he's talking about poverty. he's talking about economic empowerment. he knows he has too come to 2016 with a new message. >> if you're going to hold the line on things like same-sex marriage not letting hispanics become citizens. common core. you can always say i'm for the little people, too. >> romney knows he has to change to win a general election. not come across as a rich guy, former bane guy. >> when you have rand paul ted cruz, ben carson others in the race. running to the right of jeb bush -- >> the romney people think -- >> here's what i thinks is going

on. forget ideology for a second. >> yes, sir. >> just forget it. they must think they want to get back into the barrel again because they think they can beat hillary. why would you want to get into that mess? why would jeb who's got everything going for him? he's healthy, he's a happy man, he's a normal person. romney has got everything handed -- he's got everything. he's earned it but he's got it. why would they want to go back and get the mud thrown in their face for two years unless they think they can beat hillary? they must believe they can win this fight against hillary. >> i think rick santorum thinks he can become president. >> no, no that's a message candidate. >> there's an ego-driven quality a lot of candidates have and amazing how many people look in the mirror and believe they can be the county. >> they think hillary, though she's well credentialed and smart and liked by a lot of people -- they must think there's a weakness there. >> the romney people have told me they believe hillary is very weak on foreign policy. they think romney can run as a heavyweight know he doesn't have the experience. >> he's never done anything with foreign policy. >> they think he can be a real rival to her. >> i wonder whether they think

she might be part of the bad clinton past they can tag her to like who was it that said the other day she can't run on the legacy of the '90s -- >> that was jeb bush talking to donors in greenwich. >> what do they mean? >> bush knows he has a burden by his name and believes clinton will be more burdened by the clinton years and reputation. >> putting the iraq war against white water. that's not something they win on. >> that's where we become soul brothers here. there's no way in the world that anybody can run and say, the right to go into iraq my brother was right. take a look at this. unnamed adviser for mitt romney told buzzfeed, "romney is not going to be intimidating by bill clinton sitting in the front row of a debate looking at him." this is the part that's so legacy. "his dad ran for president. he's run before." why would a guy say mitt romney can stand up to bill clinton because his daddy ran? his daddy lasted three weeks in that race before he dropped out.

he said he was brainwashed. he didn't run for president. >> romney's driven a lot by his father's legacy. >> what was his legacy? how many weeks did he last in that campaign? >> not long. when you talk to people close to romney romney family considers themselves a major family in american politics. not the stature of the house of bush, but they believe they can compete at that level. this is a clan versus clan battle. >> here's the question. can anybody else really when it comes down to we'll all be sitting here hopefully in october of 2016 we'll be talking about the debates, we'll be talking about how close the election is probably going to be and maybe the republicans are catching up to hillary. maybe not. maybe she's catching back up to them. does anybody think somebody who's not a mainstream person like a romney or a bush can possibly be in that position with hillary? running head to head with her? >> cruz thinks -- >> you're asking the -- >> i'm asking you. do you believe that anybody can run head to head with hillary who's not a mainstream republican like these two guys? >> i think ted cruz rand paul any of these other types have a

good shot at the republican nomination. >> but not head to head with her. >> a bad time in the general population because, you know, people have moved away from a lot of these -- >> the heart of the party is still with people like cruz. >> that's right. >> romney and bush. got to maybe think about putting one of them on the ticket. >> the party is about 30%. thank you, david corn. thank you, robert costa. up next federal prosecutors -- this is tough -- are recommending charges according to "the new york times" against america's best known and maybe most respected general. that's david petraeus. there he is. how serious are these charges? that's the question i want to try to get to if i can tonight with mike schmidt who broke the story for the "times." this is "hardball." the place for politics. textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment

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classified information to his former mistress and author of his biography, army reserve officer paula broadwell. the report said the fbi discovered classified documents on miss broadwell's computer in 2012 after petraeus resigned from the cia and their affair became public. attorney general holder was asked if he or his successor, loretta lync would be making the decision to prosecute petraeus. >> i would expect to the extent there's a matter of this magnitude, that would be decided at the highest levels of the justice department. >> that would be him. the reporter who broke that story for "the new york times," michael schmidt, is here with me now. michael, i want to know, i fwesguess we can't go to sources here but let me ask you about, is there any way we can tell from you, tonight, about the gravity of what was leaked by petraeus to his mistress? >> look was david petraeus taking, you know classified information and giving it to al qaeda, or was she?

no. but did she have access to things that she shouldn't have? that's what the justice department said was going on here. basically, he had an e-mail account, she had a way of looking at it and he didn't really do anything to stop her. >> was it like coloration or calling the business tick tock that kind of color? or was it something truly evasive in the national security? was it something an enemy could use against us? do you know or not know? do you know? >> no, no what i do know -- >> what do wrounyou know? >> whoa. what i do know it was stuff held by probably less than a dozen people in the government. >> do you know the contents? >> we don't know specifically what the contents were but we also know she took stuff herself. she may have taken stuff from him as well. she was in afghanistan with him. she worked on the biography of him. whatever. and when they went into her house, they found all sorts of stuff dating back to that time. not just when he was cia director. when he was in afghanistan fighting the -- >> is there any way that your sources know whether this was intentional or not?

i guess it was intentional. the leaking? or is it something she may have picked up from pillow talk? >> no, no, this is not that. this is -- they believe they have evidence that he was -- he knew what she had -- >> he was willfully helping her in her work by betraying his responsibilities. >> correct. correct. i don't think they would be this far along in taking it seriously -- >> let me ask you about that. maybe you can tell me. a lot of people like this guy. i don't certainly dislike him. i respect anybody who served this country as long as this guy has and i think nobly most of the time until he got involved in this mess. the question is, the people that have to prosecute cases like that i assume are public servants, i assume they have a concern. do they believe he was a bad guy in doing this? in other words did he do something that was criminal not just technical, but criminal? >> that guy, they're not going to answer that but criminal -- >> they're about to charge him with a felony. >> yeah, but criminal yes. criminal, yes. >> they believe he's a criminal. they believe he's a criminal.

>> yes. some people believe there's a double standard here. that if he had been anyone else, he already would have been dooited at this point. we wouldn't be this far out. we're almost three years since it happened. >> the only reason i'm being skeptical, it's my job. and number two, i know people like ted sorensen when he left the kennedy administration, he was accused of taking some of the papers losing them you know? >> yeah. >> and sanall that stuff. i want to know whether it was something that truly endangered us or something that was, well against the law. >> sandy berger pled guilty to a misdemeanor. deutsche, the cia director under clinton was pardoned at the last minute. >> what's your hunch? are they going to prosecute? >> i think that we're pretty far along in this thing. >> yeah. >> they're brit serious. >> sounds like it. thank you, michael schmidt. you would get a lawyer if you were petraeus? >> williams and conleynely. up next the push for middle class tax cuts democrats seem to be ready, at least appear to be ready to do something about the income inequality in this

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i'm announcing an ambitious new plan to bring down the cost of community college tuition in america. i want to bring it down to zero. i want to make it free. community colleges should be free for those willing to work for it. >> free. that's a magic word. welcome back to "hardball." we've seen, by the way, a remarkable resurgence when it comes to the energy of the democratic party since the midterm losses. they feel liberated. party leaders from president obama to elizabeth warren have tapped into the issue of inequality. that's the big word now. on friday president obama unveiled a proposal that would

make two years of community college free for an estimated 9 million students. no tuition. and today, the party unveiled a major piece of legislation to combat income inequality and taxes that includes a $1.2 trillion tax cut for the middle class which could come directly from the pockets of wall street high rollers. at least that's the plan. is this the new identity of the democratic party or the democratic wing of the democratic party? how does this sound to the right? the roundtable tonight, nbc news senior political reporter perry bacon. you're too young to be senior. msnbc political correspondent, kasie hunt who is even younger. msnbc political analyst, howard -- lets me ask this. we'll start with you. you're covering the hill. let me start with you. chris van hollen. is this a precursor of him knocking off steny hoyer in the bottom of the succession? >> i know that's what you want it to be. >> this is called "hardball" after all. >> is this about getting something done or posing?

>> i think it's about getting something done and a realization that democrats felt they didn't go far enough this time around. they pushed forward policies like pay equity for women, like the minimum wage. everybody loved that stuff. >> point of purchase stuff. the big stuff in the supermarket has to be income inequality. >> everybody is hurting. the middle class is rinking. wages are going down. everyone looked at that and said, you're not doing enough. >> with the economy rebounding a bit, is this a good time to get on the team the train, and say, look, it's getting better but let's divide it up a little? >> yes absolutely. if i were a member, a democratic member of congress who lost in november, i would say, where were you when i needed you? i mean where was this -- where was this tax plan before the election? where was the community college proposal before the election? >> where was it? >> it was buried by leaders in congress who were afraid of their own shadow. and most of those are gone. what's happening now is that the democratic party on the hill is -- and really i think almost -- reduced to its

essence. >> i got a news flash for you. the republicans are controlling the hill now. while they've had this epiphany to use a literary term they now know they should have been a bit more left, a bit more populist, a bit more e liz beth warren guess who are calling the shots? >> the republicans are not going to pass a $1 trillion tax increase. this is pie in the sky. >> what's going to come out of this? >> democrats and the republican sides. both parties, that's different from -- >> okay. republicans want to cut corporate taxes down to nothing. want to cut everybody's taxes gown to nothing. democrats want to raise taxes for the rich. what's the hybrid? what comes out of this as a combination? does anybody know? is there a combination? >> i think what chris van hollen is not a radical, okay? he's -- the political scene in america has shifted so far to the right that a democrat proposing a middle class tax cut, that's a tax cut, and talking -- and the administration talking about college scholarships essentially, that's seen as a

heavy duty populist message. i don't think so. >> here's elizabeth warren on the populist front now. she's been notched up another. let's take a look at her. another victory. the president's pick for a top job at treasury antonio weiss, pulled his name from contention following a backlash from progressives like her. elizabeth warren. she just took a trophy here. she knocked this guy off. >> she did, but don't forget that this is the only kind of thing she can pull off right now because of the way everything else is set up with republicans because buried in the bills that obama has signed recently or is going to sign this new terrorism bill that was just passed includes undoing some of those wall street reforms. and that's a second act from what we saw in the fall with the big must-pass spending bill included undoing a little bit of dodd/frank. that's her big thing. this is where she has the power -- >> is she on the level -- everybody likes elizabeth warren. i understand why. she's saying something strong. strong language. when she went out against citigroup, that's fine. go after some big shot money

group. she went after the treasury department. turns out the treasury department opposed the very feature she was railing against and didn't give them credit for it. jack lew and the boys were against that thing and she acted like they were all in bed with them. it's not true. >> this appointee is a person of wall street. maybe it's a sign to hillary clinton, elizabeth warren is here and going to be pushing hard. >> let's give her hard. she's railing here against the weiss nomination last month. let's watch what she did to bring this guy down. >> weiss defenders are all in. loudly defending the revolving door and telling america how lucky we are that wall street is willing to run the economy and the government. i hope you will join me in saying enough is enough. >> what do you make about her? what do you think -- do you think senator warren is strong like ted cruz from the other side? i think a lot more respectable, obviously. but she's definitely talking with a heat and an iron -- >> yeah the content -- >> means like she's running for something besides a bill.

>> well she kind of speaks like the librarian, but she talks tough on these issues. and nobody's asked her in the last few days or weeks, i think, are you running for president? she hasn't denied it lately. since she hasn't denied it everybody's convinced that she's running. we have a knew feature -- >> does anybody -- secretary clinton, she doesn't need -- you know, she's not a trickster, but, you know the most successful thing that bill clinton did was put al gore on the ticket with him. he made it about generation. he made it about the south. he made it about something that seemed real and exciting to the country. two women. why not? why not two women running? >> well you know she may -- >> will somebody give me a reason why they can't do it that way? >> well, i mean the hillary -- the conventional wisdom in the hillary clinton camp is they kant do that. i do think you hit on something. if you saw the focus group peter hart did this week and -- jeb bush's name did not do well hillary clinton did not do well. the one person that stood out -- >> rand paul.

>> and elizabeth warren. there's this hunger for something new. >> you cover the hill. what is she running for? >> well i think that she has the ability to play a role in the democratic party that we haven't seen as much lately because we haven't seen people in opposition. right? i mean democrats have controlled the white house. they've controlled the senate all this time. all of these -- i think that's partly what you're seeing in this chris van hollen plan. >> yeah. >> i think that's what you're going to see as this campaign evolves. if she decides not to do it you're going to see her using her platform in the senate to push hillary clinton to the left. >> it all ends up with perhaps legislation between now and '16, likely or not depending on who republicans s republican ss run the show. big speech at the democratic convention in '16 you expect in primetime from elizabeth warren? >> certainly a possibility. >> if hillary were smart, she'd be watching everything elizabeth warren is doing and do more of it herself. >> is that her? is that hillary? is hillary clinton the left? >> there's a lot of time for the

heat to build up on the left side of the democratic party. we're seeing only the beginning of it. we have a new chart that we're running at "huffington post." >> is hillary a democratic progressive on the left or a centrist like her husband -- >> i think she's a survivor who wants to win and i think she's going to have to move in that direction and she better start doing it soon. >> no she's not a voice of the left. that's why warren is trying to push her in that direction. >> both can be true. the roundtable is coming back when we return a little later. subject, the big winner in last night's golden globe was free speech. it was very impressive last night the way the serious people of hollywood stood out last night. this is "hardball." the place for politics. mmm, a perfect 177-degrees. and that's why this road warrior rents from national. i can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. and i don't have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. and i don't. and national lets me choose any car in the aisle. control. it's so, what's the word?...

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of credit decisions. today was an extraordinary day. there was millions of people that march not just in paris but around the world. and they were christians and jews and muslims. they were leaders of countries all over the world. they didn't march in protest, they marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear. we won't do it. so je suis charlie. >> a few hours after they linked arms in paris, they put on sol dare i did at the golden globes. they all used the occasion to show their support for free speech. >> to our brothers sisters,

friends, and family in france. our thoughts prayers are with you tonight. >> tonight we will stand united against anyone that denies free speech. >> helen miran showed support on the red carpet and kathy beats. and amal clooney did it with a pin. howard, you first. a lot of these things are beef parades. they're for show. i thought last night, besides having all of that had some seriousness. i was glad that clooney could speak to well about it.

>> that event in itself stands for everything that the dictators and the theacrats are afraid of. the freedom of expression. and you have people who have global figures who have because of social media, i think they're more important than ever and more connected than ever to people around the world. you have george clooney. we didn't have the president or the secretary of state over there, but at least we had george clooney. >> let me go the other way, did you watch last night? >> i did. >> what did you think of margaret chu playing last night. >> it's like anything else humor, borderline we're talking

about these cartoons north korea is safe apparently now. i loved tina fey and amy poehler saying we had to pretend we wanted to see "the interview." >> here i am announcing that the debate has been canceled for the night, my big role. >> weave got a problem. >> what's wrong? >> we're calling the debate off tonight. >> why? >> frank, he wants to delay. >> did he say why? >> it's not about political -- >> you watched it? >> i did, no golden globes i loved the good wife you did a great job playing yourself. a great episode, it's a great debate about ferguson and other

things that came through in the show. there was some where the two main characters are debating in the kitchen. >> i thought it was great, one guy said we're going to end racism in america. and they say no we're just going to get a better states attorney's office. >> julian marguiles wants more. and i liked the speech last night about the women, playing good and bad. and marguiles plays someone bad once in awhile as well. howard? >> i didn't see it. >> i know. when we come back i will finish with a powerful new movie. "selma." i criticized some of the history in this book and movie.

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let me finish tonight with "selma." the powerful new film kathleen and i saw over the weekend. i still have some concerns about how it portrayed lyndon johnson. it's just not true. anyone that doubts he was a good guy in those fights, they should pay attention to what happen to his party afterwards. as he predicted, the white south

kissed him and his party goodbye. whatever you think about politicians, or white politicians of that era, a good number of them got together and passed the civil rights act of '64. back to the power of this film this portrayal of the people martin luther king and all of the others that stuck their necks out for voting rights and led their people to do the same. >> as long as i am unable to exercise my constitutional right to vote i don't have command of my lean life, i cannot determine my own destiny. it is determined for me by people who would rather see me suffer than succeed. those that have gone before us say no more. >> if you can't be moved by that, you can't be moved. that's why it is so important to

keep up the votes rights today. i think it is a fight that needs to be fought today and tomorrow. and we're going to fight against it. it is a matter that i'm particularly proud to lean forward. that's "hardball" for now. "all in" with chris hayes starts now. >> tonight on "all in." breaking news from the washington post. >> i'm running for office. >> a surprise political return. mitt romney is getting the band back together. tonight, what we know and what we don't about mitt in 2016. then leaders of the world unite. >> i think the president would have liked to be there. >> the lat