this discussion. i didn't. i wish we had more time. thank you all for joining me tonight. joining the war. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. tonight, news from the war front. jordan has carried out 56 air strikes against isis since one of its pilots was shown being burned alive. by the group itself. in the north, kurdish forces are takes it to them on the ground and there's talk of the iraqi army actually launching a major counteroffensive against isis in the coming weeks. are these signs the first good ones that the long sought arab alliance against the horrors of isis is starting to take shape? nbc's keir simmons joins me now from amman, jordan.

keir, that's my question starting with the jordanians. how strong an attack are they mounting? how long will they sustain it? >> reporter: they're definitely mounting a strong attack, chris. this has been a sustained air offensive over many, many days. they describe themselves, frank list, as pounding isis positions, hitting their fuel depots, hitting their ammunition depots, and they say they are deflating isis forces. they're also very proud that they believe that the uae could get substantially involved. we saw the uae f-16s and uae f-16 pilots alongside jordanian f-16 pilots just today. so they do think that they are making a real difference depleting isis by 20%, they claim, but as you rightly suggest, the question then --

who will lead that ground offensive and how effect it can really be, chris? >> keir, one jordanian general told you, i hear, the leader of isis is frightened. let's listen to that conversation right here. >> we have assets in the air. like al baghdadi and his gang. >> in your view, he is frightened? >> there's no doubt about it. >> there's always going to be doubt about the ability of anybody over there to defeat isis, but now there seem to be signs, the kurds, of course, are fighting on the ground against them. the iraqi army we're told may go into action in some kind of counteroffensive. is it possible -- i notice they're no longer parading around in the black suits, armored personnel carriers riding around with their banners showing off their ability not to get hit. are they afraid of air strikes now and potential ground attacks? isis? >> reporter: oh, yeah, they're afraid of air strikes.

they would be crazy if they weren't afraid of air strikes. i mean, you can say many of them are crazy, but, you know, they are in hiding. that's certainly going to be the case. moving around. and the jordanians believe that al baghdadi has moved from iraq back over to -- already we know that the kurds are complaining that they don't have enough resources and when it comes to the iraqi army -- withdrew. >> okay. we lost that. it was a great reporting there. thank you, keir simmons who's in jordan in amman jordan. i'm joined by michael kay, international affairs correspondent, and former british officer. and andrew, former director of the counterterrorism center, he's with the rand corporation now.

gentlemen, let's start with this. do we have any word, andrew, on the life or death of kayla mueller? >> no, i think sadly, only isis really knows what her fate is. i think it's pretty clear but highly doubtful she was killed in a jordanian air strike. it seems even hard to figure out why isis would announce that she was dead if she's not. but, i mean, it's way too early. there's no proof of it either way. i think we just have to wait. >> is it possible she was killed by them as an execution but wanted to make it look like the result of a jordanian air strike to get a double whammy situation there? >> sure. it's pretty clear to me isis wouldn't know if it was a jordanian air strike or some other air strike. i think it was pure propaganda. i wouldn't trust that at all. but the fact that they announced that she was killed, you know, is meaningful, and and we have

to wait for more word. >> secretary of state john kerry said on "meet the press," while there's a lot more to do, the coalition is making progress. this is good news, i guess. let's listen to the secretary of state. >> we have already seen -- i mean, here's what's happened. 22% of the populated areas that i have held have been taken back already. and that's without launching what we would call a major offensive, that's where efforts of the iraqi army as it's being retrained and standing up again. we have taken out a significant proportion of the top leadership of isis. their command and control facilities have been attacked, interrupting their command and control. they no longer can communicate the way they were as openly. they no longer travel in convoys the way they were as openly. >> michael kay, assess those comments. they're relatively positive about the building of the

anti-war, anti-isis campaign by the surrounding of states including iraq, the kurds and the jordanians coming on strong. is there reason for optimism they actually could challenge isis and maybe begin to peel it back? >> chris, the parlance that's being used there is quite conventional in terms of the way they're measuring effect. they're talking about it in terms of territory and -- >> right. i heard it. 22%. yeah. >> yeah. so i think we have to be very guarded about that. i've been involved in quite a few campaigns now where one of the biggest problems is the measurement effect across all aspects of what, say, for example, military air strikes will do. when we say military air strikes, i think we need to be a bit more specific. the term that the brits and the americans are using is called dynamic targeting. and that's a synergy between using precision-guided weapons such as 500 pound gps on laser-guided bomb and synergize that. predators and aircraft that are

listening, when they see something or hear something that requires very expeditious action, they'll call in one of these jets from the close air support stack and go in and they'll strike it. but the measurement of effect is really hard to gauge. short term it's a little bit simpler. they to something called bda, bomb damage assessment. they'll go back, look at the tapes and if they're using a precision-guided weapon to take out a convey, they'll look at how much of the convoy has been depleted. longer term it's much harder because longer term things like collateral come into play. it's much harder to gauge and measure collateral. what i mean by that is if, for example, a school was hit or civilians were hit, because the ramifications of hitting civilians and collateral means they'll be able to recruit more. so it's kind of counterproductive if you're taking out a convoy of ten isis militants and recruit 50 as a consequence of your actions. i think we need to be a little bit cleverer about the measurement of effect we're using. >> the net effect. michael mccaul said arab

countries may have finally been galvanized to fight isis. here he is with some optimism. >> i believe the air strikes have been limited, had limited success. it's a policy of containment, not a policy to degrade and destroy the enemy. i think if anything the lighting on fire of this jordanian pilot will now galvanize, i hope, the arab nations to fight isis. i think that under u.s. leadership if we could galvanize the arab nations, arabs against sunni extremists, isis in syria, that would be the ideal. >> most americans, including me, the way we look at isis, is u.s. interest and whether any americans are getting executed in horrific ways, whatever ways they choose to execute our people after humiliating. even if day reduce the territory by a fifth as the secretary of state said yesterday, that doesn't stop their ability to just stage these horrific

executions, does it? >> no, that's a really important point. and i think clearly we are better off now than we were the day we started launching the strikes. isis is weaker. they've lost people. they lost equipment. they've lost some territory. but it's way too soon to either declare a victory or to start beating our chests. isis is still dangerous. they're still a threat not just to the region and to the residents of the territory that they control, but let's not forget, they're encouraging people in our own country, in france, and across the muslim world, to attack civilians where they are. just today, they put out another very effective, very snazzy piece of social media doing just that. so they're still a force to be reckoned with. they're dangerous. let's not get ahead ourselves. >> let's take a look at the video today. it features apparently a british

hostage, a journalist, john cantlie, featured in multiple videos from isis. he's the last known western hostage of isis. let's watch a bit of it. >> hello, i'm john cantlie. the last film in this series, we're in a city that's been at the heart of the fighting since summer 2012. >> what do we make of this thing? what would you call this, michael kay? tokyo rose kind of thing where the enemy is using someone or with the -- how do we measure it from here what role that person speaking there had and the words he's speaking? the freedom he had. >> chris, i think it's significant, and the reason for that is one of isis' critical capabilities is the ability to reach out across the world through social media and through galvanizing the western media and infect and therefore recruit. john cantlie is the last in a long series of western hostages, whether it be journalists or whether it be aide workers.

so they will have to leverage this last man they have in order to galvanize that. >> just to get it clear, he's saying words that he's being ordered to use. he's a prisoner in every way. he is probably fearful what they're going to do with him, so we shouldn't assume any cooperation by him beyond the formal cooperation we're seeing on the tape is. >> no, absolutely, chris. i can't even begin to put myself in john cantlie's shoes. his number one priority is waking up every morning and maintaining the -- making sure that he keeps alive for another day. and he will be doing everything to buy time. now, i mean, we can speculate on whether he's suffering from stockholm syndrome or just how much duress he's under, but the bottom line for john cantlie is the longer is he can stay alive, then the greater the chances are of potentially some sort of rescue taking place. it works both ways. as long as he's useful in spreading that message to isis, hopefully he'll stay alive. as long as we keep watching the

videos and they keep building up, you know, hundreds if not thousands of views on youtube, that's useful to isis, but the time that that stops happening, the time i fear for my life if i was john cantlie. every day he wakes up, he's looking to live another 24 hours and we should not underestimate the duress that that poor man is under. >> that's the great irony here. he convinces people he's really part of the isis push, he stays a live. to the extent they realize as they should that it's all phony, that he doesn't want to do any more than save his life, it probably doesn't suit his purposes, then they knock him off. it's a horrible situation. >> it is. >> they're relentlessly evil. thank you, michael kay and andrew liepman, both of you gentlemen. coming up, the big split in the republican party and the war and what to do with isis. on the other end, you've got doves like rand paul, ted cruz finds himself somewhere in the middle this time. are any of them willing to honestly say based on everything we know now, the war in iraq was

a smart move for this country in the first place? i think that's still a critical question they're thinking. plus a constitutional showdown over marriage equality. chief justice roy moore of alabama, the alabama supreme court, the guy with the ten commandments on his plate, is telling judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in alabama after a federal district judge ruled that the state's ban on gay marriage violates the u.s. constitution. a battle of constitution and judges right now. we'll look at the fallout. president obama's speech at last week's prayer breakfast. mike huckabee says the only group president obama will unflinchingly support are muslims, not jewish or christian people. let me finish with my thoughts on laurence silberman's piece in today's "wall street journal." i don't like it. this is "hardball." the place for politics. [coughing] dave, i'm sorry to interrupt... i gotta take a sick day tomorrow. dads don't take sick days, dads take nyquil. the nighttime, sniffling

sneezing, coughing aching, fever, best sleep with a cold medicine. doug, we have the results, but first, we have a very special guest. come on out, flo! [house band playing] you have anything to say to flo? nah, i'll just let the results do the talking. [crowd booing] well, he can do that. we show our progressive direct rate and the rates of our competitors even if progressive isn't the lowest. it looks like progressive is not the lowest! ohhhh! when we return we'll find out whether doug is the father. wait, what? well, jeb bush has a small edge in the latest poll from new hampshire. the former florida governor is

at 16% among likely republican primary voters according to a new bloomberg poll. rand paul is second with 13% which is pretty close. scott walker is in third with 12%, right up there. chris christie's fourth at 10%. they are very well bunched. the trouble for jeb, of course, is that he's viewed favorably by 34% of general election voters in new hampshire while 50% of new hampshire general election voters in november have an unfavorable view of him. it doesn't look like a great prospect to beat hillary clinton up there. we'll be right back.

welcome back to "hardball." roughly two dozen republicans are considering white house bids in 2016. that's 24. but four of them currently serve in the u.s. senate and will be involved in shaping an authorizationing for use of military force in the war against isis. lindsey graham of south carolina, marco rubio of florida, ted cruz of texas, rand paul of kentucky staging out republican to 16 war primary. lindsey graham says he wants

more boots on the ground not only in iraq, but in syria, too. here he is. >> you're going to need boots on the ground not only in iraq, but syria. there's got to be some regional force formed where an american component somewhere around 10,000, i think, american soldiers. >> that authorization question, rubio, senator rubio told "politico," "we shouldn't be dictating in legislation. you can do this but you can't do that. you can go here but you can't go there. it should be broad enough to allow him, the president, latitude in choosing the tactics, method, timing, et cetera. not just president obama, future commanders in chief." he's pretty far over. ted cruz, surprisingly here, comes down somewhere in the middle. he doesn't go as far as graham in terms of hawkishness. doesn't say we need boots on the ground yet. but instead, arm the neighboring kurds which is a middle of the road position. here he is. ted cruz. >> i don't believe right now we

need american boots on the ground and the reason is we had boots on the ground already with the kurds. we need to arm the kurds. and we need to use the peshmerga as boots on the ground. >> wow. rand paul who is skeptical generally of american involvement in foreign wars says the 2000 invasion of iraq is a mistake. he's been called isolated by the most hawkish lindsey graham types. paul introduced an official declaration of war back in december which sets an expiration date of one year, a sell-buy date for u.s. involvement and warned about getting more involved in that region of the world at paul. >> we need to stay the heck out of their civil war. as isis grows stronger or not quelled by sending arms to feckless allies in syria, then what happens? they come back again and again. there's already the drum beat. there's already those in both parties who insist we must have american gis on the ground. i'm not sending your son, daughter, or mine, over to the

middle of that chaos. >> same-sex marriage is not the only area of policy where americans gradually change their minds as you see here. the mind of the republican party seems to be somewhere different than it was back, say, eight years ago. joining us now, ron christie, favored guest here. former aide to dick cheney. and mercedes, a former spokesperson for the bush white house. which bush white house? the w.? >> 43. >> too young to be the other one. thank you. let me ask you about this since you're both republicans. the way i see it, rand paul is over here on the more isolationist position. >> sure. >> leave them alone, let them fight their own fights. on the usual, hawkish part of the republican party, establishment, old time thinking, take them on, get the bad guys. communists, whoever they are, terrorists. don't hold back and say we can't

do boots on the ground. keep everything on the table. the other guys are in the middle. even ted cruz. surprisingly sheepish about saying let's go to war again. your thoughts? analyze it. >> let's take lindsey graham out of the picture. he was mentioned in the political story. he has a very small likely hood of winning the republican primary. he can run all he wants in -- >> why is he doing it, though, before you jump him? >> it's a way of him getting the media coverage that he wants. he's been the anti-obama going go in. the peace through strength. he does fall into a hawkish area, but he's also trying to be a little more from the sense of just keeping it open, giving the president the authority he needs -- >> he doesn't want to constrain the president. >> exactly. senator cruz, the most surprising out of the bunch. >> you'd think he would jump in there. he's basically saying i don't trust president obama, i want to make sure we don't give him the

authority toit what he needs to do. >> i'm going to let them speak for themselves. take the field. hawk, super hawk, curtis lemay hawk, all the way over to ron paul, dove. >> i think mercedes was largely correct in her observation. lindsey graham wants attention. wants the limelight. wants everyone looking at him. he wakes up every day and wants to be president. i don't see the path any more than mercedes does. >> isn't he a war buddy of john mccain? >> of course, those two are attached at the hip. >> he was your party's nominee recently. >> it's been a long time ago. >> it's been a long time ago, chris. let's look at the more serious -- >> what has changed since '08? >> i think what's changed since '08, folks in the united states senator are concerned about sending americans overseas and putting them in harm's way and putting them on the ground. >> it's a war-wary nation. >> yes. >> they don't want another war.

you look at all the poll numbers. you're talking that over 54% oppose sending troops into the middle east. in that area. and, you know, over 60% believe, yes, we need to do something against isis but definitely no troops on the ground. >> what is it we can do? we have the jordanians fired up which i'm so impressed with. we came back from pearl harbor saying let's go get those guys. remember the alamo? it's a good thing to get you fighting if you've been hit hard. so they're ready to fight. the kurds always want to fight. they want to be kurds and defend their territory. do you have confidence in the iraqis? this is a great republican question. somebody's got to do the ground troops -- >> that's right. >> somebody's got to produce ground troops. >> that's right. i tell you who it has to be. the iraqis, the saudis. the united arab emirates are sending over f-16s. they have to deal with their region, chris. look to 2016, what is the election going to be about? yes, the economy. what are we going to do with isis, iran, what are we going to do with russia?

>> hopefully iran has been dealt with. i'm not that hopeful. i'm hopeful. >> ron, i don't think the grassroots, republicans in particular are thinking about what's happening in ukraine. they are concerned about the isis situation, what's happening. >> i think ukraine is a long way off. by the way, ukraine has to learn it's next to russia. >> that's right. >> it's a weird situation to be in. i'm not saying finlandize yourself, but you're not going to take on russia and beat them. >> yeah. >> i will tell you, things will change if there's an attack on u.s. soil. that will change the dynamics of a presidential election. >> let's not -- >> let's pray that does not happen. i think there's going to be trouble. and every execution drives me crazy. >> that's exactly right. >> i think it -- >> we need a strategy. >> i will not look at the tape of what happened to that flier. i won't look at the beginning of the tape. it's too horrible. ron christie, my friend. mercedes. like the car. >> like the car. stop charging so much for repairs.

thanks so much. up next, president obama's body man, reggie love, spent more time with the president than just about anyone besides his family. he's with us tonight to talk about the president's sort of basic behavior. when he gets to the hotel room at night, what's he like? i ask him everything. this is going to be fun. this is "hardball." the place for politics. there's nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment. so why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. 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

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welcome back to "hardball." well, for five years reggie love distinguished himself as barack obama's body man. spending more time alongside the senator then president than any other aide. while the role has no formal title or description, it's commonly described as a full-time personal assistant who stays one step behind the candidate but has to think and act three steps ahead of a typical 18 hour work day. it was that job that made love a unique eyewitness to history and written a memoir about his experience, "power forward, can "what a great name. "my presidential education."

taking players at duke in basketball, to the earliest days in the obama campaign, to the corridors in the white house. part coming of age story and part how-to manual detailing the personal and professional lessons he picked up a long the way. i'm joined by reggie love, former special assistant and personal aide to president obama. you asked for it. it's in the book. i'm not going into weird areas here. the president, when he was traveling as a candidate, and later on as president, what did he want to find in his room at night when he got there? probably 11:00 at night, he's exhausted. what made him happy? what did he miss if it wasn't there? cookies and milk? a book he was reading? what did he like to have in the room when he got there? >> let me tell you -- >> you not answering my question? this is "hardball." that was the first question, reggie. answer that question. >> during the campaign -- >> you're changing the subject. >> during the campaign -- i'm going to break into it two. i would say, you work 18 hours in a day.

the thing that you really just want is you want a bed and you want, like, a bed that's made and clean. like, very, very basic. when you're president, i think it really depends, i mean, there were some nights where he'd want to play cards or sit around and watch the game and have some chips or something. during the campaign, if you're working all day, you don't really -- you're not thinking about comfort food. you're thinking about trying to get to sleep -- >> didn't need cookies and milk. >> no cookies and milk. >> what about espn? >> you had to know what channel espn was. that was kind of a must. >> how about breakfast? bed? did you like that? like "downton abbey"? >> he lined to work. >> kennedy, his guy would open up the curtains, get the sun in,

nixon has been out there way ahead. he's done three stops already. did you have to say, it's a big day, get out there. >> there were some times where you'd have to say romney or clinton, they've called 20 people already today. they're on their second or third stop. >> there you are walking with him. great picture. >> if there were ever a moment in which he felt like maybe the thing that he was about to do wasn't really worth the time, you could definitely nudge him along a bit with a little bit of -- with -- >> what was his -- what's our first step today, reggie? where are we going first? why do we have to get up this early? >> that's not the first question. that's the question the night before. >> okay. >> and then you ask the question again during the day, what do we got again? just in case anything may have changed. but, you know, what cities are we in? >> where am i? did he say, where am i? >> sometimes.

and, you know, i would always try to mix it up a bit and, you know, here's what's going to be really fun today. >> good for you. i like producers that do that for me. >> right. >> did he -- would you say his equilibrium -- i'm not like this. i want to describe some people i know. they're the same person every day. there are people who have highs and lows. wrong side of the bed is the phrase. out of the wrong side of the bed. how would you describe him in that way, president obama? >> i think that -- i think he's pretty even keel. i think there are definitely days. you probably have some, yourself, chris. you're tired. >> i would say things are working, like, some days things seem to be working, some days they don't seem to be working. whether i go through this door to my workroom or this -- i argue about things. >> superstition. >> right side of the car to get my paper or not to go to that side. i have all these moral issues with me. by the way, this book, why should you buy this book? what's going to tell people, like, your age. it's a trainer book in a way about life.

tell me about why they should buy this book. i love this stuff. >> if you read the book, a lot of people -- when i initially wrote the book, i was kind of thinking of what it was like for me when i was mid-teens, late 20s, mid-teens, early 20s, trying to figure out what am i going to do, why am i going to do it? i came to -- when i got to duke university, there was no sort of manual about how are you going to be a college athlete? >> you couldn't get into unc, right? >> you know -- >> was that your problem? >> they said i could only play one sport. it wasn't football or basketball. >> unc? >> unc. >> congratulations on the book. this is fun. this is the kind of stuff i call food for junkies. this is good stuff. "power forward," a great name, a great title. "my presidential education." now we know what it's like to be there. to be there in the room. >> it's a blessing to have had the opportunity. and i appreciate it -- >> has he read it? >> he has read it actually. he said it was an easy read and

thought -- he said he thought it was kind. >> did you test him, make sure he read it? >> i didn't test him. >> thank you, reggie love, for coming on the show. >> i appreciate that. up next, a constitutional showdown over marriage equality. alabama's chief justice, roy moore. remember him? he's taking on the feds over the right to same-sex marriage. looks like he's losing. you're watching "hardball." the place for politics.

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back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." well, this morning in a 7-2 decision, the united states supreme court refused to stop same-sex couples from getting married in alabama. this after alabama's chief justice roy moore ordered probate judges in that state to not issue licenses to same-sex couples. presently, there's a lot of confusion in alabama right now. what is going on? nbc news correspondent pete williams is here. pete, it looked confusing in the morning. help us out. >> that's right. there are only about a third of these judges are actually issuing the marriage licenses after the state supreme court

justice said they have to obey the alabama constitution. now, he's certainly right. they to. they also have to obey the federal constitution. and a couple of weeks ago, a federal judge says under the u.s. constitution, the state cannot ban same-sex marriages. already lawyers for same-sex couples tried to hold, get the federal court to hold those judges in contempt of court. the court said no, but did indicate that it's -- these judges who refuse to issue these licenses can now be sued. >> okay. so if you're ted olson right now or ted boutrous, are you pretty happy the direction this seems to be pointing where the court's headed this summer? >> yes. and for two reasons. first, the supreme court today declined the state of alabama's request to put a hold on that ruling until the supreme court decides this same-sex marriage question for the entire country which it will hear in april and decide by june. so you've got to assume that if the supreme court said, no, we're not going to put a stay on

alabama, why you'd ask yourself if the supreme court is going to go ahead and approve same-sex marriage, why would it stop it in alabama now? that's something one. thing two, listen to what thomas and scalia said today in their dissent. they said the court seems to be tipping its hand, it seemed to be foreshadowing this decision. yes, for those two reasons. >> thanks, as always great. pete williams, you made it clear. i'm joined by the roundtable. jim of "slate." emily of "national journal." and expert on everything, howard fineman, great guy on this show. thank you for everything, msnbc expertise. this is fascinating. it could be history could be made this summer. this seems to be a leading indicator that the courts are going to go with the right to -- >> yes. i think that politically, culturally, and pretty soon legally, constitutionally, this is going to be settled. i think it's clear.

there are 37 states now including alabama that allow same-sex marriage. as clarence thomas said, not happily, it looks like this is where the court's headed. i think the republican party, i think most conservatives, i think most people in the country have accepted that this has happened. >> i agree. >> it's all too easy to make the comparison to alabama now to alabama of the time of selma. you have some counties in alabama. there are 67 counties. maybe 2/3 of them are going to resist. it's going to be massive resistance. >> like in virginia. >> to the end. >> yeah. >> then when the stream court speaks for the whole country which they're going to do by june, i think it will all be over. it will all be over. settled politically. >> howard and i have gone through this. nobody ever thought this was going to happen in the country, that the courts would rule this way. the laws of political physics are, there's always a reaction. i expect the republican party that always does this grabs the reaction. don't like civil rights, women's rights, they go for the people who were disaffected by that. is huckabee going to jump on

this baby and say we have to get serious here? >> this is going to be a really divisive item in the republican primary. you'll have your jeb bushes an marco rubios and chris christies saying this is a settled issue, let's move on. your mike huckabees, bobby jindals, scott walkers will say, no, we represent millions of americans who don't want this -- >> is that a good general election strategy or only a good primary strategy? >> i don't know if it's a good general election strategy but a good primary strategy. >> your view of this thing? emily. >> we saw kind of an early indicator of this when it was announced that the supreme court was going to take this issue on in the first place. you saw some republican candidates either saying something noncommittal, choosing not to talk about it, choosing not to bring it up, then you saw others who really immediately came out against it and so that seems to be where the battle lines are going to be going forward. >> interesting, all the years growing up, people on the right, center right would have a problem with the supreme court making 5-4 decisions.

it's too arbitrary. yet the public, i don't hear it yet. i'm sure huckabee will try to stir it up. the people didn't vote for same-sex marriage. the polls show they're for it, right? they don't say, change the whole notion of marriage to include same-sex. they seem to be open to it in all the polling. >> what passes for the accomplishment of the republican party has said enough, we're going to accept this. as a matter of fact, the federal judge who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage is a george w. bush appointee. her family is from virginia, from the sort of ruling class of the republican party in the south. >> borbunds. >> excuse me? >> borbunds. >> he represents the rural counties. he was a military police officer in vietnam. they called him captain america. the vietnamese, the american soldiers did.

so it's a culture clash. but i think to the extent that the republican party is dragged against the mainstream here in the iowa caucuses, which is what's going to happen by the huckabees of the world, it's going to not only divide the republican party, it's going to have the republican party fighting a culture war that they've lost. they have to understand that they've lost this. you talk to any shrewd republican strategist and they'll tell you, you got to get past this. >> emily, it seems to me you get down to it's not a political issue whether you're gay or not. you don't decide based on party line what you are. we have cases of transgender stuff going on now, it was always closeted before. you have to people who are conservatives who have -- senator portman, people like that have gay people in the family. you have people like dick cheney. it's a reality in our being. you know, i'm sort of a nature -- may be a part of both. it's just amazing how it's just gone into the families of the country politically left and right and challenged them to think again. >> right. that's something, like you say

is, when people have personal experience with this, sometimes that changes their minds even if they had a strongly held opinion before and senator portman is a prime example of that. as gay marriage becomes more accepted in all these states, this is something that's a reality for a majority of americans. >> how does -- last question to you. how does the republican party stick to its platform? and ride a platform plank -- it's old time to talk about platforms. you say you're going to fight them. to say we're for traditional marriage, blah, blah, blah, the sanctity, and the wordage says we're against same sex. how do they run on that? >> i'm not sure they do. they have to pretend it's not fair. >> will they get rid of it? will they strike it? >> i think they might put something like we think this should be decided by the states, not the federal government. these are decisions for communities. >> i see. >> then they kind of -- >> so they go to a safe position. >> yeah. >> doesn't seem to threaten anybody. in other words, we're not going to do anything.

anyway, the roundtable is staying with us. up next, mike huckabee takes his turn driving the right wing clown car. he says president obama's against christians and jews, did you notice? and only supports muslims. would he say that about a white guy? that's my question. this is "hardball." the place for politics. colourists know roots take colour one way... and previously coloured hair another. introducing new vidal sassoon salonist first, brush roots with rich colour cream. then, add serum... and blend through lengths. our most advanced system outside the salon. visible depths and tones. new vidal sassoon salonist.

well, president obama's speaking out today against domestic violence. he did it in last night, actually, in a public service announcement. a psa during the live broadcast

of the grammy awards. here he is. >> it's on us. all of us. to create a culture where violence isn't tolerated. where survivors are supported. and where all our young people, men and women, can go as far as their talents and their dreams will take them. >> the president said artists have a unique power to change attitudes in this country that set a positive example. we'll be right back.

>> we're back and mike huckabee has been on a roll lately. he complained of trashy women in new york who swore, he picked on beyonce, and obama is in his book. today he took a step further on fox and friends when he criticized president obama's

speech at a prayer breakfast. here is huckabee. >> everything he does is against what christian's stand for, and he is against the jews in israel. the one group of people that can know they have his undieing support is the muslim community. it doesn't matter if it is the radical muslim community or nonradical muslim community. >> he would not say that about a white guy. they're still playing this obama is a muslim number, and they're shameless, your thoughts? >> i don't know -- >> what else does he mean? >> i'm not sure that huckabee is saying obama is a muslim, they're saying he is a muslim lover. >> that has a familiar ring to it. >> howard --

>> we would talk about dog whistle politics. this is like fog horn politics. it could not be more blunt. >> donald trump must love it when he hears it. >> it could not be more blunt or irresponsible. but again, he is running for 18% of the vote in the iowa caucuses. that is all that's on his mind right now. he'll worry about the rest of it later. that is what he is going -- whatever vote there is in iowa, in the republican congresss, that's what he is going for as well. >> george w. was great on saying this is not a religious war, it's not a terrorist war, it's an east-west war. and i think he was really good on that just the same way obama is. you have to take the position when you have a portion of your country that is muslim. you have to look out for who they are and respect them. what does huckabee, he is not

after a muslim vote. he doesn't want muslim support and he doesn't want to give them respect. >> when you talk to activists in iowa about why they like huckabee, a lot of it is he talks about their issues but he seems like a nice guy. >> isn't that term for that smarmy? >> what he is doing now is not being the nice guy. >> another republican i do respect, in 2008, in his race against president obama, john mccain showed some class when a audience member wrongly criticized the president. >> i can't trust obama. i have read about him and he is -- he is an arab. he is not -- >> no in. >> no, ma'am.

he is a decent, family-man. a citizen, that i just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about. he is not. thank you. >> that is a godly moment. an american moment. >> i think it was great. i think it was great. in the interest -- >> and he was fighting from behind at that point. >> he was behind and he was conducting an act of statesmanship there knowing where the race was headed as well -- that is true. >> thank you for coming on. when we returning with let me finish with my response to judge silverman's piece about how we went to iraq. our "name your price" tool helps -- oh, jamie you got a little something on the back of your shoe there. a price tag! danger! price tag alert! oh. hey, guys. price tag alert! is this normal? well, progressive is a price tag free zone. we let you tell us what you want to

pay and we help you find options to fit your budget. where are they taking him? i don't know. this seems excessive! decontamination in progress. i don't want to tell you guys your job, but... policies without the price tags. now, that's progressive.

hey matt, what's up? i'm just looking over the company bills. is that what we pay for internet? yup. dsl is about 90 bucks a month. that's funny, for that price with comcast business, i think you get like 50 megabits. wow, that's fast.

personally, i prefer a slow internet. there is something about the sweet meditative glow of a loading website. don't listen to the naysayer. switch to comcast business today and get 50 megabits per second for $89.95. comcast business. built for business. let me finish tonight with this. tonight's wall street journal has an article that needs to be withdrawal immediately. it says that george w bush lied us into the war. i should open with a lawn from "lawrence of arabia." me convinced independence even though not completely believing

it. a lie that tells lies like me merely tells the truth, but a man who tells half lies as forgotten where he put it, the truth, that is." go listen to cheney back then, or condoleezza rice. but they didn't have the evidence that iraq had nuclear weapons and they knew it, so what did they do? they kept saying again and again that iraq had weapons in mass destruction. they got the american people to buy their war. they never said we should fight a war because they had chemical or biological weapons. judge silverman, what got us into the war was a lie, it was a slicker job than that. it was a half lie selling us

into a war that america regrets more than anything in modern history. that's hardball for now. all in with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> we have a practice of not meeting with leaders right before their elections. >> high stakes political drama at the white house as the president tries to save a nuclear deal with iran in the face of obstruction -- >> it does not make sense to sour the negotiations a mont or two before they're about to be completed. >> tonight, the growing movement to delay benjamin netanyahu's speech to congress. >> a constitutional crisis from alabama. >> and the plaintiff behind a supreme court case that could destroy obama care. a shocking twist to "i'm