t. >> i think we should not restrain the president of the united states. >> the flexibility we need for unforeseen circumstances. >> to restrain him in our authorization of him taking military action eventually leads to 535 commanders in chief. >> it is our troops who bear the costs of our decisions. later the gulf today five years after the spill. >> over the last five years, it's been difficult. >> everything is dead. barnacles, sea grasses all dead. it is not going to come back. >> they lost money, their livelihood, their careers. >> what were you thinking when you saw those pictures on tv? >> right at the well head, i was almost in tears. that's where i lived. plus, the palin effect. >> i can see russia from my house. >> how much do you think lorne michaels would pay me if i were to run in 2016? >> why a palin 2016 nomination

could be a reality. >> this applies to you in the 2016 presidential race. good to have you with us tonight, folks. it was a weekend of terror around the globe. in libya isis released a video claiming to show the beheading of 21 egyptian christians. the brutal act of violence is clearly a gross display of what isis is capable of what they are motivated about and what they are made of. this amounts to a religious war. we all have our own interpretations at this point. at this point these people were targeted and murdered because of their faith. the response from the egyptian government has been swift and strong. egypt has launched a series of air strikes against isis in

libya. they hit isis training camps and weapons cachetska caches. isis is gaining influence in libya and around the globe. isis has filled the leadership gap in some areas of that country. isis has control of the darna where today's air strikes were targeted. they also have control in central libya and there is concern in tripoli and benghazi. isis has spawned a number of radical affiliate groups outside of its territory. they stretch from algeria to across africa to afghanistan. clearly, isis is growing geographically. this is the biggest jihad we have seen in our lifetime. they are gaining influence.

they have a strong social media presence. they are recruiting more and more every day. fighters have traveled from around the world to join isis. because of this, isis i think, is changing the world and every country's security. a lone wolf attacker in denmark shot and killed a film director and a jewish man on saturday. officials in denmark say they cannot officially connect him to a terror cell. the alleged gunman was killed after attacking police. two additional suspects have been arrested for helping the gunman. as i see it, the united states is going to have to have a con

continual review of its policy. it is a religious war. what is going to turn back isis? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question -- do you think we're headed for a major conflict with isis? text "a" for yes. text "b" for no. we'll bring you the results later in the show. for more let me bring in a congressman. good to have you. does this situation as it unfolded yesterday, as gross as it was in libya does that change anything? does this bring us to any different conclusion or any other method of response as you see it? >> well, for months, i've been saying the same thing. we have to have a different response. we cannot do what we have done before. it simply didn't work, so we need to have a different

response. part of that response has to do with the other countries in the area. you saw egypt very quickly responding to what happened in libya. they are seriously threatened. you saw jordan also respond when their pilot was burned. the question is is turkey also going to get involved? the countries surrounding iraq and syria and now libya are at risk. they are going to have to respond. clearly this is radical jihad, no doubt about it and we need to work with those more stable countries, pull them into our -- work with them and work with them to bring about a proper military solution. but we also have to deal with the underlying social, economic, and religious issues that are operating throughout the middle east and quite possibly around the world. you have to understand the religious jihad that's going on,

the schism between islam and sunnis. boots on the ground, a new military venture with tens of thousands of americas with armor, is not going to solve this problem. we're going to need to have certain elements. we will have to have special forces operating in certain areas when they can be useful, u but mostly we need to build the support of the existing countries in that area because they are the ones that are most seriously threatened. not that we weren't, but they are the ones that are going to see this first. >> i would personally come to the conclusion as someone who is following the news is that what we're doing isn't strong enough isn't working. whether that means we need to put ground troops and get them

involved, i don't know. i'm not a military expert, but when they are growing geographically and they are growing in influence and they are socially connected as they are -- this was almost like a movie production what they released. they are in lawless parts of the middle east. how do you trot out 21 people with nobody else around and do something like that? it takes organization. it takes protection and i think it has reached a level right now that we might have to have a conversation that special ops and some ground forces might be part of the equation, but basically we have told isis that's not going to happen. we have told other countries who are getting hit by this group we're not going to put ground troops in. is there a time when we would possibly do that as this continues to grow? >> if you or anybody thinks that we can control the situation in the middle east with ground

troops we need to be prepared to put several hundred thousand troops on the ground. we have problems in syria, yemen, and in afghanistan and now in the libya area. we're talking about a major confrontationcon fron fron fron -- confrontation. let's have a very serious understanding of what it means to put troops on the ground. special operations, that's onebrigades, the armor, the artillery. what's the human cost to americans and others? keep in mind egypt has a very strong military. jordan has one that is not to be neglected. turkey has a major military operation. all of those countries, they are the ones that have to come to

the realization that they are threatened. we can use that to our advantage by working with them, providing logistical intelligence and reconnaissance they have but i don't want to put more boots on the ground there. >> joining me now is steve clemons and editor at large for "the atlantic." there's a lot of ifs on the table. a lot of things have to come together if we're going to stop isis at this point. that's a lot of game plans. >> it is a lot of game plans. the first order issue is what is our strategy. to be honest with you, i'm pretty sure we do not have a strategy. we have not started at the end and worked backwards. you're not going to be able to put a coalition together unless

you know what it is you're trying to accomplish. until the american government decides what we're going to have a strategy and what is it is going to be. to get back to your discussion -- we need to have a discussion at the highest levels about what it is we need to accomplish. >> is this all about strategy? we're not sure about ground troops and how effective they would be, or is it about political will? i believe -- and i'm not advocating this -- we can't sit back and let isis continue to grow and commit these atrocities. there's not a whole lot of difference between putting people in ovens and cutting their head off. it is just a different method. if we're going to sit here and

claim to have the moral authority, i think we're at that point of serious discussion. i do believe that we have seen troops can be effective. it is the aftermath that is so tough. >> i think he was correct when he talked about the numbers involved. we have to be prepared to do two things. first of all, make a commitment to assist those who are there. turkey convince them and everybody else in the region that they have a stake in what happens in the middle east. second, and just as important, we have to make a commitment that we're going to be able to assist them. that means not ones or twos and maybe a brigade here and there. we're talking about several hundreds -- 200,000 to 300,000 troops. we have to make that commitment and secondly we have to make the commitment of time. we have to be there for a while. if we're willing to do that, we

will get something accomplished. i agree with senator mccain in this regard. it doesn't make any sense whatever whatsoever for congress to restrain the president of the united states. >> steve, there's been reports out there that isis has got some very sophisticated social techniques and intel techniques that it is hard for our people to track exactly what they're going to do. where does this go from here? >> i think we have incredibly sophisticated intelligence that we don't often share with regions. what you have been defining is a series of very weak states that themselves don't have the resources to deal with this whack-o-mole of what isis has been able to bear. you need a combination of that intelligence capacity with

something else. i understand your emotion. i understand why you think troops on the ground is an answer here. the bigger answer is the draw away the sunnis tribable support for what isis is doing. it would begin to choke down the fuel that is driving isis. isis is thriving throughout the region because of cooperation and collusion. they're counting on jordan and egypt not being able to take them on. not the western wrapped running dogs of the united states. >> to be very clear i'm not saying we take 200,000 troops today and do this but i do think we need to push the

critical conversation. is this the best way to go? telling all of these other countries that we're counting on there's no way we would get skin in the game with our men and women? i think if isis had a chance to hit america they would probably do it. can we come to that conclusion? what do you think? >> we have troops on the ground in iraq today. we have 3,000 soldiers inside iraq. we have special operations that have operated quietly in syria and we continue to have a serious number of troops inside of afghanistan. there are military operations and boots on the ground in supposed noncombat roles. they are killing thousands of isis fighters approximate. >> geographically, their influence today is different than it was six months ago. that brings us to the question of now what in the united

states. clearly the methods we're using don't seem to be as resourceful as we thought they were going to be. isis is doing what they're doing, but we're -- >> on this show in conversations with you, i predicted this was going to be a very long run marathon not only because bombs wouldn't drop but because the support in these societies and the emotional and psychological support that isis getting from people inside jordan inside egypt, inside kuwait is more substantial than we're willing to acknowledge. until we find a way to extinguish that isis will continue to pop up in all these places. that has to be undone. we don't have a strategy for that. >> do we have the resources to do what we really have to do if it had to get to a military conclusion? >> that's a very interesting question. we have the horsepower in terms

of launch platforms, bombs intelligence gathering capability. we have hardware. the question is whether or not we have sufficient political will to increase the size of the military establishment beyond what we have now. we're about ready to have the smallest army we've had since 1940. there has to be a public commitment to the strategy. otherwise the army, navy air force, marine corps will be too small to command the operation, whatever we decide to do. >> great to have you with us tonight on "the ed show." remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts with us on twitter and facebook. coming up sarah palin's surprise appearance last night on "snl's" special got plenty of laughs. later, five years after the spill. how business in the gulf is recovering from one of the worst

disasters the region has ever experienced. >> i thought that they would get it contained and cleaned up and life would go on for us, but it seemed to go on and go on and the oil kept coming and coming and it got worse and worse. before larry instantly transferred money from his bank of america savings account to his merrill edge retirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k."

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times have changed since i first sat behind this desk. for example, i used to be the only pretty blond woman reading the newsfake news. now there's a whole network dedicated to that.

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oh, my god. of course, governor palin. welcome. >> i'm just curious, jerry. how much do you think lorne michaels would pay me if i was to run in 2016? >> sarah, i don't think there's a number too big. >> just hypothetically then what if i were to choose donald trump as my running mate? >> sarah, that's too much. you're teasing us. >> she'll probably stick to her day job. the half term governor had some fun teasing a 2016 run at the "saturday night live" 40th anniversary special. in reality, 2016 is still looking like a free for all in the republican field. the latest nbc polling asked republican voters to choose from a selection of 11 potential republican candidates.

polls were conducted in three key states. bottom line, a republican frontrunner failed to emerge. mike huckabee leads among republicans in iowa. lindsey graham leads among republicans in south carolina where ben carson rounded out the top five. it is important to note the undecided option garnered double digits and broke into the top five in all three states and surveys. this means voters weren't particularly interested or invested or satisfied for that matter with any of the 11 candidates. the inability to rally around a candidate shines a lot on the deepening riffs within the gop. joining me tonight bruce

bartlett. mr. bartlett good to have you with us. what do you make of these early polls? there's nobody jumping out, and i guess whoever can win the media show at this point -- what do you think of the field? there is no front runner at all? >> i think my first impression is this is terrible news for jeb bush, who is trying to run as the establishment candidate and is obviously not getting traction, but then again neither is anybody else. i think maybe it's because in their heart of hearts republicans know they're not going to win in 2016. they don't have a candidate who can beat hillary clinton. basically, it's just a question of who is going to be the sacrificial lamb. >> watching the "saturday night live" special last night obviously it was all supposed to be a joke but she's serious as a heart attack. sarah palin she could not have

had a better question and a better role to play in that whole production last night because she had a serious look at one moment about her. does that make you feel comfortable as a republican? >> it certainly doesn't make me comfortable to see people who have absolutely no business being part of -- being considered seriously for the most powerful position in the united states. sarah palin is a joke. ben carson is a joke. chris christie and rand paul can't make up their minds whether they believe vaccinations are worthwhile. scott walker doesn't even know what his position on evolution is. bobby jindal goes around saying republicans have to stop saying stupid things and then he goes and says stupid things like there are no-go zones in the city of london, which led the

mayor of london to say he is a complete nincompoop. >> what are republicans looking for? hillary clinton is the polling jaug juggernaut right now. so we all know what's coming. so what are the republicans looking for? >> one thing they are clearly not looking for is electability. that clearly is not a factor in their decisions at least at this point in time. and in fact it wasn't really a consideration in 2012 either but i think obviously it should be. i think right now they're just looking for somebody who makes them feel good who says what they would say themselves if they had a national platform and a national stage, whether it is religious kookism and radical

alienism. >> it sure seems like jeb bush is going to have to thread the needle. i think that threading the needle between the extreme right wing and the establishment republicans may not be -- that may be quick sand for anybody. i don't know if that can be done. with nobody coming out polling strong in any way shape or form, it seems to me that the money barons behind the republican party, as far as citizens united is concerned, this is really wide open that the special interests may get exactly what they want. your read on that. >> it is true that it is harder for the establishment, or whatever you want to call it to kind of ease certain candidates out of the race by defunding them because they all have independent sources of money. everybody's got their billionaire it seems who will

support them and so the invisible primary doesn't seem to be, at least at this point, weeding anybody out. although at some point somebody is going to have to cry uncle and throw their support to somebody else, but we're still too far away. >> bruce bartlett, always a pleasure. thanks so much. still ahead countless businesses were destroyed after the bp oil spill five years ago. coming up, stories from the men and women who have had to pick up the broken pieces in the aftermath of that disaster. >> what it did to the gulf coast and our community is that it put a lot of people in a standard of living that was far below what they were accustomed to and like us have had a very difficult time trying to recover.

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welcome back to "the ed show." we have breaking news. a freight train carrying crude oil derailed in fayetteville earlier today. dispatchers say subsequent explosion set one home on fire. the nearby water treatment plant is shut down after some reports indicate oil could be leaking into the river. no word yet on the cause of the accident or injuries. we'll continue to follow the latest of fayette county west virginia, and bring you updates as they come in. we're right back. the winter weather that's been punishing parts of the south has dumped a foot of snow on parts of kentucky and left

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tonight on "the ed show." we start a week long series on the gulf today, five years after the oil spill. it is virtually impossible to cover every facet of this historic event. over the next five reports we hope to give you a sense of what many americans have experienced. the devastation, the environmental impact, the health

concerns, the restoration projects, and the legal fight to achieve restitution. for some americans, life will never be the same. >> we really had high goals for this restaurant. it was doing $2 million a year. it was great if you will mom and pop operation, but it was my son and i. we were just having a wonderful time. everything looked good and then all of a sudden -- >> five years after the oil disaster businesses have been lost and lives have changed forever. >> the spill took place, sales dropped 45%, 50%. couldn't make payments to the bank and the bank after three or four months took the property back in december 2010. >> i'm more upset in my heart

that they did what they do to the gulf. what i put down on the bottom, i could put there for generations to fish on. >> people who depended on the gulf for their livelihood said they are left with nothing but debt, stress and the loss of their dreams. over the year, he constructed what's known as living wrecks to support fishing. that's all gone. >> here's the deep water horizon. >> that's correct. >> 54 55 miles from where we are now. where were you operating? >> i was operating right here in this area. i concentrated my wrecks in this area here. all these little xs are where my wrecks are. i created them over here because the oil platforms, you're not allowed to drill in florida waters.

the oil platform stopped at the florida border. >> are there other guys that do what you do that are out of business? >> yep. a lot of them. a lot of them. just out of the clearwater area, out of the one marina that i worked out of three captained packed it in. >> in your commercial operation you created habitat that drew the fish in. >> exactly. exactly. >> that's all again. >> the little fish, everything that was there is gone. barnacles, sea grasses urchins, clams, oysters. gone. >> it is almost hard to find the words when at no fault of your own you have lost everything and are left with just memories.

>> what it did to the gulf coast and our community is that it put a lot of people in a standard of living that was far below what they were accustomed to and, like us have had a very difficult time trying to recover. people are doing things that they would have never done had their livelihood not been affected by that bp spill. >> what are you doing now? >> i retired. >> you didn't want to retire. >> no. i love what i do. i have pictures of me at 2 months old in a bassinet on long island sound. i was here in august of 1986 in clearwater, and i've been here ever since. >> do you think bp has a clue

who you are? >> nope. they don't care. it's not that they don't know. they don't care. >> so you're living on hope and a prayer? >> yes, sir. most definitely. that's all i have at this point. >> five years ago, you had no idea this is where you were going to be. >> not at all. >> when that oil spill took place, within hours did you know what the future held for you? >> no, sir, i didn't. i thought that they would get it contained and cleaned up and life would go on for us. but it seemed to go on and go on and go on and the oil kept coming and it got worse and worse. >> this warharf in florida was a thriving business and then the oil spill took place and almost instantly lives were destroyed, things changed and future dreams just erased.

these folks just think life has played a dirty trick on them. >> my wife is 75 and is still working because our income was affected. >> i'm 71 and still working because our incomes were affected. our retirement goals are affected because bp hasn't come to the plate and fixed things. >> look at rusty's place here. they built this blood, sweat and tears. 15 years of their lives went into and after the spill it was all taken away. their livelihood, their careers, the heart and soul of everything they built was taken away from them. >> what hope do you have that this is all going to be corrected? >> little. >> very little? >> very little. >> describe what you've been through. >> it is like starting over with a mountain of debt so that you can't start over and being in

limbo and waiting for bp to do the right thing and make us whole, so to speak, so that we can start over. over the last five years it's been difficult. very difficult because before that occurred, the oil spill we had owned this place for 13 years. it's been open since 1976 so it had a great name and did a great business here in the area. >> life was good. >> life was good. >> they lost the wharf they operated for 15 years in florida. the oil came to their dock and the rest is history. >> how immediate was the damage to your business? >> a week right afterwards. the fears of contaminated seafood. you could smell the oil in the air if you were out here on the deck, and it was a very strong

toxic oil smell. the guests stopped eating seafood because of the worries of the dispersements of the oil contaminating the seafood. >> so you have moved on in your career but you have this bank note just hanging over your head. >> yes, sir. i have moved on as a restaurant manager, but certainly making, you know a lot lot less. the dream of being your own boss is gone at this point. >> whatever money they lost from the spill is much greater than their true loss because they lose their livelihood. they have lost their business. >> what is left is irreversible personal damage. >> what were you thinking when you saw those pictures on tv?

>> right at the well head? >> yeah. >> i was in tears. it's not like i only worked out there. when i'm offshore for ten days, that's where i'm living. somebody gets in trouble, sure, i'll give you a hamburger. then that happened. within the first two minutes, they dumped more oil in the gulf than i have ever in my lifetime put anywhere. i want to keep it going so my kids can have something in their later life. i got nothing. >> stay tune all week because each day we'll have a new story. we have a new look at the effects of the oil spill five years later. coming up in this hour why a louisiana judge on friday just gave a pass to nearly 100 oil companies that are nearly

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sexy. go national. go like a pro. welcome back to "the ed show." the impact of the environment and what residents tell us they are seeing. >> this whole shell fell off right here. this should be shell going all the way to the bottom. that's a cancer right here, he got. >> that's a cancer, right there? >> yeah. >> you can tell by the color of the shell? >> the shell is gone. >> the shell is gone? >> you feel it right there. just ate that shell up. >> that's coming up tomorrow on "the ed show." up next, a louisiana judge is letting big oil companies off

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what's that thing? i moved our old security system out here to see if it could monitor the front yard. why don't you switch to xfinity home? i get live video monitoring and 24/7 professional monitoring that i can arm and disarm from anywhere. hear ye! the awkward teenage one has arrived!!!! don't be old fashioned. xfinity customers add xfinity home for $29.95 a month for 12 months. plus for a limited time, get a free security camera call 1800 xfinity or visit comcast.com/xfinityhome. welcome back to "the ed show." finally tonight, nearly a hundred big oil companies will not pay for decades worth of damage to the louisiana coast. a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed in 2013 by a louisiana flood board. the lawsuit was seeking billions of dollars in damages from oil

and gas pipeline companies. "the new york times" called it, quote, the most ambitious wide-ranging environmental lawsuit in the history of the united states. shell, chevron, and bp were moong the companies in the lawsuit. the u.s. geological survey estimates that louisiana's wetlands could disappear in as few as 200 years. the united states interior department estimates wells drilled by the oil and gas industry have caused anywhere from 15 to 59% of the erosion. the lawsuit would have forced the industry to help pay for an estimated $50 billion in coastal restoration and protection in the state. governor bobby jindal praised the judge's decision, he opposed the lawsuit and signed a bill last year trying to squash it. his bill was found unconstitutional. the flood protection authority is expected to appeal the

judge's decision in an effort to get restitution. i'm joined by ring of fire radio host and also america's attorney. i should point out that he was not involved in this lawsuit but certainly is qualified beyond to give his thoughts on this. mike is this oil and gas getting off the hook big time? how else do you view it? >> what bothers me, this is an obama-appointed federal judge that gave this industry a pass on a $50 billion lawsuit in an area around louisiana where land loss is about a football field every hour. by the time your show is over they would have lost another area that large of wetlands. this is wetland coast. an area where the industry pumps more toxic karsin jens into the air and water than most places in the world including china. as they do, the state's coastal westlands are disappearing.

what's very important about the story is that the obama federal judge nanette brown worked as a corporate defense lawyer for decades for the same oil industry that she gave the pass to. she was a hands-on oil and chemical lawyer for decades who represented industry polluters in some of the ugliest environmental cases in america. it's interesting that it started out in state court, until the oil industry fought desperately to have the case put in front of nanette brown so she could do what she did, make the case disappear this. this is a very important part of the story. for decades she sat in courtrooms defending the people she gave the pass to. so the net result is that more than 1,900 square miles of coastline has vanished in the last 80 years, and the industry is continuing to pollute what's left. what's also industry the industry has admitted. there's nothing equivocal about

this. they admitted that they're responsible for approximately 40% of the wetland loss of the state. they came out and said yes, we did that. so basically that this judge, who worked for the industry -- by the way, she had a unanimous approval in the senate, no democrats asked these questions. no republicans asked this question about what this woman's background was. she was good on social issues bad on issues like this. >> doesn't the federal rivers and harbors act, clean water act and the coastal zone management act govern coastal erosion? there is legislation that deals with coastal erosion, so how could she come to this conclusion that if there's coastal erosion and it can clearly be attributed to the industry, that they would not have any responsibility in any kind of restoration or clean-up? >> well, she comes back. it's a cop-out. you say the legislative body has

to take action, that she doesn't have the power to take action that we can't see the real causation that's at work here. the science can't tell us who is really responsible that there are too many companies and we can't point the finger to any one company. if you read what she had to say it's a cop-out right down the line. again, ed, this industry basically admitted guilt. they said, we did this, we're responsible for 40% of the erosion. but oh, by the way, we're going to continue doing business just like we've done and this industry-captive judge dismissed the case where there was nothing less than an admission of guilt here. >> later on we'll have a story on cat island, what it was before the spill and what it is today. you almost have to see it to believe it. it's absolutely devastating. and that whole area, those islands have gone through just enormous erosion and devastation. so say that the oil companies

don't have any responsibility whatsoever it seems amazing to me that a judge could rule that way. but moving forward the attorneys for the flood authority say they're looking at the ruling. what do you think from what you know of this would be the opportunity of an appeal? >> it's a very difficult appeal. the fifth circuit has typically sided up with the oil companies. the bp case is an exception. the fifth circuit has been very very good on the bp case because the devastation has been so incredible and so clear. on this case, this case going to the fifth circuit it's a long shot, if you want to ask my opinion about it. i think it's a tough road. and i think this judge knew that in the way that she wrote the opinion, in the way that this case is basically going to disappear, and the damage is going to continue for an awful long time because they're not going to change the way they're doing business. ed, real quick, there's an area called cancer alley. it's even worse than the story we just told. maybe we can talk about it sometime. >> okay, our series will continue tomorrow night and

throughout the week. nick, appreciate your time tonight. that's "the ed show." "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, ed, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, the gop's historic interference with an american president. it's president's day. a day to honor all presidents, past and present, regardless of party. and yet on the eve of president's day, a brazen political attack from republicans, undermining the commander in chief. speaker boehner explaining why he invited the israeli prime minister to address congress without telling president obama. >> i wanted to make sure that there was no interference. there's no secret here in washington about the animosity that this white house has