barack obama, john mccain, all in 2008, all surrounded by secret service. i found the same thing. incredibly professional. the idea that these guys are turning into keystone cops over the last five years seems very troubling. >> we're out of time. patrick lennon, thanks for joining us tonight. hate mail. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. if you're in public life, you get hate mail. you also have people saying things that aren't true. nothing has been quite so underhanded as passing around this letter to sabotage the serious talks with araujo.

in addition to hillary clinton s. vice president biden, john kerry and "wall street journal" editorial page among others today. today the german foreign minister went after it and those who signed it. "new york times" seemed to sum it up with this hid line, republican idiocy. madeleine albright weighed in, saying the stunt was very damaging. here she is. >> it's as if somebody had written a group of members of congress had written a letter to kruschiv during the cuban missile crisis and prevented some agreement to be made. i think it's totally inappropriate, in many ways damages to the system. i'm surprised it's even legal, frankly, i mean, in terms of how you get involved in

negotiations. i think it's very, very damaging to us. >> what do you think iranian leaders think about it? >> i think they probably think we have lost it, seriousry. >> the supreme lead el said it was a decline in political ethics, and the destruction of the american establishment within. he's fairly sophisticated by us. i'm joined by david corn, and republican strategist john feehery. let's go through it. your point of view -- >> watch out, john. >> i know, i think it's contemptuous of the is is that, it's right up there with "you lie" the whole pattern of calling hip somebody from kenya, absolute disrespect of this president, and this is the latest and probably the worst of it. that's what i think. i think it's about him. i think they have absolutely no respect for his office or dignity. that's what they're up to here. i can guess why. >> i agree with you in one

sense, they disagree with the president and don't like him very much. i would say about tom cotton, i know tom and like tom cotton. he has an amazing biography. he knows a lot about war, so i think we have to understand where he's coming from on this. now, it wasn't -- >> did you read what he said yesterday. he wants regime change in iran. i think we've had some experience with regime change lately. it's our job to go around the world toppling governments? >> i would like to see new leadership in iran as well -- >> everybody would, did you. >> regime change -- you know what that means? >> wait a second. >> that's what they said about iraq. he may have served -- >> it's neocon talk. >> that doesn't give him the ability to understand politics than nigh geoconservative, and now they want to do essentially the same in iran.

their option to not dealing -- or trying to get a deal with iran is war, and we -- >> which, listen -- and i -- i would say that there's very little, almost no appetite in this country for going to war -- >> tom cotton, regime change. you kill the talks, what's the option? >> i think the -- >> you hear his option play. what's the play? >> listen, i'm not necessarily support iv of this letter. i would say that 46 other senators joined him. the plan is that they do not trust john kerry. >> what's their plan? >> i think -- >> it's to go to war. >> short of war, increasing sanctions. >> who will help with that. >> that's the question. that's why war is the option. >> senator mccain said it was a rush job, the kind of very rapid process everybody was looking forward to getting out of town because of the snowstorm. he wants -- i guess they

probably should have had nor discussion about it, mccain said, given the blowback, so he's backing away from it. rand paul said they misdirected the mail. >> tom cotton has been in the senate for about three weeks, right? >> what's he doing it for? >> blame the other 46 guys who signed the letter. >> he said it was a sting operation? >> listen -- i think there's deep sgrus of what john kerry and president obama are trying to do. >> wait a second. that may be, but there are appropriate ways to expression a policy disagreement, and i think what happened here is tom cotton, who says he's talked to bill crystal and other neoconservatives came up with a nifty idea, and they started sending it around the senate, and most people saw it as a poke in the eye for barack obama, so john mccain didn't have -- >> i think -- >> that's not exactly breaking news that the senate republicans disagree with president obama on a lot of issues. >> so did you personally believe that barack obama would let the

people -- the mullahs have a nuclear weapon? >> i don't think they would, and i think they think the negotiation is going the wrong way. >> they're trying to slither away from the message. rand paul said the her was meant to be a message to the white house. he's not usually like this. >> i'm not particularly happy with being lecture to by the administration about the constitution. this is an administration who i believe has trampled the constitution at many turns. i signed the letter to iran, but you know what? the message i was sending was to you. the message was to president obama that we want you to obey the law, we want you to understand the separation of powers. >> anyway, today senator lindsey graham had a similar message, saying the letter was justified, because the president threat end to veto legislation that would require -- here's lindsey. >> when he threatened to veto that piece of legislation, he was telling me and the body, i really don't care what you think

about the policies that you created. so i thought it was time to let the iranians know, the president and anybody else in the world that's listens, that there will be no rerelief to congressional sanctions without congress having a saying. >> the old expression from the kennedy administration was -- defeat -- a victory has 100 fathers, defeat has orphans. they're all slithering away. candidates are backing the act. jindal said -- every single person thinking about running for president on both sides should sign on to this letter to make clear to iran that they are negotiating with a lame-duck president. you can't get much lower than that. why are they trashing our president to the mullahs? i think i've 45erd a lot, but they guys have so little respect for obama. >> this is not the first time congress has disagreed --

>> disagreed -- >> you remember the 1980s when reagan was trying to -- it was because of a disagreement with the congress and the president. the treaty of versailles was is a disagreement. this happens and it's part of the deal. this they have a right to voice the disagreement. >> they have the right to voice the disagreement. they don't have the right to write to a foreign enemy on their own terms and say don't pay attention -- >> they have the perfect right to do it. they just did it. >> read the logan act sometimes. >> it says specifically says the members of congress does -- >> no, it doesn't. >> i read it. >> okay. thank you. >> it's a way to express views without doing it in this marine. >> i think it's part of the low treatment of this president. thank you john feehery, you had a difficult job here. you were the washington generals against the globetrotters, and you lost by 15. you're supposed to lose by 15. thank you, david corn. i'm joan by sandy berger,

the former national security adviser for bill clinton, snow chairman of the albright no group. talk about the precedence, the protocols, this struck me as completely extraordinary. >> it is, when you weakening the power of this president, you weaken the authority of the presidency. power is indivisible. they're undercutting the authority of our president and the presidency. they've undercut the president in the midst of a delicate negotiation, and they've sent a message throughout the world that the president doesn't necessarily speak authoritatively for the united states. leaders around the world, every day, make decisions based upon their perception of the reliability of the president speaking on behalf of the united states and the extent you call that into question, you call america's power into question.

so i see this more as a one-off ploy. i see this as a group of people who talk about a strong america having contributed to a weaker america p. >> i just wonder whether when bill clinton, the president you served, was engaged in the last 11th hour talks trying to reach a deal between yasser arafat and the israelis. if somebody on the republican side had called up or sent a her with 47 signatures on it saying don't trust clinton, he's a lame duck? i mean, what kind of game is this? >> it's a very dangerous game, and, you know, once this precedent has been set, it's out there in 9 public -- you know, system, and again, you know -- and it -- i don't know how you expect president obama to drive the best deal possible if the other side isn't sure he can

live up to the commitments. the other parts that bothers me, it plays right into the hands of ayatollah homeini has said the united states can't be trusted. it plays directly into the hands of the hardliners. i'm not sure what the purpose of that is. >> to undercut the foreign minister as well. thank you, sandy berger. right now we've had heard a lot about people heading to syria to join up with isis. someone is recruiting american soldiers to return to iraq to train fighters again isis. these guys are out in front for the fight. plus two police officers were shot last night in ferguson, missouri. who did it? it's now a manhunt. another scandal, two agents are being investigated after they crashed their care into the white house barricade after a

night of drinking. is hillary clinton too big to fail? i love that phrase. that's the large question facing democrats, as the only real candidate for president trying to end the controversy over her e-mails. wow. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

you can see pockets of light. now look at this. can you can see it's much darker. scientists -- the images found in 83% of the lights in syria have gone out. just getting dimmer. madeleine albright called what's happening in syria a humanitarian human rights catastrophe of the first order. we'll be right back. and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either.

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welcome back too "hardball."

iraqi forces have made progress this week in their fight against isis. the assault on the ice sill-controlled city of tikrit, finally broke the isis defensive lines. that was yesterday. now racki security forces and shiite militias are making a rapid push. they have regained pricely artifacts, this time in the ancient city of coursebad. an american is recruiting other americans to do the same. first i'm joined by bill kneely, who was in the city of erbil in iraq. bill, give us a sense of what's happening on the battlefront there. >> yes, chris. what we do know is that iraqi forces have broken through the suburbs of tikrit and they're heading towards the center. really beyond that, it's very contentious, and we don't know. some of what the iraqi government forces are saying

really is just fantasy. one militia leader saying 75% of tikrit is in their hands. there are owner 150 isis fighters level. iraq's prime minister el abbadi saying victory is close. i think that's wildly optimistic, because we saw car bombs going off today. isis firing mortgage tars, there are snipers, they're dug into a complex of presidential palaces that saddam hussein had in tikrit. i think progress will be very slow. remember how long it took the forces to take the tiny village of coal banni. tikrit is much bigger than that. remember back to 2004 and the american difficulties in fallujah. this will be a long hard campaign. this is just tikrit. we're not talking about mosul, which is ten times the size of tikrit.

that's sometime in the future. but today i was with kurdish forces in northern iraq, a different theater of war, slightly north of tikrit, and they have taken ground from isis with the help of allied war power -- air strikes. so u.s. and coalition war planes pounded the isis positions, and two days ago they overran isis positions and pushed them back. with the help of airpower, things can be done relatively quickly, and the kurds are a disciplined force. tikrit slightly different. there are hell koppetters gunships, but remember there are no u.s. war planes operating in the tick celt area. this is being done wholly by iraqi militias, and those are iranian-backed iraqi militias and iranian commanders on the ground helping in that assault. it will take sometime, but look,

chris, mardan dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said it at congress yesterday, tikrit will fall eventually. the big question is what happens once it's fallen? will an iranian victory in tikrit, if you like, also represent a victory for the coalition and for the u.s.? that's one of the big questions, chris. >> thank you so much. that's nbc's bill neely over in erbil, iraq, of course. we heard about disaffected people living in the west joining isis in the middle east, people with middle eastern backgrounds in many cases. now some americans are headed to join the fight against isis. he's documented conflicts in the middle east before, going so far as to fight alongside the rebels that overthrew gadhafi in libya in 2011. during that time he was xwriched for six months by gadhafi's forces.

now van dyke has founded sons of -- he employs veterans to train local christian groups on the ground. very few people impress me, but you do, sir. what got you into the mood of joining the fight apparently ahead of our own ground troops, because we don't have ground troops fighting isis. >> what got me focused, i was friends with journalists. after they were killed by isis, i thought what can i do to have an impact on this conflict? i knew there were forces on the ground that needed advising and training, so i connected them with veterans on the it done. >> how many people have you gotten in the field. >> a battalion side, 350 just graduated from training on the 15th. we're continuing to talk to leaders of different militia and figure -- >> have they engaged yet? >> now yet. >> how does that stand in terms of potential?

>> they should be ready for some of the battles in the next few months, but largely right now a defensive force, building the confidence of people. >> you're ahead of us on this. i was thinking of the history. eagle squadron fighting with the r.a.f. americans have gone ahead of our country to fight. what's been the reaction by our government? >> so far positive. we've had meetings with the state department in erbil. those have gone positively. >> in erbil, where bill neely is. >> i just came from there last week. >> how close to the front have your american colleagues who have been training for this war, how close? >> they could except we're armed, the men we're training are armed. this is very serious work, and we take precautions to make sure that nothing happens to or personnel. >> how good of a chance do we have to beat isis?

the they differ from us in policy generally, but they're the only ones on the ground so far with real force strength there. >> that's exactly the problem. this war will be won by militia, shia, militia, the christian militias, even controlling their own territories and each kicking out isis. >> can you protect the christians? a lot of us who are christians have a particular concerns. have you been able to protect them yet? >> well, we give them the tools to protect themselves. that's the mission of sons of liberty international. the way we do it is entirely by public support. we provide the training through free and through our website, we accept support from the public to be able to fund it. >> what visa do you need to get into these fighting area? >> to get into iraq, you get a visa when you show up in erbil. easy for an american. >> a little sloppy, but i guess you're doing great work. take care.

>> thank you. >> take care of your guys over there. up next, two police officers were shot last night in ferguson, missouri. who did it some that's the question tonight. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

[ gunfire ] [ bleep ]. >> move, move, move! >> get back. stay down. stay down. >> oh, jesus. >> is he hit? >> yes, in the face. the scene outside the ferguson police headquarters turned violent when two officers were hit in an ambush. both were released today from the hospital. the shots were fired at

approximately 125 yards, 375 feet away from the station aimed at a line of 25 officers who are monitoring a group of demonstrators following the resignation of the police chief. here's what st. louis police chief said about the shooter in a press conference earlier today. >> i feel very confident that whoever did this was there for the wrong reason, not the right reason, and came there for whatever nefarious reason it was, but i feel like there was an unfortunate association with that gatheren. >> here's how attorney general eric holder characterized the shooter earlier this afternoon. >> what happened last night was a pure ambush. this was not someone trying to bring healing to ferguson. this was a damn punk. a punk who was trying to sow discord in an area that's trying to get its act together and trying to bring together a community that's been fractured for too long.

>> a damn punk. president obama condemned the attack today, saying -- violence against police is unacceptable. our prayers are with the officers in missouri. the path to justice is one we must travel together. i'm joined with craig melvin, and ryan riley of the huffington post. craig, what's the latest from the police? anything beyond what i just said? >> reporter: no, the two officers we should note, they are expected to recover fully, the one shot in the face, the order shot in the shoulder. they are both expected to recover. we can also tell you about four blocks from here this afternoon a s.w.a.t. team entered a home. three people were taken from ha home in handcuffs. they were questioned, released, no arrests were made, so whoever shot those officers are still on the loose. i talked to an officer a short time ago, that the police presence tonight will be visibly stepped up.

he also said there will be a number of folks not in uniform as well, patrolling not just the area behind me, but the box surrounding this area. there's a vigil that's expected to start at 8:00 eastern, and we would not be surprised if we saw just as many law enforcement officers there as we did folks who were turning out for the vigil. >> have you been able to register the public reaction to this? after all that's gone on after all these terrible months? >> reporter: disgusted, one word. absolutely disgusted. a number of folks we have talked to, including a still council woman i spoke with, a number of the reforms that protesters had been clamoring for here in ferguson for months, a number of those reforming are starting to actually happen. the resignation of the police chief, folks can be calling for the resignation of the police chief since the unrest started. that finally happens, and then to shoot officers hours after

the police chief resigns, a lot of folks are scratching their heads here. a number of folks who were involved in the organized protest movement are saying that's precisely why no one should this i whoever did this last night is associated with them. >> mark, i don't know how you can suppose what happened here, mark, but thanks for joining us. it seems to me that there's an opportunist at work here, a bad guy or two, who saw the cover they got from the demonstrators. they just stood behind them a football field away with some kinds of weapons capable of hitting targets when they were all massed together. >> it's a horrific and cowardly act. you know, committed quite possibly by a criminal opportunist, or provocateur.

whatever reason that person placed in danger not only the fine professionals, that by the way, place their lives on the line on a daily basis and are exposed to type of danger, but placed the citizens, those people who are peacefully protesting, expressing themselves in a legitimate way. so you have criminal opportunists, professional provoke tours that try to blend in and take the focus away from the issues. that's really unfortunate. >> you know, it's not ethnic, it's not new, it's old. every time there's a -- people fish in troubled water. every time there's a protest, whether it's anti-war, the commies show up. i was -- i was in -- and these old commies is what they were, and in this case you have guys and every time there's a dispute here in washington, in georgetown or something, a halloween party out in public, the thugs show much. it's a chance to raise hell.

it's normal, and unfortunately it's sick. >> and they expected this to happen in november after the grand jury decision, and when we saw that massive destruction and a lot of shots fired, a lot of shell casings found in a parking lot, that's when people more expected a tragedy to take place. thankfully the officers survived, but going forward, i think it will be a question of how police respond and how protesters handle this and if they change tactics. >> what's the police position on gun? i've been listening to i guess a lot of my liberal friends, fair enough, that's who i listen to sometimes, and they say this is just too many guns around. what's your experience? do criminals get guns out of the hotel rooms? we have a country with so many millions of guns in it. >> well, with the absence of a formalized and complete national policy on gun ownership, you know, different states have different rules and regulations.

there's always an a gap and opportunity for shot guns to be transported from one legitimate area to an area perhaps that is agents bit more stringent, but i think the larger than just the gun issue is the issue of violence. the amount of violence, of course, much of it is associated with guns. the amount of violence is something that as a society we have to begin addressing. if it includes dealing with gun ownership, gun possession, that type of thing, then i'm all for it. the largest issue of violence is one that's become far too pervasive in our society. >> you know, you're the first person to say it on television. i remember looking at statistics, mark, we find that people, when they want to kill somebody, they kill them through the most ghastly methods, oftentimes without use of a gun. its a violent country. craig, what are you looking for tonight out there? are you going to stay out there all night? are there people in the streets? >> reporter: there's no one in

the streets right now, chris. hey, jay, the protests are being moved? the organized protest, chris, instead of them happening tonight we're told at this point, my colleague just telling me they're going to move to the farmers' market, jay gray telling me they're going to move about a half mile. this of course is where it all went down last night. it will be interests to see if that whaps. sometime we get word that the protest will move, and then you've got six or seven dozen that show up somewhere else. >> but the police response tonight, i was told about minutes before we went on the air, that the police are going to be in full force tonight to make sure what we saw last night doesn't happen again. we should note, only eyewitness told me that one of the things he noticed last night is a number of officers were wearing body cameras, so presumably investigators will be looking at that or have been looking at it through the course of the day to get an idea about who did this.

>> yeah, we'll see what that protest ends up being like tonight. thank you, craig, mark and ryan riley. what's going on with the secret service? two agents crashed their car into a barricade after a night of drinking. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

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welcome back to "hardball." prostitution scanned always, fence jumpers that make it within steps of the president's residence and now another one, the guys who we trust to protect president obama's life. the obama administration is investigating an incident involving two senior secret service agents who crashed their cruiser into a white house barricade, disrupting an active investigation into a suspicious package. they did it all after drinking at a party. one of the agents is mark connelly, the second in command on president obama's security detail. he's right up there with him. as you see he's in these pictures, often to the right of

the president's side. anyway, "the washington post" broke the story in a big front page splash today. as they reporter, quote, late today nbc's kristin welker reported according to the two sources familiar with the investigation, the secret service agents were driving an estimated 1 miles an hour into the barricade, which is always a sign of something. a roundtable tonight jonathan allen, michael duffy, the washington bureau chief for "time," and emily shultheis. when people drive really slow, cops will stop you because they figure you're drunk. >> it read like it's out of a comic book or fantastical story,

the idea there is a suspicious package and secret service officers are coming back potentially xwoxed driving right next to the thing as they pull up. >> i thought they were off-duty coming up for a party. they may have parked at the white house for convenience. >> are you ever off-duty and near the white house? i don't think there's such a thing. this isn't just another government agency. this isn't like the mint or ftc. protecting the president is one of the most important security mission there is. the world almost turns on the office of the presidency. markets are certainly confident or not because of it, and we have an agency that, you know, it reminds me of karl marx repeats itself, six months ago they let someone get into the first floor -- >> what's that tell you?

>> it's completely broken. the leadership is completely broken. >> you hear that? this is systemic? >> i would disagree in this way. i think this particular incident is very different in most ways. the one thing that, you know, strikes a chord. >> alcohol was involved. >> but the big thing that is the same is the supervisor told the officers to let these guys go. that is a systemic issue. >> he let them off. >> but in -- it was a going-away party for a longtime secret service officer. that's the kind of thing that -- and i'm not excusing it in any way, but that's the kind of thing that happens that's not necessarily indicative of a systemic problem. the fact they were driving back by the white house and happened for do it at a time where there's a suspicious package is the worst luck in the history of the world. to emily's point it's like the keystone cops. >> there is an ethos among secret service a little, the big

going-away party to have fun? >> i don't really know too much about what the -- what the atmosphere is like. >> i think this is an agency that used to have a lot of pride in itself and took the mission seriously and there's no sign that they do that anymore. >> you have a point. here's a sampling of foul-ups under this president. less than a year, two reality tv stars got past security checkpoints at a state dinner and actually meet the president. in april of 2012, roughly a dozen agents are caught soliciting prostitutes in colombia ahead of the president's visit. two months later "the washington post" discovers that white house agents had been removed from duty to protect a personal friend of the boss, their boss. in september of 2014, "the washington post" also reports that the agency bungled an investigation into a shooting incident that left a bullet hole just feet away from the president's living room. and today we learned two senior agents while under investigation

for allegedly driving into a white house barricade after a night of drinking, that's occurred. pattern? >> we'll see what both the executive branch does about this agency now, which they already overhauled once. >> they have a new laterer there. >> i think it's terrible. that's the part that fits the pattern. two guys driving drunk making a terrible decision, one of them being close to the president is kind of a one-off. it's a different type of thing. the fact that a supervisor is telling officers and thinks that's appropriate, knowing they're under such scrutiny. that fits the pattern of a systemic pattern. >> our image of these guys is incredibly fearless, take a bullet for the president and a certain marine of carrying themselves that suggests 6:00. the roundtable is staying with us. up next democrats have big

question questions about hillary clinton, somebody calls her too big to fail, which is an interesting parallel to the banking industry. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ (explosion) ♪ (explosion) ♪ lead your heroes in the hit mobile game! download heroes charge now!

well, chris christie is making sure he party doesn't move on without him. allies of the governor have launched a super-pac to raise unlimited money to a campaign for him. it's called america leads, and his money man ken langone said

he started raising money. they duke it out for early front-runner status. we'll be right back.

we're back. in "the new york times" says she's too big to fail. there's a phrase. democrats are alarmed about her lack of readiness. in the wake of the private e-mail controversy, the spotlight on hillary clinton remains bright on the right and in the press. there are now at least three house committees eyeing new probes into clinton. here's what the washington post writes today.

senior democrats are increasingly worried hillary clinton is not ready to run for president. and a less than enthusiastic portrait of this headline. mrs. clinton, many democrats say is simply too big to fail. i'm up at the round table again. jonathan, michael who has hillary on the cover in this latest issue. there it is. what do you think of that cover? >> what do you think of that cover? >> i didn't think it was positive. >> it wasn't joyous. >> it was a little bit dark i thought. it wasn't that bad. >> that campaign is nowhere ready to launch. what she had to say wasn't very convincing. and the staffing was horrible. they put out a fact sheet an hour later. well, they still move at pre-internet speed. there's still a steam powered operation in an internet age. that's going to be a factor here

in whether she can scale up and do his in a different age than eight, ten years ago. >> let's talk about that. that story seems to be driven by the front pages, not her enemies but by reporters on a story that they're biting onto. they're not leaving go of. >> this is something to come back to the earlier point. she is -- hillary is operating on a very small staff right now. that's why you see headlines today about her staffing up further on the press operations. this is something that had she had that in place, there are a lot of democrats who feel like she could have handled this more quickly, more gracefully, and overall better. >> you think it's a staffing problem? >> i think it's part of it. i don't think it's the whole thing. >> i don't think it's a staffing problem at all. i think it's a situation which reflects one of the great weaknesses of hillary clinton which is that there's a belief that there's one set of rules for her and another set of rules for others. there's no real way for her to articulate that. her staff was arguing about the best thing they could have. >> let me try this.

good people are answering last week's question. anybody can figure it out. how do you answer next week's? until you're ready to do that, you're not ready for president. when you hear the tough question come zinging at you, can you handle that and if you can't handle the question with an answer right away, you have to answer it with something. you got to say something. then go go back and talk to your people to get the answer. this was rolling disclosure. nobody in the public likes rolling disclosure. >> in little rock she was a good in the courtroom. they called her death. that's how good a lawyer she was. we watched her in public over the last 10, 20 years. i don't think i've seen her perform -- >> but that's a prepared case. >> but she's that good. >> at that. >> but yesterday her eyes were buried in her notes. it was quite revealing. i've never seen her look down as

often. >> what do you think a person like that needs in politics? is it somebody within three feet of you that says slow it down, we'll get to this later. they say don't answer that right now. i mean, you need almost -- >> saying your answer isn't good enough, you've messed up. now let's fix it this way. and then the candidate has to listen. as jim baker says. someone to tell the president you're messing up, george. i'm not sure she has that. i think she'll need it eventually. >> you know anybody around her like that? >> not just someone. >> anybody to change that act? >> not just people around her. it's got to be one person. she's got 10 or 20 people adviser her on communications. >> are they all saying you're always right hillary? >> of course. i think sometimes they say you're wrong, do it this way. but then they fight each other and start leaking to the press. >> is it that bad? >> i think that that's -- when you were trying to incorporate, like -- you're talking about

various operatives from the obama campaign, from her team, her inner circle, all the people who worked for her for decades. it's not easy. and people are going to disagree. and that's -- it was a problem for her in 2008 and it's going to be very difficult for her to avoid this time. >> too big to fail, is that a phrase that means something? >> absolutely. she's too big to fail in the primary and not too big to fail in a general election. i think there are democrats very fearful of that. but democrats are always very fearful. >> does she want one? to get her in shape? >> she should want one, it would make her a better candidate for the fall. let's remember here, every investigation, every scandal, even every impeachment the clintons have faced have improved their approval ratings. have set the stage for just another relaunch. they aren't susceptible to the same rules that other politicians are. >> i think that's true. >> i think that's true of him. it's less true of her. >> we'll see. yet to be seen. although it didn't work last time. jonathan alan, thank you. you're the tough guy tonight. thank you.

when we return, let me finish with the republican opposition toward an american president which we're watching. it's all part of what they've been doing since the beginning. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. the name your price tool. she's not to be trusted. kill her. flo: it will save you money! the name your price tool isn't witchcraft! and i didn't turn your daughter into a rooster. she just looks like that. burn the witch! the name your price tool a dangerously progressive idea.

if you want to succeed in business, mistakes are a luxury you can't afford. that's why i recommend fast reliable comcast business internet. they know what businesses need. and there's a no-mistake guarantee. if you don't like it, you have thirty days to call and get your money back. with comcast business internet you literally can't mook a mistick. i meant to say that. switch today and get the no mistake guarantee. comcast business. built for business. let me finish tonight where i started. some day years from now people will look back on this presidency and see it in sharper contrast. they will read how it started with the republican senate leader calling for the president's defeat.

declaring that the business of the opposition from the first day was to ensure the new president "a" accomplishes nothing and "b" gets booted from office as quickly as possible. they will read up a u.s. congressman yelling you lie during a state of the union. how the speaker of the house invited a foreign leader to denigrate his foreign policy. and they'll learn a new senator from around got the signatures of 46 other senators on a letter to the hardliners in iran urging they reject the efforts of this president to keep them from building a nuclear weapon. they will read all this and wonder what made this republican opposition so all out contemptuous of an american president. below the dignity historically accorded to office. they will look at the concerned effort of legislative leaders in three dozen states to make it harder for minorities to vote. they will then look at a picture of this president, a picture of

this man and perhaps get the idea of the age of jim crow managed to find a new habitat in the early 21st century republican party. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in," ambush in ferguson. two police officers shot during a protest and an intense manhunt still underway tonight. >> this was a punk. >> we'll go to ferguson live with the latest. then, hillary 2016. why there is no plan "b." plus, to e-mail or not to e-mail? >> you can have every e-mail i've ever sent. i've never sent one. >> the privilege of no paper trail. and is bridgegate back? >> i don't remember even having a meeting with david wildstein. >> an investigation into governor christie's fall guy.