it in life but it reminds us not to let our biasses blind us from true greatness. greatness should never be based on who you are but what you do. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. clinton versus bush. don't bet on it. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington, and campaigns matter. some candidates look bert after them and some look much worse. pore nunts the right wing has been running a campaign against hillary clinton. that campaign has been relentless on conservative media, among republicans on capitol hill and among all the republican candidates for president. long before they make their candidacies official they make their contempt for hillary clinton official. the pounding on benghazi and the e-mail server has been non-stop

and it's worked. we've got the polls to show t.polls that show not just lowered favorability or higher unfavorability for secretary clinton but lowered numbers of honesty and trustworthiness. jeb bush has also suffered in the polls. these many weeks of playing defense on iraq and other issues have left him half the candidate he was heading into this race. once seen at the prohibitive favorite he's battling his way in the pack one of several republican contenders fighting to stand out. joining me is stephanie cutter the former deputy campaign manager for barack obama back in 2012, former rnc chair michael steele msnbc political analyst and joe scarborough who is the host of "morning joe." according to a new poll from cnn opinion research today, 46% have a favorable opinion of hillary clinton, 50% do not have a favorable opinion of her. it's the first time those numbers have been upside down since 2003 but look at this, a majority of 52 it is say clinton does not care about

people like them. that's bad news. it's also an even split on whether clinton is inspirational or not and she's lost ground on the question of honesty and trust, on that question only 42% now say she's honest and trustworthy while 57% say she's not trustworthy. i want to start with you, stephanie. you've dealt with this frying to protect candidates over the years. this number shift, is this because of the constant talk about these issues like benghazi and the server? have they just worn her numbers down? >> i first want to say this is one poll of many polls, and the -- the polls do show her still winning in the horse race and have -- >> we'll get to that number. >> but in terms of has the beating taken -- had an impact? yes, absolutely. largely a one-sided conversation happening out there, about some of these issues whether it's the foundation or benghazi, and i think when we see her announce her campaign which they announced would be happening june 13 a rally in new york

maybe some of the other side of this story could be put out there in a much more forceful way. >> michael? >> yeah. i think stephanie is right. the reality it is and this goes back a conversation we've had over a year ago, republicans going back to 2011 and '12 made the decision that hillary would be one of the central players in their presidential drama, and they have relentlessly gone after her on the least little thing to the most important, and so, yeah, after a while, like a cut by 1,000 knives you start to bleed, so -- but this is -- this is good for hillary this early. if that were next year, if we were in june of next year and these numbers are at this level, that presents a real problem, so does it give someone like a bernie sanders a chance to make some noise? 5,000 people show up at a real. hillary's got to pay attention to this because those cuts are beginning to cost her. >> that's the big question for you, joe, and is she better off playing rope-a-dope, didn't campaign for a long time didn't say she was a candidate, still

isn't saying she was a candidate, hasn't gone on the offense, accepted the blows. would she have been better off running an aggressive offensive campaign against the republicans from the day they started attacking her? would it have made any difference? >> hillary's problem is jeb's problem. they -- they both are allowing others to define them. hillary's problem though is not rush limbaugh or the national review or "wall street journal" editorial page it's that they are attacking "new york times" reports. they are attacking "washington post" reports and attacking "wall street journal" reports, and there are a lot of questions out there that she can't answer right now, that she doesn't want to answer right now, and so she's sitting back and she's on the defensive, and if she could get out and explain away the server, if she could get out and explain a lot of foundation issues i'm sure hey lot of these numbers would change. jeb though has the same problem. jeb is on the defensive. he's fumbled around on george w. bush being his top adviser to the middle east and you see a

tale of two safe candidates who are actually seeing their numbers tank. it reminds me what happened to giuliani and hillary at this time during the cycle in 2007 and it's the same problem. for jeb to be losing support among evangelicals and moderates at the same time is very tough for him. for hillary, to watch her numbers, and i wrote them down from the "washington post," her numbers for women under 50 dropping from 72% to 48%. >> yeah. >> pretty staggering and -- and both of these campaigns are too safe. they need to -- to start getting aggressive and punching back or else they are going to see those numbers fall and they will see the same problems that set in with mitt romney setting in with them. >> let's take a look at those numbers. jeb has been knocked off the top spot. having the bush name is not necessarily a plus right now. 56% say that jeb bush the name that he, a makes it less lick likely for jeb to get their

vote. go back to stephanie on this. the name bush, is it bushed? is it gone? think it is. >> yeah. >> i -- i look at these numbers, and watch him falling back into the pack. everybody knows who jeb bush, is but he -- i think joe's right. he hasn't been out there -- i can't think of a strong performance by him yet this cycle where he stood on tv and we all watched him give a barn burner. >> i think he hasn't distinguished himself in any way. the thing that people found appealable about him regardless of his name is that he stood up of things he believed in regardless of party, immigration or common core. haven't seen him do that defend those policies and he's tried to blend in with the pack because he has a problem with conservatives. he also has a problem with the larger country the way he answered the question on iraq. that should have been a no-brainer. no, of course we shouldn't have gone into iraq knowing what we know now but it took him three or four days to answer that

question. >> i think hillary's campaign is responsible for the trustworthy numbers because when you say you're not going to run questions, say i'm going to run a control campaign you put the message out there. nobody else did. >> everybody else is defining you but your own team. >> you are defining one fact. i'm not answering any questions. that's a statement. >> and of course after a while if you've got one side that's saying see, she won't even respond to a question and this is why, pause she's afraid of x, y and z and you don't respond to that. you get into this cycle where the public gets this perception that you think you're somehow better, you're somehow bigger than, and you don't want to engage while everyone else is engaging. >> that's a question we all ask, why won't she answer a question? why won't she hold a press conference and why won't show stop being so controlled? if all of these issues are being drummed up by the right wing noise machine it's very easy to go out there and hold a press conference and answer all the questions. she can't do that right now

because they -- they have made up to $200 million. there are very complicated relationships that none of us understand right now and -- and maybe they are all legal and maybe they are all on the up and up but if i were hillary clinton i would have scores of lawyers poring through everything trying to figure out where i was going to get blind-sided. maybe they are all legitimate, make no mistakes about it. the clintons made this much harder for themselves than they needed to if they knew she was running for president again. >> let's take the numbers again. break down the trustworthy, ueven further. the new "washington post"/abc poll shows over the course of a year hillary clinton has lost 12 percentage points in the honest and trustworthy category. look at that shift, from a pretty strong advantage in '14 in june this time last year to now being 11 points down in that department. you know, i think it's -- let me just ask. i think if you ask the question a little different you get a little different answer. is hillary clinton private in her manner a person that doesn't like to talk a lot about

herself, a person who prefers to live in that world she lives in, the hillary world? think most people would say yes. now some people would find that bad and other people would say we can live with that. she's not going to change. as president she's going to be just the way it is. personalities don't change but it may well be her up against a rubio they will say i want her because she looks like a grown-up. >> that poll i don't think asked about -- they asked about jeb bush but didn't ask about other republicans, at least not as far as could i see but on the jeb bush question he's only a couple of points above her in terms of trustworthiness so -- >> i was asking about that. >> part of that is moving from secretary of state back into being a politician. this is a natural fluctuation in these numbers. >> right. >> i think the other thing though when you look at these numbers on trothworthiness, the public i think in large measure bakes that into their calculation already because the general mood about the public -- the public has with government and government officials, they don't trust them. they don't like them to begin, so i don't know if that is as

much as negative for a candidate in 2016 as it would have been in 2008 or 2004. >> i remember years ago, joe may remember this maybe before you were in the house, joe, but richard gephardt was so disrespondant, a completely honest politician and had this poll that said do you believe the congress people members from congress, when they go home from flight from capitol hill steal office equipment, joe, on the way home and the poll said yes. they believe on the way home they take typewriters out the door and he said once they believe, that i get chills thinking how horrible that is if they think that about politicians why worry about outside speaking deals? you're already a thief. >> my mother would always send around that spam e-mail that i'm sure we all get through the years. do you know of all the members of congress 287 are indicted 104 -- these outrageous numbers and after about the fourth time i said, mom, you know i'm a

member of congress. stop sending this around but people want to expect the worst, but with the clintons, as we've seen time and time again. they are usually smart enough to beat the rap, whether it's legitimate or not, and at the end of the day it inlays them and puts an extra layer of skin on their character and they move forward. i think at end of the day, these poll numbers matter because at the end of the day, and i'm going to upset a lot of people on the republican side i think at end of the day we're probably going to have clinton versus bush because i don't believe americans have had a good look at who jeb bush is. they remember the last bush. they didn't like him that much. they liked the first bush but they think that bush is like the last bush i know jeb. he's one of the few politicians i can say i know pretty darn well. i've seen him work up close. he is nothing like his brother in terms of -- >> that's what i hope. i hope, that joe, but i think this campaign has not allowed him for whatever reason to

distinguish himself. >> i think that's right. >> he should have said i would have never taken us into iraq period. just say it. >> and let me say, chris. i talked to the bush people and they understand that was a mistake. >> yeah. >> and i will say even for somebody like my investment i've always seen jeb as a guy who is very conservative but also moderate in all the right ways temperamentally, i was stunned when he made the mistake on campaign trail which, of course when it happens. when he said george w. bush would be his top adviser, i think it's that whole bush loyalty thing that i think has really actually hurt him and he'll have to figure out as he bush he says he's his own man. has to run as his own man or he's not going to win. >> last look at the polls, latest "washington post"/abc poll hillary clinton ahead by three points. was ahead back in march by 12. campaigns matter. i don't think bush is running a good campaign. i think hillary is running a defensive campaign.

it hasn't been offensive on a campaign. >> i don't think bush is running a campaign at all at the moment which is part of the problem. >> he's raising money. >> i think for him his launch will be that moment to joe's point where he gets his brother off his back and he has to clear the distance between him and i think the polls also reflect when i said before, the voters have baked it in and despite they don't trust hillary or care for her in that regard she's still beating the republicans at this point. >> a fascinating case. if this guy can win the nomination in the republican party with a mexican-born wife for common core has an intellect and says i'm not the brother but i still think he may be the best candidate. >> joe scarborough, thanks for joining us tonight. see you tomorrow at "morning joe." is it 5:30 or 6:00 eastern time? >> it's early enough. 6:00. >> 6:00. >> sometimes it's even earlier. 6:00 tomorrow morning. >> yeah. >> thank you stephanie, are you a star and thanks for coming back here. michael steele, as always we get used to the good guys here. coming up, so far bernie sanders

and martin momly, don't call him matter, are the only two democrats challenging hillary clinton for the nomination, but here's the big one coming up. former senator jim webb of virginia may soon be the third candidate. he's coming to sit right here in a moment. stay for him. he's a former u.s. combat veteran from vietnam. he wants to talk about us and what's going on. we're also going to talk about the former u.s. marine being held in iran right now. congress is pushing to get him released and montell williams and hechtis sister are coming here to make the case and since when did the republican party get so the politically correct? you are looking at two airplane fuel gauges. can you spot the difference? no? you can't see that? alright, let's take a look. the one on the right

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more polling out today on the 2016 presidential race. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. according to a new poll from cnn and opinion research hillary clinton's toughest matchup right now nationally is against rand paul. it's a one-point race. clinton 48 and paul 47. clinton beats marco rubio by three points and clinton 49 and rubio 46. same score against wisconsin governor scott walker 49-46. against jeb bush clinton's lead swells to eight points 51-43 and well ahead of ted ruz, a nine-point race there. clinton 52 and cruz down to 42. we'll be right back. c

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clinton 52 and cruz down to 42. . welcome back to "hardball." jim webb was a combat marine in vietnam. he received two purple hearts, a civil star and navy cross. he served as assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the navy under president reagan and was elected a united states

senator from virginia and could soon be a democratic contender for president. he'd likely be the only can date in either party with combat military experience and one of a few with military experience at all. how would he run against hillary clinton and what would a webb presidency look like? jim webb joins me right now. first of all, let me ask you a question. i've always liked leaders like yitzhak rabin and dwight eisenhower. they go to the presidency or the head of their country without anything to prove. been to battle. jack kennedy didn't have to prove his guts for president. lyndon johnson for whatever reason thought he did. i don't want people to be president to have a test guts. i want that to be established before they get there. you are an interesting attractive candidate for that reason. you've been there. you've been in combat. >> i've been able to have a pretty diversified professional life totally by accident because after i was wounded i had to leave the marine corps. i spent four different periods

during public service and four different periods doing other things and i've been able to accomplish things in government but purely not rely on government service. >> a lot of the neo-cons pencil next like to talk about taking out somebody use the military terminology without knowing what they were talking about. overestimate the benefits of war thinking you can win, underestimate the costs of war because they have never been in one. you know both. you don't win wars, you survive wars. churchill said it's not who is right, who is left you know they get it. we still sort of have this bravado that we can go into a country like iraq and come out happy. >> well, i think, us a know, i wrote a piece in the "washington post" five months before the invasion of iraq warning that this was a strategic disaster if it were to happen that it's going to empower iran allow sectarian conflict to grow in

those sorts of things and i think we're paying the price of that right now. but also paying the price for the way that the arab spring was handled. >> you saw a lot of that coming? >> yes. i spoke about it on the senate floor. i spoke about the iraq war -- yeah, at some cost of my friends at the time. >> military guys. >> but also warning about the consequences of the way we handled the arab spring particularly the libya situation, but at the same time i want to say i think i'm among the strongest advocates of the presence that we need to have in east asia and looking at situation now in the south season sea that i've been speaking and write begun for 15 years now. >> what's the danger over there, from a military terrorized china? >> we have been the guarantor of stability in that region ever since the end of world war ii at some cost here and there, but what china has been doing, along with growing its economy, is

claiming areas in the south china sea as their sovereign right. it's a classic tactic over the years by an authoritarian expansionist country and that they have carved out an area in the south china sea that is about 2 million square kilometers. it's larger than the landmass of the philippines, japan and vietnam combined and overtime over the last several years, they have politicized this area. they have actually declared it as a prefecture in the chinese gornmental they areful triesing it, and in order to maintain the stability in that region we have to address these issues not simple police in a military way, but i think by now with economic or potential economic concerns. >> how do we avoid a war with china in. >> i'm not as much worried about a direct conflict as i am in the imbalance over time that you have with an expansionist power. you saw this with germany when they decided they wanted to create maritime power when they

are basically a continental power. you're seeing it now with china moving towards what they call or what we call a blue water navy and they are actually going to be conducting naval exercises in the mediterranean with russia right now and you see an intim days of an entire region right now that will not come to the table. we need them -- we want them to be a positive contributor to the international environment, and -- and they are -- their conduct -- >> remember when that plane was shot down the ep-3 over there in the early part of this century and i think hillary was a bit too hawkish. i said my god, be careful here. we're not going to war with china. this country is war-weary right now. you know that. >> it's funny. i wrote a piece for the "wall street journal" right after the plane was down in 2001 and it was about chinese expansionism in the region and the measures that we should be taking as a country to make sure that we can promote stability over there.

if you look over the generations, in northeast asia it's the only place in the world where the geographical enters the three historical powers intersect, japan, russia and china, and we have become sort of the stabilizing factor in the region, which is vital. this is the -- >> so obama is right to pivot to asia? >> we did it out of our office two years before obama was elected. >> and you're with the trade deal. >> i have questions about the trade deal. >> you're not with the trade deal. you're like hillary clinton. i thought you were different than hillary. are you for or against it if you had to vote right now? >> i'd want to see the docket umt before i would say because there's a lot of did do dodging this right now. the combat warrior is not dodging at all. >> i'm not dodging at all. i've issued public statements saying they need to show the actual document to the american people. >> okay are. we doing the right thing in

trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with the iranian government? >> i don't think it's to avoid a war. i think what we're seen right now so much activity by iran in the region that we have to make sure we don't sen the wrong signals into the region about whether we are acquiescing with iran eventually acquiring a nuclear weapon. that's the problem with that agreement. we haven't seen that agreement either. >> okay. >> let's go to one air crash -- >> may i make one me and on those types of agreements you do need the specific consent of the congress. i said that in iraq when the bush administration was also putting -- >> you want -- you want a final approval of the deal? >> not just an approach. i think the congress should actually vote on the specifics in the agreement itself. >> yeah. you mean a number of amendment votes. >> whatever it takes. that's what our constitution says. >> when are you going to make a decision to run for president? >> very soon. >> it's june.

>> will it come this month? >> you know we're doing this inway. there are huge consequences on the other end of an announcement. >> when does a presidential candidate go in an i to a we? when you do take a decision you take a decision. >> there's a collective we. >> are you commander in chief material? >> would i leave that to the voters. >> when are you going to do it? >> i'm comfortable with making a decision -- >> you agree with hillary on trade? agree -- i think she's with the real deal on iran but you haven't decided. >> no. this is about the country and not about any other candidate. >> thank you for coming on. senator jim webb who served our country. up next the new push to free a former u.s. marine held captain any of iran. serious business. talk show host montel williams is waiting in the other room to get in mantd reason's sister is also making the case to get this guy back home here and this is "hardball," the place for politics. and we could soon become number one in oil.

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welcome back to "hardball" where the house foreign affairs committee held a hearing today on the americans currently being held in iran. former u.s. marine and iraq war veteran amir hekmati is among those in prison in that country right now. he was charged with espionage while visiting his grandmother in iran four years ago. he was sentenced to death before an appeals court reduced his sentence to ten years in prison. in her testimony today amir's sister sarah hekmati questioned the credibility, the very credibility of iran's charge that amir hostile government and pled for his release. here she is. >> relations between the u.s. and iran are at a historic point, even according to amir's iranian attorney. how can the u.s. still be considered a hostile country to iran when we sit across from them at the negotiating table for the first time in decades? it does not make sense to our fami prisoners in iran have been released when the united states

had no diplomatic relat iran and were not sitting across the negotiating table much sooner than amir. >> anyway following the hearing, the committee unanimously -- the american committee a resolution calling for the immediate release of the united states citizens iran is currently being held captive. i'm joined now by the sister sarah hecht mattie and american talk show host montel williams demanding for the release. you made an iranian appeal to iran, don't you get it, we're talking? can you figure out why they are holding your brother? >> i risch i understood what leverage my brother had and the relationship between the u.s. and iran he has nothing to do with it. he was an innocent man. he was very transparent before he even went to iran just as a disclaimer knowing that there were tensions. i served in the u.s. military. would this be a problem when he applied for his visa.

he was told, no, this would not be an issue and two weeks into his visit he was held capture. once an iranian always an iranian and you can never leave or serve another country. >> well, according to them he was an iranian for two weeks by default because his parents weren't born in iran. when he traveled he had to obtain iranian citizenship in order to visit the country. when we're speculating, they are saying his charge is no lodger espionage, it's cooperating a hostile country, we're assuming that has to do with his u.s. military service and in the supreme court leader's mandate there's nothing written that says a dual national cannot serve in another's military so even his own lawyer in iran says this is conflicting against the iranian mandates as well. >> you're interested in this case because you're a fellow

marine. >> he was a dew citizen. he applied for his citizenship two weeks before he went to visit his grandmother. he served with honor wearing our uniform, wearing the uniform of a marine and we have a marine sitting in prison for 1,773 days. the thing about this he himself has stated i don't want to be considered a pawn in these negotiations, the nuclear talks, he wants to be set free on the fact, that you know he's not cooperating with a foreign nation. he's serving his country, and that's what he did. >> every time you meet an iranian in this country moved here the last 30 40 people you like people. very quick to adapt to our culture. they want to be part of this country, and i also hear what you were just talking aboutbefore we went on the air a minute ago, that the iranian people like this country. >> absolutely. >> and this -- this -- these tragic games where they say they

are going to take a person -- it does seem like they are looking for pawns. >> his father is passing away now. he's been suffering from cancer, and he's literally dying so from a compassionate standpoint why not let this young man come home and see his family this. family -- i have to say this on their behalf. they are doing this. they are battling this fight around the world without any remuneration, without any help so if anybody out there can listen and understand you can follow me at montel underscore williams and also donate. give to giveforward.com/freeamir. >> white house press secretary josh earnest said on friday about the americans being held captain any of iran. >> we will not allow these american citizens to be used as bargaining chips. we're not going to negotiate for their release. they should be released because they are being unheld -- they are being held unjustly. >> i asked president obama a while back about this very issue. let's take a look at what he said about the connection, if there is any, between grabbing your brother and the other americans and these negotiations we're involved in right now.

>> it's not going to eliminate all the other conflicts that we may have with iran but what it does do is create a climate and an atmosphere in which we can potentially start lessening some of the tensions. >> are you hopeful, montel and sarah, that part of this deal in the next couple of weeks we're going to become a little more pro provenmenty between these countries? >> what i want to remain optimistic but, again, amir has been there longer than any other american before him and now we're engaged face-to-face in these talks so my question is if our diplomacy moving forward is going to help release him, then why is he still there? it's longer than others that were before him before we even had this engagement so again amir needs to be separated from that. >> some people think it's because the -- the ayatollah wants to show even if we do cut a nuclear deal in their interest we still have to show them that we don't like him. >> the president did it again. he's yet to say amir hekmati's

name. it's not come out of the president's mouth. he's a marine wore a uniform to defend the constitution. the president should say his name because when he doesn't the iranian guards make sure amir knows that and they go into a cell and say, look your country doesn't care about you because your president won't even say your name. the vice president has reached out but the president needs to say his name. >> again, can you support the effort to free amir hekmati at the website giveforward.com/freeamir and thank you, montel and thank you sarah hekmati, good luck with your brother. >> the neo-condeath squads coming out for rand paul. anybody in the republican party for someone who doesn't stick to the republican orthodox? you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. here at accuweather we get up to 10 billion data requests every day. the cloud allows us to scale up so we can handle that volume. we can help keep people safe and to us that feels really good.

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was shot dead after pulling a knife and advancing towards authorities who were trying tonight view him.

he was shot after he refused to drop that weapon and in china 400 people remain missing after a cruise ship capsized on the yangtsy river. five people are confirmed dead. welcome back to "hardball." the neo--con dead squad has been sicked on rand paul who dared to declare war on the party hawks blaming them for isis and spying on your cell phones here at home and now they are out to purge this dove from the party. >> we're in the going to defeat evil throughness. unfortunately, senator paul doesn't understand that. >> i think rand paul made a terrible mistake. i just hope that we don't have any terrible consequences. >> once this man is living in never never land. >> rand paul should be a leading contender for the democratic nomination for president. rand paul does not belong in the republican party when he carries that message. >> sounds like bernie sanders not like some republican running

for. >> if he reveils over you and other candidates who would you support for commander in chief, rand paul or hillary clinton? >> well, when i came out of my comba would support rand paul. >> well besides being a dove, the party's machinery appears to be ready to purge itself of a few other viewpoints. rudy giuliani perhaps the most hawkish man in the party, said he'd never pass muster in the primaries, and here's why. >> i believe i can't get nominated. >> really? >> because of my views on -- on gay marriage. i'm in favor of gay rights in favor of gay rights. i'm pro-choice. i'm anti-abortion personally but i'm pro choice and i'm pro immigrant and haven't backed down from it. >> in other words, the primary menu has been set. no substitutions at this little ole gop diner. nedra pickler is the white house correspondent of the associated francesca chambers is white house correspondent at "the

daily mail" and steve mcsimmon a democratic strategist. >> francesca, looks like tight rules for admission. check all the boxes, be a hawk and be tough on immigrants no path to citizenship and be against something called common core. got to question the science about climate change the whole thing or you're not in. >> you know rand paul doesn't necessarily need to be concerned what all the other gop candidates think about him but what he needs to be concerned about is what the voters think and quinnipiac took a pal after his filibuster that wasn't a filibuster and his numbers didn't move at all. >> we got him tonight tied -- actually knocking off hillary. >> sure. >> he's only one that's challenging her. >> within the republican primary, his numbers, in the second tier of candidates and so all -- all this that he's been doing hasn't moved him outside the gop field. >> outside the gop they like him, like his independent cut. something about him that says i'm not one of them. >> that's exactly what it is, something about him that says i'm not one of those guys and every time he does this, you know, it hurts him among the

mainstream conservatives who participate in primaries which is unfortunate, but there is a sliver of folks who actually agree with his libertarian tendencies in the republican party. the question is whether or not that sliver comes out to vote. in a 20-candidate field 15% looks like something. has to get into the finals against jeb bush or somebody and then it's going, to you know, is he conservative enough? is he not? >> i'm stunned by the simple fact even somebody like jeb bush who has fortitude married somebody from a different country, broke the bush waspiness, not w. with the iq wouldn't have gone into the stupid war he's loyal but even has to buckle. it seems like this party is so -- it's like homogenized. no cream at the top, right? >> it is striking that you have this many candidates and still their positions are all very

similar. not one candidate who is running who supports gay marriage. >> jindal is like the high priest, saying everybody has to be exactly the same or he's out. he's no good. >> rudy giuliani he's speaking from experience, right? ran in 2008. ran as a candidate. >> he tried to run -- run ron paul out of the party himself. >> and ran as a candidate who supported abortion rights and civil unions is what we were talking about. >> and lived with two gay guys and took so many heat for that. >> got run out of race. >> campaigns are about differences. you can look at rand paul and say he's crazy but may be crazy like a fox because there's a certain sliver of the republican base, the question is whether or not they vote. his father proved that. he had a huge cast of supporters financially. >> here's some of the action rand paul's father ron paul went off on a fox business anchor that saying senator paul has killed his chances of becoming the republican nom northeast. let's watch the action. >> i think you're wrong and i think what you're saying is very

discouraging because what you're saying is truth is unbearable, and i say truth is only treason is an empire of lies. you know you're on the right track when everybody is after you because they -- the status quo can not stand the truth to be put out in the open. those people in this country don't believe the government anymore. >> i've got it to just -- >> that's so true. you know i keep thinking what's the sweet spot right now in american politics? what's the thing if you hit it you win the presidential election. with jack kennedy in the '60s, a country's sense of stasis we're stuck. we lost our momentum from world war ii. we're getting slowed down. let's get this country moving again. hit the point. what's that magic message say? it's i don't think i'm part of the system i'm one of the guys and this guy is saying i don't know what it is yet and maybe hillary will get because she's the first woman candidate or

maybe her resume but there's a sweet spot no one has gotten it. >> rand paul is trying to run on anti-washingtonism and he's tapping into that. i don't think that's strategic for him. he's been talking about this for a long time. >> sure. >> he believes it and he's going down on this, going down swinging on something he believes in. >> i spent some time with him last friday. that's who he is. the roundstable staying with us. up next, a big victory for loretta lynch, rookie of the year as the head of fifa the governing body of world zuc soccer is gone. she did it. knocked the guy out in the first round. this is "hardball" or whatever they say in soccer the place for politics.

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president barack obama today honored two heros of world one one, one african-american, one jewish who had been denied the recognition they deserved because of discrimination at the time. sergeant william shimon was just 19 years old when he dodged gunfire to save wounded soldiers. his daughter now in her 80s says he was denied the honor because of anti-semitism and private henry johnson rescued a wounded soldier from his all-black unit the harlem hell fighters they were called while fighting off a german attack. the medal of honor is generally bestowed within five years of heroic action on the battlefield but in the cases today that requirement was waived. and we'll be right back.

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. we are back. last week u.s. attorney general loretta lynch handed up a massive 47 count criminal indictment against fifa the bosses running soccer. today, sepp blatter announced his resignation in zurich. he's now also the focus on the fed's corruption investigation. if you're a casual fan of soccer or maybe you don't follow it at all, this story matters fop for years, fifa has operated under a cloud of suspicion. the u.s. competed our country did to host the world cup in 2022. and lost out to qatar. now, everything has been turned

upside down. by the way, the swiss have opened up a criminal investigation into those world cup bids. putin, meanwhile, is accusing of us trying to steal the world cup away from him with all this stuff. sepp blatter's resignation at the top is new. we're watching the u.s. attorney general declaring war on what is thought to be a powerful mob boss thought to be invincible. nedra, this is big time for everybody in the world except for maybe some americans because everybody in the world becomes soccer. >> that's right. loretta lynch has become a big star over this. when she was nominated as attorney general, many people didn't even know her name. someone joked today she better step down. this is age win for her. and it helps her start off on a good start right out of the get. it's really hard to follow in the foot steps of someone like eric holder.

he was an attorney general, black, under a plaque president. >> you're talking about it's hard to follow in his foot steps among a certain portion of monikers. but another portion will like her because she's taken down a foreigner, which is always popular in this country and secondly a big shot foreigner who is probably dishonest by the standards of this investigation. >> there is clearly a new sheriff in town and she is famous around the world. you're right the left and the right applaud this because this is an organization that for many, many years people suspected or felt of being corrupt. people did wonder -- >> did pietin buy it too? >> there have been all kind of suggestions and accusations. now we're going to find out. i think probably the federal prosecutor communicated to sepp blatter today that if you go away quietly and quickly it might be easier on you than if you hang around and fight this. we're going to take this apart and everyone is going to know what happened.

>> i think sepp blatter ranks up with the strangest names. let me ask you about this politics. i don't even understand this but if this guy goes down, he's retiring, he's been humiliated. he could go to prison right? >> what's interesting about him is that they're using all of these other investigations into lower ranking officials within fifa to get to him. >> who gets the money? who has gotten the money if they've been selling these world cup championships? who gets the cash? >> that's yet to be seen. i think that's what a lot of this investigation is going to be about. and there are questions about what will happen with the prosecution. loretta lynch started this investigation in her u.s. attorney's office and they're using very novel laws to prosecute this. but it's still a win to have him step down even if they don't -- >> how does somebody sitting in washington, the supreme court, get to bring down somebody. >> zurich? >> i think that's actually a -- >> it worked. somebody did something. >> they're using the same legal

laws that they used to prosecute mobsters and it's the money going through u.s. banks. >> there's been a suggestion or an implication that it was american companies getting shaken down. if it was american companies, you're slightly right -- >> this is the opposite of the black helicopters. instead of the world coming to us us we're going to get the world. i love it. thank you, nedra, francesco and steve. when we return let me finish with the eviction notice that what i'm calling it that rudy giuliani just served on his his own republican party. "how can my car depreciate before it's first oil change?" you ask. maybe the better question is why do you have that insurance company? with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. leave early go roam

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let me finish tonight with this. rudy giuliani today served the republican party with its eviction notice. he did it in new york fashion, big, loud and crystal clear. he said you can't be a republican candidate for president unless you're right on gay marriage mrooeng meaning against it. if you're not right on abortion meaning you want to outlaw it and you don't want to give illegal immigrants a chance to become americans. it doesn't tell the whole story. if you want to be a republican today, a candidate on the republican ticket, you have to be against common core against obama care against gun control, against any recognition of man's role in climate change. this is why the republican party has lost so many popular options for president of late. in fact, five of the last six. it's why even with a platoon of candidates now it has yet to

offer a positive winning candidates for next year. it's hard to believe the majority of american people to agree on so many items to score a perfect 100% on the assigned list of positions people are supposed to take. well if the republican party loses next year it will be for a simple reason. it has too many americans to agree to be simple minded. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. all-in with chris hayes starts right now. >> tonight on "all in," it's down to the point where we can always give each other species. >> it's a small world examine small field. >> tonight as republicans descend on disney. >> yeb bush may be in real trouble. and why the draft elizabeth warren campaign is calling it quits. plus, espn's jeremy sapp has the