just so you know. thank you for watching. that's our show tonight. "hardball" starts right now. bin laden, done that. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm crist matt thew in washington. leading off tonight, the president caught bin laden. the triumph of justice over evil, leadership over talk, barack obama, the cool hand directs it step by step. while the crazies were talking birth certificates, he was working, leading, bringing strength. tonight we see how obama now looks from the outside.

will this make the republicans look look for someone, or will they keep on celebrating the clown show? will they stop enjoying their passion and find a real pick to put up against a proven master and commander. what about al qaeda? bin laden is gone, where is the head now? in ham burg? islamabad? where are they plotting against us. let's find out tonight. bob behrs, and mycosheen is a former special forces officer himself. mike, let me go now with a picture of how this happened, as we understand it. under the cover of darkness, two helicopters hovered over the heavily guarded compound, began to encounter small arms fires from the rooftops. one of the choppers suffered a

mechanical failure and stalled on the ground. two dozens s.e.a.l.s proceeded. they took on the two al qaeda operatives at the edge of the complex, then the u.s. command oz rated it room by room until they found osama bin laden on the third floor with his son, a woman and osama bin laden. a backup helicopter arrived on site. they blew up the crippled chopper before leaving. the entire operation took 40 minutes. there were no u.s. casualties, and president obama and his national security team monitored the raid in real time from the situation room. again, mike, i want you to give us a sense of how it worked. >> this is a classic special force hostage rescue type of operation, but this case you're taking down an enemy, but normally it entails a long-term

helicopter flight landing in a difficult spot. that's the most difficult part of the operation to begin with. you don't know what's on the other side of the door. these operatives, in this case u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s are trained both in infiltration, and in clearing the target, be able to clear rooms, take out enemy targets, protect civilians and get out of there quickly and effectively. it was textbook operation. that has always not been the case in the past, chris, so a big victory for the u.s. and for special operations forces. a classic operation done perfectly. >> great, michael. bob behr, do we have a sense of how much they were caught by surprise? were they confronted with gunplay? a shootout from the second they got there? >> no, they came in quietly. they had no idea this was

coming. once the flash bang grenades stop flying, it's too late. you neutralize anybody in a building like this, nothing they can do. this is -- michael is right, it's textbook, this was a brilliant operation. i've been part of ones that failed in iran in 1979 t it was an amazing thing. i just still can't believe it. >> michael, let me ask you about the thinking of the s.e.a.l.s as they went in there. what were they worried about that might have blown the whole operation? were they afraid there would be more people in there? were they afraid bin laden would be hiding in a safe room, a haven of some kind? once they had the model set up and the training? >> absolutely. they obviously had great preparation. as you mentioned, a model was set up, so they practice it at night, with their night vision devices, able to move stealthily, but they don't know, the intelligence is never

perfect in an operation like this. they don't know if they're going after bin laden or high-value target. they're not sure who is there. they have a hope it's bin laden, but there could be dozens of people heavily armed. that's what they're worried about. fortunately there weren't that many. they took the initiative and gained complete control of the compound very quickly. it was a great operation, as bob said. our community, bob and i have been involved in this for 30 years. we've had some real setbacks, at desert one in meteorology dishi, even back to vietnam when we tried to get some p.o.w.s out of a camp, and the president made the right call. he could have gone different directions. this was a very risky operation. it turned out they made the right decision, and it's a great day for our battle against al qaeda and big boost to our special operations and cia

operatives that put this together. >> do you have different rules in engagement where people get in the way of a high-value start? is it much more dangerous for somebody to get in the way of an operation like this? >> the orders are clear, shoot anybody who even appears to resist. there is no choice. this happens so fast. they're talking about 40 minutes. it didn't take 40 minutes. we're talking about two minutes. it took 38 minute toss collect the intelligence, collect his corpse, which by the way was brilliant. we needed his body to check the dna. we needed to bury it at sea so it didn't become a martyr shrine. we still don't know how the pakistani military was neutralizeded. that's a big question. they couldn't count on that base opening up fire, and there's parts of this operation they're not talking about in the press, as they shouldn't. >> i find it fascinating that -- let me go back to michael first,

then you bob quickly, before we hear a clip from the president. how can the pakistanis live with this? they get up and they realize we've captured the world's most wanted criminal in their country. and they deny -- it looks like a loss/loss for them either way, michael. >> this is a very complex relationship. the pakistanis have tried to hedge their bets in this part of the world for a long time. they're playing both sides of the deck. right now they're in a very embarrassing situation. the good news is they did try to put a happy face, and insinuate they were somehow involved. hopefully we can use this as a positive momentum forward, but i could predict this probably is another step in a very complicated tricky situation, but one that's essential for us to be successful. let's look at the president today. he paid tribute, we knew he

would, to the special operations unit. >> we're reminded we are fortunate to have americans who dedicate their lives to protecting ours they volunteer. they train, they endure separation from their families, they take extraordinary risks so that we can be safe. they get the job done. we may not always know their names. we may not always know their stories, but they are there every day on the front lines of freedom, and we are truly blessed. >> okay. it's 2005, everybody in the world knows that bin laden is probably in pakistan across the border. the people in the community in this this compound existed saw a compound being built up with 12-foot-high walls or higher, they watched barbed wire being

put up, not only being build, but kept quiet with nobody coming in and out for years. are we to believe they didn't think bin laden was in there? this is ground zero, where we expected him to be hiding, somebody building a huge compound, spooledy as well. why would we believe that the neighbors and local police, who have to know what's going on in the locality didn't ever walk in and say, what the hell is going on here? >> we have to assume the worst, that somebody in pakistan, in the military or isi knew bin laden was in there. there is no other explanation. it's a police state. foreigners don't move into a compound and police don't know, period, especially in a military containment like that. the question is how far did it go up? are we talking about a captain or major that was brought into this? it worries me. this isn't a northwest frontier

province by the border or tribal area. they were abutting a military academy. this is very bad news. >> do you agree with that, michael, the fact that he's been sitting there, living basically in civilization in a country we targeted as his probable retreat area, going to, his refuge, and there he was. no doubt it's a tremendous embarrassment for the pakistani government and army and intelligence service. there's no excuse. bin laden was quite smart to hide in the open by moving into a suburban town, outside of the mountains, but he made a mistake by having such a large compound with huge walls and wires, which wouldn't prevent a unit like the s.e.a.l.s getting in there. it just made a bigger target. it shows that clearly even complete duplicitousness on the part of the pakistanists or complete failure. either way they have some

explaining to do to the world and the u.s. government. >> justice is hard to find, about you this ghi died a lot better than the people he killed on the world trade center. i'm telling you, this was quick, two minutes, he's lucky. anyway, thank you michael sheehan, and bob baer. what does the end of osama bin laden mean from the threat of al qaeda. what's left of the snake and what's it like? that's ahead, you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. having the right real estate agent on your side is more important than ever. at remax.com, you can find the experts you need, whether you're trying to sell of hoping to buy. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. it was in my sister's neighborhood.

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i think the accomplishment that very brave personnel from the united states government were able to realize yesterday is a defining moment in the wear against al qaeda, the war on terrorism, by decapitating the head of the snake known as al qaeda. it's going to have, i think, important reverberations throughout the area. this does not mean we're putting down our guard as far as al qaeda concerned. it may be a mortgageally wounded tiger that still has some life in it. >> that's john brennan, of course, saying we've cut off the head of the snake called al qaeda, but is al qaeda still a threat to the u.s.? former senator bob kerrey was a

member of the commission and a navy s.e.a.l. howard drum for the cia in europe. in america we have crime and organized crime. i have to talk about organized terrorists. what's left? >> these affiliate groups, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, and group inspired by bin laden, but not controlled by, because after 9/11, the invasion of afghanistan really destroyed the past for the management infrastructure, but these groups are every bit as dangerous, in some ways more dangerous. >> can they pull off something big with the combination of hijackings, are they capable of the big operations? are they going to blow up whatever? >> you don't want to discount that, but really there was an attack in marrakesh last saturday in a cafe where a lot

of french tourists do. that's typical. >> they blew up a cafe and killed like 17 french tourists. that's what we're facing now. >> they're trying to establish themselves in this new era in the middle east. >> ksm, khalid shaikh mohammed, was he the mastermind of 9/11? what's the role and connection between the mastermind -- ksm was the ops planner. he figured it out, get some planes, run them into the world trade center -- >> he also had been in the united states so he understood how it worked. >> who came up with the idea of using airplanes? >> they've been looking at that since the mid '90s, the blind sheikh they were going to crash one into the pentagon in '95. >> what do you worry about now? >> i wo worry about they small groups attacking airplanes. it's just as bad, just as

dangerous. >> what goes on at the tsa? i travel maybe a couple times a week, that stuff is important, they would like to get on a plane and blow it up? >> even if they don't stop the terrorists, a lot of what they do discourages, but they have to be careful, can't get too far over into the crazy things. >> senator, i respect so much to your service to the country as a s.e.a.l. you must have been thinking, having been through one of these kinds of operations, me your perspective. i'm looking at this thing yesterday. >> well, i mean, i heard mike and bob talking earlier. it was a textbook operation and went perfectly. sometimes they run perfectly, times they done. to produce the action we had, you know, last night, it takes 20, 25 years of training and operation. now, the decision to create

these joint operation forces i think is a big part of it. a lot of work since 9/11 has been done to train and prepare people for this operation. it didn't just happen that president obama makes a decision to call these guys and say we want you to go on this op. there's been an awful lot of work to bring them to this day. the quality of the people into the teams have been suburb. they had a great opportunity, thanks to good intelligence, to be able to run test operations against a building they had built at a prototype. so an awful lot of people had their hands in this thing to make it possible, but chris, the thing you have to remember, and both bob and mike were talking about it earlier, tomorrow they could go on another operation and it fails, will we call them up before congress and ask what went wrong? we're celebrating their heroism and success, but oftentimes just the opposite happens. we need to give them credit, and a lot of credit goes to the professionals that collected the

intelligence for years and years, but i don't think anybody should, you know, suffer the illulgs, that they can be called in every single time and bat 1,000. >> let me ask you about this tower, 9/11, don't want to forget it. thugs, 14 of the 19 guys were basically thugs, kill the people on the plane, we're going to take over the cockpit. we have some smart guys here that will fly the planes. your guys' jobs is to cut throats. there's two kids, the smart guys that may not go into the operation and the guys willing to cut throats. so how many guys are sitting in rooms drinking coffee or smoking hooka pipes thinking about ways to kill us. >> there's unlimited number of those. the smart guys are much rarer of you also have people through the training, through some kind of training to show them how to build the bombs. >> this kind -- we always show

this stock footage. is that what we're afraid of, guys that can run along obstacle forces? i'm more worried about a guy with a master's from m.i.t. >> the real danger, and other real danger is a group lining hezbollah. >> you're laughing, bob, because you had to do that to get into the s.e.a.l.s, right? >> no, you take the guy that was the leader of the attack, mohammed atta, if you had gone to the cafe in ham burg, you wouldn't have recognized him as a military operative, because he has no military background. he was an unhappy student from egypt, he was planning, and shopped for the best flight schools by going on to the internet. the vulnerability, in my view, have been substantially reduced after 9/11. i think this is an indication that we have a tremendous amount of capability and the success that came out of it comes from

that capability, but now in my view you have to focus on e1yi79, tunisia, on building democratic regimes, which is the number one enemy of al qaeda. >> i keep thinking about this, the guy who's 20 years old as a terrorist, thug or brainpower behind it, ten years ago was a 10-year-old kid and 9/11 was ten years ago. i keep saying you can't kill all terrorists, you have to kill the reason they want to be terrorists. >> i think for a while after 9/11 bin laden represented the pour people in the middle east -- >> who hated their parents. >> now they people are in demonstrations against the dictators. >> i root for them. >> wait a minute, they're demonstrating against dictators that we supported, putting them in prison that was creating discontent that we've been facing. now is the time for us to get on the side of democracy, on 9 side of force that is believe they can govern themselves and create their own opportunities. >> these guys that want to

overthrow gadhafi to put a caliphate in place. >> it feels like the '60s, we're on the side of the people. the ram parts against the old order. thank you, senator kerrey, thank you for your service. let's get into the politics of this thing. a commander in chief being a commander in chief, tough guy to take on. it's a long way to the election, but you have to thing the way we did it, so cleanly, so well done, makes this guy hard to beat. are the republicans -- to get serious now and start doing their clown show and look for somebody who could be commander in chief? you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ chanting ] that's going to go right in your glove. ohhh.

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the cause of securing our country is not complete, but tonight we are once again reminded that america can do whatever we set our mind to. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president obama last night announcing that the u.s. forces had killed osama bin laden. late today -- in this situation room what a pictures to be with the president there. >> and there is hillary clinton, the secretary of state. are they getting an update? look at the faces. this is in real time watching the action. the surprise move shoved competent does in reshape it. john harris, politico's editor in chief. i wanted two heavyweights tonight, and i really mean it.

we seed or presidents through different windows, how much gas costs or the latest scandal. in a way we've rarely seen one before. what's your sense of how the republicans are thinking about moving ahead rather than what kind of show they want this year. >> republicans have been relying heavily on. >> i think this is going to mark a pivot point if they want toss -- they're going to have to establish themselves as serious people.

i don't think there's any debate that will take place. he's seen as a serious serious contenter. >> what's your thoughts? >> it also make a difference in what the country cares about most. when bush ran for reelection, the country was focused on and his calling card was i'm chasing the bad guys. in 2012, he'll have obama killed on his time-out sheet. 54% identified three most -- 4%

identified iraq, afghanistan, war and terrorism in general, so the question is how much is the country going to be focussed on national security terrorism as it regards the 2012 election as opposed to the economy, budget and the deficit. >> well said. let's listen. >> today we are reminded that as a nation there's nothing we can't do. when we work together. >> okay. let's talk politics. not too long ago, 2008, he's in a president yeah debate with john mccain. >> if we have osama bin laden in our sights and the pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then

i think that we have to act, and we will take them out. we will kill bin laden, we will crush al qaeda, that has to be our biggest national security priority. >> bin laden, done that. that's a pretty good commercial, i would guess. your thoughts, john harris? >> no question this is an authentic mission accomplished moment. not detracting from the moments when we saw president bush sought reelection and the victory in the iraq war didn't do much to help him. nonetheless it's a power much mission accomplished moments, which i think radiation effectiveness, command well beyond the specific issue that will help president obama in all sorts of different ways.

>> last thoughts. how does he show confidence about gas prices? >> there are only so many things a president can control. if you look at what president obama said during the campaign, but about the afghanistan campaign in general, i'm going to fight it hard, think about it new, and prosecute that war more aggressively, which he has done. now in afghanistan, he has some progress. in pakistan he went on his own and got the result that everyone in the country wanted to see. secondarily, i think it's enormously important what we saw last night, young people around the country, coming to the streets to celebrate. young people who vote and whose lives have been defined by the war on terror and all the things that it's inflicted upon us. i believe in one element. this will have enormous impact. these kids remember what it's like to grow up with bin laden

as sort of the biggest monster in their word. the war feels more effectively fought. >> so smart. great analysis. i hadn't thought of it that way. thank you both for your presence. up next, osama bin laden's compound was just 35 miles from islamabad, less than two miles from pakistan's westpoint. can we really trust the fact when they tell us they didn't? it's an odd feeling in the ballpark right now to be perfectly honest. some of the crowd chanting "usa, usa" obviously aware of the news, as abc news is reporting that osama bin laden has been killed. other people -- [ wind howling ]

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i'm milissa rehberger. president obama will reportedly travel to ground zero in new york on thursday to mark the killing of osama bin laden. the night former president bush congratulated the fortses, saying they have his and the country's everlasting gratitude. libya buried gadhafi's youngest song, today, and here at home the army corps of engineers has decided to intentionally breach a missouri levee flooding farmland to spare a nearby town. that breach is expected to take place in the next two hours. back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." one of most incredible aspects is he had been in hiding in a million dollar compound, not a cave. it was in a town just 35 miles outside the capital, near a military academy. right there next to it. while the pakistani government is saying it knew nothing about osama bin laden's whereabouts, it does seem peculiar that he was able to high so close to the capital. richard engel is in ben gasesist tonight, and robert cresse. i always go to you first because of your service to this -- i

have to ask you this is an inside to their isi. >> reporter: we were told that no senior ranks officials knew. we heard that from washington sources. by that implications, it seems that some junior members did now that osama bin laden was in this military or compound. how could he exist in a walled compound, they didn't take out the trash, they burned it. just down the street from westpoint in an area full of retired gens, so somebody new, and according to sources, no one senior, but certainly injure members of the military.

>> you're looking for someone hiding from somebody, a walked mansion doesn't that look like a guy that's on the run? >> or could be a guy who's very important. in a country where you're not conditioned, not trained to ask questions, it could be the different of an hvt. it may not have been known that it was bin laden. >> wouldn't the local prefect now, the local official that runs the achievie chase police station, like where i love. >> if it against $25 from somebody, don't ask questions, he'll keep his mouth shut. >> the pakistani government put

out the statement, that it illustrates the resolve of the international community including pakistan to fight and eliminate terrorism. pack stage has played a significant role in efforts to eliminate terrorism. we've had significant sharing arrangements, we will continue to support international efforts. that's rather bland, richard. is it believable? >> it depends on how far back you said to go. our good friend bob wind ram says that one of the main source of information was khalid shaikh mohammed, that he was one of two gitmo detainees who gave up this intelligen intelligence, gave the name of the courier that was trusted by bin laden, and that it was

following this courier that ultimately led to his captured. he wouldn't have been captured without the help from the pakistanis, so if you go back to a historic relationship, the pakistani role has been significant. >> let's try to figure this out. the united states gog into our country, and yes we're ability to track somebody within their country that they can't track. how how does that work? >> it works because pakistan is not sharing information across all levels, number one. number two, we have possession of information and capable they simply don't know. that statement is factually accurate, but doesn't tell the full story. the government is schizophrenic, and they have been for years, so they're going to help us when it suits their interests, and they won't when it run counters. if we shared information, we ran the risk of blowing the

operation. it speaks to how confident the president was in doing, but also how risky. he was willing to blow up our relationship with pakistan if this went south. >> i think he had to as president. >> without a doubt. >> i think most americans believe. >> we are on predators fighting in afghanistan and fighting where you are in libya. is it your sense being at the battle front this will reduce the urge of americans to even best in that region in battle regalea, now that we've got the reason we went over there, we got him? >> absolutely. the last decade there have been two major ground wars. i think you could even call them three ground wars, because afghanistan happened twice. there was the initial push into afghanistan, then the push into iraq, and then the push back

into afghanistan. at the end of the day, it really wasn't any of these things that got bin laden. it was a small group, 12 to 15 cia agents and special operations forces that went in. sure, they wouldn't have driving out the taliban, or wouldn't have driven him into hiding, but i think this might be proving a new model that occupation states and nation building doesn't necessarily work for counterterrorism. >> what a statement. thank you both, always. up next, reaction from family members who lost loved ones. let's go back to the scene of the crime. this is "hardball" only on msnbc. ♪

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like new concentrated tide powder detergent. with 24% less packaging and more stain-fighting power. future friendly from p&g. before speaking to the country late last night, president obama called his predecessor, former president bush to tell him of the news that u.s. forces had killed bin laden. bush released a statement congratulating president obama and calling the news a momentous achievement and a victory for america. former vice president dib cheney, generally a vocal critic, had this to say. >> it's also a good day for the administration. i think president obama and his national security team acted on the intelligence when it came in and they deserve a lot of credit, too. >> good for him. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand,

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and on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al qaeda's terror, justice has been done. back to "hardball." what a statement that was. nearly 3,000 innocents lost their lives in their horrific attack of september 11th. with us tonight, jimmy boyle, former president of the new york firefighters union, jimmy son's michael was a firefighter killed that day trying to save lives in the north tower of the world trade center. also patricia riley is with us. she lost her sister lorraine, who worked on the 101st floor of the south tower. let me start with patricia. this is your moment. what do you feel? what do you think? >> i'm very, very grateful to the military, to the navy s.e.a.l.s, to the president for not forgetting and for ensuring that our loved ones and all the innocent people killed at the

instruction of osama bin laden hands and by introduction of osama bin laden that we finally got justice and i'm very grateful to them for that. i'm very happy. i'm really most happy that osama bin laden knows that the last thing he thought was that the americans game and they got me for what i did to them. i feel a lot of gratitude for that. >> i've never heard it put that way. jimmy, thank you for coming on. i can't imagine losing a son. i can't imagine it. your thoughts tonight, sir? >> very happy, chris, that he was killed. i'm proud of -- proud of the americans, proud of the president. i thank a lot of people. i thank congressman king. i thank president bush. i thank howard schaffer. so many people supported us. i feel a burden's been lifted off our shoulders. i got the call from congressman before 10:00 last night that he was killed and just to put the television on.

there was nothing else. my whole attitude, my whole life changed. ten years of waiting for this -- this moment. it changed so many lives. changed my life. changed the lives -- i think of all the poor people who were killed. i think of that day. i was there. and every day i pray for -- i just pray for everything that changed the world that day. it's an honor that for the american country, for our mulltary and our president. i'm very proud of the president last night. >> patricia, what was your sister doing that morning she was at the world trade center? whenever there's an execution or something like this i always try to remind myself it's all because of what this person did. the execution whether it's in a gas chamber, an electric chair whatever it is lethal injection because of a firefight with the

good guys coming in to get you, it's all because of what you did. it ain't anybody else's fault by you. can what was it like for your sister? where did she work? she worked on the 10th floor? >> she did. she was an administrative assistant. i spoke to her she worked in the second tower. when i first spoke to her she was safe, she was secure. she wanted me to let my mother know she was okay. i felt such a a sigh of relief that it had passed us by. but unfortunately, moments later, i heard on the radio that a second plane had hit. and i knew my sister was gone. and i'm -- osama bin laden didn't value her life. he didn't value the lives of all the people who were in that building and on that plane that day. for that we don't have to value his life. i'm glad he's gone. i'm glad that we finally have justice. and i'm looking forward to when

khalid mo haemd gets his justice as well. >> jimmy, tell me about michael. what was he doing that day? >> chris, he just got off. it was an election day. he was going to help his cousin in the city council race. he was in the fire house. he was reloovd. the box came in. he got on a rig and went down there he proceeded to do what he was told. he made it up to the 40th floor. they searched each floor. don't forget every floor is an acre, 400 by 400 by 400. they searched each floor. when the south tower went down, they didn't realize it. finally they were told by some fellow with a bull horn to get out. they proceeded down. helping people down. stairways were blocked. he made it down to the lobby from the 41st floor. >> thank you. >> 10:03 -- 10:28 the building came dawn. they was in the lobby.

the force of the -- i just vision in my mind, you can hear the 110 stories coming down floor by floor by floor and you can hear the sound. they were trying to get out. they were all rushing out of the stairwell into the lobby to try to get out of the building. they didn't make it. and they found them -- his remains january 25th. 57 feet down. you just envision the force of that building coming down and pile driving him down 57 feet. in a matter of seconds. i was proud of the firefighters. i was proud of what they did that day. many lives were saved. many lives were saved because of improvements made after 1993 in that building. in '93, there was 99 elevators that we didn't know where people were for 24 hours. there would have been more people killed except for the firefighters that day. i hope the world doesn't forget what they did that day. >> you're helping. >> the bravest of the brave. it brings tears to my eyes to

think about it. >> it does to everyone. what a story. jimmy, take care of yourself. >> i really thank mr. boyle for his son's sacrifice and all the firefighters. >> patricia, we have you too and -- i knew somebody there. god bless you. >> thank you all. thank you for coming on tonight. a big night for the country. when we return, let me finish with what we learned about our with what we learned about our commanderyou're sneezing. i'm allergic to you. doubtful, you love me. # i'd be lost without you. i knew you weren't allergic to me. [ sneezes ] you know, you can't take allegra with orange juice. both: really? fyi. [ male announcer ] get zyrtec®'s proven allergy relief and love the air®.

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let me finish tonight with

the commander in chief. we want our presidents to be all things. to have the oratory of j.f.k., the confidence of f.d.r., the patriotism of reagan, the confidence and toughness of truman. the militarierment and restraint of ike, the humanitarian feel of bill clinton. you can't have it all. you accept this so you can keep on cheering that you grow up and realize not all kinds of greatness comes even from a great man. so we look at our leader tonight, president obama. less than a week ago he was showing us his birth certificate. but what of this man who kept cool through all this clatter and nonsense knowing he had other work to do. he and the other grown ups. i've said that on a couple of occasions i've been down the table from the president's briefings. i believe listening to him in briefings that he should be the president. that he is right for this job. tonight the country knows what i'm talking about. that's "hardball" for