he just was not responsive at all. >> he had put the gun in my face. at that point i had five seconds to do something and i just jumped deep within the aisle and curled up in a ball and tried to duck and cover at that point. >> authorities did what they could to bring about a sense of order sharing information as it developed. >> we are not looking for any other suspects. we are confident that he acted alone. however, we will do a thorough investigation to be absolutely sure that that is the case. >> details about the suspect in the shooting begin to emerge. he is james holmes, a 24-year-old former neuro science graduate. some initial questions have been answered. no he's not tied to any foreign terrorist organization. yes, he seems to have acted alone. no, no prior criminal record. but still unanswered and many think impossible to answer is why. joining me now from aurora, colorado, msnbc's chris jansing.

good morning, chris. >> good morning to you marx lisa. i think it is fair to say that is the huge lingering question, why. and we don't have any answers because for all the people that reporters have talked to, friends, people who lived in his apartment complex, they described him as quiet, very few people, if any, seemed to really know him. and he seemed to be very calm and acting typically as he always did, keeping to himself and not just the days but the minutes leading up to this shooting. he is in custody, as you know. he has a law ir. lawyer. so i don't think we'll be getting answers from him any time soon. in the meantime, we'll be getting information on the victims. nothing official has been released but various reporters have pieced together information based on family members. all of the four people we know among the 12 people killed were in their 20s.

23-year-old kayla medik for her family an agonizing day of waiting to find out if she was dead. matt mcquinn who worked at a local target store with his girlfriend died we are told trying to shield her from the bullets. she was hit but is in fair condition at the hospital. 27-year-old alex sullivan was celebrating his birthday with friends when he was shot and killed. and 24-year-old jessica gawhi who was an aspiring sportscaster. there's a memorial here sunday night for the victims. of course there, were also 58 people who were injured. we now know that 30 of them are hospitalized. 11 of them remain critical. melissa? >> chris, i so appreciate you moving us from the suspect, james holmes, to the victims and the survivors. i think in the days to come,

undoubtedly, we are going to want to know more about their stories. but one more thing on holmes is obviously that his apartment is very heavily booby-trapped and the police announced last night after the exhaustion of the day they were going to be holding off on trying to enter the apartment until today do. you know what the situation is there at the apartment? >> reporter: the intention the to try to go in again today but the problem is they don't know exactly what they are dealing with. you have this situation that few people have seen with all these criss-crossed wires. they are connected to what police believe could be insidiary devices. you have one-liter bottles with a liquid in there. you have jars full of ammunition. we know he bought in the two months leading up to this four guns and 6,000 rounds, melissa, of ammunition. and the question becomes, why would he tell police? he's the one who told police, go to my apartment, you're going to

find it and it is booby-trapped. you have to assume that someone who goes into a theater and opens fire and kills all those people, injuries all those people, means business. so even though they don't know 100% whether it is a live and dangerous situation, when you have someone with obviously callous disregard for life, you have to assume that it could be. and the atf is there, the fbi is there and local police are there, but they are still trying to figure out exactly how to approach this situation. obviously, they don't want to detonate anything. there's a lot of important evidence in there that they are going to want to use for trial, melissa. >> thank you, chris jansing n aurora, colorado. chris will be back this afternoon to anchor a special report on the tragedy of colorado beginning at 3:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc. let's go to nbc's national investigative correspondent, michael isicoff.

>> good morning, melissa. >> the local police did an extraordinary job in managing this circumstance all the way up obviously to the federal government through the fbi. where do things stand with the investigation right now? >> first of all, the fbi and the department of homeland security put out a bulletin saying there are no indications there are further attacks planned by anybody else on movie theaters. that's something of concern to movie-goers around the country. all indications are that mr. holmes acted alone. the big unanswered question is why his motivation. we do know he purchased four weapons recovered from him, the two glaucoma pistols, the shotgun and the arl-15 assault rifle legally in colorado, although it is worth mentioning, and this is something gun control groups are emphasizing today, that the arl-15 was

illegal a few years ago. it was banned from 1994 to 2004. that was lifted under president bush. president obama pledged during his campaign to restore it. he has dropped the issue. so the assault, that a.r.-15 is a legal weapon now. but it was not ten years ago. one other point, in addition to purchasing the guns, he also got 7,000 rounds of ammunition and multiple magazines online. another indication of the ease with which one can acquire fire power. so we know how he acquired the weapons. what we don't know is why. >> obviously, michael, it's a relief to hear at this point there's no reason to believe that he was acting with someone else or other attacks are planned. that said, the kind of body armor that the chief of police has indicated that the suspect was wearing suggests that he

planned to leave that theater alive. that he was not planning either to commit suicide himself or to be shot by the police. is there any sense of where -- was he expecting to go somewhere else or is that all purely speculation? >> it is completely baffling. as chris pointed out, why would he booby-trap the apartment and tell police he had done so. there may not be logical answers to this. it is an irrational act and people like this act in irrational ways. >> irrational but awfully closely planned. i mean, you know, i'm always wanting to be careful because he didn't randomly go out to do this. he clearly planned this for some time. >> obviously. there are a lot of unanswered questions. some of them may be answered on monday when mr. holmes is due in court for his initial court appearance. and we could expect prosecutors to at least present some evidence that they may not have

made public to date. but clearly this is an ongoing investigation. and what's in that apartment can be critical evidence for this. and i think that's another reason that police are responding so gingerly to this because they don't want to destroy what could be crucial evidence as to why he did what he did, anything he had written, his computers, all of that could be crucial evidence in this case. >> indeed. thank you to nbc's michael isikoff. >> thank you. joining me from aurora is colorado state representative rhonda fields who lives minutes from the theater, the scene of theed shooing. representative, nice to talk to you this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> obviously, this is a terrible tragedy, a terrible blow to the community. how are people doing this morning? >> you know, i think people are just still in shock and awe.

this is just something that no community could ever imagine. >> representative fields, i have to tell you as i've been watching and covering this, i have been incredibly impressed by police chief oates and his handling of the crisis. is he someone who was already a figure in the community? >> absolutely. the chief of police is always essential figure in every community. >> you have planned a vigil. tell me about that. >> you know, the city has planned a citywide prayer vigil on sunday. that's going to be at 6:30 in the municipal building. it is just an opportunity for the community to come together and to pray and to console each other and just to kind of heal. >> one of the things i've been surprised at, or maybe not surprised with, but taking odd comfort in as i look at the photographs, this looks like it was a very diverse community.

obviously a lot of young people because it was a midnight showing, but i've been -- i mean, tell me a little bit about aurora. is it a diverse place where people come together across race and class lines? is that typical of the community? >> yes. absolutely. aurora is a community of families. we are known for the great american city. so the reason people live here in aurora is because we celebrate families. and we are known for the children and the community that we have. >> are people talking politics at all yet in the community? are folks talking about gun control or about the desire to have more safety and security at movie theaters and in public places, or is this still really just about the tragedy? >> you know, as far as i know of, for me, it's about the tragedy. it's about the families. it's about making sure that everyone is properly notified and that we are handling that situation in a very diplomatic manner. so at this point, i don't think

so. we are trying to understand why someone who you would so deliberately calculate this type of murder and crime. >> thank you, state representative rhonda fields. i know there will be a lot of healing in your community and appreciate your leadership on it. >> thank you. up next, we continue to try to make sense of the senseless by sorting out what comes next. we have a panel. stay with us. they have names like idle time books and smash records and on sll business saturday they remind a nation of the benefits of shopping small. on just one day, 100 million of us joined a movement... and main street found its might again. and main street found its fight again. and we, the locals, found delight again. that's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express.

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we are still trying to wrap our heads around this senseless tragedy that took place in aurora, colorado. midnight hours of the movie screaming of "the dark knight rises" led to 12 people being

shot. the shooter, james holmes, is in custody and awaiting an appearance in court on monday morning. joining me is richard kim, executive editor at thenation.com. and harry smith, correspondent for nbc's "rock center" and dorran warren, political science of international affairs at columbia university. richard, i want to start with you. i rarely find myself in a position of cheering on a police chief. but this police chief in everything from his public demeanor to apparently the very swift response really sort of got me thinking, who is this guy? i come to find out he's an nypd veteran, but the one i really loved is apparently he was in ann arbor before this and had a very strong, we will not have any anti-muslim action post 9/11 here. he took a very clear and public stance on that. is there something cities can learn from watching this police

chief in this tragic moment? >> you know, i think he's been very careful about not leaping to conclusions and being very cautious about the advice and information that he doles out. we see how easy it is for the media in this 24-hour news cycle to just jump to conclusions. so he's had a very restrained presence and i think that's one of the most important things to understand what you don't know in moments like this. >> for him when he says, i'm not an expert, i think he said the bomb stuff at one point. kind of clarifying, i'm good at this, not good at this. i do wonder, though, as i was watching how quickly they responded, a lot of us have been following how bankrupt cities are, and i'm thinking if this happens tomorrow in a city that's had to fire much of its police force more budgetary reasons -- >> they were allegedly looking at budget cuts for the police department. >> yeah. because it was apparently recently ranked as the ninth safest city in america. so you imagine, oh, this is the

time when it would be if fine to reduce. >> the theaters are close to a central part of aurora. maybe not so surprising that hour of the night that the response was so fast. i think the other element in this is the guy was standing next to his car. he wasn't standing through with a gun pointed at anybody like i'm going to knock you down. so a lot of things fell into place well for this police department in this particular case. >> sure. >> this is one case where maybe just what you said about the fear of downsizing police departments and fire departments, maybe that kind of policy can be looked at in this tragedy and someone can really start to think, this is not something we should eliminate. it doesn't matter, i know budgets have to be balanced and that stuff, but this is crucial to have police and emergency people at the ready in case something happens. hopefully that might work its way down into some of the presidential debate or some of

the, you know -- >> i'm sure they have pension plans. that's what we are -- if you are wanting to get to the real point of all this. >> but in listening to the chief last night talk about the emotional trauma that his officers have undergone as they have been taking victims out, you know, should they -- like today -- >> if my tax goes up to compensate with the pension plans, i'm fine for that for these police officers. >> they have been asking this question for six months. >> this is a debate we have been having the last two years about what are americans willing to pay in terms of taxes for a range of services we take for granted. this is another exambillion of taking police departments for granted in lots of places when the first responders generalry are taken for granted and it is not an abstract thing as to whether they deserve pensions or not. these decisions about how much we invest in our services have consequences for how well people can respond in emergencies.

>> let me ask the culture question here. it feels like it has been coming up a bit. maybe just underneath, but the sense of, well, it was a violent movie, we feed violence. that maybe there was some aspect of this person copy catting an earlier part of the movie. is there reason to think that the cultural political conversation should be part of this sort of -- >> i saw "the dark knight" yesterday, actually. i think the movie has a lesson for this moment. and i know it is a comic book movie and not trying to draw too much from it, but "the dark knight" takes place in a failed street. elites are corrupt and law enforcement is corrupt, but the thing to mark it as a failed state is that the state lost its monopoly on violence. and in that situation, right, you have visualanties like batman and terrorists. what the movie depicts that is very difficult in a failed state to tell what is just and unjust violence. and what's the difference between a terrorist like the

joker and the batman? so you look at america now and it's not too much a stretch to say that in those horrific moments in aurora we approached a failed state. when someone can buy that kind of ammunition and these weapons online, no competent police force can get there and to have a monopoly on violence in that moment. when you have people like george zimmerman encouraged vigilantes because we cut the police forces, you have the shards of a failed state. you have a very profound reflection, a dark reflection really. do we want to live in that night? >> harry, i want to ask, even as i am reveling in the brilliance of the notion of america as gothem, i find myself in a different position than i have been in previously. now i'm part of media. so to make that kind of analysis from a professorial chair or an article chair is one thing, but

i kept asking myself, does this moment focus us as generalists and say this is exactly what we are supposed to be doing? or does it say, why this story of violence rather than all of the other stories of violence? >> right. well, we always go to that bright shiny thing. right? even if it is a bloody bright, shiny thing. that's the thing we always are drawn immediately to. in a situation like this, it is irresistible. we go there to try to peel apart all the different pieces of this and try to find out who the guy is and search out the despair. i was thinking to myself just the other day, i was at first-degree hood on that friday morning. i got on the airplane and went home friday, friday afternoon. and by monday the story begins to diminish already. >> and that's what is so painful is that the stories just start

becoming like background noise. but harry is right, when it bleeds it leads. that gets everybody's attention. >> except when it doesn't bleed. >> that's the thing. there are 8,000 gun-related homicides a year and they don't rise -- the individual acts don't rise to this sort of attention that this does. >> what i was going to say is there was a brief moment where president obama spoke and he mentioned other gun violence which happens, which it may have been a phrase, but it was so important that got said. >> as soon as we come back, we'll talk about another story that captured our attention. we'll talk to a survivor of a different shooting who saw that has a call to run for office. arizona congressman ron barber is up next. i'm only in my 60's...

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we are talking about yesterday's mass shooting at a movie theater in colorado.

the latest incidence of gun violence to capture the attention of our nation, but sadly it is far from the first and probably won't be the last. we all remember the day last year when the shooter in arizona fired outside the grocery store where congresswoman gabrielle giffords was meeting with constituents. when the smoke cleared, six people were did and several othe including giffords was wounded. giffords vacated her seat after a year of struggling to recover from the gunshot that went through her head. last year ron barber, giffords' former aide, is joining me now from tucson, arizona. thank you for being here, congressman. >> good morning. thank you for having me on. >> so let me ask you this, obviously you must have thought as many of us did about your own experience once you heard this news. what is just sort of your personal reaction to this tragedy? >> well, it's very emotional,

actually. and i heard about this shooting just as i was boarding a plane from washington to come back home last night. and it was a while before i was on the ground and could learn more details. and i'm just horrified, obviously, at what happened as all americans, i hope, will be and are about that. my immediate thought was to the people who have lost loved ones and those who are waiting for those who were wounded to recover. it takes me back to a saturday morning in the days that followed right after the shooting on january 8th last year. and i know how personally my family was affected, not knowing if i was alive or dead, and then as the story evolved, many more families were stricken with grief because they had lost their loved ones and many more not sure how things would turn out. so my first thoughts go to the families who lost loved ones and those who are waiting for their loved ones to recover in this

terrible tragedy. and i also am thinking about the people who responded that afternoon, that evening. the emts, the police officers, i remember talking to police officers after the event in tucson who came on that scene. it was absolutely mayhem when they came, 19 bodies on the ground, and when the police officers came to aurora to the theater, even more. it is just unimaginable what they have to deal with, even with all their training, yet they perform professionally by all accounts and help to save lives. i think of the victims and think of the first responders. i'm sure others would have been injured worst and perhaps even died. >> congressman, i agree. for us to think of the victims of the survivors of the families and the first responders, the tucson shooting in which you were injured occurred during a political event. in many ways, politics immediately became part of the conversation, even a question

about whether or not congresswoman giffords was being targeted because of her stance or because of her partisan identification. but the presidential candidates this time said let's take politics out of it. they took their ads down from colorado. should we be having a political conversation right now or is it best as you just suggested to think mostly of this as a tragedy? >> i think that's the first thing. for me, it's a stark reminder of what we all went through as a community following the shooting. there's a deep shot to a community after something like this happens. and what we have to concentrate now on is bringing the community together. i'm sure it is already rallying around the people who lost their relatives and who are waiting for others to recover. what happened in tucson, i believe, is happening there. prayers, people are going to churches, synagogues, mosques, wherever they worship to try to get their heads around this and also to try to pray for the people who were injured and who

died. and that's what we really need to be doing right now. you know, it's too early, i think, to speculate about why this happened or how it could have been prevented. and one of the things i'm really concerned about in a tragedy like this is that before we know it, the shooter becomes the big story. instead of those who lost their lives, instead of those whose relatives are wounded and dead. that's what we need to remember. and we need to keep them in our hearts and minds because it is not far before that fades from memory and we have to remember those people suffering deeply today. >> congressman, i have one last quick question for you. you are a victim of gun violence. the issue of your shooting came up during your campaign. we are now looking at this, what is going to be your relationship in congress with the nra? again, you represent arizona, i live in louisiana, i know about guns. but what is your relationship with the nra going to be in your position? >> well, i don't really have a relationship, quite frankly,

with the nra one way or the other. i went to congress to represent the people of congressional district eight. what they sent me there to talk about, quite frankly, has to do with the middle class wage stagnation, social security, medicaid, medicare, border security, these are things i went there to talk about. now this tragedy raises the issue of gun violence and i don't have a direct communication relationship with the nra on this matter at all. i'm just concerned as one who has survived a similar shooting with what we do now to rally around the people who are so seriously injured. and that whole community that is shocked to its core, mental health counseling is essential for everyone in that community who needs it and especially for the families who were caught up in this awful and horrific event. >> thank you, congressman ron barber. i appreciate you being here this morning. >> thank you very much for having me today. up next, president obama and governor romney. what are they going to do about the guns? m they take

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if it's anything to take away from this tragedy it's the reminder that life is very fragile. our time here is limited and it is precious. >> this is a time for each of us to look into our hearts and remember how much we love one another and how much we love and how much we care for our great country. >> that was president barack obama and governor mitt romney yesterday putting politics to the side to offer words of comfort to the victims of the colorado shooting and all american who is have been touched by the tragedy. but even as the questions mount about why and how this could have happened, the answers will inevidently spark a political response and reinvigorate the national discussion about gun violence in america. in fact, new york mayor michael bloomberg already got the conversation started. >> instead of the two people, president obama and governor romney, talking in broad things about they want to make the world a better place.

okay, tell us how this is real problem. no matter where you stand on the second amendment, no matter where you stand on guns, we have a right to hear from both of them concretely, not just in general. specifically, what are they going to do about guns? richard kim, nancy giles, harry smith and dorian warren. usually these don't shift public opinion toward gun control and we just heard the congressman say despite the fact he's there because of a shooting, that's not what people sent me to congress to do. i'm here to do middle class stuff, not gun control. >> this is the result of the successful campaign by the gun lobby and the national rifle association over decades to shape public opinion. so in 1990 80% of americans were in favor of gun control. by 2010 only 44% of americans were in favor of gun control. so the mayor, mayor bloomberg is right about the fact we deserve

to hear from both polital candidates from president what they would do around gun control. unfortunately, we are not going to hear anything from either of them prix sicily precisely because the nra has won the debate. but there's another issue besides gun control, that's the earlier point about the culture. the question is, is violence so normalized in our culture that we are numb to it? so i think all the time about the more than 500 young people in chicago that have been shot and killed by guns, mostly in black and latino communities since 2008. we don't have news stories about those kids on a regular basis. we only have the exceptional news stories when they are a crazy killer. so we have to deal with both issues around guns and what our attitudes are about guns and what our values are about guns as well as the culture of violence in this society. >> harry, nothing would please me more than believing a gun control law would make sure this would never happen again. and i'm a gun control advocate

and yet it does seem insufficient as a response. >> yeah. if i'm going to pick up on something he said, we were talking about this in the last segment because we go for the bright, shinier thing to cover, chronic is hard. sensational is easy. so we are there, there, there, there, there. but chronic, like chicago, we'll talk about it, bill bratton wrote a great piece in "the wall street journal" talking about community policing. overall crime rates in chicago are way, way down. and some of the gang guys in chicago have been actually thrown in jail, left to younger, not wiser people to fight it out on the streets. and that's some part of the explanation at least for what's going on there. but yesterday when this happened i thought, we jump at this thing, but we don't -- it's harder. it's harder to drill down on chicago or places, other big cities, where police forces are impacted. >> i'm thinking in new orleans we both have the highest murder

rate in the country and our local paper is going to online most days of the week. the one place where it used to get covered was in the local paper. now you don't even have that. >> there are a couple things, i don't normally agree with mike bloomberg on a lot of things, but i really agreed with him on this. i think there has to to be a conversation. going back to bloomberg, i don't know if stop and frisk is the answer to the problem, but i'm struck by so many things. just the different types of shootings. when we talk about the ones happening in urban neighborhoods and we talk about this. this is not to denigrate the coverage, but there's something kind of weird about putting a special tragic theme song to the coverage. having a special graphic. making almost like an entertainment special out of something that happens on that end where there's maybe a crazed shooter and then as harry was saying, the other killings that happen every day get nothing. i mean, it's a strange subtle

way of valuing life in different ways that always creeps me out. >> i've been trying to think through that. i see your point but also think some of the reason why these massive attacks offend us so much, hurt us so much, is because they are not just isolated acts of gun violence that take place in private or at the individual level. they are enabled by our human desire to see politicians, to go to school, like virginia tech, to go see a movie with your friends at night. there's an assault on the very notion of being public and being this sort of freedom of association at its most elemental level. that's also why these attacks are so horrifying to us. >> and my greatest nervous is i'm a gun advocate in general, but i worry when we face threat and our first response is we must be too free. let's go remove some of the freedoms. my angst is exactly the public piece because i don't want our public life to become --

>> it sounds like the left wing -- >> i don't want our freedom, i don't want it to be harder to go to school or to a movie theater. >> there's a distinction to make between when you have military-level fire power in civilian hands, this is what happens. this is the inevitable outcome and it will happen again and again unless we want to make a distinction to say we have a value around certain kinds of guns in this society that nobody needs. >> how do you answer the gun lobbyist position that if somebody in the theater had been packing and carrying they would have -- right? this is the response to that. >> i heard that. >> i am and have very good friends who have concealed weapons. they say, if i was in there or one of my pals was in there, that guy would have gone ten shots off, not dozens and dozens. >> my response is i do not want to rely on neighbors and strangers with concealed weapons to do justice and provide public

safety. i do not want vigilantes in charge of public safety. i want to disarm the sort of people who might do these atrocities. this person purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition online. had a magazine clip that would fire 60 rounds in a minute? what freedoms are encroaching to make this level, this level of weaponenry? >> this particular gun was on the assault weapons ban. >> it was. >> then it was taken off. >> right. this is a gun that would have been illegal. i think that's part -- we'll go to break in a moment, but that's part of the question. here's a gun that would have been illegal. had the gun been illegal, would this not have happened? that's the constant royally. and i want us to be clear it is difficult. maybe this is where i agree with michael bloomberg. if it is difficult, let's hear the presidential candidates talk about it. up next, instead of compi compiling gun victim statistics,

let's look to stop the epidemic. and we'll continue a two-hour special coming up at 3:00 p.m. hosted by chris jansing. we'll be right back. happy birthday! thank you, nana send money to anyone's checking account with chase quickpay. all you need is an email address or mobile number. you're welcome. take a step forward and chase what matters. why should our wallets tell us what our favorite color is?

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more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get 10% off or up to 24 months special financing on carpet purchases with your home depot credit card. you have access to a television, computer or newspaper, so by now you have heard the numbers associated with yesterday's senseless tragedy in aurora, colorado. at the midnight screening of "the dark knight rises" 12 is the number the gunman took. 58 is the number of additional people injured and scarred by the shooting. tragic is the word that comes to mind with what happened in colorado, but we cannot lose sight of the shattered lives and loss that occurred there. we also have to remember the tragedy that remembers around the country on a daily basis. both speak to the perilous state

we are at with gun violence. three, how many teenager boys were shot on the south side of chicago in two separate shootings. one is how many of the young men survived though he is in critical condition. 275 is the number of murders in chicago nor the current year. 1,205, that's how many shooting incidents chicago has seen just this year in 2012. 159, that's the number of homicides that have occurred in the city of los angeles so far this year. 642 is how many shooting victims los angeles has seen since the beginning of 2012. 111 is the current tally of murders in my adopted city of new orleans for this year alone. these numbers show the totality of senseless violence across our country in addition to the horrific tragedy in aurora, colorado. but what they don't know is people are not numbers. yes, shootings and murders can

be quantified, but the numbers don't speak to the loss of life and lasting damage to those left behind. the victims in colorado, they were part of someone's family. these young men and women in cities across the country had hopes and dreams that will never be met. and until we get serious about the causes and effects of gun violence everywhere, we will continue to compile statistics on the epidemic. what i want us to do is start working to save people from it. coming up, what if presidential pardons were considered in a pleatly completely different way. they might. and that's next. there are patients who will question, why does my mouth feel dryer than i remember it to be? there are more people taking more medication, so we see people suffering from dry mouth more so.

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in a week full of bad news an array of hope. promising developments for clerns aaron. we first told you about aaron back in may. he was a linebacker at the southern university of louisiana when he got caught one a cocaine dealer. convicted in 1993 for his first

criminal offense. aaron was sentenced to three life sentences without parole. that sentence was the harshest of anyone involved in the same drug crime. now the obama administration asked for a review of clarence aaron's request and ordered the justice department to look into recommendations for who receives a presidential pardon going forward. your reporting has definitely been a key in this story. thank you for being here. >> thank you so much, melissa. >> tell us why this went wrong so initially. >> this is an extraordinary case of a guy whose request got far and caught the attention of the bush administration that was eager to see if they could commune his sentence. just really for the reasons you articulated. this was a first-time offense. this was a young guy, a college student. he had the leased, minor role in

the sentence itself. we talking about triple life sentences. murderers are freed at the state level, but this was a federal crime at the height of the drug wars when prosecutors were eager to make examples out of young people. so there you have it. he ended up being a model prisoner. his extremely harsh sentence caught a lot of people's attention and he was an outstanding candidate for clemency. unfortunately, the pardoning attorney felt otherwise and really did not give the white house the information it needed to make a reasonable fair decision in the case. >> so now president obama is prepared n part, because of your reporting, prepared to reconsider this case. how hopeful are you about this? >> i'm hopeful. i think this is a good side. president obama commuted the sentence of one person since president. it is very hard to get this far in the game. very few people get this far. the fact that the white house has read this entire file now,

lawyers in the white house know exactly who clarence aaron is and want a fresh review. that's a very good side. >> how is the family feeling? >> i think they are hopeful. i mean, they have really been helpful all along. clarence, i have spoken to him, he's a guy full of grace. i think he really feels that he might have a shot. >> definitely. thank you for being back. i really hope the next time you're here, i really -- i am imagining clarence sitting right next to you, that would be lovely. thank you for all of your work. >> thank you so much. up next, it's hard out there. excuse me. it's hard out there for a moderate. why politicians out there on the hill find being partisan is the answer. for making cupcakes and deposits at the same time. for paying your friend back for lunch...from your tablet. for 26 paydays triggered with a single tap. for checking your line, then checking your portfolio. for making atms and branches appear out of thin air.

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simple to use websites, tools, and apps. according to ford, the works fuel saver package could literally pay for itself. jim twitchel is this true? yes it's true. how is this possible? proper tire inflation, by using proper grades of oil, your car runs more efficiently, saves gas. you could be doing this right now? yes i could, mike. i'm slowing you down? yes you are. my bad. the works fuel saver package. just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. so, to sum up, you take care of that, you take care of these, you save a bunch of this. that works. whenever an extreme act of violence like the one in aurora, colorado, occurs we are met with political rhetoric. even before the facts are clear, both sides retreat to corners

blaming the politics and policies of the other as the root cause of the tragedy. in politics the extremes are increasingly the norm. this week we saw backlash to that politicking in the response to congresswoman michelle back man's let tore the department of state calling for an investigation into a top aide to secretary of state, hillary clinton. questioning her connection to the muslim brotherhood. on wednesday it was particularly refreshing when republican senator john mccain reminded us prior to his 2008 presidential run he was long considered one of congress' most moderate voices. here he is defending clinton's aide. >> madam president, rarely do i come to the floor of this body to discuss particular individuals. but i understand how painful it is when a person's character, reputation and patriotism are attacked without concern for

fact or fairness. when anyone, not least a member of congress, launches degrading attacks against fellow americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation and we all grow poorer because of it. >> mccain, american hero, author of "campaign finance reform" has been known as a politician who puts principle over politics. today his statements of bipartisanship are few as far between as moderates in congress are rare. moderation is not what it once was. the bipartisan policy center assesses a state of cross-aisle politics via the number of those who represent districts not in line with their party affiliation. in 1993 there were 93 democrats who represented republican-leaning districts. today there are nine in gop

dominating districts. and 25 of the most moderate members of both parties in the house of representatives, of those nine are not seeking re-election in 2012. that's seven democrats and two republicans. and an analysis by the cook political report shows 18 moderates facing the uncertain path to re-election. so perhaps the loss of moderation is just an effect of less competitive districts. buzz that mean bipartisanship is good? or the alliances a thing of the past? we me at the table is jane atmeyer of pennsylvania, ranked as one of the top five most moderate democrats. nbc's harry smith and joining me from wilmington, delaware, is former governor of delaware, mike castle. thank you all for being here. >> glad to be here. >> i want to start with you, mr. castle. because the dodd-frank act is one of your great accomplishments because it immediately became a political light in what feels like an

environment where moderation is no longer possible. >> well, the dodd-frank is very complicated and did have a lot of problems associated with it. i think the regulatory aspects of it since that have not been carried out particularly well. so i sort of understand some of the problems there. but it is just an indication of how you can take an issue such as that or a lot of other issues for all that matter and blow them up. we have blogs and websites and different partisan commentators out there who take these issues and make it absolute evil as far as they are concerned and it makes it tougher and tougher for those who are trying to take positions in the middle and do the right thing as far as the country is concerned to be able to advance those kinds of causes. now you're seeing it in terms of those who are more in the middle dropping out of congress, struggling in primaries as i did

and jason has done, and that's, i think, difficult and not good for the country. i think a good example of this is the whole simpson-bowles legislation that would have led us to a more balanced budget in fiscal circumstance in this country and yet you cannot get a majority to go to the middle to adopt this because it's either a tax increase of some kind or it reduces benefits for somebody on the more liberal side and that's a problem. we need to deal with that. and unfortunately in this circumstance it is very hard to do so. and i think it is a real loss for the country. >> congressman altimeir, you are not seeking re-election? >> well, with the wall street reform, things like the repeal of "don't ask don't tell," the e "pay act for women, none of that

would have happened if democrats had control of congress. the reason democrats had control of congress is because conservative democrats, moderate democrats, century rests were able to win district that is would have otherwise elected republicans who would have opposed the bills. unfortunately, there's no political payoff for being in the middle. and i don't think that's where the country is. i think most of the country is in the middle. i get asked all the time. why is there so much partisanship in washington? it is because our system is designed to elect partisans, but that's not representative of where the country is. the country wants us to work together. they want us to get things done. unfortunately, we have people on the extremes that are serving in the congress. >> that's a great example of that this week. fox news had a poll of who should be mitt romney's vice presidential candidate. who was the winner? >> condi rice. >> who is -- >> who is pro-choice. >> never going to be accused of being radically or dramatically one way or any direction. and i thought that was so

interesting because it was by a wide margin over marco rubio, over a whole list of -- >> paul ryan. >> stunning. and the thought, if anything, what does that tell you about where people really are versus -- it seemed the middle has been discredited. only if you are on some polar opposite does it have some kind of credibility. and it has it sort of a street credit to it and kind of the intellectual sort of dismissiveness about comedy and about people getting along somehow. >> and representative castle, i think this is a really good point, harry, about sort of -- and jason about this idea of sort of the people being in a different place. so how then does it end up? i was thinking, for example, representative castle, your situation was unique in delaware because it's a small state. you were the only representative from that state. so i'm wondering, does it make it more important to be moderate when a senator, for example, is representing the entire state.

does it make it -- and yet in your case it didn't, there was still this need to pull to one poll. >> in a state like delaware with votes in recent years, a republican is probably not going to get elected unless they have somewhat moderate positions. i was taken out by somebody who was not remotely moderate and was supported by the tea party. that's where it all came from. in spite of the fact i had leads in the polls in both the primary and general election. that energy came up and got me. that may not be true in se a wyoming or other states with single representatives, but in the more battle states that's a problem. so when you're trying to do the right thing, you're trying to work with both parties in order to advance causes in the greater public good, unfortunately, within your own party there are those who are it logically much

more to one side or the other and they tend to think if you're not voting that way that you have committed some sort of harrisy and you shouldn't be in office. i had many people bemoan the fact that i did not win the general election in delaware, but i'm willing to bet most of the people in the republican party voted against me, and it was a small turnout, but they were probably relatively happy just to be rid of me because i was not quite conservative enough for them. and that's the mindset of the political parties to a great degree today. and that leads to the extremism that we see in congress because republicans tend to be quite conservative and democrats tend to be quite liberal. people like jason and myself and others who may take a more middle position get hurt badly within our parties and these primary circumstances. >> congressman, when i heard

that repeat there had, the problem was the primary process. is there like structurally some way you can imagine around that? obviously, parties have to make a choice about which candidate they're going to put forward. >> the jungle primary system in california is worth looking at where you have both parties able to vote at once in the top two candidates regardless of party affiliation come out. i haven't thought much about that before, but when you really think through that, you are a lot less likely to have fringe candidates survive that process. maybe that's the way to do it. >> it is messy but it could lead to moderation. thank you to the former governor, mike castle in delaware. appreciate you being here. everybody else is going to stick around and we'll stay on this conversation and ask more about partisanship, moderation and whether or not there's any way toward more civility. ♪

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we feel we have the responsibility to represent people all across america, where we, whether they can vote for us or not. and we try to come up with those policies that are for america. policy that will make a difference in a child's life whether you live in new york or whether you live in pennsylvania or iowa or south carolina. those kinds of common sense policies because to one degree we are all alike in that. >> that was democratic congressman gregory meeks of new york speaking with me last weekend during a congressional black caucus trip to new york city. the cdc had long been known as the conscious of the congress for his work bringing complete political leaders together, but we cannot leave this heavy lifting to the cdc because they are a typically progressive arm of the democratic party and

especially in this partisan political climate. last wednesday the republican-led house of representatives voted again to repeal the affordable care act. it was the 33rd time that house republicans have voted to strip, defund or repeal the health care law. choosing symbolic voting over their job the 112 congress has been the least affective in history. and this congress has not passed half as many laws as the least productive congress to date. loss of moderates in congress not only shows a loss of civility but also the loss of productivity. with me at the table is congressman jason altmeye of pennsylvania, harry smith, and richard kim, executive editor of thenation.com. richard, i just got to say, i really only ever want the other guys to be moderate. i don't want our guys to be

moderate. i want to be really honest about that. i really just want the republicans to be moderate. >> you are seeing a-similar et rick polarization. we were talking in the green room. i'm wondering why we necessarily link the question of congressional productivity to the lack of moderates. or why we link polarization to the lack of productivity. you have countries in europe where there's incredible polarization. there are socialist/communist parties there, but there's a political system there, not a two-party system that enables the sausage-making compromise you need to make government function in an incredibly polarized government. while the lack of moderates and getting more moderates elected, it could be one way to increase congressional productivity. and take into account america could be for a long time now a much more polarized environment. >> is the sausage making, part

of the problem is social media and blogs and all this visibility, is the issue that you have to make sausage in order to govern and that in this particular media environment congressmen can't make sausage anymore? >> there are so many candidates and people that end up in office that have pledged sort of almost unreal feelty to i will never do this. as long as that is around it makes it really hard to make sausage. i wonder sometimes in listening to this whole conversation we remember the good old days of ronald reagan and tip o'neal fighting and getting together at the end of the day to have a scotch. onward, we have to get this thing together. i wonder spending times covering both the white house and having conversations with guys like john boehner, is there enough will on both sides to say, we need to do this thing. and it feels like to me in the last decade to two decades it is

more like i'm going to take my agenda and get it. and if there's collateral damage along the way, so be it. and that's been sort of the way things have worked. it seems like since post-clinton, maybe. >> i despise political nostalgia. i never buy it because in every point before this one i'm really not a citizen, but i was looking at what are the things that we have managed to do in a bipartisan way and i was reminded of the '64 civil rights act. that was the really bad democrats, not the nice ones of today, who were doing their filibuster and so the silver rights act of '64 passes because republican leadership gets 27 republican senators to join the 44 democrats to end the filibuster of their fellow democratic colleagues. i think, okay, yeah, i don't like the nostalgia good old days, but i like the '64 civil

rights act. >> the following year in '65 when lyndon johnson signs the voting act he said i just delivered the south to the next generation. we have seen a radical shift in the two-party system where the republican party became a southern party and the democrats became a northern and coastal party. so the loss of or the recomposition of the two parties has reshaped the ideology of both parties. >> and also urban rule. part of it is the south, but there's no blue states, only blue cities and the city is big enough to carry the state or not. but i do want to -- on the one hand, my favorite bipartisan moment is about the blue dots, but on the other hand i'm represented in louisiana by david and mary. mary landry and i have a lot of disagreements but i would vermont rather have her in that

position. >> the bills that have passed, the monumental legislation passed under president obama were not bipartisan. the stimulus was not bipartisan. the health care bill got no republican votes so it is very different than it was. i don't think we have ever passed that type of legislation, that significant monumental life-changing legislation in a unified way like that. >> so do you blame the guys run over, so to speak, for saying, bringing it up 33 times? uh-huh. that's what we were trying to say before. so they felt like they got sold a bill of goods and what happens? the congress gets turned over. so this is the environment that we live in now. >> but i wonder about that because i'm wondering therefore if we are not misidentifying what counts as moderate. yes, it passed only with democratic support but it was a bill that was basically what republicans wanted in the 1990s. >> it was from the heritage

foundation and it's a bill that the senate republicans would have passed two years ago. so the question there is not just sort of the lack of moderates but the way i think the elections have kind of seened into every aspect of governance. there's no longer a non-election cycle so people are making calculations to defeat this piece of legislation. they don't want obama to have a successful, the largest expansion of domestic policy since 40 years or something like that. they don't want that to work because of the political and electoral consequences that has down the line. that's disheartening, too, it is all about winning and losing. >> i'm not sure this is something new. in the middle 20s century we had a lot of cross-party collaboration in voting. we have the same fragment media environment in the 19th century where we had really polarized and partisan media and we had a polarized and partisan congress. so the nostalgia is nice, but this is not new in political

history. >> dorian is bringing us back to the blogosphere. thank you. i always appreciate your voices at the table. up next, the continuing struggle for reproductive rights. van ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team.

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a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. the assault on women's reproductive rights is getting exhausting. it feels like it just never ends, but republican this is week made a special effort to up the ante. on wednesday the house subcommittee chaired by kentucky republican hal rogers pushed through a new spending bill that the washington paper "the hill" reports would cut funding for planned parenthood if the organization continues to provide legal abortions. it was no different in the states this week. we have been covering a new restriction in mississippi which had been blocked by a federal judge right before it was scheduled to go in effect. the law mandates that the physician who performs abortions must have local hospital privileges. however, at the state's only

abortion clinic, the doctors are from out of state. so that same federal judge has now cleared the law to take effect. however, the jackson women's health organization, that one clinic which is thought to be the target of the law, was shielded from any penalties. in virginia, state attorney general ken -- i always mess up his name. he is ignored the board's relaxation for rigorous architectural regulations. despite the 7-4 vote, he claims that the board has no legal right to make such a ruling. adding to the pile this week, virginia governor bob mcdonnell appointed a new member to the same board of health, one by his chair of the anti-reproductive rights group obgyn's for life. a new rule goes into effect to ban abortions after the woman's

last menstrual cycle. last week a group of doctor's advocates filed against the fetal pain bill called the most extreme example yet of the early limit laws by the senate for reproductive rights. joining me is erin is a loan and back at the table, nancy giles and richard kim. the reason i mess up the attorney general's name is because there's this brilliant website called koochwatch.com where they literally look at what bob mcdonnell and mr. koochinelli are doing. we are in this space where we are having this discussion in 2012. it continues to amaze me. >> the first few rounds of the battles in the past have gone so badly for republicans and they keep restarting them.

69% of people opposed defunding planned parenthood even when they knew they performed safe abortions without funds. in virginia bob income donnell, it is political poison this transvaginal things, but yet they restart the same battles thinking they are go differently. >> yes, transvaginal ultrasounds have a watch, right? >> no woman jumps up to say, hey, i'm getting an abortion. this is not some lighthearted quick decision that somebody makes. it is very personal and painful. it just shouldn't even, the legislation just astounds me. that's the first thing. the second thing is that all of these initiatives made and made by republicans when they are questioned about it with a straight face and people are dilated saying, we are not doing the war on women.

it's the democrats. i find myself shouting at the tv going, it's you! >> i think a lot of the advocates repeat the statistic that 60% of people who seek termination already have a child. it is not because they don't understand what pregnancy is. >> or because of gender. >> they just don't want to parent. it is actually because they do know what it takes to be a parent. is this about laziness on the left? the fact we are still having this conversation in 2012, did we just decide post roe v. wade it was going to be okay and somehow lose vigilance? >> i think that's part of the explanation and i do think we could have been putting reproductive rights more at the center of the democratic party agenda and not as a separate thing over here that only women care about because men and society at large benefit from having reproductive rights. but i also wonder and this goes back to the conversation about

polarization, are these republicans, say in mississippi, are they going to pay for this? will they get elected out of office? i'm not sure they will just because you have such a right-leaning district drawn up. so they are not catering to the center or the larger political ambience. >> have they reached too far to allow the mobilization of the modest definition of reproductive rights. in other words, fertility services, but it doesn't mean the people are pro-choice. they are perfectly happy to shut down planned parenthood. >> the whole debate, there's one word in my head. every time i hear a news story about this and it is domination. this is the politics of domination. when you think about the earlier conversation, we can bed ament about them having an assault weapon but women don't have the freedom to come their own

bodies. that is insane. i don't know how else to explain it. i don't know what else is behind it against for the ideology about controlling women's freedoms and bodies. it is about domination. that's the word all week long that was in my head. >> and really when you said it next to that sort of civil liberties framework, it is so startling and different. >> i think your analysis of what happened in mississippi is correct but i also think that generally speaking they are having a sleeping giant awakened in the last few months. you're right. when i talk to somebody from planned parenthood this week they said for 15 to 20 years people things were quiet and there are people donating now who never have before. you have president obama making a video in support of planned parenthood and running ads to point out mitt romney wants to end planned parenthood. obama is coming out against the abortion restriction in virginia which has never happened before to my knowledge. i think in mississippi there are some -- they are outnumbered but there are strong activists working there.

and trying really hard to push back at the laws. also, you have -- yeah, you have this, there's no war on women, but you also have in mississippi people saying things like, if they use coat hangers, you have to have moral values. they are also saying we want mississippi to be abortion-free. anyone who has been to a country where abortion is outlawed knows what abortion-free means, 50,000 people are dying from abortions. >> some of the activist there is are some of the most extraordinary people are some of the best physicians, but it is also one of the poorest states. women with wealth and with private doctors are able to access abortions even when it is supposedly illegal and it is -- up next, we'll talk more about who gets to talk about reproductive rights and who is supposed to just shut up. when this hotel added aflac to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ]

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no taxation without representation is a slogan that originated in colonial days but it lives on today ironically in our nation's capitol. if you have driven behind a car with a d.c. license plate you have probably seen this. now simply taxation without representation. it is less a protest than a statement of fact. eleanor holmes norton, the delegate to the united states congress representing d.c., can serve on committees but she can't vote. as such when she wanted to speak up in opposition to arizona republican congressman trent franks' bill banning abortions beyond 20 weeks, in her district of columbia, please don't miss that, the arizona congressman in her district, delegate holmes norton was denied the opportunity to speak. she did get her word in, finally, by posting a statement on her site saying, republicans ganging up on the district instead of introducing a nationwide bill was quickly seen for what it is. the use of the women of thiscy

to target roe v. wade and the women whose reproductive health depends on the constitutionally guaranteed right to an abortion. it is one thing to try to defund planned parenthood or sabotage abortion clinics. in one's own state, when they are singling out the district of columbia who cannot even vote to at least have a voice, we are officially looking through the looking glass, folks. joining me again, irin carmon, nancy giles and richard kim of thenation.com. this part of the story drove me batty. it is one thing to have a state by state, we the people of mississippi don't want abortions, but in arizona, a congresswoman making laws for d.c. and the d.c. congresswoman already disenfranchised doesn't get to speak. what more do women need to look like? >> this is the second time we have seen a bill that has to do with women restricting women who

it effects getting a chance to speak. yeah, i felt the same way. what business is it of yours that women in d.c. do? and it is a huge african-american area. there are a lot of women of color who might need abortion services. and he's sticking his nose in. actually, i don't want to use words like sticking your nose in. that's too icky. backing up. >> but irin is this because what they are trying to do is bring a roe v. wade damage before this court? >> absolutely. for this court or a court under a romney presidency, i have to say it. >> please don't say it anymore. >> to me these 20-week bans are the scariest and most interesting and the most legally important because we have a situation where they are trying to create the pain capable, the fetal pain thing so if the supreme court considers what happens to the fetus it's on the road to banning abortion

altogether. it is not clear if they can do it under this court, but probably could if they had one more judge. you're right, the d.c. women predominantly african-american women, low-income, they are just the pawn for the 20-week court battle set up. they want to refocus this to later abortions. >> roe v. wade opens the door to this. roe did not find the constitutional right to determination of services. roe set up the trimester and the idea that's something different between the first trimester and third. >> if you talk to legal experts about this, they say if the court follows its precedent, this is unconstitutional. banning abortion before viability, you cannot do it. they want to create a new legal principle that says under the scientific idea there's fetal pain that you should ban abortions after 20 years or

weeks. d.c. is the place to do it. >> one half of abortions performed are after 20 weeks and they are performed -- they are almost never sort of about what we think of abortion on demand. they are because something is wrong with the fetus or the mother. these are often wanted pregna y pregnancies that have to be terminated. again, we are talking after 20 weeks. >> one more thing interesting and depressing about this d.c. taxation without representation, last year the federal government shut down almost over planned parenthood funding. you have a famous quote that said they saved planned parenthood funding but d.c. cannot use taxpayer funds to fund women getting medicaid abortions. it is their own money. it is their local taxation and that became a pawn in the

political showdown. it could happen again. >> this sounds like the domination argument. d.c. disenfranchised and becomes the symbol for women. >> it exposes the lie of conservative ideology. we are all about local control except when we don't agree with your politics and want to dominate you. now we are going to enact this bill if we can to control the entire population that has no voice in our representative system. >> it falls around marriage equality where they don't want state by state marriage equality and about abortion rights. all about states rights unless the states are more progressive. >> they didn't want state by state inquality. until the states started passing marriage quality. >> i'm sorry, let me hold for one moment because we are going to go back to colorado. the medical center of aurora is now having a briefing. and this center received 18 patients related to yesterday's shooting. let's take a listen for at least

a moment. >> some of them are patients and starting to realize what really went on. day two is a pivotal day for them in beginning the recovery process. our staff also who treated all the traumas, they have had some stress in the night. we are working with them and the staff is coming together. so i think it is a whole community here trying to heal and starting to heal. i think one thing as we also absorb all this is, we are learning what benefit it is to have a trauma system the way we do. such high professionalism, expertise, a lot of collaboration. i mean, this is why the ems, the police, the hospitals, the surgeons, the e.r.s, the fire departments train and drill. they don't ever want to have to use it, but i think in speaking to the folks who are here since 1:00 a.m. yesterday, it was precise. it happened the way it was

supposed to. i know some communication -- there were gaps in communication, but that comes with chaos from the city and everywhere else. but i think this demonstrated a terrific trauma system and this is a level two trauma center and it worked very well. so again, i will introduce dr. bob snyder, a trauma surgeon who did some rounds with the patients who can give you updates on the numbers and stats. okay? >> thanks, linda. this morning we made rounds on all the patients that were at mitted to the trauma service as a result of this mass casualty incident. the patients that we have in the hospital right now are all doing fairly well. as linda said, it was a relatively quiet night last night. we did not have any incidents that required any emergency procedures or anything of that

nature. i know dr. denton eluded to the fact that the first 24 to 48 hours after an incident like this we are looking for missed injuries that wouldn't necessarily show up right away and thankfully we have not found any missed injuries. everything that we made the diagnosis originally is what we are still working with right now. we still have seven patients in the hospital. we have three patients on the regular floor, our trauma floor. four patients in the intensive care unit. of those four patients in the intensive care unit, two of them remain in critical condition, but they are stable. and things that we are looking for this morning as far as blood pressure and oxygen levels, all thankfully are doing all right. we actually have plans in moving one of our patients in the icu out to the floor today. linda is correct in that it is going to be a long day for a lot of people.

the initial adrenaline rush of having something like this happen, both for their families and the patients themselves is starting to wear off. and today is the day that there's going to be -- we have staff as far as mental health counselors to work with the patients and their families. >> we are having some difficulties with our feed, but that's a briefing at the medical center of aurora, colorado. as news continues to develop, we will bring you more about the status of the victims from yesterday's shooting. and when we come back, i am actually going to talk a little bit about what we just heard, about the importance of having a trauma center and the communications and all of the things that went right yesterday despite everything that went

wrong. stay with us here on msnbc. [ engine revving ] ♪ hey, hey, hey ♪ [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] with fuel economy that's best in class and better acceleration than camry and accord, you'll wish you had the road to yourself. [ tires screech ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪

just before the break we had an update from aurora, colorado, and we heard from dr. linda den to who said things are going as well as can be expected for the victims and survivors there in the hospital. i have to ask this panel, is this a moment where whip cream talk more about medicaid expansion, the affordable care act, that something is going right and should go right for everybody? >> that's your proof right there, everyone deserves that level of air care. we are talking about zranton. they are bankrupt. what if something like this happened in a place like that where they are cutting back on police and emergency personnel and the hospitals. i mean, this is how it should be. >> look at texas. it is one of the states where the tea party governor rick perry said he will not take the medicaid expansion, even though the government pays for 100% of

it or 90% of it. 25% of texans are uninsured and this would impact millions of people. i did an article at the nation.com up now and the cost to kick in for medicare expansion, if they passed the minimal income tax, if they passed the minimal state incomes tax, they could pay for this 26 times over. >> it is really -- this is why we started our #fdj, forget bobby jindal. they are sending back money about what we just talked about. >> every state that rejected this, they have incredible tax loopholes and tax breaks. >> quick programming note. msnbc will continue to cover the colorado shootings with a two-hour special report at 3:00 p.m. eastern hosted by chris jansing. up next, are we keeping our promise to do better as a nation? [ cellphone rings ]

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january 8, 2011, americans were shocked by the unthinkable violence in arizona, a shooting at a political event. it left congresswoman gabrielle giffords forever changed. six people dead and 13 others wounded. one killed was 9-year-old christina taylor green. born on september 11, 2001, christina was a living symbol of hope that persisted despite the tragedy our country faced that day. so president obama spoke about christina in his speech at the tucson memorial a few days later. >> i want to live up to her expectations. i want our democracy to be as good as christina imagined it. i want america to be as good as she imagined it. >> the president was imploring us to be a better nation for christina, better so that no parent, no mother would ever of have to endure the loss of a

child again. and, if they did, for whatever reason, that justice would be fair and swift. i couldn't help but think of christina but this week and wondered how well we lived up to president obama's challenge. for sybrina fulton spoke out this week after the killer of her child when said it was all part of god's plan. >> i don't believe that's god's plan for him to killable innocent teenager. >> but trayvon can't be here to tell his side of the story. he was shot and killed by george zimmerman february 26th. his mother is hoping that justice for her child is also part of god's plan and she's praying the laws of the state of florida won't shield his killer. then there's a guatemalan woman who was living and working in missouri.

she was arrested in an immigration sting on may 27, 2007, this past wednesday her rights were terminated to her son on the grounds she abandoned him. abandoned him? because she was arrested for her immigration status. the ruling leaves open the door for a missouri's couple to adopt her child. and what about aruna? she he left india in 1997 to escape repeated abuse by her husband, abuse that led to a broken nose, which left her with no sense of smell, a kick in the stomach that was so brutal she had to have a hysterectomy at 28. she had to leave her children behind. after 15 years she was finally granted asylum by the united states last month. then she was reunited with her daughter but still has not seen

her son. 15 years of separation because our laws didn't give her justice. and of course the tragic shooting in aurora, colorado, on friday which separated forever too many parents from their children. but a little ray of hope in the midst of so much loss. the survival among the youngest of the chaos, a 3-month-old survived. too often, our politics, policies, even our national violence separate mothers from the children they love. but the little miracle among all the death in colorado this week is a reminder that not all is lost. president obama told us to be better. and to live up to the expectations of young christina taylor green. but to do that, we can't rely solely on miracles. we have to craft a safer world that ensures that mothers and their kids are protected from all the things that separate them from one another. that is our show for today. thank you to my guests today.

thanks to you at home for wat watching. see you tomorrow morning 10:00 a.m. coming up, "weekends with alex witness." i've always looked up to my brother. he doesn't look like a heart attack patient. i was teaching a martial arts class and it hit me. we get to the emergency room... and then...and then they just wheeled him away. i had to come to that realization that "wow, i am having a heart attack." i can't punch this away. i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to you doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a fighter and nowadays i don't have that fear. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool

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♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ it's an empty apartment filled with booby-traps. right now a painstaking effort in aurora, colorado, as investigators try to find out what a gunman who killed 12 people left behind and why. as new stories emerge about the man behind the suit of body armor more victims talk about how the heroism of others saved their lives. >> even though, like, he saved me and he gave me the opportunity to live, he would have done it for anyone that day. >> as the country and the world tries to make sense of the tragedy in colorado.

good day, everyone. it is noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. i'm alex witt. we are now approaching 33 hours since those tragic and still inexplicable moments in a crowded theater. imagine every seat side by side, every row front to back filled at a suburban mall in the heart of colorado. moments when actual gun fire broke the sell of fictional violence on the big screen and in that time, 33 hours, we have learned enough to frighten and sadden us for a lifetime. but practically speaking we have learned rather little. in fact, at this hour police remain mystified by booby-traps carefully arranged inside the suspect's apartment. officials say removing the trip wire may include a detonation, a blast and fire. we'll have more on that remarkable and developing situation in a moment. but back at the shooting scene where this horror show began with one man and four guns, there remain more unanswered