if you are not bill crystal or somebody like thati'll be the first to admit i'm wrong. but i don't think i'm wrong. this is not a liberal group, it is a right-wing group, you're trying to look like liberals and we can tell. mad house, let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this eruption of south doubt and humiliation in the republican party. suddenly after months of denial, you hear the growling and the gnashing of teeth. it's as if we're hearing the cries from hell. peggy noonan said the grand old party is doomed if it keeps knocking hillary and keeps recognizing that president obama is the president of the united

states. the ones who can see through the dark know they can't go on like this. margaret is not alone, bobby jindal said we have to stop being the stupid party. haley barbour says to stop making stupid comments, again, that word about rape. don't lose heart. like an old car that won't turn off, some character out in new mexico wants to stick women who are raped with stiff prison sentences if they get an abortion. she calls it tampering with the evidence. but wait a minute, crazy guys, didn't some of your republicans say you can't get pregnant in case of a rape? anyway, fighting our way through the crazy even as we hear the first loud barks and meows from the pack yards of american politics. i have two analysts with me, the grio's joy reid and any time i can get you to giggle it's a

good day. peggy noonan, talk about middle of the road conservative. quote, it became obvious this week that the republican party had to start taking barack obama seriously. he means to change america in fundamental ways as he sees it. the proper response to such a man is not -- was that he is not a muslim or he's a kenyan or working out his feels of coloniali colonialism. it didn't hurt him, it hurt the republicans. can the gop in washington for now develop those things? what do you think? she's saying you're deluded yourself with the nonsensical charges of birtherism and it's hurt you, not him. >> i agree with you, peggy noonan is a tremendous writer, i don't agree with much much of what he says.

but here's the thing. they're not listening to the editorial page, they have been fed 30 or 40 years the insanity or the belief that their views are absolutely right. the idea of calling democrats marxists and being extreme on abortion that is not right, it's fundamentally american, more american than the other side. >> the polls say you're right. >> you can't change the cake by changing the frosting. the problem in the republican party is not the political or the intellectual class -- >> what are you, dan rather? >> i am. the base of the republican party isn't listening to the intellectuals. they're listening to what you call the other day the mickey mouse crowd. that's who ascended. it can't just change because peggy noonan says so. >> i think she may be right for this reason. when you look at the commonality now, the common nature of the republican party, still to keep talking about rape. something they ought to stay off of. it's a terrible tragedy, it's a crime. why keep talking about it? this thing about obama, the birtherism.

we'll get to it later in the show. more than a third of the republicans think he was born somewhere else still. >> bless peggy noonan. she wants to come in from on other high -- >> don't be jealous over columnists. >> i'm not. six out of seven of the presidential primary candidates were basically yahoo candidates who believed in any one -- >> remind me of their names. >> kane, perry, backman, santorum and mitt romney was the only guy there -- he flirted with this, but he stayed away from it. the house republicans came into power two years ago, tea partiers, they tried to redefine rape. it's not just yahoos out in new mexico or those with

transvaginal probes it's the heart of the republican party. >> here's jindal here. he's trying to be the leader. down in charlotte, louisiana, governor jindal called out his own gop. >> the republican party does not need to change our principles. but we might need to change just about everything else we are doing. we have to stop being the stupid party. i'm serious. it's time for a new republican party that talks like adults no secret we had a number of republicans that damaged the brand with offensive and bizarre comments and i'm here to say we have had enough of that. >> got a smattering of applause there. joy, you heard that. not very enthusiastic. this morning, haley barbour, a very smart politician, he seconded jindal's comments. >> the point he made is correct. the senate candidate, one in indiana and one in missouri, the comments that they made were stupid comments. offensive comments. and in today's world when a candidate in one state says

something, the negative effect of that can spill over to lots of other candidates. and bobby jindal was exactly right. >> the problem is, joy, where was the whistle-blowers about last august? listening to donald trump, when they were hugging him, listening to the birther crowd, the louie go merts, and rick santorum talking about birth control, they got equal time with the more sane members of the right. >> the energy of the party is with the richard murdoch crowd. isn't jindal the same guy who signed off off on teaching creationism in school as science? he hasn't been clean -- >> equal time again. >> exactly. the consultants in the party understand they need to change. bobby jindal is an ambitious guy. for them to be viable as presidential candidates they need to change. in the political class believed you could change the base, they wouldn't be trying the

shenanigans like trying to change the electoral college so the rural counties -- >> we'll be talking about that the rest of the year. they keep looking for ways to cheat. they do face a rural threat. even though they embrace hispanics, embrace the african-american viewer, they are doomed. this is coming ought as fresh news. if you thought had republicansed that learned their lesson on abortion talking about being the stupid party think again. katherine ann brown has brought up a bill that would make it illegal for rape victims to get abortions. tampering with evidence shall include precuring or facilitatingen an abortion or compelling or coercing another to obtain a fetus that's the result of criminal sexual penetration. why do they get into this stuff? what in their mind magnetized to

be talking about rape and what they were through with murdoch and -- what's his name? >> akin. >> because they believe it. >> but they don't think about it. or do they? >> i guess they do. this is the issue. it's not about stopping stupid remarks as haley barbour as jindal or peggy noonan says. a lot believe this crap and they believe in self-deportation. that wasn't a stupid remark, it was politically, but that's what mitt romney campaigned on. they believe in preventing gay marriage. they believe -- they believe -- >> they do agree with some of the stuff, i don't want to marginalize it all. >> say on the tax policy, they fought against raising the taxes on the rich and 60% of the public believed in that. >> they came out -- coming out for cutting government spending will help you.

>> but the rich. >> why don't they stick to their strong points? anyway, republicans look ridiculous this week i believe when they decided to go after secretary of state hillary clinton who is riding so high in the polls right now. why'd they go at the very point she was at her strongest, they attacked. let's take a look. >> i'm glad that you're accepting responsibility. i think that ultimately with your leaving you accept the culpability for the worst tragedy since 9/11 and i really mean that. had i been president at the time and i found that you did not read the cables from benghazi, you did not read the cables from ambassador stevens, i would have relieved you of your post. i think it's inexcusable not to know of the requests for security i think cost these people their lives. >> madam secretary, you let the consulate become a death trap. and that's many national security malpractice. you have said you take responsibility. what does responsibility mean, madam secretary? you're still in your job. >> well, let me get this

straight first of all. let me start with joy. i think there's a sex, a gender aspect to this. they treated her as if they were reproaching her. like it was their job to reproach her. here's a line that doesn't square. one guy says she's leaving her job because she has been basically fired. he says i think ultimately that your leaving you accept the culpability. everybody knows that secretary clinton had decided months ago she was going to serve one presidential term. here he is dishonestly, you can say it's dishonest, he is leaving out of shame or out of recognition of her guilt. that's just not true. your thoughts? >> this is the same crowd that said she was too afraid to testify. then you have snidely whiplash rand paul up there being disrespectful to her. >> who is snidely whiplash? >> dudley do right. >> dudley do right, whatever. this comes from only talking to

each other and listening to the rush limbaugh that call women babes and that's that's okay. >> thank you, joy and regan. coming up, coincidence in the age of conspiracy. why do so many people believe in conspiracy theories? the fact is the more you know the less likely you're to believe in them, except the republicans the more they read the papers or watch fox, they're more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. well, say the word fox. obama and clinton alliance are doing a joint interview on "60 minutes." this is a fascinating event. the president of the united states with a duet with the secretary of state. this is big time. something is up. and what must joe biden -- what is he going to watch sunday night? can you rig it? republicans in five battleground states are looking to change the electoral voting process again. the five battle ground states

where obama won, it would look like this where the republicans winning a third them. i guess if you can't get people to vote for you you stack the deck. and let's talk about the collection of memorabilia, the life of jack kennedy. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. but lately she's been coming in with less gray than usual. what's she up to? the new root touch-up by nice'n easy has the most shade choices, designed to match even salon color in just 10 minutes. with the new root touch-up, all they see is you. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter.

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welcome back to "hardball." you can see the snow behind me at the white house. like one of the things you turn upside down. how about conspiracy theories? it turns out it depends on your party affiliation whether you believe in them. more republicans than democrats are birthers, for example. but a new fairleigh dickinson show poll shows 64% believe that the president is hiding some specific information about where he was born. how about fixing elections, more

than a third of democrats think george w. bush's supports rigged the ohio with voter fraud. 36% think obama supporters did the same thing last november. think back to 9/11. more than a third of the democrats are part of the truther crowd, that president bush knew about the attacks before they happened. as do nearly 60% of african-americans. the difference in the party is the knowledge base. republicans who know more about the news are actually more likely to believe in the conspiracy theories fuelled by the right-wing networks like fox. we have the man who conducted the poll and a syndicated radio host and so michael, you brought this to our attention. i want to get you as a generalist like this, what do you think this told you, what surprised you about this poll? >> well, it reinforced what i have suspected all along which

is that the business model at the far right is predicated on fear. that they scare the crap out of people, there's never any accountability. for some reason, chris, people don't remember six months later that they were told there was another catastrophe looming and therefore hold those members of the media accountable. they still stay tuned in, whether it was talk radio or fox or some other oracle on the right. >> yeah, it's almost like an addiction to being afraid. let me ask you, professor, help me out on this. what did you decide that you learned here? is it just the person doing this kind of clinical study, what do you think was surprising in terms of brain soup here, different brain soup, the way people's brains work, right and left? >> there's something of asymmetry. both sides do tend to believe in conspiracy theories. it's not just something we see on the right t right and the left are embracing them. the difference is the informational effects. that was most interesting to me. the more you know about the

world, the less likely you'll be to believe in these conspiracy theories. we find that's not the case for everyone. i think that is something because of the informational content of right-wing media. if you're a republican you search out more information on these conspiracy theories. if you turn on fox news, you are going to wind up not getting more corrective information. when fox news covered this very poll, it was tucker carlson talking about how absurd it is that there was all this belief in the conspiracy theories and then asking why president clinton -- why president obama hadn't released his government transcripts. >> that's fair and balanced. you have allowance for the crazy people. you know, michael, you're enjoying this. i have a couple of things here. let's start with the birthers. the president released his official birth certificate. like he had to go through the humiliation i believe of going out to honolulu and asking to release the documents that normally aren't released. why wasn't that enough?

why did any sane person at that point forward have any questions? what more could you ask? you have to believe that everything was cooked, not to buy the facts. >> they're the -- they are masters at taking kernels of truth and wrapping them in tremendous fiction and then weaving it together in a way that sounds like it could all make sense. there's never any sort of drill down moment where people say, wait a minute, time-out. let's analyze this and think about all the things that would have had to take place and all the people who would have had to be involved for any of this to be true. the great example i think recently is benghazi. we just came through those hearings yesterday. instead of legitimate concern about the death of four americans and making sure that we're protected, it was all about what did ambassador rice say when she went on those shows, why was she out there -- it was crazy. >> let's go over the african-american piece. how do you explain that professor? i know we have so much segregation in our community,

you don't know anybody that works at the state department, you don't know anybody that works in state hall. explain the differential between white and black. >> people who are generally out of power, who feel like the centers of power are more distant from them are more likely to believe in conspiracies because they don't see what's going on. the second thing with african-americans, they have been the subject of conspiracies in the past. i mean, we had those syphilis experiments, at tuskegee. >> so the worst case scenario turned out to be true? >> yes. the third thing that's happening, we do see that african-americans have much stronger differentials, they like democrats way more than republicans. they are to the democratic party what essentially the entire republican party is to the republican party. >> well said. you know, michael, this didn't start. my dad worked at navy intelligence in philadelphia. down in -- all through the war. he was an enlisted guy, chief

petty officer. but near the end of his life, i love my dad, he would still believe that roosevelt had something to to with pearl harbor. that he knew it was coming, he wanted to get into the war with the nazis. your experience with talking on the radio with people, do you sense this idea that there's always some liberal in washington doing something horrible to the country, like letting us get attacked and losing our pacific fleet on purpose? which would have been only grounds for impeachment but execution if he got caught doing that. i don't care if he was roosevelt. >> i think what separates that from this, chris, i'm always willing to give a good ear to a conspiracy theory. they're entertaining. but what's different is now they're being presented in a cohesive fashion for a political purpose and they have never let up on this guy. >> thanks for giving us this great story. thank you for joining us from fairleigh dickinson. up next, sheamus, roll over. we have another politician with a dog story.

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back to "hardball." now the side show. ready for the opposite of mitt romney's sheamus on the roof story? dog lovers will appreciate this one. newark mayor, cory booker, twitter was abuzz about a dog being left out in the cold overnight. well, booker appear at the scene and carried the dog to the heated cop car. >> this is brutal weather, this dog is shaking really bad and you can't leave your dogs out on a day like this and go away. crank up the heat. i appreciate it. >> like all the way joe biden, isn't it? the dog's owner was out of town and did not know his dog had gotten out.

booker has a knack for showing up. he rescued a woman from a burning house. he's still -- he doesn't know if frank lautenberg plans to run for re-election. here's some republican logic you may not have heard of before we need restrictive election laws to protect people's right not to vote. here is how same-day registration with infringe on individual liberties. >> i think we do have to have common sense protections to make sure that our rolls are secure to stop potential voter fraud. this whole issue i think we're dealing with the federal government and universal registration and same-day registration and all these different buzz words really gets down to the individual freedoms of people in our state and americans in general. and their ability to decide for themselves, yes, i want to

register to vote and participate in the process or no, that i don't. >> here's a buzz word for you, sir. democracy. when did universal and same-day registration become ways of forcing people to vote. that's "hardball." coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. ce is there 2. oh dear, i got a flat tire. hmmm. uh... yeah, can you find a take where it's a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah? yeah i got it right here. someone help me!!! i have a flat tire!!! well it's good... good for me. what do you think? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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