of the politician. you can't go to any industrial community that's for these trade deals. this is driven by the wall street as you put them, the vultur vultures. >> that's exactly what they are. leo gerard, president of steel worke workers international. it is dangerous for the american economy. that's just the facts. that's "the ed show." i'm ed shultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. i'm live tonight from chicago. just a few moments ago at the white house, president obama sat down for an exclusive interview with nbc news. he talked about the new health care law, and he had surprising comments about his relationship with vice president biden. we'll have that interview later in this hour. you won't want to miss this one. but we begin with politics.

and tonight's lead, republicans still haven't learned a thing. voters have sent the right wing a message. they're sick of the party's hostility towards women, minorities, and the lbgt community. but so is the republican establishment. today "the new york times" reports the gop is trying to limit the clout of the far right of the party. so now let's see how this latest rebranding is going. today the senate voted on the employment non-discrimination act. a bill that would protect gays from being fired due to sexual orientati orientation. and it passed. >> the yeas are 64. the nays are 32. the bill as amended is passed.

>> wait a second. 32 votes against it? who are those 32 votes? oh, that's right. 32 senate republicans. they actually voted that it's okay for people to be fired because they're gay. that included all the gop hopefuls for 2016. senator ted cruz, senator marco rubio, senator rand paul. in this country it is against the law to fire people for the color of their skin or for their gender or for their religion. but the gop thinks it's a-okay to fire someone because they're gay. and then the leader of the party weighed in. >> historic gay rights bill passes in senate. somebody tell me what gay rights are denied now. they pass a new gay rights bill that's not necessary. sent it to the house republicans hoping they'll vote it down. so they can run around saying

anti-gay, bigots, blah blah blah republicans. >> again, republicans haven't understood why they're losing elections. what about the gop's war on women's rights? i mean, surely they've learned their lesson after this week's loss in virginia. ken cuccinelli, a tea party anti-woman crusader was the guy vowing to get rid of abortion even in the case of rape or incest. he lost in large part because he lost single women by 42 points. so let's see how the party is getting away from the anti-woman talk today. senator graham? >> if we can convince the american people to provide assistance and prevent abortions at the 20th week, nothing bad is going to happen. good things will happen. >> how's that for change? back to bills banning abortions. they haven't learned anything.

not one thing. joining me now are krystal ball and jess mcintosh. thanks for both coming on the show. >> thanks for having us, rev. >> krystal, let me start with you. 32 republicans today voted for discrimination against gays. if that were not enough, they're still going after women's rights. why haven't they learned anything, krystal? >> well, i think the problem is they sort of set this train in motion and now they're not able to get off of it. i mean, they've been feeding their base this far right rhetoric saying the world is going to end if we allow women to make their own decisions, if we allow gay people the same basic rights that everyone else expects and is granted in this country. so when you've allowed that rhetoric to take hold in your base, you can't all of a sudden then turn around and say we've had a change of heart. actually those things we said before, just ignore that because now we want to go in this direction.

lindsey graham is a prime example here. he's facing a potentially tough challenge in a primary in a conservative state. he's been a republican that on some issues has been willing to, you know, talk to the president and be in the same room as the president. so he feels he has to do something to throw some red meat to the base. and this seems like the direction he's decided to go in to do that. >> you know, jess, lindsey graham, the senator lindsey graham said today that he wants abortion to be a midterm issue. he told the national review, quote, the goal is to have a vote in 2014 to make sure we vote on it. it's worth having this debate. the more people understand what we're trying to do, the more public support will grow over time. he wants this 2014 midterm election to be around abortion. >> and i'm sorry that he thinks women's rights and health are a political issue. these republicans are just the

best at not learning stuff. i'm going to go back just a little bit. in 2012 we had a historic gender gap. more women voted for democrats than ever before in history. precisely because this anti-woman agenda was front and center. remember todd akin and richard mourdock? they got trounced at the polls. you would think they would recalibrate a bit. instead they come up with ken cuccinelli who physically embodies the republican war on women. so he gets trounced at the policy. so they respond by introducing a 20-week abortion ban. women don't want this. they continue to reject this agenda. they will again in 2014. that's the only silver lining. >> in fact, they are rallying because the new numbers say that your group, the emily's list has been exploding with support in the last few years. >> it's true. all we do is support, we elect pro-choice democratic women.

since then we've added a million members. so emily's list hit 3 million members today. you should all come and join us. we have amazing candidates to take these guys on in 2014. >> krystal, the top republican woman in texas slammed her party for the treatment of women today. take a listen. >> tell me that you give a flip about women's interests. if all you want to talk about is my biology, gee, what happened to my brain? i mean, that's my point. it's not all south of the waistline. >> wow. >> i mean, that's a big blow coming from a leading republican nationally and the leading republican woman in texas. >> kudos to her. i mean, that takes a lot of courage in a state that has really been, unfortunately, at the leading front of the war on women. you know, they've passed a bill there that is going to force the closure of a third of the

abortion clinics in the state. you have so many restricted that many of them are resorted to having to go to flea markets to obtain drugs to self-medicate and have their own abortion. they are going across the border to mexico. so the state of texas, women's health is already in dire condition and they're only trying to make it worse which is why this next upcoming election and i know jessica would have something to say about this, is going to be so critical in texas. you have greg abbott on the republican side, the likely republican nominee, who is just egregious on these issues and many others versus wendy davis who would be a champion of women and women's health. >> you know, jess, a lot of these republican politicians are taking their cues from the talkers, the right wing talkers. especially the boss of the party rush limbaugh. listen to what he had to say. >> unmarried women are looking

at government for everything. obama care is a giant goody bag for unmarried women. look at what they're doing to women with their policies. i mean, they're demeaning them. they're turning them into nothing but abortion machines. buy your own birth control pill. buy your own breast pump. it's not health insurance, it's welfare. >> it's not only ugly words, jess, but you can feel the venom and hate dripping from him as he says this. it's unbelievable the intense dislike he seems to have as he says these things. >> comparing that with the clip that you just played of the republican women comptroller in texas, it's got to be so tough to be a republican woman right now. this is a party that doesn't just lack them. this is a party that seems not to like women. i think if you spend your time crafting your party agenda to appeal to extremists, then extremists are going to have outsized influence in your party. so the republicans can try to

moderate. they can try to diminish the tea party faction. but their actual agenda appeals to these guys. that's why you get rush saying things like that. that's why you get folks on the floor voting the way they do. that's why you get lindsey graham introducing what he introduced today. it's all sad and you can't divorce it from each other. they're stuck with this now. krystal made that point at the beginning and she's absolutely right. >> but krystal, the politics of this big picture, it really makes the republican party's attempt to rebrand itself almost taken less than serious. it's a joke, to be candid. and how do you win? how do you even become competitive when you see that they are inflexible and won't move off this position? >> that's exactly right. the more they go in the direction, the more they're going to become essentially a regional party. if they are going to figure out how to win and be a national majority governing party again,

they're going to have to find a way to win with women. and you were so right to start the segment talking about virginia and ken cuccinelli because the message could not be any more clear. abortion was a major issue in that election. 20% of people said that was their number one issue in virginia. and terry mcauliffe won them overwhelmingly. >> go ahead, jess. quickly. >> in virginia, black women, latinas, and unmarried women all came out in the same numbers in this election as they did in 2012 for a presidential. that's unprecedented enthusiasm in an off-year. this is a motivator. >> yes, it is. thank you both for your time this evening. >> thanks, rev. >> thanks. >> and you can catch krystal on "the cycle" week days at 3:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. ahead, get out the popcorn. the right wingers are attacking chris christie. this will be fun to watch. and president obama's

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hey, republicans. you've got something you haven't had in years. a success story. a gop governor in a blue state. who won by a huge margin at a time when the party's brand is completely in the dumps. so what's the first thing republicans are going to do? tear him down. >> we need moderates like chris christie who can win in new jersey and our party. what that means about the national party, i'm not sure there's an answer. >> every race is particular to the state it's run in. there are factors in new jersey i think are individual to that race. governor christie has shown a way of winning? new jersey and states like new jersey. >> rand paul calls christie a moderate. that's practically an insult in today's gop. and how did senator shutdown react to christie's re-election?

ted cruz said quote, i think it is terrific he is brash, outspoken, and has won his race. but i think we need more leaders in washington with the courage to stand for principle and in particular obama care is not working. >> translation, chris christie expanded medicaid, so i really don't like him. joining me now are michelle cottle and jonathan capehart. thank you both for being here. >> thanks, rev. >> jonathan, at a time when republicans are on a losing streak, shouldn't they celebrate any win they can get? >> i mean, they should. the republican party of old would be crowing about governor christie's landslide win the other night. the idea that, you know, you've got senators rand paul and ted cruz calling him and senator marco rubio calling chris

christie a moderate, well, i mean, i guess that's true in today's republican party. but that knock on him of moderation simply because he's nice to the president obscures a whole lot of other things in christie's background that prove he's not a moderate. that he is a conservative. >> let's look at that record, michelle. you got chris christie vetoed the marriage equality bill. he vetoed the minimum wage increase that voters ended up passing on tuesday. he vetoed funding for family planning centers. he vetoed several gun control bills including one he first called for. so how do you say this guy is a moderate, michelle? >> because in today's republican party, any deviation from pure conservative ideology means that you're unfit to be their

nominee. as we've talked about, he has expanded medicaid and more than that, he has not been sufficiently mean to president obama, which is basically a disqualifier among certain segments of the party. especially the three senators that we're looking at. you know, we're talking about three senators. and most of the republicans i talk to suggest or actually are almost convinced that the 2016 nominee has to come from outside of washington. they think congress is a disaster. all the way around. >> jonathan, if you think the republicans are doing christie in rhetorically, you should listen to the radio talkers. i mean, listen to house they are really, really attacking christie and what they're saying about him. >> i dare you, i mean, all the tough talking chris christie, i want to hear you say yeah barack obama is a liar and he lied about his lies. i don't think that's going to

happen either. >> christie campaigned for obama in 2012. they hit it off there on the shore. >> he was able to cobble together 61% of the vote, and that's what we want. victory, victory, victory at all costs. even if it costs us our heart, our soul, and our principles. >> they are really, really bashing christie with both fists. it's amazing. >> well, quite frankly they're crazy, reverend. what we have here is a republican party, a base of the party that is, you know, hell bent on getting -- on having pure conservatives and backing pure -- who they view as pure conservatives rather than conservatives who could actually win a national election. ted cruz, marco rubio, rand paul. sure, they could probably win a republican presidential nomination given where the base is right now. but they could never win a national election. and that's chris christie's

biggest problem. he probably couldn't get the republican nomination, but he could do some serious damage to whoever the democratic nominee might be in 2016 because he's someone who doesn't just appeal to the republican party base. he's someone as we saw in new jersey, someone who's conservative who could appeal to democratic and independent voters enough to win. >> but, you know, michelle, at least one republican was friendly or nice about christie this week. mitt romney. look at this. >> there's a long list of very capable people, but chris christie stands out as one of the very strongest lights of the republican party. chris could easily become the nominee and help save this party. they don't come better than chris christie. >> is an endorsement from mitt romney a kiss of death or what? >> yeah, it's kind of a mixed blessing there. on the one hand, romney knows

first happened what happens when you're insufficiently conservative for this base, but on the other hand nobody in the party much likes him. he wasn't that popular when he had the nomination. so i'm not sure chris wants to embrace that one. >> now, senator rand paul got attention for these comments about using sandy recovery money for ads that encourage tourism. listen to this. >> some of these ads, people running for office put their mug all over these ads while they're in the middle of a political campaign. in new jersey, $25 million was spent on ads that included somebody running for political office. you think there might be a conflict of interest there. >> what do you think, jonathan, with the paul attack. >> maybe it's sour grapes on his part because his face -- he can't put his face on a billboard anywhere in kentucky. what we're seeing in terms of the criticisms from rand paul and ted cruz and marco rubio, it's just, you know, a bunch of

guys who sees someone who could do some damage to their own presidential ambitions. that's what you have going on there. and, you know, rev, back to mitt romney, i think the other reason why mitt romney was so much in his praise of christie, that was the weekend it came out that mitt romney had said all of those really mean things about chris christie and his weight that came out in the book "double down" from our friends halperin and heilemann. >> well, michelle cottle, jonathan capehart, thanks for your time. i can tell you as one that's been involved in activism for a long time, a lot of times you can tell the sincerity of people that advocate by if they will support what wins for their cause more than the personalities that involve or whether they go to all of the dogma that you want. so a lot of these dogmatic guys

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♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review. breaking news in the last hour. president obama sat down in the diplomatic reception room at the white house for an exclusive interview with nbc's chuck todd. watch. >> thank you, mr. president. >> good to see you. >> nice to see you. i will start with health care. it's probably the most quoted thing or requoted thing you have said in your presidency. if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. you said it a lot during the

run-up. at this point, though, it's obviously something, a promise that's not been able to be kept. just today the denver post reported 250,000 people in colorado are seeing health insurance policies canceled. some of those people liked those policies and they can't keep it. what happened? >> well, first of all, i meant what i said. and we worked hard to try to make sure that we implemented it probl properly. obviously we didn't do a good enough job and i regret that. we're talking about 5% of the population who are in the individual market. they're out there buying health insurance on their own. a lot of these plans are sub-par plans. we put in a clause in the law that said if you had one of those plans even if it was sub-par when the law was passed, you could keep it. but there was enough churn in the market that since then people have bought sub-par plans and that may be all they can afford. even though it's only affects a

small amount of the population, it means a lot to them obviously when they get this letter canceled. you know, i am deeply concerned about it. i've assigned my team to see what can we do to close some of the holes and gaps in the law. because, you know, my intention is to lift up and make sure the insurance people buy is effective. that it's actually going to deliver what they think they're purchasing. what we know is before the law was passed, a lot of tease plans, people thought they had insurance coverage. then they'd find out they had huge out of pocket expenses or women were being charged more than men. if you have pre-existing conditions, you just couldn't get it at all. we are proud of the consumer protections we've put into place. on the other hand we want to make sure nobody is put in a position where their plan's been canceled, they can't afford a better plan even though they'd

like a better plan. we're going to have to work hard to make sure those folks are, you know, taken care of. >> you feel like you owe these folks an apology for misleading them even though you didn't intentionally do it? they feel misled. you've seen the anger that's out. >> i regret very much that what we intended to do which was to make sure that everybody is moving into better plans because they want them as opposed because they're forced into it, that we weren't as clear as we needed to be in terms of the changes taking place. and i want to do everything we can to make sure people are finding themselves in a better position than they were when this law happened. keep in mind that most of the folks who are going -- who got these cancellation letters, they'll be able to get better care at the same cost or cheaper in these new market places

because they'll have more choice, more competition. they're part of a bigger pool. insurance companies are going to be hungry for their business. so the majority of folks will be better off. of course because the website's not working right, they don't necessarily know it. but even though it's a small percentage of folks who may be disadvantaged, it means a lot to them and it's scary to them. and i am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me. we've got to work hard to make sure they know we hear them and we're going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this. >> you've been getting tough criticism on this quote. clarence page, your home newspaper. this is not a columnist that likes to throw bombs in the white house. he characterized this as a political lie. he called it the sort of rosy

promise politicians sometimes make with such passion and confidence that they actually may have convinced even themselves that it is true. is that the position? did politics play a role and you felt as if the republicans were throwing stuff at the law, you're trying to pass it, you're trying to do this that you shorthanded this? >> no. i think we in good faith have been trying to take on a health care system that has been broken for a very long time. and what we've been trying to do is to change it in the least disruptive way possible. keep in mind there were people that would have liked a single payer. there were foeblgs on the right who said let's just get rid of employer deductions for health care and give people a tax credit and they can go buy their own health care in their own market. that would have been more disruptive. we tried to find a proven model.

we've seen it work in massachusetts that would be as undisruptive as possible. and in good faith tried to write the law in a way for people to keep their care. although we believe ultimately they're going to be better off when they're buying health care through the market places they can access tax credits and benefitting from more choice in competition. obviously we didn't do a good enough job in terms of how we drafted the law. that's something we're going to do everything we can to get fixed. >> by the way, that sounds like you're supportive of the legislation. the various things out there. >> we're looking at a range of options. one thing i want to emphasize is everybody is acting as if the existing market was working, and the fact of the matter is that a whole lot of people who were in this individual market who were buying health care on their own because they're not getting it through their employer, they might be happy with it this year. and then suddenly next year the cost got jacked up by 15%, 20%.

the average increase on premiums in this individual market for somebody who kept their health care for awhile, the average increase was double digits. if they actually got sick and used the insurance, they might find the next year their premiums had gone up or the insurer might have dropped them altogether because now they had a pre-existing condition. women were being charged as much as double compared to men. so this is a market that wasn't working. and a whole lot of people were dissatisfied. and what we've done is to increase the consumer protections that are in place for those families and those folks. we've said you can't drop people when they're sick and need it most. we said you can't have lifetime limits who people think they have insurance, next thing they've got $30,000 out of pocket expenses. and over the long-term, that is the right thing to do.

but in this transition, you know, there are going to be folks who get a cancellation letter. especially when a website's not working. they're looking saying what am i going to do now? and, you know, we have to make sure that they are not feeling as if they've been betrayed by an effort that is designed to help them. >> do you feel like considering how much this quote has been. it's late night, it's all sorts of things. do you understand if people are going to be skeptical of the next promise you make of the next -- or are you concerned that people will be wondering what's the fine print he's not telling me. do you get that people might be a little more skeptical. forget the partisans here in washington. just average americans. >> i'll tell you, chuck. i think that -- i've now been in national public life for seven were eight years. i've been president for almost five. and i think for the most part

people know that i speak my mind. and i tell folks what i think. and i've been very clear about what i'm trying to do. -- agree with me on certain issues. that i'm every day working hard to try and make life a little bit better for middle class folks and those trying to get in the middle class doing the right thing and being responsible. i think what most people i hope also recognize is that when you try to do something big like make our health care system better, that there are going to be problems along the way. even if ultimately what you're doing is going to make a whole lot of people better off. and i hope that people will look at the end product. and they're going to be able to look back and say you know what? we now have protections that we didn't have before. we've got more choice in competition. i didn't have health insurance.

i now have it. i now have good health insurance. the website's actually working. you know, i'm getting my kid on my insurance policy even though he's got a pre-existing condition. ultimately i'll be judged on whether this thing is better for people overall. and in the meantime, even if it's a small percentage of people, i mean, we're talking about 5% of the population, but that's a significant number of people. even though a whole lot of them are going to be better off, there's going to be a segment who i've got to make sure i'm speaking to their needs and their concerns. i take that very seriously. because i want everybody out there to know that, you know, my entire intention here is to make sure people have the security of affordable health care. >> is this website going to be running smoothly enough?

if it's not at that point do you sit there and say, okay, let's extend the enrollment period. delay the mandate. do all of those plans come into focus if november 30th isn't hit? >> let me just say generally. and i don't think i'm saying anything that people don't know and i haven't said before. i am deeply frustrated how this website has not worked over the past couple of weeks. and i take responsibility of that. my team takes responsibility of that. and we are working every single day, 24/7, to improve it. it's better now than it was last week. i'm confident that it will be even better by november 30th. and that the majority of people are going to be able to get on there, be able to enroll, be able to apply, and they're going to get a good deal, a better deal than they've got right now when it comes to buying health insurance. now, having said that, given

that i've been burned already with a website -- more importantly the american people have been burned by a website that has been dysfunctional, what we've also been doing is creating a whole other set of tracks. all making sure that people can apply in person effectively. so what i'm confident about is that anybody who wants to buy health insurance through the market place, they are going to be able to buy it. >> no delay. no plans or you might -- >> keep in mind the open enrollment, there is a period during which you can buy health insurance, is available all the way until march 31st. and we're only five weeks into it. so we've got a whole bunch of time not only to get the website fixed, to work out all the kinks. to make sure everybody has the information they need. and what we'll do is continue to assess if there are road blocks

for people, we are going to clear out those road blocks. >> you're hoping whatever it takes. >> whatever it takes for people to be able to get what is good, quality, health insurance at cheaper prices or better insurance for the same price or bad insurance that they've got right now, we're going to make sure they have access. >> still have full confidence in kathleen sebelius? >> i think kathleen sebelius under tremendously difficult circumstances over the last four and a half years has done a great job in setting up the insurance markets. there's a good product out there for people to get. she wasn't our i.t. person. i think she'd be the first to admit that if we had to do it all over again, that there would have been a whole lot of questions asked in terms of how this thing was working. but my priority right now is to get it fixed. and ultimately -- >> is she still the right person

to do it? >> ultimately the buck stops with me. i'm the president. this is my team. if it's not working, it's my job to get it fixed. >> to discuss the interview, joining me now are congressman emanuel cleaver and ryan grim from the "huffington post." >> good to be with you, reverend. >> congressman, the president says his job is to get it fixed. what's your reaction? >> i think the president set the right tone. he was not argument or backing away from responsibility. and i think the greatest challenge to anyone when something goes awry is making it right. that's what he did today. the most dangerous time for a driver is when the highway is open and the sun is bright and people aren't paying as much attention as they should.

and it is stormy that people pay the most attention. so i think the affordable care act is getting all kinds of attention it would not normally get. some of that is good. the president is saying i would make it right. let me say this. i'm having difficulty with the word "mislead." the president did not mislead. he misspoke. and to misspeak is to say something that is incorrect. not untrue, but incorrect. so i hope people will see a difference between mislead and misspoke. and real difference. >> ryan, your reaction to the president's interview? >> i thought -- obviously the piece of news that the beltway will take away from it is the apology he offered to people. i think the secondary piece is

the pressure he put on kathleen sebelius. when he was asked do you still have full support for kathleen sebelius, is she the one who can get this done. he didn't say yes. he said, look, she'd be the first to admit that she made mistakes. he kind of put it in the future as we need to see where this is heading. puts a lot of pressure on the staff and appropriately so. because the president's men and women need to make sure that this is functional. and you need to test out whether this law -- >> but ryan, people i understand in the beltway in washington. but people out there like this plan. i mean, for all of the issues with the website, all of the republicans attack, the approval of obama care is going up and holding steady depending on what

poll you watch. gallup has found a 4% increase. pew research found 1 point dip. reuters found an increase of 3.3%. so people like it outside the beltway notwithstanding. people are starting to get something that they didn't have. congressman. >> absolutely. and it's going to continue to rise. i hope all the video we're seeing on television now, people saying thest the worst thing since people in israel taken into egyptian bondage. all kinds of things. and i want hopefully somebody to do is movie showing people making all these statements about how horrible this is. at a time when no politician in

this country would dare -- >> you know, ryan, i think one of the things that we've got to deal with is that yes there's been real glitches, real problems on the rollout. but there's been such extreme attack that i think they almost cancel out some of the impact that the republicans could have gained from some of the major problems with the rollout. for example, texas congressman louie gohmert, his latest attempt to fear monger over this issue of obama care. listen to this. when you know adversely effected people are do you want them to suffer and potentially die? or do you do everything you can to put it off? >> see, that kind of extreme statement people potentially die, that is what makes people say well, the rollout may not be anything i want, but it's not that. obama care's not that.

nowhere near that. >> and i thought the most incisive point the president made was he said everybody's acting as if the insurance market has been working for all these years. >> right. >> all of a sudden these $50 a month plan that have massive deductibles, that don't cover hospitalization all of a sudden now losing that could cost you your life? the president made a very good point which is -- he didn't make it too long. >> we'll have to hold it there. don't go anywhere. much more on this exclusive interview next. he does laundry, and i do the cleaning. there's only two of us... how much dirt can we manufacture? more than you think. very little. [ doorbell rings ] [ lee ] let's have a look, morty. it's a sweeper. what's this? what's that? well we'll find out. we'll find out. [ lee ] it goes under all the way to the back wall. i came in under the assumption that it was clean. i've been living in a fool's paradise! oh boy... there you go... morty just summed it up.

the next 44 years we'll be fine.

we're back with more from nbc's exclusive interview with president obama. he talked candidly about his relationship with the vice president. >> did you really not know your campaign was researching swapping joe biden for hillary clinton? >> again, chuck, the problem that we got and this goes back to the earlier question you asked. you know, i am in charge of 2 million people in the federal government. and that was truth even when i was running for president. so people knew all kinds of stuff. some of it they clearly mean. sometimes they're trying to figure something out.

particularly on the political side. i'm not somebody who delves into polling and all that data. if they would have asked me i would have said there is no way that i'm not running again with joe biden because i genuinely believe he has been one of the best vice presidents in our history. he also happens to be a friend. he also happens to be an adviser on domestic and foreign policy. i like him. when my back's up against a wall, he has my back. i've now been in this town long enough to know that, you know, folks like to seem important by getting their version of events in the press. or books or what have you. and that's just kind of part of the atmosphere that you live in. >> did you and the vice president talk? >> absolutely.

what i told him and he knows is that i would not be here if it weren't for the support that i've had from joe biden. he is a personal friend. and adviser. it's one of the best decisions i ever made was selecting him as vice president. i couldn't be prouder of the job he has done. >> congressman cleaver is with us, back with us as well is ryan grim. congressman, the president said joe biden is one of the best decisions he's ever made. do you know joe biden, do you know his relationship with the president? >> i do know joe biden and i do know that he and the president are inseparable. and i can tell you joe biden has come to the heel to represent the president and has done it with the highest level of dignity. and even under some difficult

circumstances, i can tell you without fear of contraction, he defended the president. this man has a relationship with the president that most people would love to have with at least one individual in their lives. this is a good relationship. it is strong and i think that the president's absolutely truthful when he says there was never a moment when he was going to dump joe biden. >> ryan, you hear the president kind of say some people try to make themselves important by getting certain narratives in the media or in books. trying to sort of slightly imply maybe somebody kind of overplayed their role or overplayed their influence or even misrepresented the record. how do you respond to that? >> right. it makes our job as journalists easier that there is that impulse amongst so many people in washington. because, you know, it's kind of

this thing where a lot of officials know that others are talking to reporters and book authors. so they say if this guy's talking, i better talk too and get my story out. the job for journalists is to try to decide who is fluffing themselves up and who's telling a real story. in this case there was some senior level talk about replacing joe biden with hillary. it clearly never got to the level of most senior advisers who would have said personal friendships aside, politically it would have been a terrible idea. it would have made him look weak and desperate. so it was a nonstarter on every different level. the lesson is that anything happens in washington pretty much is going to get out, going to wind up in a book or magazine article or a website like "the huffington post." >> i don't think that is a problem.

i think the problem is that a lot of things that didn't happen in washington ends up in a book or story or in "the huffington post." i can say this. i know joe biden. i know vice president biden. i know the president. i don't think the president would have thought of dumping joe biden for one minute. congressman emanuel cleaver and ryan grim, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> i'll be right back with the reason why i'm here in chicago. what we can do to make our city safer. that's next. road closed? there's a guy... excuse me? glacier point? follow me! ♪ follow me! keep up, keep up, keep up. ♪ look he's right there! follow me! [ male announcer ] the nissan pathfinder. wow! follow me! [ male announcer ] nissan. innovation that excites. now get a $279 per month lease on a 2014 nissan pathfinder. ♪

i can't believe your mom has a mom cave! today i have new campbell's chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. her busy saturday begins with back pain, when... hey pam, you should take advil. why? you can take four advil for all day relief. so i should give up my two aleve for more pills with advil? you're joking right? for my back pain, i want my aleve.

you're joking right? life with crohn's disease ois a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education. and finally tonight, fighting back against gun violence. i'm here in chicago where tonight i'll spend the first night in the west side apartment i've rented here. part of my effort to call attention to the crisis of violence in our city and our cities and those that are doing something about it. just the first week of this

month gun violence in chicago left six people dead and 17 wounded. including a 6-year-old boy. today i visited a magnet school where i spoke with students about the violence they face every day. >> when you leave school, how afraid are y'all about gun violence? >> it's always on my mind. >> gun violence is always on your mind? >> yeah. what if this happens, what if that happens. >> what would you see done? >> i would like more law enforcement in high schools. maybe getting on the bus would be a big crowd. >> this is unconscionable reality. that students have to deal with this and deal with it every day. and they need our help. basketball legend isaiah thomas and the reverend marshall hatch were with me today to highlight the need for change. they among others are working on