if we want differentiating between friends and enemies it's also a challenge obviously got to stand with our north korean allies in the case of republican candidate mitt romney mixing up presidents and prime ministers can be coming i think that president bush represents a real threat. to the. stability and peace of the world the overarching ignorance on international affairs has caused american political commentator bill maher to conclude i think anybody could be president in this dumb country. sort of like at this point now where i think if you're gonna be when you register to be a candidate you also have to go take a test about foreign affairs and if you fail the test we might get you one shift to take it again and then i'm say sorry go run you know for city council in your little town in alaska if a country with the world's highest national g.d.p. is being represented by politicians with

a deficit on international affairs the biggest consequences likely to be america's credibility around the world time and even who we target in let me finish this i just get lost in a blizzard of words there this is where it gets really dangerous for united states of america it's like wait a minute how could they possibly be right about terrorism how could they be right about north korea are going to be right about iran so-called nuclear program when their candidate doesn't even know that there's a north and south korea i think the u.s. is why and so then the world has this very paranoid the united states because of the candidates not understanding basic facts or understanding the basic principles of international law which unequivocally i prohibit torture and if i were president i would be willing to use waterboarding i think it was very effective. for three the consistent streak of foreign policy blunders made by u.s. presidential hopefuls is quite humorous but. it could also be considered

a national tragedy if most candidates campaigning to be leader of the so-called free world simply don't know enough about the world outside of america's borders marina porter nile r.t. new york. and for more on this i spoke to abby martin she's a journalist and founder of media roots i asked her what these folks say about the pool of candidates here's their take. seems like in america we play by a different rule than the rest of the world here we like to develop personalities behind candidates where people can relate to a candidate oh i want to have a beer with this person why don't want to have a beer with the president and it's i'd like to him to know what he's talking about so it makes me feel really uncomfortable and embarrassed and i think a lot of other critical thinking people in this country feel the same way i think they're just trying too hard to relate to middle america and to relate to people when really they should be focusing on their knowledge of the world in foreign affairs and if that's what they're trying to do portray themselves as

a candidate that they were one of you when you come out with a beer for me come out who would come out and have a very with me i mean does that affect their talking points and and what kinds of things they choose to discuss maybe if it's not the most important or or relevant thing are all most pressing issues in our country today that maybe they'll be more will especially to appeal to the conservative base. is that something that is affecting the dialogue and the things that they're choosing to do to discuss yeah i think it really dumbs down the state of political discourse you see you know we talked about in previous interviews but focusing on issues like gay rights and abortion really divisive issues instead of relevant issues like the military industrial complex and those wars these kind of things that dumbs down the debate and what's strange to me though is how are these players even relevant how is sarah palin a relevant person how is michele bachmann a relevant person when she's running as a tea party candidate who's supposedly backing the constitution when she can't even

name certain bill of rights i mean things like this just make them it makes you wonder why are these people relevant in the political discourse why is this person even capable of becoming the present united states and cindy sheehan once told me that sarah palin was actually insurance for obama's election and when you see things like this it really makes me wonder how are these people even in these positions of power certainly it does make you wonder especially as. they're seeing some of their performance we just saw in that story there well you know how do these politicians affect u.s. credibility worldwide i mean people are watching and seeing this i mean a lot of people around the world think america is a joke american politics are dog and pony show they see people you know sarah palin thinks the africa is a country so when people around the world hear that they think what is really going on. the education system is really dumb in this town i mean it is these politicians who are governors of states don't understand the continents in the world really is

totally dumb than the discourse. how can we put our faith how can americans put their faith and these candidates to make informed foreign policy decisions when they don't seem to have their facts straight well that's the problem they can't and that's why you see a lot of elections cycles where people are not voting for their interests they're just voting against candidates so you see a lot of people who are more progressive critical thinkers who are just saying i can't in good conscience vote for someone who doesn't know these things therefore i'm just going to vote against them even though they might not agree with obama's policy and that's really where we're at right now. also want to focus on a hot foreign policy debate our topic today iran and fears that the country has a nuclear bomb or is building a nuclear bomb iran has come forward publicly and said that they don't have one they don't plan on building one we also have top military leaders also confirming this yet we still hear this very harsh and tough rhetoric out of the g.o.p.

debates mitt romney all of them said rick santorum almost competing on who can be tougher against iran and when we see this this kind of rhetoric coming from them how does that play and drumming up war with the country we've seen we've seen a lot of saber rattling with iran you know the thing is we're already at war with iran. covert war with them right now the cia is on the ground we're training israeli defense of the troops they're training drills. like you said leon panetta has already said that they're not building a nuclear weapon so you have this contradictory rhetoric we obviously are already in the country so it's really a low point i mean we're already engaging in covert warfare with iran so it's just a matter of how much people are aware that we're already there on the ground and from foreign policy there is some ignorance is see as to what is going on even in our own country and we have this embarrassing interview circulating with mitt

romney where he says that he's not too worried about the poor strained at a time where we have this growing income inequality gap growing in the u.s. and and record poverty rates i mean does this just show how out of touch that he is with the reality that many americans face right here in the u.s. you know yeah i mean these politicians are elitists you know they're from an elite of society they're completely out of touch with the poor with the regular citizens needs of this country we saw with the occupy wall street movement they completely tried to minimize. the entire movement i just don't think they understand what's going on because when you're getting bribes and millions of dollars from lobbyists for your campaign it's really hard to be in touch with the needs of the average american. really is and so what do you think if you are these politicians are really this ignorant or are they just trying to stick to the talking points that appeal to their base. if they aren't this ignorant and that's really sad that they

would have to dumb themselves down to appeal to a base and not you know not know really obvious things geographically and politically so that's really sad if they are this ignorant they shouldn't even be a relevant political figure so either way it's just really strange that these people or the political discourse well at the end of the day seeing this play out. as you call it a dog and pony show is this all looking pretty good for president obama oh absolutely absolutely i think it's a really in the bag i mean there's really no one out there that's like i said everyone that i know who even is really upset with obama is going to vote against whoever the g.o.p. candidate is abby is such a pleasure to have you here in the studio thank you for weighing in on this that was journalist and founder of media roots are in. well it's groundhog day here in the u.s. each year numerous furry groundhogs appear and try to predict if spring is near the

most famous groundhog punk's the tony fill this morning in pennsylvania who predicted another six weeks of winter but as our to correspondent christy infrasound explains you could say every day and washington d.c. is groundhog day. it's groundhog day once again but in washington that day comes much more than just once a year when are we going to a couple of years ago no matter when you turned on the t.v. you may have seen this what's in the best interest of our country or this that my whole life. the american dream

or this that these kids are over shot at your american dream. i covered. the weeper of the house then there are those perpetually unresolved issues in congress the white house will ask congress to increase the limit on the federal government's borrowing and the president is asking congress for an increase to the debt ceiling of one point two trillion dollars a little incentive for those job creators not only is extending the payroll tax cut important for the economy as a whole congress is expected to vote today on a compromise to extend a payroll tax cut for millions of workers or throwing a lifeboat to those who have lost their jobs or yesterday i sent congress the american jobs that passed this bill to watch footage of back in the classroom pass this bill pass this bill it's groundhog day again by reliving the same day. that fellow. writers. feel color.

and then there's that other thing i know that i have deeply hurt and disappointed my wife darlene. my children both in and outside the walls of washington in the past few days i've begun to atone for my private failings with my wife so to my children and my entire family i hurt her i hurt you all i hurt my wife a broken record i want to again offer my deep sincere apologies playing the same song i'm truly sorry over and all i can say is that i apologize and over the remorse i feel will always be with me this is a place where the same battles are fought time and time again the same issues rehashed but rarely results working here as a journalist means often waking up to do the same story as the day the week or the month before in washington christine christine in washington christine for the our

our team. and that's going to do it for now we'll see you right back here and a half hour. world with. science technology innovation all the ins developments from around russia we've got the huge earth covered. more news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china operation to rule the day.

if you want to play god work and you get in they will then store good any gun store they're going to write a background check or rather what you buy there. another big event is

a gun show they have on weekends and this is where the gun store sellers can also go and set shop but the individual people who own guns the person in question can come and also set up a table and do is itself against the gay seller so shops are still held to the same regulation that they need to read background check on every purchase or food to people who come in sell privately off sometimes you know the same day the device itself has is not required to run a background check said why are you not holding these to sell or selling the same the same product to same standard that's the problem that's the loophole. her gun show. but they have to. know her. way back to get. to it.

but. there are all right automatic and all their lives. right when i. read all. right we're going to never have i heard. tell you right. now. that they have never seen anything. like am. i an attorney. or.

the way. this entire transaction that we just record breaker broke no law federal or state law this is why i want to do is to show these simple transactions and say this is something this perfectly will be for countless shot i think we are like most americans who didn't have much involvement with gun violence and never to show lives and we weren't really involved in the issue or didn't know a lot of the facts i knew that there were a lot of deaths in the newspaper it tributed and that many were attributed to guns but i didn't really realize how big the problem was i to my son was sitting in french class in a small college town and he got checked for comms. that makes it to me makes it any could be anyone could anything it could anything. after i recovered. the hospital and physical therapy and went back to school. i was thinking about

this is. the gun show loophole is one of the simplest steps we can search for to improve the safety of guns falling into the wrong hands. so this is going to be a talk primarily about the epidemiology of violence the prevention of violence some research that's been done you all know that my area of expertise in general is on what happens upstream in that chain of events that brings people to the emergency department having been exposed to it i decided this was something that needs to be quantified it's a story that needs to be told. the whole report will deal with what i see is the problematic aspects of what goes on in country knows how guns are bought and sold anonymously how they're bought sold illegally what kind of weapons are bought and sold some aspects of the relationship between gun

shows in extreme right wing politics neo nazi ism video confederacy. one of the things that i've been able to document is a straw purchase that is illegal everywhere and here's how it works let's say that i'm prohibited from owning guns i'm a felon but you are not i'm going to hire you to buy a gun for me from a licensed retailer there's one in phoenix the real purchaser is handing cash to the straw purchaser in the red t. shirt which the straw purchaser then puts in his pocket the two of them walk around the corner where the real purchaser indicates the gun that he wants to buy. the straw purchaser gets hold of a sales clerk indicates that that's the gun the straw purchaser is completing the paperwork and to a more senior person and at this retailer he gets on the phone as he is required to

do and he calls the national instant criminal background check system but he's got the straw purchasers identification not surprisingly keep has passed the background check the straw purchaser hands over the money the real purchaser moves in and helps pack up the gun nobody had the sense a body was watching nobody had to sense if they would get in any trouble so that felonies were conducted right out in the open they're the kind of transactions that make it easy for criminals to get guns. not too many years ago the air force commissioned a study of these weapons pointing out the fact that no airport civilian or military was entirely safe the range of these weapons was such that a determined bad guy could be well outside the security perimeter of an airport and still have a fair shot of an airliner as it took off or landed these guns are available from

private individuals for cash no background check no waiting period no questions no record. more hate mail to. the from this is what it was for the house for who we think could be a likely co-sponsor on the legislation that we have twenty three twenty four the gun show loophole bill and as of today we can move a couple more marks right here for example. as you mark this one you know it means they have agreed to co-sponsor our bill in the house. the basic requirements hold everyone at these gun shows everyone who sells guns to the same standard that's the first step it's not all private sales which is however much we would like to see all private sales but it's it's kind of the most from the most reasonable the most common sense first step with that. forum and we're doing the video

collins undercover video and when you're speaking your house how is this going to be presented first. and what he said in minutes we'll bring you in about seven minutes be the forum or be the biggest event that i've ever spoken at really keeping a lot of your story i think it's important to have and i've spoken at rallies but i've never spoken in front of congress so this would be for me it's definitely a big day the main thing we want to see you know is to tell the story to tell well to answer the questions you know you're laying the groundwork for us to build on for the next year or two years to come ok but i feel real good. i feel nervous you'll do great if most people agree that felons should be able to buy guns why shouldn't we do a background check on us thanks to the gun lobby and the n.r.a. tried to think of every argument they could to to stop this thanks paul and they do

it with the idea that we're really out here protecting your right for gun ownership but what they're really doing is they're protecting the gun manufacturers and the gun dealers and ending up supporting the illegal gun distribution system in this country. richard feldman spent two decades working with one of the nation's most secretive organizations the national rifle association his new memoir ricocheted it confessions of a gun lobbyist chronicles his time with the n.r.a. and other gun groups you write that the n.r.a. often likes to draw lines of us versus them do you think they're unwillingness to compromise has contributed to the success now that's a fair very fair question yes if. define success is fundraising it certainly has been very successful when you do fund raising you want to have an identifiable enemy you want to keep the issue black and white the word compromise to the n.r.a. is a dirty word never give an inch is the slogan fighting is good for the n.r.a.

doing battle is good but they have to make issues sometimes when issues don't really exist just to keep that fund raising going well when they were asked to comment on your book a spokesperson told the washington post we don't comment on works of fiction. we all know that the n.r.a. is powerful and that the n.r.a. is ruthless but when they turn on one of their own and he decides to turn back on them it's kind of like peering into a burlap sack full of ill tempered mix so i just ask you on a personal level having been a top lobbyist at the n.r.a. having been essentially forced out of the gun lobby by the n.r.a. being unhappy with your approach to things how has this been for you personally to have been really kind of booted out well they needed to get rid of me because they want to be the only game in town and when i cut that voluntary child safety law deal with bill clinton without getting the table blessing from an ira we were

threatening their hegemony over this issue thank you it was a remarkable gathering in the rose garden this morning because here with the hand good industry and the president actually agreeing on something i'm pleased to announce that eight of the largest handgun manufacturers will now provide child safety devices with every new handgun they sell back in one nine hundred ninety seven there was legislation in the senate to mandate child safety locks on guns there was pretty much universal agreement in the industry that we ought to do this on our own get the credit for doing it we thank you mr president without having led . slate of all regulatory mandates on the way we had to do it by the n.r.a. came unglued after that announcement i sort of went from the guy who came from n.r.a. representing the industry to being an r a's public enemy number two. well we had

really done was and several fundraisers for them i mean once we made the decision to include child safety locks was no sense opposing something that's already a done deal. i don't think n.r.a. senior leadership like that too much to feel secure in. thirty to forty aisles of booths probably fifty thousand people going to be here over the next four days and this is just one of three false. n.r.a. volunteers they need a lot of volunteers as they pay that staff so much. indeed for your piece they. are now out and they've been watching us i

guess. maybe we got your. way you didn't have to prepare a party for me. earlier this. week where i just heard. well we have to check the series and it's not just the n.r.a. has said and done any interviews with anyone that n.r.a. everywhere isaac has an angle. here i'd like to know that this particular issue is very yeah i mean it's you know we don't want to die. there are makers church. every. i don't know if you've heard we got pulled off the floor earlier today really yells you criticize the n.r.a. why don't think i said it on film where they had a alley some people were nervous. this is one for

the history books the first ever supreme court declaration that america's right to own a gun self protects. it is the first time the us supreme court has ever taken up the right to bear arms under the second amendment since it was ratified back in seventeen eighty one the second amendment rights justice antonin scalia protection individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use it for lawful purposes such as self-defense justice scalia was careful not to throw out all gun control laws stating flatly the second amendment right is not unlimited. what do you see as being the current state of gun laws you know taking into context the history in american gun laws and where you think it's going i think in large measure the firearm debate in america is really over an hour is kind of

a self-supporting station and if it's cause goes away it goes away they need a dragon to slay in order to continue to develop their membership in order to motivate their members and in order to fundraise from their members i get a fundraising letter from the n.r.a. about every other or every third week. and some a lot it is and some of them are really pretty intense and here's one from from the summer dear mr feldman some of congress' most powerful anti gunners said demanding a registration list of every american gun owner they want your name this to feldman they want to know where you live your address that's pretty frightening stuff i kind of disagree with the idea of scaring your members out of their hard earned dollars precedented government intervention chipping away at your rights to your freedom the n.r.a. instills a tremendous amount of fear in its members and the thing is it works. it motorized

their members but you can stop them if you look at the historical moment there's really very limited threats to gun rights i mean we just came out of eight years of george bush in republican controlled congress we saw gun rights legislation during that period not gun control legislation two thousand and seven we see the worst single shooter killing spree in the history of the country at virginia tech and here we are a few years later we have virginia passing gun rights legislation right so repealing some of the earlier gun control legislation that was passed do you believe in your right to own a gun you so you may be an endangered species called one eight seven seven n.r.a. two downs and now and join me and already i think there are a range of n.r.a. members and among the most committed are the true believers the diehard n.r.a. members those are the gun crusaders. maybe one of three n.r.a. members would fall into this category there's a huge chunk of gun owners in our country who are not n.r.a. members the n.r.a. has a membership of about four million.