i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. next on "meet the press," iraq on the brink of collapse. will baghdad fall and how will the u.s. prevent a terror state from emerging? with the politic of iraq raging again, we will hear exclusively from 2012 presidential nominee, mitt romney, and other key voices from the house and senate. plus, political earthquake, romney will also weigh in on the biggest political upset of the year, which saw the tea party claim its biggest prize yet, house leader, eric cantor. and a very special moment this father's day. luke russert is here to remember his father on the tenth anniversary of his book "big russ and me," why this holiday was tim russert's favorite.

good sunday morning, start with the breaking knew the deteriorating situation in iraq. this morning there are reports of a suicide attack in baghdad and hislamic terrorists are threatening the iraqi capital, though the advance has slowed. the u.s. aircraft carrier george h. w. bush, is in the persian gulf. richard engel has covered the region for almost two decades. he is in irbil in northern iraq. despite this morning's attack in baghdad, the slowing of the terrorist advance has lessened some of that tension there, correct? >> it has, david, just yesterday, fierce across this country that baghdad could fall, that the sunni extremists could anchor the city and take it, collapsed government. krit clirks starting to see the shiite militias take to the

sweet sweet. the shiites found their the fog it doesn't seem at this stage that baghdad is going to fall imminently, instead, looks like they are heading into a long, sectarian fight. the advance of sunni fanatics from an al qaeda offshoot stalled outside of baghdad. shiite militias are preparing to confront, a you will to arm by their cleric, an all-out sectarian war could be approaching and iraqi troops are beginning a counter offensive with air strikes. the u.s. sacrificed so much for this not to happen. 4,477 american troops laid down their lives, $1.7 trillion was spent, around 25 billion on the roughly 900,000 iraqi soldiers,

police and guards supposedly ready to take over when u.s. forces left. they weren't ready and neither was the political system. prime minister nuri al malaki, a shia, neglected the sunni minority. now the radical islamists have become the vanguard of sunni revenge. they have been joined by remnants of saddam hussein's bath party and their army. they are sunnis, too and want to use the extremists to get back into power. and while sunnis and shiites settle old scores, iraq's third community, the kurds, is taking more ground. >> this is a city. >> reporter: the governor of kirkuk, which kurdish forces took over last week when iraqi troops ran away before the extremists even arrived. do you think if there had been a residual american force here, iraq wouldn't be where it is today? >> i think it would be

different. >> it would be better? >> yes. >> reporter: but for the kurds, the crisis is also an opportunity. they have dreamt of controlling kirkuk for generations, now they do these oil fields are why care cook is strategically important. home to 15% of iraq's known oil serves, so rich, you can smell the gas in the air, now that the fields are controlled by the kurdish people, they are one step closer to financial and maybe even full independence. the best laid plans of u.s. military commanders in ruins, sunni radicals are carving out their own state to across syria and iraq. kurds are taking their piece and shiites are hunkering down in the south, a new map is being drawn. but a lot like the one 100 years ago. >> richard is back with us live. i talked about your own experience covering the iraq war and withdrawal of u.s. troops, back in 2011, three years ago a,

that president obama said this about the state of iraq. >> we are leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant iraq. >> stable and self-reliant, richard. i think a lot of people paying attention to iraq again are saying what happened since then that has caused this march toward complete chaos? >> well, i think if you listen to those statements with -- in light of what has happened here, they were clearly wrong. but you have to remember, it was the iraqi government, it was maliki that didn't want u.s. troops to stay. maliki said that the iraqi forces will take it from here. for a couple of years, seemed iraq was more or less stable. then the arab spring happened. then critically, syria happened. the borders across this region started to melt away. the syrian militants don't see themselves just fighting in syria, they see themselves as fighting in iraq.

they injected chaos into the system, all the problems, sectarian tensions rose to the surface and clearly, this country wasn't as stage as the president was saying he thought it was. >> richard engel in northern iraq for us this morning. thank you very much. i'm joined from park city, utah by mitt romney, 2012 presidential nominee, former governor of massachusetts, hosted a high-profile summit attended by many of the key gop presidential hopefuls for 2016. governor romney, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thanks, david, happy father's day to you. >> to you as well. thank you so much. i want to get to the stunning defeat of eric cantor and the politics within the republican party in just a moment, but i want to start with this crisis in iraq. you've been critical of president obama and his administration. i'll ask you directly now, i think a lot of americans are asking this question, what is worth fighting for in iraq today? >> well, what we're fighting for and what we have fought for is to preserve freedom in the

region and to preserve the region from becoming a hotbed from which there can be attacks launched against us and against western interests. but what has happened in iraq and what we're seeing with isis is a good deal predictable by the virtue of the president's failure to act appropriately and at the extraordinary time that was presented a couple years ago in syria and also his failure to achieve a status of forces agreement so that we could have an ongoing presence in iraq. bad things happen as a result of inaction. consequences have obviously been very severe. >> so what would you do specifically? this would be your challenge, had you been elected in 2012. if the acid test is that iraq cannot become a terrorist state from which america could be attacked, what would you do to prevent that from happening? >> well, first of all, i'm just going to repeat what i said before, which is that there's a time for action. there's a propitious time to do

things to prevent bad things from happening to be able to shape events and that time in syria was when assad was on his heels and when there was a moderate coalition that was coming together. we should have supported them with arms and the time was also signing a status of forces agreement and having forces in iraq. now, today, we have to have the input of our intelligence services and the options provided by the military to know what action we could take to stop this isis movement from creating a terror state, but to tell you precisely what's going to happen right now and what things we ought to do militarily would require me to get the kind of intelligence briefings i no longer get. >> the question about a status of forces agreement, in other words should a certain number of u.s. troops have stayed behind in iraq. you just heard richard engel, the maliki government wanted u.s. forces to leave. iran was pushing the maliki government not to allow u.s. soldiers to have immunity in the country, which is a basis for any kind of agreement like that. it's also striking your own

views as a presidential candidate back in 2007 when this was a big issue. this is something you said back then. "republican presidential hopeful mitt romney on thursday rejected the bush administration's vision of a decades' long u.s. troop presence in iraq akin to south korea and suggested a need for public benchmarks to gauge progress." quoting you, "i think we would hope to turn iraq security over to their own military, to their own security forces. and if presence in the region is important for us, then we have other options that are nearby," romney said. back then, you said it was up to the iraqis to take care of this. now you're saying it's president obama's fault for not committing u.s. forces. >> david, i actually ran for president in 2012 and made it very, very clear that i thought we should have signed a status of forces agreement consistent with what president bush said a long time ago, that we should have an ongoing presence. not a massive military presence, but 10,000 or 20,000 troops, to provide the training and the intelligence resources that iraq would need to keep things like this from happening. there's no question but that's what's essential. that should have been done.

i was very critical of the president for not using american strength and the fact that we have lost almost 4,500 lives there and 1.5 or $1.7 trillion. we have the commitment, we have the strength to be able to get maliki to sign a status of forces agreement. the president said he wanted to get that done, and he didn't. and his failure to achieve that is one of the things that has led to the kind of crisis we're seeing today. >> isn't the factor though going back if you look at administrations from the bush administration setting maliki up to lead the country, that we would train, that we would put political pressure on the government to have an inclusive, multiethnic government, and to have democracy in iraq, that we had forces there to create that reality. we would stand them up so that

america could stand down. isn't it ultimately up to the iraqis politically to take care of themselves and not as you're doing, just sort of lay blame at the current administration? >> oh, of course the iraqis have to take primary responsibility for the failures of the maliki government, for instance, to involve the sunnis more extensively in their administration. of course, much of the blame, the great majority of the blame has to be laid at the feet of the iraqi leadership. but at the same time the united states of america has long had the capacity to shape events and to influence events, but what you've seen from this administration, whether from hillary clinton with the reset button to russia which should have been called the repeat button, this administration from secretary clinton to president obama has repeatedly underestimated the threats that are faced by america, has repeatedly underestimated our adversaries.

it's not taken the action necessary to prevent bad things from happening. have not used our influence to do what's necessary to protect our interests. >> let me talk a couple minutes about politics and the big story this week about eric cantor losing majority leader of the house in his primary fight in virginia. what does that tell you about what is convulsing within the republican party right now? how do you explain it? >> well, there are different voices and different candidates and different effectiveness of different campaigns that affect the outcome of various races. i know it's our inclination to look at races and suggest that somehow a national movement is causing what occurs, but, you know, if that were the case, you'd have to look at lindsey graham's race. lindsey graham beat, what, i think five or six tea party candidates? he got more votes than all of them combined. he won by 100,000 votes. in virginia, eric cantor lost by, what, 5,000, 10,000 votes. i look at this and say this has a lot to do with the effectiveness of relative campaigns, but also major issues. people are upset about what's happening with the failure of the president to carry out our immigration laws. they're seeing what's happening at the border and i think that probably --

>> but this is within the party, governor. is the tea party populism driving the republican party, what it believes, what it stands for, and will that continue through 2016? >> well, it certainly didn't drive what happened in south carolina, where in a very conservative state, lindsey graham won in a landslide. so you're seeing different voices in different parts of the country. i actually think it's healthy for us to have a debate on important issues. you're seeing that right now. i think our party is becoming stronger. we got a lot of great candidates running for senate. my own view is we're going to pick back the senate in the fall of this year. >> about hillary clinton, whom you've have mentioned twice in the context of our belief that she's part of a failed foreign policy of this administration, her rollout this week with a new book, some comments that have generated controversy. if you were running for president again and if she were the democratic nominee, what's the playbook to beat her? >> well, the playbook, i believe, is to look at her record. i think you have to consider what's happened around the world during the years that she was

secretary of state, and you have to say it's been a monumental bust. and then her most recent comments, as she was rolling out the book, she was asked whether the bergdahl trade was one that presented a threat to the united states, and she came back with a clueless answer. she was clueless. she said, look, bergdahl -- excuse me, these commandos don't represent a threat to the united states. well, of course they do. and then she went on to say they only represent a threat to afghanistan and pakistan. are you kidding? i mean, we're in afghanistan. and we're in afghanistan, in part, to protect america's security. i think her clueless comments about the bergdahl exchange as well as her record as the secretary of state are really going to be the foundation of how a republican candidate is able to take back the white house. >> will you be a candidate in 2016? if you were drafted, if the conditions were right, would you consider another run? >> david, i'm not running for president. i said that so many times. as you know, we just had this conference here in park city,

utah. i brought a number of the 2016 contenders here to meet with my fundraisers. had i been running, i wouldn't be doing that. look, i want to find the best candidate for us to take our message to the american people that we can bring better jobs, higher incomes, and more security globally. we can do that, and i'm convinced that the field of republican candidates that i'm seeing is a lot better positioned to do that than i am, so i'm not running. >> 100%, mitt romney, even if drafted, will not be a candidate in 2016? >> i'm not running, and talk of a draft is kind of silly. >> all right, governor romney, thank you as always for your time. i appreciate it. >> thanks, david. let me turn to democrat senator joe manchin from west virginia, a member of the armed services committee. and senator manchin, on the

topic of iraq, which is most pressing this morning, you have heard the president say there are huge interests that the united states has now with isis threatening iraq, the potential rise of a terror state. what are you calling on the president to do to defeat that threat in iraq? >> first of all, david, i think our intelligence has failed us miserably for not being aware of the threat that we faced and how this could unfold as quickly as it has. this has been planned for quite some time. my first thing to recommend to the president is get your intelligence group back on track, making sure that we have the intel that we need for our -- whatever options we have that are going to be accurate. there's no caveat for us whatsoever, and there's no will from the senate that i detect from democrats or republicans to put boots on the ground. the president has confirmed that. i appreciate that. >> well, what would you support then? >> -- using our technical support. >> what specifically -- >> i'm open to the air strikes and technical support. yeah, the air strikes, technical support, drones, whatever it takes, but i want to make sure our intel is accurate before we start doing this, and i'm hopeful they're getting accurate intel on this.

if not, it's all for naught. you know, for us to be in this situation to where now, the maliki administration is looking to iran more than they might be looking to the united states? and the horrific price that we paid there in human suffering and lives that we've sacrificed and the amount of resources we've put in there to let this thing become completely unstable and falling apart? and then they're the ones in 2011 that didn't sign -- that wouldn't sign and now they're asking for our help again? you know, until they have the will to enter this fight, david, until they have the will to fight and die for their country, we're not going to be able to give them the backbone. they're going to have to stiffen up themselves. we've got to make sure we have the proper intel and the support. >> when it comes to the threat of terrorism, in your mind, what is worth fighting for for the united states at this point in iraq? >> i think that basically, we have to send a very clear signal. you intend to do america or any

americans harm, we will bring a ring of fire that you have never, ever could have imagined upon you. but for us to go in and try to occupy and change the culture of these countries, we have not done a good job. we are not good at that. if it was military might or money that would change that part of the world, we'd have done it by now, david, and that's not going to happen. but make no mistake, you intend to do harm to america or americans, we're going to come after you. we're going to bring a ring of fire on you you hope that never happened. >> senator joe manchin of west virginia, thanks so much for your time this morning. i appreciate it. this crisis in iraq leaves an obvious question, which is how did we possibly get here after the incredible sacrifice of our forces and commitment by this country in iraq. i'm joined for perspective by david ignatius of "the washington post" who has covered iraq extensively throughout his career, dexter filkins of "the new yorker," author of "the forever war" about his experiences covering the wars in iraq and afghanistan, paul

wolfowitz, former deputy secretary of defense and from new york, republican congressman peter king of new york, former chair of the house homeland security committee. welcome to all of you. david ignatius, i think, again, americans are looking at this change, a decade of conflict in iraq. how has it come to this point where any gains won seem to be evaporating and the threat of a terror state actually arising in iraq seems all too real? >> well, as we sensed in your interview with governor romney, there's more than enough blame to go around. and this is a crisis that's so severe that the blame game in our domestic politics i think is unfortunate. i'm always reminded of something that prince turkey, who is the head of saudi intelligence, said to me about five years ago. he said, "i hope you americans will be as careful in how you get out of iraq as you were uncareful in how you got in." and, unfortunately, as i look at

this, we were wrong on both ends. we came in and knocked the pegs out from under the way that society had been governed and we left before new stability mechanisms were in place, and we're seeing the consequences of that today. the iraqi government basically is collapsing. >> paul wolfowitz, as part of the bush administration, were you and others culpable of underestimating the level of sectarian violence, warfare in the country that creates the potential for this kind of terror state to develop today? >> look, you use the word "sectarian," so did richard engel. this is more than just an obscure, shia/sunni conflict. this is al qaeda. al qaeda is not on the road to defeat. al qaeda is on the march, not just in iraq, in syria and libya. and we have real enemies of the united states and what we should be looking for are friends. i think when we stick with our friends, and those friends are not always perfect, believe me,

but we stuck with the kurds through 20 years. northern iraq kurdistan is a success story. stuck with south korea for 60 years. south korea is a miracle story. but if we walked away from south korea in 1953 that county was a basket case. >> but dexter filkins, nouri al maliki is more than just not our friend at this point. he's not fulfilling our fundamental promise of our intervention in iraq, which is to forge a democratic multiethnic country that he would preside over. >> look, i mean, the dynamics that -- in iraq, the dynamics that are driving this threat are basically, at the front of that is nouri al maliki. he has -- since the day we left there in december 2011, he has done virtually everything he could to alienate the other people in iraqi society, the sunnis and the kurds. and so what we're seeing essentially is a consequence of his extreme sectarian policies. >> peter king, as you look at this from the vantage point of a terrorist threat to the united states, let's look at the map. first, the map of what we're talking about, iraq and syria.

and then you look at the section in red, which is the approximate area of control of isis that extends beyond iraq into syria. this is a breeding ground for terrorists. al qaeda and an offshoot of al qaeda, arguably more extreme, if that's possible, than al qaeda, with the kind of fighters, 10,000 foreign fighters with designs on attacking the united states. how do you view it then in terms of what we ought to do? >> that is a very real concern. no doubt that isis looks upon itself as an iraq/syria power, and it definitely has targeted the united states, going back to 2011, when it was just al qaeda in iraq before the syrian component had even kicked in. we captured a number of their operatives in the united states attempting to carry out an attack at ft. knox. so, clearly, if they can get this sanctuary in northeastern

syria, in iraq, this makes it a ineffective sanctuary to attack the united states, apart from the destabilization they can do to countries in the middle east like jordan and israel and it increases the power of iran as far as being an influence. >> obvious question is if this is a huge threat, david, how do we deal with it? intervention seems unlikely, but what responsibility does the president face and feel to prevent extremists from taking root in an area that is even worse perhaps than afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks? >> in the short run, it's crucial to stop isis before it takes baghdad or any more territory in iraq. that seems to be happening, although it's not happening thanks to the government of maliki, thanks to shiite militias, intervention from iranian forces and the call from the ayatollah sistani for a religious fight. we need to move soon to having platforms in iraq to go after the worst of the worst. these isis terrorists who will begin to move to external operations.

one of the things that u.s. counterterrorism officials are worried most about is that as al qaeda morphs and creates these offshoots like isis, these groups will begin to compete for street cred, if you will, to show who is toughest. and the way you'll show you're the toughest on the block is by hitting america and we have to be worried about and be prepared for that. >> peter king, to you in a moment. paul wolfowitz, what do you do then as a policy matter to stop this? >> it's a complicated situation. you don't just come up with we're going to bomb this or do that. i think a fundamental point, which was brought home to us in 1990 when the saudis agreed to everyone's surprise, to allow american troops into saudi arabia after iraq innovated kuwait, they said to us, if this were the united states of jimmy carter or ronald reagan that walked away after a few american casualties, we would not have said yes. we believe president bush is

serious. we have to convince people in that region, kurds, iraqis -- maliki is a big part of the problem and he's not all of iraq. we need to find people there. and most importantly, i would say in syria where u.s. policy, in absence over the last three years, has sent a signal of lack of seriousness throughout the region. i would do something in syria. it's a bad situation. it's now dominated by assad and by isis. we should be finding people -- >> we keep coming back to the idea that somehow, military intervention, dexter, is somehow going to make the situation better. we have a lot of experience of u.s. forces in iraq failing to produce the kind of outcome that we thought was going to materialize. >> right. well, i don't -- there's plenty of options short of military intervention. i don't think you're going to see boots on the ground in syria or iraq, but there's a lot that the white house is considering right now. in iraq, it's probably something like air strikes against isis, and in syria, it's probably trying, very late in the game, to arm the more moderate elements of the syrian opposition who can basically

take on not only assad but also the extremist groups like isis. >> i'm going to leave it there. thank you all very much for your time this morning. we talk about the war in iraq and the cost, of course. thousands of american servicemen lost their lives. no american base suffered more losses than ft. hood in texas. our kevin tibbles visited the town of killeen next to ft. hood. and today's "meeting america," he found mixed opinions about further u.s. involvement in iraq. >> reporter: killeen, texas, paid an awful price on the far-off battlefields of iraq. for killeen is home to ft. hood, and more than 500 soldiers posted here made the ultimate sacrifice. more combat deaths than any other base in the nation. >> i love them. i didn't die, so i love them all. my heart goes out to every last one of them families.

>> reporter: it is to blades where those still serving and those who served come for a trim and camaraderie. >> make it nice and crisp. >> reporter: like every barber, tyrone murphy cuts and listens. >> as barbers, we counsel. they tell us their problems and we kind of soothe them as we cut their hair. there are a lot of broken people coming home. >> reporter: before cutting hair, dewayne spent a year fighting in iraq. he still has trouble talking about it. >> i was just a soldier, actually. just a number, a pawn, disposable. luckily, i wasn't disposed. >> reporter: and as iraqi cities fall and armed militants gain momentum, he's dead set against any further u.s. involvement. >> i don't think we should go back. we found out we was over there for nothing the first time. so what's the reason now? >> are we not their chance to still achieve that?

>> a better life. >> a better life with prosperity. >> reporter: a 20-year veteran, mike austin now runs a local florist and wine shop with his wife. he is the son, grandson, and great grandson of soldiers. he, too, went to iraq. >> i feel, as an american and as i have been raised, that once you start a project, you finish the job. learning our lesson from vietnam, what have we gotten out of it? really, a bad reputation, because we didn't finish the job. >> reporter: here in the brown, texas, flat country, crystal's florists is alive with color, flowers for everything from dates to marriages to funerals. while in iraq, dewayne's humvee was hit by rocketfire. >> when i was there, i kind of knew that a civil war was inevitable. we shouldn't force democracy on people that do not want it. >> reporter: as a budget analyst in the army, he says the price

killeen and america paid was far too high. >> billions of dollars were wasted on projects and infrastructures, water plants, electrical plants. to me, it was a waste. it was ten years of time, ten years of money, thousands and thousands of soldiers that lost their lives, and it was for what? for them to be on the cusp of a civil war. >> reporter: but for others, the sense of duty remains. >> i don't want any more lives lost, especially now that my son is in the military as an enlisted soldier. but, yes, i do believe if we need to go back, then let's go back. >> reporter: for "meet the press," kevin tibbles. >> kevin, thanks. coming up next, a dramatic election upset. the fallout from the defeat of

house majority leader, eric cantor. our political roundtable is here and discusses the impact on the gop, as well as our chuck todd, who will lay out the lessons to be learned for both parties coming up. >> "meet the press" is brought to you by -- [ male announcer ] it's one of the most amazing things we build and it doesn't even fly. we build it in classrooms and exhibit halls, mentoring tomorrow's innovators. we build it raising roofs, preserving habitats and serving america's veterans. every day, thousands of boeing volunteers help make their communities the best they can be. building something better for all of us. ♪ means keeping seven billion ctransactions flowing.g, and when weather hits, it's data mayhem.

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we are back to politics now. our roundtable will be with us in a couple minutes. first, away from the turmoil in iraq, it has been a remarkable week of politics here at home. washington still reeling after a crushing defeat for house majority leader eric cantor that reflects the convulsions within the republican party. our political director, chuck todd, is here with his take on the lessons for both political parties from this loss. chuck? >> david, 35,000 people out of a country of 330 million didn't just shake up the republican party, didn't just shake up washington, may have shaken up 2016 politics for all of us. >> reporter: it was a stunning fall from power. house majority leader eric cantor losing his primary to dave brat, a conservative college professor with no political experience. >> power belongs to the people. >> reporter: so what can we learn from cantor's defeat? first, immigration reform is probably dead, not just this year, but perhaps for the rest of the obama presidency. >> illegal immigrants are pouring across the border on the promise of eric cantor's amnesty. >> reporter: brat used the "a" bomb, amnesty, against cantor

very effectively, but it put national republicans in a box. without reform, their chances of winning latino voters is difficult. even rand paul, a tea party favorite, said this week too many republicans have perverted the definition of amnesty. quote, amnesty is a word that's kind of trapped us. a second lesson, the public is fed up with congress. congress' job approval rating is at an historic low, 13%. more than 8 in 10 disapprove of the job they're doing. eric cantor is one of the highest profile faces of congress and that may have contributed to his defeat. >> 5,110 days. that's how long eric cantor has been representing us in washington, d.c. >> reporter: his loss should be a warning to all national politicians. a populist revolution may be brewing. >> a spectrum across the american people who feel their leaders aren't leading, reason getting stuff dopp.

>> reporter: and that leads to lesson three. don't lose touch with voters. there's anger in both parties their leaders don't care about them and don't understand the everyday problems people face. on election day, eric cantor was in washington, d.c., not in his district 90 miles away where people were voting. it's a mistake democrats can make, too, as hillary clinton did this week trying to defend the millions the clintons have made in recent years. >> we came out of the white house not only dead broke, but in debt. >> reporter: when politicians look and sound out of touch, it only fuels the public's frustration. everybody is trying to figure out is this going to be a wave election for the republicans. is it 1994? is it 2010 again? we ought to be thinking this might be like 1992, 1978. there were anti-incumbent elections where people from both parties went down in surprising fashion. >> chuck, thanks so much. to the roundtable now, ruth marcus is here, a columnist for the "washington post." ken cuccinelli, former virginia

attorney general, republican presidential candidate as well, just named president of the senate conservatives fund, a group who are going to get tea party candidates elected to the senate. steve schmidt, adviser to mccain's presidential campaign. and harold ford, jr. happy first father's day to you, my friend. particularly special. i want to talk about eric cantor and steve schmidt, what chuck just mentioned, this populist political revolution that is brewing. talk about it in terms of what's happening in the gop. >> one of the most interesting aspects of this race is the degree to which the chamber of commerce became a epithet in the race. the cantor campaign was defined as much by the attacks on wall street, the big banks. republicans have gone after big government, big media, big labor, but you saw the additional element coming in to play over the course of that campaign. i think that opens a lane for somebody in 2016. i think it's worth mentioning that this is a global phenomenon. we're seeing this happen in all

of the western democracies. the rise of youth in england, national front from france, netherlands, sweden, australia. this is a global phenomenon where people in these countries are so dissatisfied with what they think are out of touch. >> you asked this week in a column, how does hillary clinton navigate the populist streak on the left as well. mike needham, a tea party activist writing in "the weekly standard," along with jim demint, elizabeth warren on the left and tea party activists share their disdain for the establishment. >> there is a certain similarity to that which is why, and we'll get to that in a second, but chuck is right, why hillary clinton's comments about being dead broke as she has $5 million in speaking fees and $200,000 a pop did not sit well and she cleaned it up right away. >> we heard from mitt romney who had a ton of issues with that. >> don't talk about houses in the plural. bad idea. >> as you wrote this week.

how do you see it? harold ford, what's your view on what's happening in the party? >> i think both parties -- i tend to agree with both ruth and steve. there's no doubt there's an out of touchness that regular folks feel. i think politicians have to get back to talking to things about people care about. people care about their security at home, financial security, economic security. i can hear hillary clinton next week fashioning a message around health care has passed but we have to fix it. we have job growth but not income growth. how do we begin to do that more and more? she's perfectly positioned to do that. if she gets trapped responding to mitt romney, gets trapped in responding to a tea party, even to an elizabeth warren, she will find herself in a bigger mess. and i contend that mainstream republicans who care about immigration, care about budget reform, have to be able to talk about things in ways, no disrespect to the things ken may be doing, but have to be able to talk about it in a way that's bigger than the moment. eric cantor lost touch with his district. >> ken cuccinelli, tea party activist, which is a broad way of saying against a lot of

things that go on in the capital of washington, d.c., and some of the choices the republican party makes. i'm looking at the "washington post" this morning, political terrain shifting for the gop. what is the unifying idea you think for the party this year -- >> certainly, there's some common themes here. one is not merely out of touch. that doesn't explain it enough. it is a near-violent reaction to the ignoring of people of principle in large numbers who care about the direction of this country, and i'm talking about conservatives. eric cantor was not merely not listening to them -- >> but about what? is it just about immigration? >> no, immigration was a crystallizing issue. and there's been a lot of talk about it because it was used very effectively by the brat folks. but the reason immigration was so powerful is because, and i latch onto harold's talking about. no, no, no, and he didn't mean it this way, but talking isn't enough. eric cantor talked plenty. people didn't believe what he

was saying -- >> i want to talk about immigration because -- >> -- abandoned principle. >> but mitt romney said lindsey graham won. lindsey graham is among those saying, steve schmidt, that the republican party is in a death spiral over its issue to appeal to minority voters, specifically on the issue of immigration. if ken is right and talking about amnesty, if we have a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants here, how do you keep riding this to become a national party? >> look, we have a fundamentally broken immigration system in the country. the republican party nationally has a choice to make. do we want to go down the road that the california republican party went down, which is a road to annihilation? ronald reagan's home state is now a state where the republicans are about to be the third party behind declined estate. it is impossible for us to put together a coalition to win the presidency with less than about 40% of the hispanic vote. mitt romney is at 27%.

the electorate's going to be 2% less white. we don't have an opportunity to make our case, deliver our message, make the case that our policies are good for 100% of the people until we can effectively deal with this issue. >> you know, there's a road ahead. there's an easy road ahead for the republican party. pew had a fascinating poll out this week about polarization. embedded in that poll were some numbers, astonishing about how since 1994, both republicans and democrats have become more liberal on immigration by an astonishing amount, two-thirds in '94 said -- of both parties said they thought of immigrants as a burden. now that number is half for republicans, about a quarter for democrats. the problem is not necessarily the national party. it's specific to house races and internal races. mitt romney is right, all politics is local. that's how eric cantor, having run a bad campaign, sort of absentee campaign lost, and lindsey graham, who was

attentive, won. >> hillary clinton, harold, a week of rollout on her book, the dead broke comments. is she in a better position or worse position now that she's getting more of the rough and tumble -- >> they have to go back and regroup. she has to have some tighter, easier to connect and understandable answers around her wealth, which i don't think is really an issue. most people running for office who have been out have found ways to make a living. i don't think voters punish. they won't vote for someone they have issues with but they won't vote for someone who they don't believe likes them and doesn't respect them. she fought her whole life for those things. she had a tough week. they have to figure out how you get back to answering questions. her husband was the best at stepping back, looking at the moment, understanding that people want answers to their own problems in their homes and communities, how you create jobs, how you increase wages, and how you make the country safer. if there was ever a time when the country was confronted with these questions, your first seven which i thought was excellent with the roundtable talking about iraq, we're

looking for candidates for public office, particularly at the federal level, who can answer those questions. if she does that well, she will find herself back where she wants to be. >> juggernauts are only juggernauts as long as they stay looking like juggernauts. she doesn't look like a juggernaut. she will have some things to deal with here. eric cantor looked like a juggernaut. thad cochran looked like a juggernaut. now we're talking about how the entire 2016 campaign is going to change because of the conservative -- >> but, ken, who can bring national -- the demographics nationally for republicans are clear. you've got to figure out ways to grow the tent. so the message that some of what you're talking about and some of what dave brat is talking about, how does that grow the tent to help the republicans out? >> part of how dave won, i think, is that he connected when he talked about issues. he's an economics professor. and he talked -- >> they're great at connecting. >> that -- yeah, he's conservative professor. so he's covered by the endangered species act.

look, he connected with how these policies affect people in their real lives. you know, i hear your characterization of employment, you know, growing employment but not growing wages. there isn't growing employment. there are less people in the employment market than there were six years ago. >> we have grown employment, but wages have not grown. >> quick comment ruth and then i'll get a break. >> the middle class is scared to death. they see opportunity in shrinking government. >> to get back to hillary, harold is right, she didn't have a great week. i think it's a little premature to declare the juggernaut over. but in a sense, eric cantor did her a favor in two ways, not just by changing the 2016 landscape, but he changed the conversation. >> we will come back with our roundtable in a few moments and we'll touch on the iraq crisis as well. coming up here, a father's day special, a special guest. luke russert, tim's son, here on this father's day and the tenth anniversary of his dad's book, "big russ and me." we'll talk about it after the

break. "meet the press," brought to you by -- you probably know xerox as the company that's all about printing. but did you know we also support hospitals using electronic health records for more than 30 million patients? or that our software helps over 20 million smartphone users remotely configure e-mail every month? or how about processing nearly $5 billion in electronic toll payments a year? in fact, today's xerox is working in surprising ways to help companies simplify the way work gets done and life gets lived. with xerox, you're ready for real business. we've always been on the forefront of innovation. when the world called for speed... ♪ ...when the world called for stealth... ♪ ...intelligence... endurance... affordability... adaptability... and when the world asked for the future.

staying ahead in a constantly evolving world. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. dad up there in buffalo, thanks for making this day possible. i'll call you in a little bit, and, luke, thanks for the great father's day tie. full of books. i hope you always love books and i hope you always know how much i love you, buddy. happy father's day, everybody. >> welcome back. that our friend tim russert on the day he called his favorite

holiday. that was back in 1995. this father's day i'm so pleased to be joined by luke russert, tim's son. his dad hosted "meet the press" for nearly 17 years until his untimely death in 2008. luke, of course, now an nbc news correspondent covering congress and he's written a new preface to his father's book "big russ and me" to coincide with the tenth anniversary of its publicati publication. great to have you here. >> i appreciate it. >> your dad's favorite holiday and yet for you it's got to be a tough one. >> it's not easy. it's not easy when you see so many folks out there just hugging their fathers and i miss him, but on the other hand, it makes me happy that people still have that close relationship with their fathers which is something that was so important to my dad. for me on father's day i do a lot of self-reflection, i remember a lot of good times. interestingly enough because it comes so close to the day he actually passed it's sort of a double whammy for me, but i find comfort in things like a baseball game, comfort in things like grilling out and having some burgers and a few beers.

and also i just find comfort in playing a little bit of bruce springsteen and remembering those great times and a lot of folks who have lost their fathers who don't have fathers in their lives, they tell me they share similar experiences where they wake up in the middle of the day and they don't necessarily like it but towards the end they remember good times and it turns out okay. >> there was something from the preface you wrote that really resonated with me because i'm able and i try to spend so much time with my -- >> you're a great dad. >> thank you so much. and you write this about your dad, it's true the greatest gift my father ever gave me was his time. here was a man who worked seven days a week, rarely slept more than six hours a night, and i can never remember a time when he wasn't there for me or didn't make a herculean effort to be present. i understand that not all fathers can afford to do that. yobs, smiments, et cetera don't always lend themselves to kids being number one all the time however i do know if a father makes an effort to be there, a kid will always notice and always appreciate it. got to be the biggest lesson you

think about. >> absolutely. and you think about our society these days where everyone is always connected on smartphones and it's so, so hard to get away. my father no matter what the burden of his job was always made sure that his time for me was there, at least part of his day, and it wasn't fake. it wasn't just sort of in his google calendar or pop up i should call luke now. he wanted to. and i felt that as a young kid and it made me such a better person because it allowed me to have this relationship with my father where i spoke to him. he knew what i was thinking. he knew what was happening at school, and he became a better father because of it. so not everybody can have that type of relationship with their child. however, if you just try, i sincerely believe kids know that, they feel that. and every day i can do that no matter what their status is. you don't have to be rich to try. you don't have to be rich to care. and that's something that my father really truly believed in. >> the thing i remember most before you were here as a correspondent and i had my first

son, i remember, tim would stop -- your dad would stop whatever he was doing to talk about kids. >> true. he loved it. >> he'd say you've not got to be the real deal. >> happy father's day, i got you a lift. >> thank you so much. i'll add it to the one already on my shelf. we'll take a break and when we come back, the latest on iraq and the takeaway from today's program. the big question that you'll be able to weigh in all this coming week. just after the break. >> "meet the press" is brought to you by -- ♪ ♪ [ girl ] my dad, he makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ [ birds squawking ] my dad makes airplane engines that can talk. [ birds squawking ]

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how's that for an encore? some cool things to pass onto your kids: your super heroes. your fashion sense. your love of reading. your uncanny ability to find parking spots. your fear of people who are different? not so much, the more you know.

back with our roundtable and the big question of the week here as we've been talking about, does the u.s. have an interest worth fighting for in iraq? ken cuccinelli, that's going to be the debate as we move forward. >> only inside the beltway, the answer is no. the big debate outside the beltway is the continuing growth of the grassroots movement and the next place is mississippi. >> the bloodletting in iraq is just beginning. the country is partitioning the way joe biden suggested earlier in the decade and american forces should not be on the ground. there's nothing we can do to stop it now. >> yes, it does have an interest because, unfortunately, what happens in iraq and syria isn't going to stay in iraq and syria. there's scores of foreign fighters, and we don't have great options for dealing with it right now with maliki in

power and unwilling to share power. but we do have an interest and that's the hard question. >> it's so hard. how does the president go to the american people and say, look, i don't want this war, you don't want this war, but we have an ongoing interest here. the president did say he would prevent a terror state from ever developing after 9/11. >> $2 trillion investment, almost 5,000 casualties, as you said earlier. there's an interest here. the question is can the president marshal resources, a special envoy to sit with maliki and create what he should have created before which is bringing sunnis and bringing the kurds to the table. joe biden was right. he was just a little ahead of his time, he was pressing it about the kind of federalism that needs to exist there. >> we're going to leave it there. thank you all very much. happy father's day. >> thank you, to you as well and to my father, don, happy father's day to you. to my children, max, ava, and jed, i love you so much. you can also respond to the big question on our facebook page, i should point out. and as i wish everybody a happy

father's day on this sunday. that will do it for us. we're back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." nbc 10 news starts now. a plane from headed from philadelphia to germany has to circle back. test test test. the iraqi and american governments are trying to figure out how to stop them. and here's a live look outside right now at boat house row. going to be sunny and a bit warmer today. good morning, everyone. this is nbc 10 news today, i'm vai sikahema. let's get to our meteorologist with the first look forecast. happy monday. >> what a beautiful weekend we had, saturday and sunday, sunshine, low humidity, temperatures in the low 80s. the humidity is still