>> this sunday on meet the press, can we defeat isis without troops on the ground? >> i will not commit you and other ground forces to finding another ground war in iraq. >> this notion is just not true. >> i'll ask samantha power and kbar to the u.n. and mike mullen if u.s. troops will be dragged into battle zblxt also, some americans suddenly saying tax cutting gone too far? could republicans become the victims of a new anti anti tax fever. how the fight nor the senate could really turn out to be a

battle between starbucks and chill filet. and what everyone in washington knows and is afraid to say. buzz feed john stanton and amy walter, welcome to sunday, it's meet the press. from nbc news in washington, this is meet the press with chuck todd. and a good sunday morning to everybody. president obama will be addressing the united nations on wednesday as the united states continues efforts to build aco arigs to take on isis and iraq and syria. last week, the house and senate approved funding for the so-called moderate syrian rebels and there were huge questions that remain over the president's strategy after the country's most senior general, martin dempsey suggested that american troops might be needed on the ground. it's an option that the president continues to rule out. all this adding to a sense of

confusion about the administration's approach to defeat isis. let's rewith wide -- rewind and what we've seen just over the last few days. >> these american forces will not have a combat mission. >> and if there are threats to the united states, then i of course would go back to the united states and make a recommendation that may include the use of u.s. military ground forces. >> the possibility of combat troops despite what the president told the nation. >> i will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in iraq. >> there is no way in hell we're going to beat these guys without an american ground component in iraq and syria. >> u.s. ground troops will not be send into combat into this conflict. >> there will be boots on the ground if there is going to be any hope in success and strategy. >> our strategy does not involve

u.s. troops on the ground in a combat role. >> joining me now is samantha power, the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. welcome back to "meet the press." >> great to be here. >> let me start with this issue of combat troops and there's been what appears to be a debate between the military and civilian leaders. your job as ambassador to the united nations, you are trying to build a coalition, secretary kerry. you tweeted this on friday, huge outpouring of support. what countries have committed combat troops to fight in syria? has any of them done it? >> let me under score the point of outpouring of support. secretary kerry convened a meeting on friday, the french last week joined combat strike missions in iraq for the first time. you have the saudis who have

come out and offered training bases for the moderate opposition now that congress has approved the train and equip program that the president put forward so we're seeing a diverse range of forms of support and the commitments are coming in every day. but this issue of getting combat troops from other countries, we know the president doesn't want it to be american, but because we're not pledging american combat troops potentially, is that making it hard tore get other countries to commit? >> we're not having problems getting countries to commit. our strategy is predicated on the iraqi and kurdish forces in iraq leading the effort. they are going to be in the best position to know how to take back territory in their own country. and in syria, the strategy is predicated on the moderate opposition building out its capabilities over time, professionalizing those forces. that's our strategy. the other capabilities the coalition partners bring to bear

in support of ground operations by local people. >> let's talk about this moderate opposition in syria. i'm a little confused at who we're training them to fight. all week long, the president says we're training them to fight isis, but a year ago, the idea was to train the moderate syrians to fight asad. with retraining them to fight isis or assad. who are we training them to fight? >> our nationalç imperative iso go after isil and the moderate opposition will have a better opportunity to do that. >> is that what the syrian army -- free syrian wants to do? i think they have been wanting to fight assad. they have been fighting side by side with isis. do they know that? >> the training will serve these troops in the same struggle they have been since the beginning of

this conflict. they have been fighting isil since december. they have pushed them out of strategic areas. the reason that they have lost the moderate opposition have lost territory over time is they have been fighting isil and taking the fight on isil. we think with an infusion of support, these fighters who have actually held their own against this wide array of actors fighting on fronts will be in a much stronger position to go after isil and put pressure on the regime so we can get back to the table for a political solution. >> i know the president already believes he's justified. what do you need from the united nations this week for some sort of resolution? i know there's talk of a chapter 7 type resolution to give some legality to what the president wants to do and this coalition wabts to do.

can you explain what legally you want the u.n. to give on this front? >> the unhas provided a stage to show the overwhelming support for the anti isil effort. president obama comes to town and couldn't veens a meeting of the security council. that's very rare. cutting off their financing, et cetera, and under scoring the multidimension shall aspects of the fight against isil the fight against foreign terrorist fighters more specifically. in terms of the united nations again, we continue to hear from our partners how grateful they are that we have answered iraq's appeal to come to their defense and use our unique capabilities in support of them. >> there's a big headline in the washington post this morning about basically more chaos in libya, some assassins in benghazi. what's the lesson learned on the

united states intervention in libya in hindsight for you when you are applying to sort of how we're dealing in syria? we left a vacuum in libya and now there's chaos in libya. how do you prevent that from happening in syria once the u.s. is successful in getting rid of isis? the goal of getting rid of ga daf if i, you did it. >> let me note, of course, that notwithstanding being roughly in the same region, these are two very different countries and circumstances. what is very important and the key again to stability over time is national institutions, national actors taking ownership of the stability of their countries, and that's again why this investment in the moderate opposition in syria is so important. in addition to their fight against isil, in addition to them being able to fend off regime attacks more effectively with our support, this is our investment in the stability of

syria and the institutions that are going to be needed. >> more dysfunctional, the united nations or the u.s. congress? >> no comment. i'm a diplomat. >> a very diplomatic answer. >> in the studio with me now are two members of the senate foreign relations committee who are on opposite sides of the president's request. a democrat, chris murphy and a republican, ron johnson. welcome to both of you. let me start with you, why did you vote against the president's request to arm these rebels? >> i'm broadly supportive of the president's strategy. there's no doubt we need to have strong response to isil, the question is whether getting involved in a very complicated sectarian war in syria is necessary to the overall strategy. the reality is that over the last year these so-called moderate rebel have been openly

coordinating with a wing of al qaeda. it is likely an impossibility that they can effectively fight on two fronts against both asad and isis and to me the risk is that the united states begins getting involved in what may be a very long term commitment to a messy civil war inside syria. i think that with air strikes in syria, counterterrorism and a focus on iraq, you can effectively degrade isis to the point that you have the room for a political solution. >> i guess, senator, that is d -- i've heard this concern finishing you fail, if the moderate opposition just doesn't work, iraq we spent billions of dollars and years training iraq and the first time isis came, they rolled over. so what happens? does the united states have to fill the vacuum if these moderates don't work? >> we have to recognize reality. if you want to see what's going to happen in the future, look to the past. we've had testifying before our committee and i've been talking to people behind the scenes that

were involved in 2007 surge and back then we were fighting 6 to 8,000 members of al qaeda in iraq. >> basically what isis is now. it's an off shoot of that. >> we didn't leave a stabilizing force behind so they were able to rise from the ashes. back then, we had engage 100,000 sunnis in that battle. we had 100,000 iraq security forces, once we cleared, we would hope and provide protection for the sun nie populations and we had 160,000 american troops that were involved in that fight. that's what it took for us to defeat 6 to 8,000 members of al qaeda and iraq. now we've got 31,000 members of the islamic state and we don't have a strategy for defeating them. listen, i believe they are a threat. i agree with proposal's goal that they must be defeated. i'm just not seeing the strategy that it's actually going to work the.

>> so you are open to the idea of keeping combat troops on the table. >> i'm certainly open to doing what it takes to achieve the goal that president obama has stated we have to defeat isis because they made their intentions very clear. we know what their aims are. they need to be defeated. >> senator murphy, you heard the question i had to ambassador power about a vacuum in libya. we were successful with the campaign to get rid of gaddafi and with nothing there, chaos has ensued. how do you prevent that from happening in syria? >> we had secretary of state kerry before the foreign relations committee this week, 90% of the questions he was asked was the military strategy. this is the secretary of state who is in charge of the diplomatic strategy. military exercises are a shaping exercise to give the space in order to create political resolution there and so our focus should be on enough military power in order to force changes on the ground in iraq so

that the sun anymoderates have a place to go other than isil that's what we weren't able to do in libya because we hadn't made the full commitment to b h both. >> is the united states committed nor to defeating isis than the folks in middle east? >> that's hard to say. i want to meet with every representative, every arab state to certainly make sure they understand is that the only way the american people will support the type of action we need to take to defeat isis, they have to be in support themselves. they are more threatened by islamic state than we are, but we are under threat and chuck, it has to be pointed out, you cannot negotiate with isis, their diplomacy consists of beheadings and crucifixtihon.

there were two women who were bound, raped repeated thri. that's who we are fighting right now. we've been at war with them since 1993. we have to recognize it. we can't bury our heads in the sand. how do you defeat this ideology? diplomacy isn't going to do it, is it? >> what we've learned is that whenever we kill an extremist, warfare whenever we take out another number two takes its place. they aren't as committed as the united states. saudi arabia is not leading this coalition, and the united states is leading this coalition. that's really going to be the key as to whether it's successful. >> there are 3 different bills trying to take away the nfl's

tax exempt status. >> we are far higher priorities than -- three senate bills are in there. coburn, can't well, booker. >> we're mortgaging our children's future. i'll take a look at the bills. that is so low on my priority list not even thinking about it. >> thank you much. wait till you see this one as we are digging through the archives. we found something fascinating, this is a senator from new york, a republican discussing congress's authority. >> congress has permitted its power to be eroded completely in this area. the constitution does not give the president the power to declare war. only congress has that. >> 44 years ago and that debate

is actually stillrise raging. can we really defeat isis without american ground troops, i'm going to ask the former chief of staff, mike mullen is right here with us. chief of staff, mike mullen is right here with us. i'll be back in if energy could come from anything?. or if power could go anywhere? or if light could seek out the dark? what would happen if that happens? anything. means keeping seven billion ctransactions flowing.g, and when weather hits, it's data mayhem. but airlines running hp end-to-end solutions

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we are back. as we've been discussing the political talk this week was dominated by the president's strategy to take on isis and the question of whether the war can be won without committing u.s. troops on the ground, no better person to assess that question than my next guess, mike mullen former chairman of the join chiefs of staff. i know you love arm chair generals and admirals so i will not try to make you play that arm chair aspect of that. i want to you to raek to something that retired general mattis said this week. he was talking about the u.s. not taking anything off the table when it comes to combat troops. he said if we put any restrictions on how much time we're willing to commit to it or certain elements of our national power that we're take off the table in advance it can work kbens us in terms of building the coalition that will give us full support. you dealt with military leaders in other countries. will they be hesitant to commit if the u.s. is not committing

ground troops? >> i think that they will commit to the commission as they understand it. i think what you heard general mattis say was don't take any options off the table venl i actually think when general dempsey our current chairman anticipating a question at a hearing asked about ground troops took it off the table in his opening statement from the standpoint if the circumstances warrant it he would go back and recommend to the president the possibility or the option of using ground troops. i think that's a natural part of the discussion in this debate about how you execute a mission. there should not be any question in the end who decides this and that's the president. so i think what general dempsey was trying to do was certainly explain to some degree how the

process works. i think it's been blown way out of proportion in terms of the disagreement between the military and the president. >> we're also talking about degrees about what might be done. nobody is saying -- nobody is saying and i don't even think military leaders say you need hundreds of thousands of american combat troops in syria. i think the question is could you need five or ten,000 of say -- 10,000 of special forces. is that what they are talking about? >> i don't know any leaders military or civilian who are talking about brigade size unit, 4,000, 10,000 at a crack. we certainly learned in these wars that it's important to have indigenous forces on the ground and our ability to both train them and support them as made a difference. i think we're going to clearly right now see where we are in iraq, at least feedback i'm

getting is cautiously optimistic once the air power strikes have started, the forces little more engaged. >> why did they roll over that first time? we spent billions training this iraqi army. >> i think what's missing in this discussion is what mall la can i did his army. you replace all the leaders, particularly those in the north were generally known as weak leaders and when it got really tough, those leaders left, and then you had the forces with no leadership there. so i think that is a big part of it. what i'm hearing now is that with the support of the american fire power, you know, they are coming back, so we'll see, and i think they have got to work hard to reduce the space that isil is operating in and i'm cautiously optimistic they will be able to could that. >> when we talk about syria, who

is capable in the region? we're asking these coalition forces, we're trying to create this, what countries are really capable of being a good ground force and help in syria? >> we've had, and again not to major combat units, but yeef had forces on the ground in afghanistan from the uae. we've had them from jordan. small numbers from bahrain, and -- >> but knows are the countries we should really be thinking about when you hear this. >> we've seen the saudis, the saudis actually have a capable force. i think in the end that becomes a question, is will the saudis support us in that regard and i don't know the answer to that question, quite frankly. i listened to ambassador power talk about this meeting on friday and the feedback i've gotten back on that it was a pretty powerful meeting. there were four ministers who flew in from around the world.

it's the convening power of the u.s. as well as the sense of you are sense you didn't that -- urgency that we really need to do something about this threat. >> as a you chairman of the joint chiefs, public opinion about a war and ground troops, should it impact the advice you give a commander in chief and does it end up impacting even if it shouldn't? >> i didn't see it. i don't think it should, and i didn't certainly integrate it into my recommendations to two presidents. obviously you know what's out there, but you are given a mission by the president. you put the options on the table to execute that mission and it really is up to the president and his team to integrate all the other aspects of it. the political aspect of it. the policy aspect of it. the confidence they have inspect term of execution. >> but you end up having to come up with a plan where you realize boy the politics of this are really impossible, even though

we have to do this just because of the reality of the politics. >> i didn't do that. i didn't see military leaders shape options or shape ideas or come up with plans that were shaped by politics or anticipation of difficulties in that arena. no. that, we really kick over to the president and his team. >> and create the fire wall there? >> yeah. >> admiral mike mullen, it's nice to see you. let me get some reaction from the panel. let me start with you, your party, a little bit split on this when it comes sort of the hawks and the doves. you work at a think tank. what are you hearing from the progressive base when it comes to what the president is trying to do in syria? >> there's a lot of an skity about what the president is trying to do in the middle east. i think that's energizing it is

people are really haunted by the last iraq war, and the truth is we put a lot of boots on the ground and it had a really negative repercussion. we're still dealing now throughout the world with the repercussions from george bush's war in iraq, and so i think actually that really permeates this debate, and i think people think about the politics, but i also think what we should recognize about the president's position about ground troops and a large, a large american footprint, is that it has -- it can have negative repercussions. it's not just political -- >> that's what haunts him more. it's politics but it's a different politics. >> if it's just a u.s. war with isil -- >> that's what isis wants. >> that will also create real problems for an effort to defeat it. everyone talks about the politics but i think there's a

really substantive reason why a large footprint is a problem. >> stan, capitol hill, that's where you see this rubber meet the road it really is anxiety. iraq fatigue it's the new vietnam fatigue. >> if the public is haunted by it. politicians are very much haunted by it. there's a reason partly because of our votes in the war in iraq and afghanistan. i think you see this playing out on capitol hill. nobody wants to be -- touch this thing with a ten-foot pole. they are willing to give them money -- >> they don't even authorize it. >> we'll wait till next year. next year again. >> after the election. >> which election actually are they talking about? 2014, 2016. it's very toxic for everybody on the hill. >> you feel the anxiety, the military leaders, i don't think they think they can win with this strategy, but they know that the public -- i mean this is where you feel this -- >> the tension was pretty clear

in what you put out there. the american public, the fact that this is happening 40 days before an election is important to remember in that if you are a democrat right now and you wanted to make this election in which you are strongest on, the economic, security issues, to make the contrast between the republican economic plan and democratic plan, that's not what we're talking about at all. we're talking about security and it is permeating, watching voters right now, there is a security concern and safety concern that is palpable. >> let me play republicans are -- it's a 2002 flashback, i've got a couple of ads that they are doing now. let me run a couple of them. the ads were in places like iowa and in little more rural areas, swing districts where republicans are doing the terrorism, terrorism attack. hey, democrats, weak on

terrorists. good politics for gop? >> terrorism was one of the remaining advantages that president obama had where he was rated with pretty good job approval and that advantage has now collapsed in the cbs "new york times" poll that was out earlier this week. if you look at the house vote, republicans in the house were more supportive of this action than democrats were. he's going into this conflict with a split party, and i think that that vote overstates his support on capitol hill because republicans are still deferring a little bit to the commander in chief and democrats are still deferring to their party leader but those things are going to erode over time. >> up next, the anti, anti tax revolt. people are actually saying tax me more, sort of. it's happening in a place you would least expect.

american employers and their workers to go backwards. they want to go back in time and retroactively rewrite the tax laws. so they can impose taxes that weren't owed in the first place on american businesses. it sounds crazy. but it's true. the white house is on record saying they're considering retroactive taxation america can't move forward when washington spends its time trying to tax backwards.

join us at fairreform.com

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serio seriously challenged this year, and of all places, in kansas. republican governor sam brownback, the policy of cutting taxes and shrinking government has put his job in jeopardy. we sent kevin tibbles to cover a kansas prairie fire that is threatening to the spread to other states. >> reporter: in the deep red state of kansas, a full-on republican e revolt of taxes and the governor who cut them. >> it has been a train wreck. >> my disappointment tends to be pretty focused on the governor's office. >> reporter: these are all dyed in the wool republicans taking aim at their republican governor sam brownback, who has done what republicans historically want their politicians to do, cut taxes. but in kansas, critics say that the schools are suffering, social services have been slashed and the deficit is going through the roof. kansas is not alone. in 1992 colorado constitution theal amendment said that taxes could only be increased by p

popular vote, and left the state so broke that voters ultimately suspended it. at least 30 states since then have considered similar measures, but none have passed citing colorado's failure. over breakfast in a historic lawrence, kansas, hotel a group of republican voters and some former politicians explain why they have had enough of the tax cut fever. >> i'm going to vote for the democratic governor. >> is that difficult for kryou sa say? >> a little. >> the direction that many of the kansas farmers are going through. >> it is taking us in a tract of bankruptcy. >> reporter: still not all of the republicans feel alienated. >> it takes time for the free market to grow. it is the right direction. >> reporter: and voters will decide whether their state remains red or turns blue. for "meet the press," kevin

tibbles. >> thank you, tibbs. i 'm joined by thomas frank of salon.com, and professor of economics and including "what is the matter with kansas" published ten years ago. and grover, since it is tax cuts on the balance this year, if sam brownback loses, he is loses on a referendum that he cut taxes too low and this is going to hurt the standpoint that you are running to cut taxes. >> i think that he will wip. and in all of the governors, they cut taxes over $30 billion and in the 20 democratic states they have raised taxes $40 billion so if you want your taxes higher vote for democrat governor and if you want them

lower, vote for the republican governor and right now, overwhelmingly the republican governors and the guys losing are like illinois democrat who have raises the taxes too much in the state and maybe a republican governor who raised taxes in pennsylvania. >> i want to throw up a chart here that shows that tax cuts or the tax ohikes have no impact on economic growth in either direction. let me put up this chart here, and thomas, this is something that you based at love ed d a lk on, the black dots are when we have had tax hikes and red is lowered and you can can see that the economic growth is spiked after tax hikes and sometimes gone down after tax cuts, but there is no correlation. >> actually, worse than that, chuck. if you go back to the age that we think of nowadays as the golden age of capitalist prosperity in the country in the '50s and the '60s and you remember what they were?

they were high. >> very high. up to 90% on some people. >> well, the marge cal tax rate, but -- marginal tax rate, but what is interesting is the kansas story. brownback administration talked the legislature to cut the taxes in a spectacular way in way that states don't often do, and the way they don't do, and the promise was to lead to economic boom in the state the immediately, and it has not materialized, but it is the effect of cutting off the revenues coming into the state, and that is in turn ha r has had all of the problems that you would expect from that, public schools, and the state services. now i should say that the public schools are particularly big deal in kansas, because first of all, they are very proud of their schools. i went to the their public schools in kansas. >> yes. >> and so as someone else did here in the room, and we will talk about that later. but also, if you were in a small

town and your public school closes, that is it. this is the state that the rural areas are suffering from the depopulation in a dramatic way and people leaving and moving and smallto towns dying. >> kansas has been declining in population over 40 years, and we had a bipartisan position to keep raising the taxes in kansas and we have elected a reagan republican in the senate, and it is not all about the governor, because he is supportive of reducing taxes, but the reason that the entire left of the country has jumped on top the of kansas is that they have provided a model, a successful model to phase out the income t tax. and why? because when the revenue comes in beyond 2% growth, it goes to reducing the income taxes, and now it is taken down to 4.8% above $30,000 and the republican running for governor paul davis a week ago thought might win and because politico did an expose on his lap dance with the naked lady in a strip club, he is not

the kind of person that you can ask your sisser to the vote for anymore. >> or the mothers or the daughter. >> and yes. let me ask you this, moody's downgraded kansas three months ago on the, on their the ability to the borrow money and saying it is because of the sluggish recovery and a lot of people believe it is because of the tax cuts which has made the economic recovery worse in kansas than it should have been. >> except they have had 37,000 more jobs created in the private sector, and spending more money in the state on education than in the past, and they can try to make the case, but they are there are 191,000 small businesses in the state, and many of them in the rural areas who have had their corporate income tax to zero. and why missouri passed legislation like kansas's, and it is halfway passed in north

carolina, and so there are a number of states looking to see what they are doing, and yes, challenges, but decades of the bipartisan establishment too much government. >> and john, you want to jump in? >> yes, you have done a great job to get the folks on the republican side of purity, but it has come at a cost, and now we look at the congress, and tax reform won't get done for several years and immigration reform and all of these other issues, but do you feel a responsibility for the intransience that we are seeing now? anyway to move from that and get back to the reagan republican willing to compromise approach? >> yes, and it is moving to fry dom less like ly than i would like. and the pledge stop theed a 1$14 trillion tax increase, and gave us the sequester, and gave us a a stronger economy. that is progress. >> thomas, the last word here. tax cuts, and taxes, can you use it for economic growth or if not, in either way?

>> well, i mean, of course. there is all sorts of situations, but, look, you need to take this, and i'm not talking about kansas here anymore although i could talk about it for hours and wrote about it today on salon. >> calling it brownbackistan. >> and we have that and the weird strip club story. and the wizard of oz. >> and this is so ridiculous it is on television, because it is something that happened in the 199 o. 0s and he was not married yet and a lawyer -- >> well, it was the reaction to the police. >> and that is not what i want to talk about. >> okay. point taken. >> and seriously, grover, the tax issue, you have to think of it in the grander terms of the problem that we are facing in the country, and the problem in america is not overreaching america in the big freedom, but this country is sliding into oligarchy and president obama talking about the inequality and talking about the top one

percent and what they are take home, and taxes are one of the ways that the ancestors used to deal with the problem, and it is off of the table now, and look at what happened. >> this is a debate that i would love to continue, but we have to pause. thank you both. up next, control of the u.s. senate, really being decided by starbucks and chick-fil-as? actually, yes, it is. caffeine versus chicken. back in a moment. [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman,

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now to a different way to look at campaign 2014 this election cycle. in one corner it's starbucks nation. these are democrats that live in the big cities, adjacent

suburbs, lots of starbuck. in the other corner, it's chik-fil-a country, basically republicans, we call them the ex s ux sr -- surbs. 20% lived in those republican strongholds, more rural america. this year, the numbers are completely reversed. only a fifth of the population in the senate battle ground map live in urban areas, while it's 36% that live in those communities that are favorable to republicans and so what does all this mean. when democrats had the advantage two year ago, president obama pretty much swept the board. he had a lot of starbucks states essentially. this year, it's the republican edge, the republicans are going to pick up states in chik-fil-a

country. mt, west virginia. these respects to have an opportunity to win senate seats in areas favorable to them. then you have the swing states, the ones on the battle ground map, places like colorado and iowa. they are going to make the difference, and look at how close things are here. for instance, in colorado, incumbent mark udall's support is going from denver and the suburbs. but it's the counties around denver that are growing rapidly and becoming more democratic. much of the other parts of colorado are more rural. they are the suburbs of denver outside of those immediate areas and colorado spring and they are much more conservative. congressman corey gardener it's these areas in chik-fil-a

country. ie awark you have des moines and close in suburbs around it and as well as the cleng towns of ames and iowa city. that's good for democrats. the rest of the state is tougher for democrat nominees. it's more rural america, and that favors republicans. the challenge for democrats will be getting out the vote in their urban center, firing up their turnout in des moines while holding back a republican surge in a county. it's starbuck country versus chik-fil-a country. who is going to turn out in 2014? it could be advantage to the chicken. election will be determined between the big cities and rural america. that's one way to look at this 2014 minute. coming up in half a minute, the strategy democrats are trying

>> we're just now six week from the mid term elections and we're something that happens whenever a president has low poll numbers, members of his own party are doing everything they can to look like they are keeping him at arms length. >> with president obama's approval rating continuing to sit at or even below 40%, democrats who face the voters in a matter of weeks aren't just walking away from the president, they are running and gunning away. just this week, kentucky democratic senate hopefully

alison grimes was out with this ad. i'm not barack obama. >> i'm mary landrieu and i approve this message. >> i'm marc begich. >> i'm alison grimes. >> a parade of democrats are following this practice. >> he took on obama. >> the administration's policies are simply wrong. >> i'll make sure president obama gets the message: >> when the president has shown up in these states, democrats are studly -- suddenly finding themselves busy and making it clear obama does not want to see them. >> the white house when they look down the front lawn, the last person they want to see coming is me. >> okay, mark ewe dsh udaall.

they talked about all the things he differed from president bush he lost. blanch lincoln took all the differences she had with president obama. she lost. it's a strategy that never works. >> it's not just in red states that voted for romney. colorado, obama won that twice and mark udall is trying to distance himself, obama, 36% approval. >> this is the depressing part, right. we had americans that said we want a congress that compromises, we want people to get things done, guess who they vote out, the people who are the compromisers. those people, if they lose, there's nobody for republicans to go to compromise with. that's it.

the moderates are gone. it happened in 2006 when democrats attached everybody to bush. >> the ads are almost identical. >> that's how we get the congress we get. if you want to push those people out, but they are actually the people who are compromising. >> and the irony here you are mark pryor, you are doing everything you can to distance yourself, the only way is if the african-american come out and vote. >> i think in colorado, we're going to win colorado. >> you think they are winning it is because mark u dal strikes so much fear in barack obama and the west wing drive. i think there's a dissatisfaction in the country and unfortunately the president is facing that and feeling that and people are taking it against

him. it's not like the republican brand is doing so well. people loving the republican party. it's a problem of two parties and it's an anti-washington mood, not just anti obama. >> there is -- voters have a b.s. detecter and when they see these guys do that, they rode the coat tails of obama. >> in an election like this, you are not going to get a lot of middle of the road voters, this is not this time. there's no big polarizing issue. you need those margins, you need those groups on the outside and all those votes will count and you are not trying to bring them in, this is the corollary, mary landrieu is in a very good

position. >> one out of ten it work for, nine you the of ten it didn't. very quickly. time for our fun segment here. this week it is joe biden. he's not running against hillary clinton and yet the media teases it as if he is. >> he is a sitting vice president of the united states. that's usually what they -- >> we know he's not running against hillary clinton. >> that's true. >> but we pretend -- am i wrong? >> it would be so great. >> this is really on you. you guy cover it, so it's really a media issue. >> do you agree with that premise? >> i would be surprised. >> this is reporters cheering for a story. it's not based in reality, correct? >> the at tern native we spent the next two years talking about hillary clinton's nomination.

>> that's boring. in all honesty, it becomes a media trust issue. we're playing into a stereotype. >> joed biden -- joe dieden, he's sort -- joe biden is he's like media crack. he says these crazy things. >> they don't offended by his gaffes, just like w., right. >> there's a lovability to it. >> i think people get offended by it. >> i got to leave it today. no program next week due to nbc sports coverage of the ryder cup. go america! . with a bit of luck, we're going to have a shiny new set. remember, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

it can happen to anyone. >> right now on nbc 10 @issue, new jersey is taking steps to protect victims of abuse. assembly woman shares her personal insight into this growing epidemic. >> i know what it looks like, i know what it feels like. >> my mom spanked us. it was a belt. >> nfl stars arrest long time debate to spank or not spank today on nobs 10 @issue. >> good morning. long before the video of ray rice punching his fiancee came to light, new jersey lawmakers were tackling the domestic violence issue. this week the state assembly pass ad series of bills