in the middle ofof aresidential election. how the fight over h h replacement could paralyze the senate and all of washington. we'll hehe from four republican presidential candidates, donald trump, ted cruz, marco rubio and john kasich. us, that wild republicaca debate last night. >> you are a principle -- >> you are the single biggggt liar. >> when you point to h h own record, he screams lili, liar, liar. >> i think we're fixing to lose the election to hillary clinton if we don't stop this. also, bernie sanders gets a taste of what he may face as he tries to win africic-american voters. >>_v i've said black 50 times, all right. that's the 51st time. >> can hillary clinton win by making this campaign a referendum on sanders, not herself? joining me this sunday morning for inside and analysiss are

and kathleen parker, c cumnist for "the washington post." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." from nbc ws in washington, this is "meet the press with chuck todd". good sunday morning. hasn't happened since 1968. a vacancy battle on the supreme court at this stage of an election year. l lrned late yesterday of the sudden and tragic death ofof suprememcourttustice antonin scalia. an intellectual and conservative thought leader, a a man president obama last nigg called one of the moo consequential judges and thinkers to serve on the supreme court. scalia's death of course is a personal tragedy for his family and colleagues, but it isis also bursting witit major political implications. what will his loss due to the balance of power on the court? will the republican senate even consider someone nominated by resident obama? how long will this vacancy paralale the court, and perhaps the u.s. senate? and at last night's republican

clclar where they stand on this issue. >> i do not believe the presidee should appoint someone. and itit not unprecedented. >> there's no doubt in my mind that barack obama will not have a consensus pick. >> the senene needs to stand strong and say we're not going to give up the u.s. supreme court for a generatioio >> i t tnk it's up to mitch mcconnell and everybody else to stop it. it's called delay, delay, delay. >> we're going to hear from four of the leading republican presidential candidates this morning, donald trump, ted cruz, marco rubio and john kasich. the democctic candidates meanwhile were alsoso quick to respond t tthe vacancy. >> supreme court of the united states has nine members, not eight. we need thatt ninth member. >> elections have cononquences. the president has a responsibility nominate a new justice. and the senate has a responsibility to vote.

look at the democratic race and how hillary clinton's tete is working overtime tototry to turn this contest from being a referendum on her to a referendum on bernie sanders. a lot to get to, but we start with the impact and the implications of scalia's death on the supreme court. nobody better to joinme on this than our justice correspondent pete willllms. pete, welcome back, sir. let me ask very quickly, we're in the middle of some contentious cases on the supreme court now. what happens right now? the mososone with political implications is the immigration decision. >> right. when you have eight justices it creates the possibility of a 4-4 tie. when there's a tie it's as though the supreme court decision doesn'n' count, the wer court ruling stands and the supreme court decision has no presidential vvue. so for the immigration policy it would be a defeat for the administration because it would leave standing the lower court rulings that blocked it. for such abortion question which is ming, it wwld leaea the tough texas restriction on

migig encourage other states to tt the sameme thing. for public sector unions though it might be a victory because they won in the lower courts, defeating an effort to try to restrict their ability to raise union dues. >> all right. we are headed for the potential of if the president wants to nominate somebody, he's madad that clear. the republican controlled senate doesn't want to consider it. it's possible terms of the supreme court begininn october and end in june. >> right. >> so at this poioi under this scenario we might go ann entire term, octcter of '16 thrhrgh june of'17 without a supreme court justice because even if the next president appoints it takes time to get through the process. two haugt ethoughts, majority decisions are not close votes. the court will continue functioning and do a lot of its business. it does raise the possibility that you won't get what only the supreme court can provide, and that is the final answer. only the supremem court can solve these things fornce and forever. so a lot offhese thihis will just have to keep coming back until the supreme urt gets the

decision. >> scalia, the way cases are heard, once they're heard, there's an immediate vote that takes place among the nine justice. >> that's right. >> does scalia's vote count posthumously? >> no, not unless thehe decision was handed down. the rule is votes can shift and opinioio can change, you have to be present for your vote to count. > want you to talk about one candidate i think we may see nominated. it's a judgee by the name of merrick ggland. if there's a republican senate, is is a guy they think they can get through the republican senate. he's considered more moderatat than other liberal justices, why? >> because of his record, experience in the justice department, widely respected. i mean, the thing is now presidents tend to w wnt younger nomineeses if you look at the e st recent trend, they're nominatingeople in their 50s. that's not merrick garland, but he's the right kind o o ideology. >> all right.

busy 1 1 months for you onn this >> indeed. joining me now is t t first of fourur republican presidential candidates who are on with us this momoing. it's donald trump. mr. trump, welcome back to "meet e press." >> good morning. >> let me ask you firston the supreme court opening. do you have a litmus test? do you have a litmus test on row v. wade? citizens united when it comes to who you might appoint to the supreme court should you become president? >> well, i think w w wve some great people out there. diane sikes from wisconsin from outstanding. need a conservative person. some great people. we lost one of the greats. i'd like to have the person tailored to be just like justice scalia, justice scalia was truly a great judge. and respected by all. both sides. >> that's what i mean, how willll you determine ththt? how will you determine whether you got somebody -- >> well, i mean, look, you never know what happens, chuck. you look at where a guy like ted cruz pushed very hard for

everyone thought that was wonderful. and justiceceoberts let everybody down by approving obamacare, twice. i mean, he really did let us down. thaas largely cruz's fault and the bush fault because they put the wrong guy in there. that was a shockiki decision. so, you know, you never really know. but at the time he looked okay. but he'ss- that was a ted cruz mistake because he pushed him very hard. look, we needreat intellecec we need i say absolutely conservativiv but i think the real plan for it would be somebodydy just like justice scalia. >> all right. i want t t move on to thth debate last night. >> by the way which is hard to find. >> yeah, i think a loloof con terve sieve servetives will agree with you. i want to o to the debate lastst ght. your 2008 comments about george w. bush were brought up and this idea that you were surprised att the time that then-speaker pelosi had ruled out impeachmhmt. did y y believe that and i just want to clarify this, did

enough there to bring up impeachment proceceings against george w. bush in 2008 over iraqaq >> no. i was ininhe private sector, so i didn't think about it too much. but certainly the war in iraq was a disaster. no, not to be impeached, but the war in iraq it was a stake. he just made a mistake. we went into iraq, we lost thousands of lives -- >> but you don't believe it's an impeachable offense now? you were implying it might be in 2008. >> well, that's for other people to say. look, thatts for other people to say. i cannay thihi it may not have been impeachable because it was a mistake. i think it was a mimitake. but it was a horrible mistake. number one, thehe were no weapons of mass destruction. so did they know there weren't or not? that would tell you something right there. but thererwere weapons of mass destruction. chuck, the war in iraq was a disaster. we end up with abblutely nothing. iran is taking over iraq as we sit hehe right now.

is doing pretty well worldwide. they take $150 billion, we get nothing. they're taking over iraq. they're getting the oil. it was a disasterous decision the war in iraq and unfortunately bush happened to be president. >> you were saying president bush lied. how do you know he lied about wmd? >> i ink that people knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction. i think they wanted to go in there. i think they thought it would have been easieie they didn't prosecute the war well. it wasn't well prosecuted and they enened up getting -- i ean, leleing. now, i have to say he made a mistake getting in. and i'm the only one on the stage that said we should not go into iraq. that the war in iraq is a mistake. everyoneelse said, oh, you know, all the other people on stage i should get points for vision. because everybybdy -- >> let me pause you therere >> uck, it took -- >> right. let me pause youou-- >> it took jeb bush five days -- wait a minute.

say that the iraq war was a mistake.. he went back a a forth, back and forth. then fifilly his pollster told him what he had to say. ut jeb bush -- then he admitted it was a mistake. i an, look, he's gotot no chance anyway, but it almost st him the election before he even started. >> well, i want to for what it's worth politifact that has never been able to ffd, none of usus have been able to find any instance where before the invasion you came out against this war. why is that? >> well, i did it in 2003. i said it before -- don't forget, i wasn't a a politicici. so people didn't't write evevything i said. i was a business person. i was as they y world class business person.n. i built a great company. i employ thousands of people. so i'm not a politician, but if you look at2003 there are articles, if you look at 2004, there are articles in fact i saw somebody commentiti on it last night that trump really was against the war. i was against it -- look, i'm the most militaristic person, i'm going to build the military bigger, better, ronger,

use it, but nobody's goioi mess with us. but i will say this,he war in iraq,q,it was a mistake. anybody would have realized iran andraq thth used to fight. they'd go o ck, forth. chuck, you destabilize the middle east, i'm the only one that calald. i was the only onene that called it. >you m me it clear that you wanted to remind people that 9/11 happened, i believe you used the phrase, during george bush's reign. do o u believe that george bush kept america safe? >> no. because the worlrltrade center was knocked down. look, that's another myth. i wish he did. i have nothing agagast him. i don'n'know him. i don't know that -- i don't think i ever even met him. i d d't think i did meet him. i have nothing against george sh.. i'm j jst saying whehe jeb bush gets up and says my brothth kept us safe. how did heeep us safe when the world trade d dring his time in office, i lost many, many friends -- that was the worst

worse than pearl harbor because they attacked civilians. they attacked people inin office buildings. >> and you think george w. busus could have prevented this? >> well, accccding to -- if you go back, you will see thth cia and other agencies had information that bad things were going to happen. and, s, the answer iss he should have known. they were not talking to each other. there was total disassociation. they didn't likeach other, all the different agencies were a mess. they were fighting with each other. abssutely they shouldldave known. they s suld have known something. osama bin laden -- heyey look, i wrote about osama bin laden in 00 in a book. i was talking about osama bin laden. if i know about osama bin laden just by seeing press and seeing, you know, what's going on, why wouldn't thehe president of the united states know about osama bin laden? >> well, let me ask you this. in south carolina asas you ow, george w. bush is popular among publicans. you are -- this is a risky stralt strategy. you called him a liar last night about wmd and you essentially

>> i didn't call him a liar. iiidn't call anybodydy a liar. >> well, you called ted cruz a iar. >> chuck, i said maybe there were lies because, look, the weapons of mass destruction they said they e eisised and they didn't exist. now, it was his group thataid there are weapons of mass destruction. that's why we went in. that's why so many people got hoodwinked into going into iraq. en they go in there, they seseched high and dry. they looked all over. there were no weapons ofass destruction. turned ouou that there wewe absolutely not no weapons ofof mass destruction. now, was it a a lie? i don't know. >> if you lose south carolina, do you think the game change moment peopp will point to is what happened l lst night and what you saiai about george w. bush? but if you win, does this prove that the republican party is rejectingngbush? >> no, i don't think so. i t tnk they're rejecting the war in irir. the war in iraq is a disister. have a great relationship with south carolina and the people.

i've been there many times. ththe. they're very smart people. they understand that the war in iraq iss a disaster and was a disster. it totally destabilized the middle east. when you look at the migration, when you look at all of the things that are h hppening right in iraq. and you know what, we got nothing. we have absolutely nothing. iran is getting the whole deal. there. little short on time this morning. i look forward to speaking with you again soon, i hope. thanks foror congresswoman iming on and stay safe on the trail. >> thank you very much. moments ago i spoke to senator ted cruz of texas. and i began asking him about how he might go a aut replacing justice antonncalia on the court. let me go to litmus tests, do you have them for potential ssreme court justices? >> well, my litmus test for any supreme court justice isis whether he or s s will faithfully apply the constitution the law.

it is rather a jurs prudential approach. the only way to detetmine that is if they have a proven record, if they have spent years demonstrating they'll be faithful to the law. that's the job of a justice. it's what liberal activists don't do. liberal activists want to instead legislate fromomhe bench. a perfect example of that is justice scalia. justice scalia was a lion of the supreme court. he was one of the greatest supreme c crt justices in history. spent three decades on the urt. but before he was on the court many years. he was a acourt of appeals judge. he had a long proven record so you knew exactly what you were getting with justiti scalia. yearsrs >> is this the mistake you think was made with john roberts? >> of course is. >> you were a big supporter of nono is that because yououhink that he didn't haa a track record? >> he didn't have a track and i would not have nominated john roberts. ce george bush nominated him,

republicanannominee, but i would have nominated my former boss, a court of appeals judge, justice scalia's's very first law clerk and had a l lng proven track record. and, chuck, just as ronald reagan was to the presidency, so antonin scalia was to the supreme court. he had that big an impact. and i think his passing yesterday really underscores the stakes of this election. we are facing our fundamental rights in a balance. >> let me ask you, does the united states senene have an ooigation to at least consider a nomination that president obama puts forward? i understand thatatou guys don't want it. d you would prefer to let the ---but esest the united states have an obligation to at least go through the process and have an up or downvote? not remotely. >> why?y? >> it has been 80 years since a supreme court vacancy was nominated andonfirmed in an election year. there is a long tradition that

and what this means, chuck, is we ought to makehe 2016 election a referendum on the supreme court. iannototait to stand on that debate stage withillary clinton or bernie sanders and talk about what the susueme court will look like depending on who wins. if hillary clinton or bernie sanders wins, or for thatat matter if donald trump wins whose record is indistinguishable from them on a great many issues, then we willl see the second amendment itten out of the constitution. another thing we'll e, and this is very relevevt, for cocoervativv in south carolina, if donald trump is the nominee, or if hillarylinton is the president, we will see unlimited abortionnnn demand througugut this country. partial birth abortion, taxpayer funding, no parental notification. and wewel also see our religious libertrttorn down, basic rights. >> i want to go back to the united s stes senate here. so you belieie the presidency is only three years long in each term? i mean, if we go down this road, we're cutting off a presidency

and more importantly,y, senator cruz, , he risk here for conservatives is that if you have all these 4-4 ties in the court, then the more liberal leaning circuits will then have,e, you know, their rulings will take prececent. >> look, the consequence of a 4-4 tie is that the judgment of the court of appeals is affirmed by an equalal divided vote. this hasasappened many timim in history that there have been vacancies, sometimes on a closely contentious case they'll hold over for the next term when the replacement justice arrives. in an electionyear we have a long tradition that a lame duck president doesn't get to jam a supreme court nominee throughghin tt very end. j tried that and the supreme courur rejectedit. aa particularly when the court is 5-4 is balanced an obama liberal nominee would dramatically shift the u.s. supreme courtrt >> but whyhy not go through the process? should the unitetestates senate do its dutyty and go through the

go through the process? >> by the way, the nate's duty is to advise and consent. the senate is advising rightht now, we are advising that a lame duck president in a a election year is not going to be able to tip the balance of the supreme court. that we're going to have an election, and iff liberals are so confident that the american people want unlimitete abortion on mand, want religious liberty torn down, want the second amamdment taken away, want veterans memorials torn down, want the crosses and stars ofofavid sandblasted off of the tombstones of our fallen veterans, then go and make the case to the people. i don't think the american people want that. i'm very happy take th94 ] case directly to hillary clinton, directly to bernie sanders. and i would note, look, how do we know donald trump's record on this is going to be bad?? he has supported liberals for four decadad, jimmy carter, john kerry, hillary clinton, chuck schumer, harry reid, anyone who cares about judges would not be supporting harry reid and chuck schumer and john kerry and

and t t consequeee is either hillary or bernie or donald trump i i the president, we will see the second amendment written out of the constitution. this is a basic question who will defend our liberties. >> senator cruz, i have to leavav it there thh morning. a lot more to get to. i look fororrd to hopefully having you on perhaps nene sunday and we can get to more of that. thank you, sir. excellent. when weeome back, we're going to hear from marco rubio who hopeseso put new h hppire behind him. and john kasich who hopes new hampshire is a sign of the future. >> thehe world trade center cameme down because e ll clinton didn't kil we were born 100 years ago into a new american century. born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. and what an amazing time it's been, decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. so, we say thank you america for a century of trust,

i was not aware of how much acidity was in my diet. i was so focused on making good food choices, i had no idedethat it was damaging the enamel of my teeth. i wanted to fix it, i wantnt to fix it right away. my dentist recommended pronamel. he said that pronamel can make my teeth stronger, that it was important, that that is sosothinini could do each day to help protect the enamel of my teeth.. pronamel is definitelylyelping me to lead the lififthat i want to live. the future belongs to the fast. and to help you accelerate, we've created a new company... one totally focused on what's n nt for your business.s. the true partnership where peopop,technology and ideas push everyone forwararar accelerating innovation. accelerating transformation.

hewlett packard enteterise. >> and we are backck earlier this morning i was joined senator marco rubio of floriri and governor john kasicic of ohio. and i started with senator rubio asking him whether the senate has an obligation to give the president's supreme court nominee an up or down vovo. >> we have a a obligation to do it, but not now. the term of this supreme court is already -- they just started it, but i is not all yearlong. the cocot c c function with eight justices, it does it all the time especially when justices have to recuse themselves. kagan has to recuse herself early in the term. we're going to have an election in november where this vacancy will be an item of debate and voters will get to weigh in. i don't think it's wise and it's precedent for this president nearing the last few months of his administratiti to put someone on the coot that may be there for 30 years. >> so you don't'tthink -- i understand that.

that you may not support and thatatthe republican majority doesn't want this, but aren't they obligatat to at least go through the motions here? i mean, you're saying-- >> no. >> you're saying don't even go through the motions, why? >> correct. we will go thththh the motions, but not whilelearack obama's in the white house. it's not going to happen. >> do presidential terer end after three years? that's what i don't understand is whyot go through thedvice d consenen you don't have to approve it. you can rejectct it. that's what happened in '68. but why not through this process? >> because there's -- actually, it's not just for the supreme court.t. even for appellate courts it's been both parties followed this precedent. there comes a point in the last year of the president, especially in their secondd term, where you op nominating -- or you stop the advice and consent process. you basically say at this point with a few months left in ur term, no accountability from the babalot box and the appointment you're going to make on a lifetime appointment. that's the important thing here. these are not laws that can be -- but these are t laws

in essence this is a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the country at a time when the balalce of thth constitution and the court's interpretation of it i i at stake. mitch mcconnell has ready made it clear we're not moving forward and i support 100%. bottom line i don't trust barack ooma on the appointment of supreme court justice. we cannot affffd to have sccia replaced by somomne like nominees he's put therein the past. we're going to have an election, there's going to be a new president. i believe it's going to be me. we're going to look for someone that most resembles scalia to replace him. >> i wantnto move to the debate. you said in response to a heated exchange between jeb bush and donald trump on 9/11, this is at you said about 9/11. and i want to a a youbout it on thehether side. >> the world trade center came down because bill clilionidn't kill osama bin laden whh he had the chance to kill him. >> that's a big charge. i know bill clinton has said it is one of his regrets, but he id make an attempt to go after him.

result that basically bill clinton's failure led to 9/11? >> well, i believe that if osama bin laden n d been killed, al qaeda ass an organization would not have grown to the point where it have conducted 9/11. it was in response to this argument that trump was making that somehow p psident bush was responsibibe for 9/11. and my argument was, no, the responsibility of 9/11 falls on the fact that al qaeda was allowed to grow and prosper and the decision was not made to take out their leader when the chanceceexisted to do so. not once but four times according to the 9/11 report. president clinton has acknowledged that has as a gret. so the bottom line is at al qaeda was able to carry out 9/11 because as an organization they grew and prospered in capapility led by osama bin laden. had binaden been taken out, it is doubtful that 9/11 would have happened. at least on september 11 of 2001 becauseal qaeda would not have been in a position to be able to carry something like that out. >> so you're not blaming 9/11 on billclinton? >> no, he made a decision not t take out its leader which i

situation that happened with 9/11. and as a response to an attack that the reason why 9/11 happened was because of george w. bush. my argument is if you're going to ascribe e ame, don't blame george w. bush, blame a decision that was made earlier not to take out bin laden when the opportunity presented itself. >> so i'm actually still not quite clear. are you puttinghis on -- are you putting 9/1111n bill clinton? >> no, i'm putting it on his decision not toakeke out bin laden, absolutely. this is what happens when you have a chance to take out the leader of a terrorist organization and you fail to do so and the results are something like 9/11. >> later this week pope francis is going tospeak d certainly goioi to tour the border of mexxo and the united states. inineptembmb in front of congress he called himself the son of immmrants. and he called on congress and americans not to, quote,urn their backs on their neighbors. you yoursese got emotional listening to that speech. you feel t tt the pope's message about immigrants, particularly mexican immmmrantnt

do you agree with his take on this? >> sure. we're a c cntryry of immigrants. we continue to be a country of immigrants. let's have soo perspective here. americaccepts close to a mililon permanenen residents everyryingle year. no other nation in the world comes close to that numbmb. that's not t t issue we're debating. the issue we're debating is n nt whether or not we're going to accept immigrants, because we do. we're going to continue to. the issue is is there going to be a process people have to follow to immigrate to the united states? do we as a sovereign country get to control how manynyeople come here, when theyeyomeme here and who they are? and the answer is,yes. i don't think the pope is saying open up t t borders and allow anyone who wants to come in. i mean, you can't move to the vatican just because yououeel like moving there. they've got laws that restrict who can live within that tion's city state. and i think the same is trtr for the united states. so i agree with pope francis' saying we should be compassionone towards immigrants. and we are. the united states is more than any nation on earth. but we arere allowed as a sovereign nation have an obligation to have immigration

and that's w wt we need to o doing better than whwh we're doing now. >> all right. i have to leavavit there. wwre short on timim t ts rning. a lot to get to, senator rubio, nice to catchch up wii you. stay safe on the trail, sir. >> thank you. >> and i'm joined now by t t ffrth presidential candidate we've had on the show this morning, republican governor of ohio john kasich. welcome backkto "meet the press," sir. >> always, you know, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." >> i appreciate that. i've had two u.s. senators on this momoing who say the u.s. senate shouldn't'tven bother considering a nomination that president obama puts up. does t t u.s. senate have an obligatiti to at least consider it, hold a hearing? and if thehe vote it down, they vote it down, but should the u.s. senate, should mitch mcconnell at least open up that part of the prpress? >> well, you know,hat's their decision, chuck. you know, as the governor of ohio i haha to deal with legigiators and their decisions. and i don't try to tell them what to do. i do think that really the president -- i understand the president has preregative here.

nate has prerogative too of course. butut just think at a time when the country is so divided it would just be great if the presidentntidn't send somebobo forward and we had an election and then everybody would be clear about what they want in the next supreme court justice. but i guess it's not goingng to go that way. >> to roll the dice. >> pardon? >> governor, it's a roll of f e dice, you could have a democratic senate, democratic president could come in and then have a more liberal justice than what president obama might provide. >> well, but that's life. then the people actually have had some say. it's really kind of a unique ing when you thihi about it, chuck. it's unique to say that the public itstsf is going to have sort of an direct vote on who's going to be a supreme court justice. i think t tat's kind of cool. and what i donon like now is, you know, we can talk about this all day long. you and i bothnow in the real worldldhey're not going to confirm anybody. unless they pick somebody who's so belolod that everybody goes that's great.

i don't think that's going to happen. >> yeah, you're probablyyright on that. let me moveto the debate. and i got to p pay this one clip from you last night because i want tooet a better explalation of what you meant. here it is. >> i got to tell you,his is just crazy, huh? this is just nuts. okay. >> that was after jeb bush and donald trump were going at each other. what did you mean by that comment? plaiai >> well, i mean, it's like all the yelling and screaming and back and forth. chuck, what i have found -- i tell yoyo i'm having thehe time off my life. people want to know w wat you're fofo look, i've been all over. yesterday i had went to this barbecue shack. there were 500 people waiting there. i was there, you know, taking pictures, must have been another 45 minutes after i got done peaking and peoeoe are grabbing onto you sayingng please stay positive. please don't get into these fights. i get my energy by being four things. i don't't get mymy energy by being

and i think people tete to get negative when they're not selling their own positive. look, that's where i am. if it works out forme, great. it doesn't work out for me, i'll get to spend more time with my family. t look, i want to win. and we're doing well. really well. >> let me point to something last night you said at thehe debate. youuaid you didn't think we should have gone into iraq if there weren't any weapons of mass destruction. >> right. >> but you also said we should not get embroiled in civil wars overseas. >> that's right. >> well, we've donon it before. we did it with bosnia. >> we did i i with lebanon. chuck, let me tell you -- well, libya was a terrible mistake. frankly that was -- that's something people ought to be thinking about in regard to hillary. you know, they spend -- they talk about benghazi, which is very legitimate, of course it is. but should never have deposed gadhafi. that was a terribib mistake. the guy wasas working with us and now we've created aos in that country. look, i w w not i i favor of u.s.

and i voted against it. eveve when reagan wanted them there, tipp o'neill wanted them there, then when they got blown up tip was out blbling reagan. i'll never forget it. civil wars -- tting in between - - you know, since the sixth century sunni and shia have beenn fighting. >> so you would stay out ofof syria? >> i would only go to syria to dedetroy isis. i would not use u.s. troops to depose assad, but i would support the rebels there.e. it's okay to support people who share your view, but for the united states to be embroiled in a civil war in syria against assad i think is a big mistake. >> you know, you've also been critical of how the surplus that you as a republican budget leader and wororng with the clclnton administration you guys foragedd budget that was projectete surpluses throughout century.

one way many democrats have said one of the reasons that surplus went away so quickly was due to the bush tax cuts. do you concur with that? were t t busus tax cuts too big? >> no, i think it was spentding,g, chuck. the dirty little secret is democrats love to spend. and republicans do too, it's ust that republicans feel guilty. look, if you dodot have a leader that stands in the breach to restrain the spending of government, they'll always spend. >> i'm going to leave it there. >> okay, chuck. >> i appreciate it. we'll catch up i'm sure in the next week or so. >> yeah, we will. all right. coming up, the democratic race and why it may start gettinin tougher from here for bernie sanders. and of course sasarday night fights, in other words, last night's republblan debate and what all of those nasty exchanges mean.

when your cold makes you wish... ...you could stay... ...in bed all day... ...you need the power of.... new theraflu expressmax. the power to feel better. you both have a perfect driving record. until ononof you clips a food truck. then youourates go through the roof. perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your r rst accident. liberty mutual insurance. i'm billy, and i quit smoking with chantix. i decided to take chantix to shut everybody else up about me quitting smoking. i was s ing to give it a try, but i didn't really think it was going to really happen. after one week of chantix, i knew i could quit. along with support, chantix (v(venicline) is proven

chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood andnduicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some had seizures while taking chantix. if you have any of these, stopophantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problemem which could get worse or of seizures. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you have these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have heart or blood vessel l oblems, or develop new or worse symptoms. get medical hehe right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. most common side-affect is nausea. being a non-smoker feels great. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. the microsoft cloud allows us to access information from anywhere. the microsoft cloud allolo us to scale up. microsoft cloud changes ourrrworld dramatically. it wasn't too long ago it would take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome. now, we can do a hundred per day.

to build server rooms. we h he instant scale. the microsoft clououis helping us to re-build and re-interpret our business. this cloud helps transform business. this is the microsoft cloud. welcomom back. the panel is here on a huge sundada of political news. gwen ifil fresh off moderating that democratic debate i thinin happened in the last few days. welcome of pbs news hour. kathleenen parker, columnist from "the washington post" and ron fournier. let me start with consequences quickly on scalia and then move to the debatee of the united states senate. chris, you k kow the politits of this. >> yeah. >> the united states senate, will it be a a functioningng chamber this year? or could this fight shut the entire senate down for the year?

so i generally put myself in the 1% of most cynical people about politics. i w w surpriseded that mitch mcconnell came out with a statement as quickly as he didid saying not it's unlikely that president obama's nominee will go through, therere no point in president obama putting a nomineeeeforward. you then saw harry reid respond. given that and given what we've heard from ted cruz, donald trump, marco bio. i think mitch mcconnell will feel under considerable political prrsure. i know he jususgot re-elected butut considerable political pressure to shut this thing down before it ever starts. >> anan gwen, this is thehe base. they don't want to see even a confirmed. on the other hand therere five blue state republicans who do they want to look likee obstructionist? basically he's got a tiger on other, i think. >> it's the box t tt mr. mcconnell has been in and john boehner was in for a very long time. i was not surprised that he came

i'm not sure he had any choice but to come out and say this is the line we're going to draw and then step back and let otherer people fight itout. just as the leader to say this is the line i'm drawing. as we saw from the pressure coming from the presidenenal candidates, that wasn't a big risk for im. and for the blue state republicans, worry about them later. right now they have to worry about the base. >> i think it's even worse. within 20 minutes of the announcement that he was dead i got an e-mail from a very prominent republican consultant all who you know saying we're not going to allow even a hearing. the man's body, a good man's body was not even dead yetet and politics was already in play. the republicans are not going to let t tis happen. it's totally irresponsible. it's a sign again o o our democracy, of our system not functioning. and i have no reason to believe that if a republican wins the white house why would the democrats nominate? >> i was going to say. i think this is heavy political risk. >> i think we could have a 3-3 for years. this seems like a good time to say among cononrvatives especially peopleere very, very sad today. i think we should just

because justice scalia, you know, we've heardd a lot about the many wonders of his personality and his brilliant mind and all that. but to your point i agree it was a little bit jarring to suddenly have everyone talking about the political implications. that's our job. >> within minutes. >> and i got a call from the hill just of somebody saying, okay, game over, time to get serious. everything matters now. but let me just say this,n the conservative side i think a lot of these people, a lot of rereblicans feel president obama does not respect the consttution and that he's gone around the legislative body to -- you can argue that he had to, but he wanted done. let's remembmb it's not unusual -- no, it's very unusual to nominate a preme court justice during an election yeaea it's only happened once in 80 years. and kennedy's -- it was justste kennedy, it took a year. >> well, it didi i want to move to the debate very quickly. but we'll know whatind of

does he find somebody who's a little more to the right of his two previous nominations i i order to find a confirmableeort of left leaning judge or not. >> there's not such a thing -- >> i don't think anymore. but it's clele that president obama was not going to take this. >> nor should he. but he started out on the high road yesterday with a very high road complimentary -- course. >> about scalia. he should do the same thinin put up somebody who would be confirmable if things were working well and show that the republicans aren't willing toto work. >> well, that is the big risk for the republicans. he's got to bebe thinking, oo my gosh, ted cruz z donald trump could become president and then they're going to appoint the next justice. >> big story, chuck, this is another sign of the political dysfunction in this town that you and i have talked abtd for a long me. think this is going to be a long time before weweave nine judges on that court. a long time. >> can i say one more thing? there's also a risk for these republicans that maybe hillary clinton or bernie sanders does get elected. and by holding up the court appointment until the next

could be a democrat. >> by the way -- all of these potential presidential candidatat be careful what yoyo wish for. if your first 100 days is dominated by a supreme court fight and this environment, you will get thing elsedone. >> we've talked about this. you have basically one big >> yess >> for obama it was health care. you have o o big thing. >> it's a scotus pipi. >> well, you havav to do the right thing i agree with john >> let it roll. all right. we gg to let it roll here. we're going to do some debatee chatter later in the show, but coming up, bernie sanders came up big with whhe voters inn iowawa and new hampshire. but cane win over african-americans to defeat hillary clinton in states like

>> i've said black 50 times. i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my a ahma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoto. breo is for adults with asthma a t well controlled on a long-term asthmhmcontrol medicine, like an n haled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicinene that increases the r rk of death from asthma problems and d y increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid.

your doctor will decide if you can stop breo o d prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worsese ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for

after the new hampshire primary we saw a flood of press releases from the national parties and their related interest groups. and most of them had a similar theme, they did not want to talk aboutt what's goingg on on their side of the aisle at all. look at this. the rnc wrote, hillary clinton's resounding loss in new hampspsre is another devastatingg blow for her campaign. and then the house campaign republican arm said, clinton was defeated in the first in thehehe nation primary by an derly socialist. ononhe democratic side it wasn't even better. in the new hampshiresnowowap

the republican debate stage mirrors an "snl" skit donald trump has emerged as a decisive front runner. and trump has done nonoing but cause anxiety and heartburn for senate incumbents and candidates since his launch. so national republicans and ddocrats burying thee heads in the sand about what's going on there. ha ha sanders and ha ha trump, trying to avoid confronting what's going on in their own parties. anyway, we'll right back with the latest on the increasingly

but ended up nowhere. nonoi use this. the nicoderm cq patch, with unique extended release technology, helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. i want this time be my last time. that's why i choose nicoderm cq. (gasp) shark diving! xerox personalized employee portals help companies make benefits simple and accessible... from anywhere. la dancing? cliff jumping! human resources can work better. with xerox. which allergy? eees. bees? eese. trees? eese. xerox helps hospitals use electronic health records doctors provide more personalized care. cheese? cheese! patient care can work better. with xerox. that's it. i sure had a lot on my mind when i got out of the hospital after a dvt blood clot. whatatbout my family? my li'l buddy? and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital but i wondered if this wasashe right treaeaent for me. then my doctor told me about eliquis.

d reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots, but eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. ing eliquis had both... turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleedidi. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle e akness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it m m take e nger than usual for bleeding to o op. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may incrcrse your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis treats dvt & pe blood clots. plus had less major bleeding. both made switching to eliquis right for me.

welcome back. bernie sanders proved he can do

clinton in iowa. a new poll gave hillary a 57 point lead. the morning after new hampshire sanders traveledto harlem for breakfast with my next est, civil rights leader and msnbc host al sharpton. reverend sharptptn, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. >> i want to play for youun interaction that bernie sanders had on fridid with an african-ameriin voter in minnesota a nd get your response on the other side. here it is. >> so the question specifically, my black son -- okay. i know yoyore scared to say black, scared to say reparations -- >> ma'am, ma'am, we have the ghest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth, especially within the african-american community. >> say black -- >> i've said black 50 times. all righh that's the 51st time. >> iss that a fair criticism f fom the crowd of him? >> well, i think that what it is is that peoplele have felt in our communities ignored.

have kind of like generally discussed things. and we are supposed to assume we're part of that when we have some very specific needs. and all of us don't agree nobody can deliver the black vote, but all of us agree that there are specific things that you just can't cover just talkingaboutut economic inequality without talking about racial inequality in that. you can't just talk a aout the problems withh washington without talking about a race probobm in that. so i think that some of the marginalized. and that has come from both liberals and conservatives. >> go ahead, guys. >> i think the reverend is right in that -- and i think t tis is the problele for bernieieie sanders is that bernie sanders believes at the core thehe fundamental inequality that explains america is economic in nature, not racial, not anything else. the problememem is he believes -- well, i'veve covered it. i've talked about economic eqeqality. you've heard his response there

that's not enough for some voters. >> go ahead. >> there was also in that same event he was asked about reparations. >> right. >> he's been through this argument already. yet somehow he went back to what we were talkingngabout,t, t tking in general about economic inequality. the skepticism about bernie sanders among maa african-americans cc be summed in two ads he's run. one, the wonderful simon and garfunkel come tomerica ad where there was base #barely a face of color and then the new ad that has almost nothing but facacs of color, this together ad. rememds me a lot of the will i am ad from 2008 becauau it was very much about how we can all together. >> part of the problem that i think that is coming to thth surface in this is that we have experienced both in the liberal north and the south hostilities. let's not forget howard beach where bernie sanders was born in new york. howard beach was in the north.

north. i never lived the south. we arar deaeang with hollywood progressive hollywood with an oscar whiteout right ow. so i think what a lot of people are beginning to see is wait a minute we do not want to be marginalized. and we don't want to be thrown into a situation where specific needs are not dealtwith. >> what ifernie sanders talked about one of the issues where the african-american n mmunity has been marginalized and instead of talking a aut the number of times he said black what if he talked about the number of african-americans clinton? what if he talked about the 10-1 racial despairisparity undd president clinton? what if he said i have a solution for this, i'm going to unleash the powers of presidential clemency and i'm going to free every person, many of who are african-americans in ison over sentences that have not been grandfathered? how pourwerful would that be?

issues people not agree spececic issues. tt problem is whenou talk about president clinton and the crime bill, bernie sanders voted for it. so thh might be one reason he doesn't bring it up. but i think that at the other side of that is mr. clinton has said he made a mistake, mr. sanders augtd to say he shouldn't havee voted for it. and then we ought to talk about how we deal with mass incarceration, police reform and all of these issues. i don't think unless we press i i those of us -- >> i got to wrap it up here, but reverend sharpton, are you going to endorse beforere south h carolina? >> i don't know. we're meeting with mrs. clinton tuesday. >> okay. >> we're talking to senator sanders. we may or may not. what i don't want to get caught in is who we're going to enenrse. i want to see who's going to endorse us having a fairhare in this country. not whose side are we on, whose on our side. >> reverend shararon, i will leave it there. prophetic words. when we come back, we have less than a minute with our end game segmeme.

lights from last night's debate.. coming up, "meet the press" end game brought to you by boeeg, building the future one - yoyoset rules around the house, right? so set rules for your kidsds when they go online: don't be a cyberbully. no racy seseies. and remember everyone can see everything you post, even grandma. rules keep kids safe online.

"meet the press" end gamee is brought to you by boeing, building the future one century at a time. well, donald trump was building a reality tv show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. anani'm proud of whwh he did. [ cheers a a applause ] and he's had the gall -- >> the world trade center came down during hihi reign. remember that. [ audience booing ] panel is back. we haven't discussed the dedete. kathleen, jeb bush's's big moment there taking on trump. >> that was a goodd line. you know, every time trump baits jeb bush, jeb bush responds. him. i don't know why, but he just can't pull it off. and every time trump opens his mouth, i think, okay, he's time. this is the t te he's going to do it. you know, it's a a about style. you can say the iraq warar was a mistake, bubu you could also sasa in south carolina particularly

of military people and veterans, with great respect to the brave men and womenenho fought in iraq, i have to just say it was a mistake. and i think a l l of people agree. and let me just say this and then go on. but he attacks the family, he attatas themother. b is desperate. he brought in laura yesterday. >> if any other candidate literally in politics in america performed the way that donald trump did in that debate last night, i would have written and concludd this person is gone off the rails. he looked angry, tokathleen's point though -- >> but we know better than that now. >> you spent $36 billion and thing aboutut new hampspsire and s and thing don't care about, but -- any seasons that beens this is going to doomonald trump because has been proven wrong so many times. what's the point? >> it's not so much about trump, it's about the people supporting establishment. why do we assume that they're going to defend the establishment? thth're going to defend a bush? >> it was interesting to watch

wait, to let the fight between ump and cruz and bush play out and he said this is what i believe and he did it in the fluid nonrepeativeway. in that respect he did himself a favor. >> it was mutually destruction last night and good night for kasich kasich. >> i think we have trtrp, cruz, one, two and we don't know which order one, two is going t tbe. third place matters. >> that's why i thought jeb was actually as good as he has been. anan i thought ---- >> but rubio doing well didn't help. >> rubio needed to do another last s surday debate because rubio's b-plusus and betterr than jeb's a i i debate terms. and i ink rubio was better, did more good for himself. i thought to gwen's point, how does marco rubio wind up being the big figure defending the bush administration in a fight wititjeb bush on the stage? >> i thinkk overerl d dn't you think people just felt like,

>> to your point about john kasich. he's clearly said there's only ononplace for me to go. i can't get into that ght. i'm not going to get in it. i'm going to be mr. positivity and we saw it again this morning. >> i love it. my mm will be happy about that.t. that's all for today. we'll be back next week becausese if it's sunday it's "meet the press."

smart devices are up. cloud is up. analytics is up. seems likekeverything is up except your budgdg. introducing comcast business enterprise s sutions. with a different kind of network that delivers the bandwidth you need without the high cost. because you can't build the businessssf tomorrow