captions by: caption colorado, llc (800) 775-7838 comments@captioncolorado.com from washington, "the mclaughlin group," the american original. for over two decades, the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. "the mclaughlin group" is brought to you by met life, guarantees for the "if" in life. issue one. primary colors red and blue. >> the mandate of our victory tonight is huge. what you have done and what we are doing can transform america. i have a message, a message from the tea party. a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words. we've come to take our rnment b [ cheers and applause ] >> question.

the winner of the kentucky republican senate primary was rand paul. who is rand paul and what does this victory tell republicans? pat buchanan? >> he is the doctor, the son of ron paul, the libertarian republican who did very well in debates but not well with the numbers. rand paul, john,the most interesting candidate in the race because he is a pristine example of what's happening in america. it is anti-washington, anti- establishment, republican as well as democrats. mitch mcconnell's specially picked fellow. rand paul beat him by 25 points. he's not only anti-the welfare state but anti-interventionist foreign policy. in other words, he believes we ought to only have wars that have been declared. he will always have problems. >>red to

know about him. eleanor -- >> sorry, go ahead. >> no, i think it's a phenomenon that he's able to do this well. i don't know if it says much about him or the weakness of his alternative. >> he he's not only for small government but no government. when he was asked about his views of the 1964 civil rights act, i think it came up because he held his victory party in a members-only exclusive country club. he said if he were voting in 1964, he would have reworked that part about making businesses desegregate. and he walked back from that position. >> mm-hmm. >> but i think it's made some people uneasy about where this man comes from and if he is a throwback to an era america does not want to relitigate and relive. >> the republican party does not want to be catapulted back 45 years. he did step in it with his comment about the civil rights act of 1964. he made a mistake that

political newbies make it. >> has he explained it away? >> i think he has done a good job. is he now the third biggest victory by the tea party movement which i argue is actually mainstream america at this point and no longer a movement. the re-election bid was lost in utah and now we have rand paul. remember it is largely based on government spending. >> tea party? >> size of government and government spending. >> rand paul makes the race in kentucky competitive. the democrats were prepared to go down losing that. they've got a good candidate in the state's attorney general, i believe, and i think that's now a competitive race. rand paul is not mainstream america. >> are we saying that kentucky is competitive? >> rand paul is ahead of his opponent by 25 points. he's no doubt been hurt by this dispute over the civil rights act. i think he's cleaned it up.

he says it's the law of the land. >> you want to describe the dispute? >> he has a libertarian point of view that the government of the united states can strike down state laws that discriminate but if an individual business the famous ollie's barbecue discriminates on their own, does the federal government have the power to come in -- >> his distinction focuses on property. >> private versus public. >> is there anything in the founding fathers that suggests that private property deserves -- not that kind of -- >> jefferson's declaration of independence comes from lock. he talked about not just the pursuit of independence. >> what's it say in the declaration? >> life, liberty and the pursuit of -- >> it used to be property. >> right. >> i think the federal government has imposed its views -- >> that's an excellent point. >> there is a very critical distinction.

>> wait a minute, let me finish -- [ all talking at once ] >> he also wants to repeal the americans with disabilities act. >> no he does not. [ all talking at once ] >> quickly. >> rand paul, let's not mischaracterize his statement. he said he is against repealing the ada. there is a critical distinction to be made. rand paul is a libertarian. conservatives believe there is a role for government, if, in fact, that government or its citizens are being treated in a subhuman way. that's what the civil rights act is all about.ink he cleaned >> okay. pennsylvania. >> this is what democracy looks like. [ cheers and applause ] a win for the people! [ cheers and applause ] over the establishment, over the status quo, even over washington d.c.!

[ cheers and applause ] >> question. the winner of the pennsylvania democratic senate primary was congressman joe sestak, who defeated arlen specter. who is joe sestak and what does this victory tell us about the democrats? i ask you, eleanor? >> i want to say a word about arlen expecter to begin with. it's a rare feat when you have the base of each party angry at you. he has the republican base angry at him and the democratic base angry at him, but he was a real litigator and put in a solid 30 years on capitol hill and i think he will be missed. i think joe sestak is the stronger candidate in the fall for the democrats. he is a three-star retired navy admiral. he served in the clinton administration and he's got an edgy anger at washington, the whole democratic establishment was against him. he's the rand paul of the left. he is the man for this particular moment. >> i think we all agree he is a very attractive candidate. >> he was 20 points behind

arlen specter a couple of months ago, but he ran a terrific commercial because he had a quote from arlen specter besides george bush and arlen specter making fleiss to each other which wasn't popular. he had a quote of arlen specter saying that he changed parties so he could be re-elected. [ laughter ] he said he could at least save one job, his. that was a devastating commercial. >> how were you impressed by this candidate? >> two things. first of all, the republicans have been trying to get rid of arlen specter for a long time. he actually did it to himself here by switching parties. that's number one. that was a referendum about how neither party trusted arlen specter. also, i think it's also a commentary on the clout of president obama because he is now 0 for 4. every time he has gone into a state to campaign and support and endorse a candidate whether it's virginia, new jersey, massachusetts -- >> the governors. >> the democratic candidates have lost. >> you mean obama or --

>> reduced influence. >> obama is the political kiss of death? you bring him in you are gone? >> could be. >> western pennsylvania, a democratic candidate ran in the antitax. the republicans had one district up. this democrat won by 15 points running against washington and obama. >> okay. >> as a democrat. >> yes, but that was a district the republicans wanted to carry and would be all right. >> the he opposed repealing health care. the republican wants to repeal health care and ran on not outsourcing jobs. >> okay. >> he fits that district perfectly. >> sestak is going places. okay. arkansas. >> incumbent senator blanche lincoln defeated her challenge of bill halter but did not get the 50% needed to win the

nomination out right. she now faces a runoff on june 8 against challenger halter who may have the big mo. >> we had a very straightforward message of putting washington back on the side of middle class arkansfami powerful special interest groups. >> question. what is the message of the arkansas democratic senate primary? monica? >> well, blanche lincoln, the incumbent senator who was by all accounts a moderate democrat is now forced into a runoff because she couldn't win 50% of the vote -- >> but she did have a margin of what over this guy? >> two points. >> only two? >> but she didn't score 50% and in three weeks will have to do a runoff. i think that is the direct anti- incumbency tidal wave we're seeing here. a lot of democratic left are very annoyed. >> what did blanche do? >> cleaning up left wing candidates like sestak and halter. >> what did blanche do wrong by their standards? >> played ball with the opposition. anybody that's played ball like

bennett, charlie crist plays ball -- >> also -- >> but that's it, if you play ball with the opposition, the party comes after you to kill you. >> it's also a red state that's probably going to go to the republicans in the fall. >> blumenthal busted. >> now, on a few occasions, i have misspoken about my service, and i regret that. and i take full responsibility. >> connecticut democratic senate candidate richard blumenthal this week was accused of lying about having served in the u.s. military in vietnam. blumenthal claims that remarks of his vietnam service were accidental, a few misplaced words. so now blumenthal once favored to win the seat is in a virtual dead heat. here's what blumenthal said. >> we have learned something very important since the day

question. is there any back story on blumenthal and his falsification on having served in vietnam? is it possible he can stay in the race ay in the race and possibly win the race now? >> yes, it is possible. i think he will stay in the race and has a very good chance to win. one of the things about blumenthal and his campaigning, he, for years, has been going around to the veterans groups and has been a great advocate of them. however this is something that is over the line. we'll lose some votes. i do enterknow how many, but a lot depends -- >> have they exogeted his speeches to see if he did this before some. >> yes, he also said he was the head of the harvard swim team. but to mort's point, he has gone to virtually every funeral of any vet who was killed. so he's got a lot of vet support and some backing. >> so he's kind of a psycho on this issue,that what you are

saying? >> no he does a good job of going to funerals. >> when he made his retraction here, he had a dozen veterans standing behind him supporting him. >> mort, why did the "new york times" flash his face the way they did on page one? >> well, it's hard for me to quite make the same editorial judgment as the "new york times" does. as you know, i really don't know why they did it. i guess they didn't have anything else -- >> do you think it was over the edge? >> it was a huge story, and they -- >> you mean a connecticut story, a local new york story? >> no, no, no, the "new york times," as was said before, really has a great distribution in connecticut. it is a big part of the audience. >> are they selling papers or do they think that the merits of this story require or justify that kind of placement? >> here we are talking about the "new york times." they are very happy about that, don't you think? they were the ones that broke the story. they had the story. [ all talking at once ] >> did necessity do the research on it.

>> no. it was the opposition that gave them that material on it. >> so she admitted to that? >> she admitted to that. >> she's the head of the world wrestling association. >> she's still involved in wrestling as you may see from this story. >> blumenthal is 'em policemanattic of the privileged -- emblemattic of the privileged young men who got out of the war. now he wants to align himself with the valor of the people who did go. i think his biggest mistake was not mentioning the five deferments. he really didn't want to go then served in a unit that never left the state. i don't think his misspeaking disqualifies him from public office. >> you do not? >> no, and i think -- >> but a point not just to the public character, but personal character. there's certain thing u.s. do not con together scoreries

about. one of them is unearned valor in a war where 50,000 men and women were lost. >> do you think he will stay in the race? >> i think he will but he was running 15 points ahead of all of his republican challengers. now that lead is down two two or three. >> it puts the senate seat in play, john. that also is why it's a national story. when we come back, who's responsible for the oil? the forecast is full of ifs. retirement these days, if i'm too exposed to downturns. if i'll go through my savings too fast. to help you feel more confident consider putting a portion of your savings in a metlife variable annuity. when the market goes up,

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issue two. who's responsible for spilling the oil? >> that responsibility, i will say, starts first with the department of interior and the minerals management service. >> what action will you take, sir? >> we need to clean up that house. >> that house is the minerals management service, the mms, a

piece of the department of the interior. the mms is responsible for evaluating the extent and value of leasable minerals. the mms also develops and enforces safeguards against mineral fraud, waste and abuse. the m ms outunquote encourages using the best and safest technology. secretary salazar says, the mms could have done more to ensure that the equipment used on offshore drilling rigs in the gulf of mexico had, in fact, met federal standards. >> do you believe that minerals management has adequately regulated blow out preventers? >> no. the answer is no. >> salazar also in effect admitted that the mms had a cozy relationship with oil companies. that's because the mms by its charter not only regulates oil companies, but also collects

royalties from those same oil companies. the obama administration has already announced that it would split the regulatory section of the mms from the royalty collecting section. and salazar has already shaken the mms tree. >> there have been people who have been let go. there have been people referred for prosecution. >> meanwhile, the oil from the spill has now reached the louisiana wetlands and has begun to enter the loop current that moves from the caribbean south of the florida keys north of the east coast of florida. the salazar mia me aculpa was not enough. >> the american people are also furious that the government has allowed that to happen with no real plan in place. >> question. does this u.s. government

admission limit the liability of the commercial companies, bp, transocean, halliburton and -- >> no, it does not. i doubt if it does at all. it doesn't mean that the u.s. government may not be held liable in some way but clearly the commercial companies are liable for every bit of what they did. british petroleum already announced they will accept what they call, what was it -- >> legitimate claims. >> legitimate claims. believe me there's going to be a lot of legitimate claims. they cannot walk away >> profes about the technology of oil rigs. >> it turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don't cause spills. they are technologically very advanced during even the spills rigs but from refineries on shore. >> those remarks were uttered about two and a half weeks before the gulf rig explosion. how politically damaging is this obama statement? >> the president was right when

he made those remarks. even in view of this oil spill which was extremely tragic, he is still right because the oil spills have been once and a great long time is t. is a tragedy but offshore oil drilling has become extremely safe. he was right about that. >> let her finish. >> political liability to his administration is going to be whether the mms was in fact blowing through environmental regulations in order to fast track a lot of these contracts with bp to do this offshore oil drilling. >> i want to know if this increases the financial liability of the u.s. government -- >> no. >> no. >> by reason of what he said in part. >> just a simple statement. whether it's true or false is irrelevant. what it does destroy is the political credibility of the government and competence of the government is on the line here. people are losing more confidence in government as a consequence of the horror show.

it is almost another katrina. >> this will climb into the billionsp. >> that has nothing to do with legal costs. >> the president at the very beginning of this or two weeks in, anyway, when it was clear that it was a monumental disaster said it was a lot of blame to go around. this was a regulatory apparatus that has been inherited from the previous administration and may be going back to clinton and before. granted, it would have been nice if they had spotted the shortcomings. instead, capitol hill, the members of congress, both parties and administration took the assurances of bp that it was unlikely that a spill would happen. if it did it would me finish! i want to finish! mort, let me finish. >> no you are not going to finish. >> come on, you shut me up enough. >> you are wrong. you cannot make that statement. >> all i'm saying is we now have a futuristic television movie where you have a hole in the bottom of the ocean

spurting oil. it is an ecological disaster and i agree it is a political -- >> exit question. is the gulf of mexico catastrophe obama's katrina which was a crisis of government emergency response? >> it is not at that level. george bush was horribly damaged by his performance there. certainly government is hurting as bad as brownie's agency was hurt -- >> is this the end of -- >> sea beds and oil drilling? >> it is the end of november juror drilling for a good while. >> is it the end of obama's plan to tap into the sea bed all the way from delaware down to florida? >> for a year or two it is. >> only for a year or two? you don't think the american people have had enough of sea bed oil drilling? >> no. >> and we should just let it go? >> are you going to shut down all those wells? >> no. >> no. no governor in any state is

going -- that borders on -- >> this is a state question? >> crist in florida is gonna look for people. >> quickly. we've got to get out. we're over time. i'm interrupting because we're out of time. >> you asked whether this was obama's katrina. it is not there yet. this well is exploding oil thousands of barrels into the ocean. >> yeah. >> every single day. >> quickly. >> it explodes and could be. >> is it his katrina? >> it is not. this is a whole different -- maybe, but we don't know enough about the end of sea bed drilling. we'll be right back with predictions. when planning for retirement these days, the forecast is full of ifs. if i'm too exposed to downturns. if i'll go through my savings too fast. to help you feel more confident consider putting a portion of your savings in a metlife variable annuity. when the market goes up, it gives your assets a potential to grow.

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