nationally syndicated talk show host michael smerconish, msnbc political analyst and bloomberg view columnist, jonathan alter, and lois romano. good to see all of you. michael, let me start with you. issue number one. should news organizations attend that off the record meeting with attorney general holder? >> i think in order for their to be a meeting where they can hash out a way forward, it would have to be the sort of meeting where sausage is made and you can't have the trans papercy that we would demand in another circumstance. i don't know what the alternative might be, i guess is what i'm saying. >> i think a lot of folks would say the alternative would be a meeting on the record. >> a meeting on the record for attorney general eric holder to talk about the ap case and the james rosen case, that's fine. i think that's a fair request. if it is a meeting where you're going to prescribe rules and solicit input for how this relationship ought to function in the future, i don't think it is practical to think you're going to get much work done if the media is reporting on all the give and ta

talk show host michael smerconish, washington bureau chief for the "chicago sun time times", lynn sweet, and michael tomasky. thank you for joining me. lynn, let me start with you. the president is attempting to put a lid on these scandals. let's talk about the wirs the president not only saying he is ready to work with congress to make sure this doesn't happen. he wants to look at the laws so there is no ambiguity. and he is moving on to appoint a new acting irs commissioner. a 1-2-3 punch if you will. >> and it won't dampen the hill's enthusiasm for digging deeper into. this obama said it is not for any outside counsel being investigated. that the system is set up just fine for investigations. there will be at least three, maybe four congressional hearings in the coming days. the test will be, will all the witnesses the republicans want be allowed by the obama white house to come to the hill. >> to your point, whether or not it will stop any of the objections from republicans, i want to play a mash-up if you will of some of the things republicans said today regarding what they want mo

next, michael smerconish on his move to satellite radio. ha ha ha ha ha ha!e, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! yay!! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. >>> he's been a mainstay of the philadelphia talk radio scene but michael smerconish is taking a different path. he's taking hin show to sirius xm and he's trying to move beyond the usual left/right partisanship. >> welcome. >> thank you. >> talk radio dominated by conservatives with a niche for liberals and you are neither. how does that work? >>. >> i'm an independent and i think i'm a throwback in so far as talk radio when i cut my teeth was based upon who had personality and who could conduct a conversation. there were no litmus tests. there was not a demand for ideological puri

xm radio talk show host and msnbc contributor michael smerconish. senior reporter at politico, good to see all of you. >> did we learn anything new today? was there a smoking gun? >> well, if you accept the testimony and i think that's a question that is open in many people's minds. we learned a couple of things first and foremost as to motivation. if you believe it. we learned this was not a function of bias. there was a certain point where mr. miller said they had 70,000 applications and 150 employees who had to, quote/unquote, triage those applications. suggesting that they were just overwhelmed. there wasn't a corresponding increase in resources to deal with all of those applications. and that this was a clumsy, foolish way to go about it but it was not motivated by political, by employees looking for a political axe to grind with conservative groups. secondly what we learned was, the unbelievable path of information that seems to have been passed up the food chain and the congress as this was being unraveled by the irs. >> what you just said, t

particularly now to see what the verdict will be of. >> michael smerconish is joining us based out of you've been informing this case for people who need a little back ground, kermit gosnell ran a women's medical center for more than 30 years. the fbi shut it down after a 2010 raid which was focused on, michael, the high volume of painkillers being prescribed out of that. and authorities instead came upon these abortions underway of late at night and then you started to hear allegations of the filthy conditions. and ultimately these charges that he faces right now, michael. >> reporter: the case as you well know is based on the most heinous of facts, regardless of whether he is ultimately convicted. unfortunately it has become a political football of sorts in the debate between the pro-life and pro-choice communities. what is interesting to me as a trial lawyer, is that when all was said and done, dr. gosnell did not testify in his own behalf and he certainly doesn't have to. but nor did his attorney put on any evidence. essentially jack mcmahan who is one of the best defense lawyers

." >>> good evening, i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. let me start with benghazi. do republicans have a smoking gun? no. do they have enough to keep the story alive? yes. today we learned the state department asked for and received changes made to the administration's talking points after the attack. that doesn't mean that hillary clinton or president obama orchestrated a conspiracy to cover up some sort of malfeasance, but it does give republicans fuel to keep this story alive, and they are. throw in lindsey graham's call for mrs. clinton to testify before congress, and a new anti-hillary ad by karl rove, and you've got a growing political story. david corn is washington bureau chief for "mother jones" magazine and msnbc political analyst. danielle pletka is vice president of the american enterprise institute. we now know that the talking points used by susan rice were changed 12 times in a 24-hour period and the white house and state department were more involved in the process than previously revealed. the first draft of the talking points included a specific re

." >>> good evening, i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. let me start with benghazi. do republicans have a smoking gun? no. do they have enough to keep the story alive? yes. today we learned the state department asked for and received changes made to the administration's talking points after the attack. that doesn't mean that hillary clinton or president obama orchestrated a conspiracy to cover up some sort of ma

joining me now michael smerconish. msnbc political analyst and boom blurring columnist, thank you all for joining us. michael, the town happen halls, the tea party fought viciously what they called obama care. we heard those people, get your hand off my medicare. they were fired up and town halls captured our attention over the summer. might we see the same thing in the town halls if more of this is repeated when it comes to guns? >> that's a great comparison. and the net effect of what happened and what you saw, the passion in those town halls, is that it resulted in a big swing in the mid term election in 2010. the question is, whether the passion is going to continue through the next election because the raw votes are no question in support of universal background checks. but in primary season, tam tamron, the hard core come out to vote. and at least until now, they've been pro second amendment. >> let me play more of what senator ayotte said. and i want your thoughts on it, jonathan. this is responding more to erica

. >> talk show host and msnbc contributor michael smerconish is with us.ob, or does he need to step in here pretty soon? >> well, he's got a few degrees of separation from it. he does appoint members at rutgers. he did not withhold judgment. when it was the basketball coach, mike rice, this time around he want to stay removed from it. what remains to be seen is whether rutgers will do anything about it. i think they have a real problem on their hands here and i think it's primarily a matter of integrity, craig. and here is how i guess there. have you this letter that you made reference to 16 years old, signed off by the members of that volley ball team who claim that they presented it to her face-to-face. if you were to say to me, 16 years ago, you were in a room with people who said you confronted them by saying that they were whores, learning disabled, and alcoholics, i think i would remember that meeting. she claims not to. that's where her integrity is at stake. >> i'm glad you brought that up. all of this follows the firing of mike rice a few months a

let me bring in radio host michael smerconish. he is will an msnbc contributor. litico's white house reporter and michael, i'll start with you. just the lineup alone. ted cruz, ted nugent, governor perry, sarah palin. i think we know what each of those individuals have in common, especially when it comes to throwing out red meat there. to casey's point, it does not look like you have 70,000 people who want to hear anything about a compromise. >> yeah. i would say you described that pretty accurately. i was a little surprised the other day when i first looked at the list of speakers. because after all, there are lots of democrats who are nra members and lots of democratic elected officials who get "a" ratings from the national rifle association. why wouldn't they have one democrat there? it seems a little odd to me. it seems that would have been the intelligent play. >> do you think it is because those democrats don't want to be there? >> yeah. >> heidi heitkamp may not have been invited. perhaps we can call her office. >> mark pryor, i don't know. i'm just specula

and msnbc contributor jonathan capehart and radio talk show host michael smerconish now heard and exclusively. all three of you had an opportunity to hear the reporting from kerry. then analysis from karen. let me start with you. what's your take on this? the information is out there. it is not being considered evidence as of yet when it comes to things they are trying to display as representative of trayvon martin's character. >> well, it is interesting. i did speak with them as well as the attorneys for the martin family about this information evidence that was posted to the defense website, released by mark o'meara in the case. what the family attorneys were saying was this was never going to come in. it won't come in at trial. it is hearsay. it may be relevant depending on how the prosecution tries their case. sending a shot across the bow. if you bring up george zimmerman's background, we'll try to bring this in about trayvon martin. the judge today full stop sided with the prosecution and said this is not coming in. particularly in opening arguments. why that is important, it will preve

michael smerconish and "washington post" national political reporter nia-malika henderson. you all for joining us. so michael, we'll start with you. this is the second town hall. has senator ayotte's answer improved at all? >> my goodness. it has gotten far worse. i fear senator is spending too much time reading the internet and not the bill itself. because a registry system was expressly prohibited from toomey-manchin. so she is buying into a canard that this is some kind of a registry. you know what that means in certain quarters, it is a precursor of they're coming for you your gun. that is not an accurate response. >> when i say has the answer improved. it is not a judgment on her position as much as it is an explanation of her position. the first answer in the initial town hall was there needs to be more done regarding people with mental health issues in keeping the guns. to your point the answer this time around is not accurate. so whether or not you agree with her vote, she doesn't seem at this point prepared to explain as solution in her eyes in great detail, michael

joining me now, senior report he miranda and radio talk show host michael smerconish who is now heardng on the story. tell house the vote came about and how soon we can expect to see that new policy implemented. >> well, the vote came about actually, last year there was talk about that maybe there were talks in the boy scouts that this change was coming. and the boy scouts at that time said no, this is not coming. this is not going to happen. but in january, a proposal was floated that would actually include gay youths and adults in the program. at that time, there was such an outpouring of reaction from both sides. people on both sides of this issue that the boy scouts decided to shelf it. to include some questions about this kind of change in their biannual voice of the scouts survey and see what the feedback was there. and then put it to a vote of their 1,400 member national council which was held yesterday. and this will go into effect january 1st. but in a practical sense, since a lot of these troops are operating on the school year, they're going to have to start making plan soo

joining me now, radio talk show host, michael smerconish now heard exclusively. we saw the stats regarding the death penalty. there are many who believe the verdict is perhaps the most important part as opposed to what will be carried out regarding sentencing. what do you say? >> well, i think you've put your finger on it. this is largely a fiction that is about to unfold. i was pro bono legal counsel in one of the death penalty cases. arguably the highest profile case in the world. i can tell that you the only three individuals who have been put to death on pennsylvania's death row since it came back in the late 70s into the law, each of them asked for it. they waived a white flag and said i surrender my right to appeal and i would like to be subject to the death penalty. so we really don't have it in this state. nevertheless, as you point out, the jury comes back next tuesday and starts this process. >> when you look back at the case, was there any other outcome? >> probably not. >> the overwhelming evidence seems to be here. >> it really did. i think jack mcma

." >>> good evening, i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. let me start with benghazi. do republicans have a smoking gun? no. do they have enough to keep the story alive? yes. today we learned the state department asked for and received changes made to the administration's talking points after the attack. that doesn't mean that hillary clinton or president obama orchestrated a conspiracy to cover up some sort of malfeasance, but it does give republicans fuel to keep this story alive, and they are. throw in lindsey graham's call for mrs. clinton to testify before congress, and a new anti-hillary ad by karl rove, and you've got a growing political story. david corn is washington bureau chief for "mother jones" magazine and msnbc political analyst. danielle pletka is vice president of the american enterprise institute. we now know that the talking points used by susan rice were changed 12 times in a 24-hour period and the white house and state department were more involved in the process than previously revealed. the first draft of the talking points included a specific re