you'd only need 17 republicans to go along. 17 out of the more than 230 house republicans in a republican party that is absolutely convinced it must find a way to say yes to immigration reform. all you need is 17 republicans. that's 7% of the house republican caucus. that's all you'd need. there are definitely 17 republicans who would vote yes if this thing got to the floor. probably many more than that. if somebody organized an effort, that really would be all you would need to get it to the floor for a vote where it would pass then it would go to the president for his signature and he would sign it. this sort of thing has happened before. it happened on a gun bill in 1986 in an effort organized by the national rifle association. it happened on a campaign finance issue in 2002 organized by the pro-campaign finance folks. it's not the most frequently used thing in the world, but it is the trap door that congress could jump through right now that would save everybody's bacon. it's a win, win, win, win. the conservatives could get to complain all they want, this is a terrible bill, we voted

the republicans don't have any power. all they can do maybe is stop things, but they can't make anything happen. the republicans are totally powerless. in terms of legislation and washington. they have the house. but nothing in the senate, they can't stop him anywhere. yet he's acting like he's got to overcome all of this opposition, and all of these mean people who want to prevent the american people from realizing their dreams. these dastardly republicans, the phony scandals is just another vehicle to continue the same modus open randy from being cold hearted, extremists, bigots, war on women, homophobes. >> a lot of people are unhappy about the phony scandal. a lot of people hate the irs. in early may he says, this is a serious problem, now it's phony, and it's just a campaign tactic? is that what you're saying? >> he can say whatever he wants, and he's not going to be called on it. i should add he couldn't get away with any of this without a slavish media. in fact, if he's on board with his agenda and trying to help a

republican governor paul lepage is embarrassing even to the republicans in his own state. you know who's doing a fund-raiser for paul lepage right now, right this second in maine? jeb bush. oh, god, shame of what it takes to run for president. thanks to the longtime bush family estate in kennebunkport, maine, jeb bush has ties to maine and seems to be trying to run for president. today jeb bush has to go wrap this gestapo vaseline abitros around his neck forever. poor jeb bush. that's one kind of embarrassing when it comes to american politicians. the other kind of embarrassing is less about style and more about substance. it's about policy that is embarrassing. this one's a little slipperier. while calling people nazis is a timeless embarrassment, policy embarrassments like, say, mandating forced vaginal ultrasounds for the women in your state, when it's against doctors orders, that kind of things starts off embarrassing, engenders national ridicule and protests at your state capitol and people across the country start calling you governor ultrasound. when it's a policy m

he doesn't speak for the republican party. republican party is not a monolith.e of good faith, of good will who are coming along, who are evolving, just like our president evolved. so the fact is that we're trying to find a way to work with republicans at all levels and we'll find allies. we have allies like steve schmidt, allies like jimmy la sylvia, a tea party member also on our payroll -- a member of the tea party? >> you emphasize -- >> they exist. i was shocked. i said you remember the tea party, you believe in marriage equality? absolutely. how many of you are there? he said 10,000. i'm like, you got to work with us. >> your point on the president's evolution is such an important one. you sensed the reticence on the part of this president to be very clear on the issue of marriage equality. we know was the vice president who sort of jumped the gun. >> thank god for joe biden. never thought i'd say that. but that said, part of what he learned and i think some of us learned as a result of that is that precisely the communities some thought would reject the p

we look at texas as conservative state, republican state. right now still a republican state. when you poll the question of abortion and sort of broadly speaking in texas. probably more pro-life sentence than pro-choice. when you filter it through the debate they just had had and ask specifically about sb5. that's actually more unpopular now in this poll than popular. so, sort of the theater and the attention that wendy davis drew to the issue and the way she drew attention to it seems to change the way people think about the issue in texas. >> her method and her politics, that is what is more effective, right? it is taking away what messaging from either side and getting to the real meat of the question. even in the polls, if you ask the question differently, then people have a different response. if you ask them about choice, they're for that. if you ask about restricting abortion or striking down roe v. wade, they're wait, no, wait, that's not what i meant. >> of all the issues, abortion is the toughest one. >> that's the thing. as many people believe the should be this ind

a republican president and republican senate? any rules democrats make now will apply to future republican majority. even if democrats don't change anything, there would be nothing to stop that future republican majority from acting on its own to change the rules. in other words, what happened this week probably is just another chapter in the argument about the filibuster and not the end of it. amanda turco from huffington post, michael dougherty, who edits the slurve.com, mo cowen, former democratic senator from massachusetts who served in john kerry's seat until this week, and parliamentary of the senate, only person to serve under both parties. alan, you know the rules of the senate like nobody else on the planet, i would say. i would start with you and what the deal -- we have nominations going through right now so the senate is functioning in a way it hasn't. what do you think long-term implications are this week? >> i think it's wonderful the senate backed down from the brink. i think it was very important that a critical m

limit that to only republicans or tea party republicans.again, broadly speaking, that's what americans were thinking when they looked at the sort of strategy that the house republicans are using. lynn, i want to take with that in mind look at the other kind of showdown that is looming here. we have been talked about the idea of defunding obama care and government funding bills taking shape in the house now. the republican house that make just deep, deep cuts in all sorts of, for instance, this big fight getting a nominee confirmed and mccarthy and the senate filibuster and now the administration has its person in place and, yet, on the house side, they're basically talking about stripping out funding for the epa and putting in new rules that would bar mccarthy from doing what the president wants her to do. how do you think a number like this blends with the republican strategy? >> yeah, the other interesting number is the change in this figure over time. and i was looking at this yesterday. and people are moving in exactly the directions th

republican caller.ou know, i have been listening to the last three or four colors, and there is a and there -- callers, is little bit of credence to each of them. to me, the issue is bigger than the democrats or republicans right now. i think that we have possibly the worst leader in the senate in the history of america in harry reid. at what hisback body of work has been over the last six years, it is terrible. some of the comments that he has , like when wetime were trying to get a budget put through, and they go for years, and they do not get anything through, and then he comes out and makes this smug, arrogant comments about the great have ad, and we had to bathroom just for us, 4 million dollars, we do not want to mix with the people that we actually -- we are actually paying their salary -- under his leadership, it has been nothing but andumvent what is the law absolutely -- he just makes , and helook like a fool has just shut down congress. let's hear from eric here in washington, d.c., an indepe

welcome to the show thanks for the elevate your middle initial so are you in the republican the republican party ready to apologize to america for thirty two years of reaganomics well tom lewis is incredible for years we've heard the left blame george w. bush for all of america's problems but war now we're going back to the reagan years when i wasn't around but i've heard that the last few years of the carter administration were very difficult ones for this country interest rates through the roof of the world in turmoil and ronald reagan came under very difficult circumstances. worked with tip o'neill the democratic speaker of the house to bring the genius of bringer to. cuts to the american people i knew was not enthusiastic about the tax they were going to worked with tip o'neill you know it was it was the same it was the i was around during that time and it was the same sort of thing that you know that historically american politics has been what we have right now is an anomaly you know really it's been other than oh you know how it was our twentieth century london longer ship a long li

democrat, republican, independent. the best pollsters could not do themselvesob as they were able to do 10, 20, 30 years ago. hard they er how tried, it wasn't -- it wasn't as it used to be. and then you introduce cell phones. the better pollsters were taking that into account phones and g cell their samples, i noticed that were reenberg poll we talking about yesterday. 50% of the sample was made up of their cell ed on phones, which, by the way, is expensive to do. and so they're having to do that ecause increasingly, how many people in this room do not have a landline? raise your hand? pretty good-sized number. so certain technologies like calling, not allowed to call cell phones. so you kind of get into that. so then you got into 2012. i mean so all of these were 2012.ems going into and then in 2012, you had sort of a unique problem. that one of the hings that happens as the esponse rate goes down that pollsters have to weight the umbers, adjust the numbers statistically to make sure they sample.representative we kno

is that what republicans like hannity, republicans who are suddenly saying, hey, you know, we don't have incentive to do immigration reform after all? is that what they want to happen. i want to bring in shawn trendy, msnbc contributor maria these ka kumar and dino garza for the hispanic group and dave weigel, senior political correspondent at slate.com. and shawn, we'll start with you because you made a big contribution to this discussion, maybe even got this discussion started recently with a series you wrote at real clear politics, if people haven't read it, i would encourage them to look at why. why they shouldn't con sen tate but being the party of white people. can you take us through the logic behind how that would work. i do think up front it is important to make the distinction you did. what should the gop do versus what wins elections and if you look at the demographics of 2012 as you pointed out, you know, the latino share of the electorate basically keeps pace with population growth same what the african-american growth but a marked decline of the number of whites who turned

why do republicans refuse to compromise? good of the country. now in an interview, the boss of the party explains why. the republican boss isn't speaker boehner. it's not senator mitch mcconnell either. the person calling the shots for the gop is rush limbaugh. and rush makes

republicans. caller: well, i don't know how much longer i will be a republican when i listened to some of the stuff coming out of the folks in washington. i find it interesting and rather silly that we have people calling up and talking about how long ago we did the same exact thing, but we did not follow through. most people don't seem to remember that it was a republican president at the time we let the amnesty go through and into anything about it. now, we can have our cake and eat it, too, and you can have people up in washing -- washington talking inflammatory stuff and expect the rest of mainstream america to really pay attention to what you are saying. seriously. you need to slow the rhetoric down and actually get to work. everybody wants -- democrats wanted to get to work, republicans am the independents want you to get to work. thank you. speaker nancyouse pelosi, now leader of democrats in the house, as comment that on immigration -- has commented on immigration and what immigration refo

republican leadership voted no. what does that say about the republican leadership's attitude on this issue and how much do you think those four votes from the top leaders will affect the house republican reception to this bill? >> well, i was disappointed, obviously, that our leadership didn't vote the other way but i'm glad that there are many, many people and factions and interest groups going to be weighing in beginning with president george w. bush, our evangelicals, the catholic church, labor, business which is important, obviously, to the republican party. all are going to be weighing in. i respect speaker boehner. i respect the process that he will go through. we are not trying to dictate what the house of representatives is -- should do and i believe that if they can come up with a bill we would be more than eager to negotiate with them. a failure to act is de facto amnesty for 11 million people living in the shadows. i think wherever you are on that issue's agreement on that. so shouldn't we sit down toget

if republicans nominate a normal republican, they held out a seat. georgette is shifting a little bit. in the south, virginia has become a mid-atlantic states. it is really not behaving like a southern state anymore. it is a classic swing state. north carolina is working its way through the transition. not as far along as virginia it is, but giving less and less of a southern state every day. georgette is way back, but moving the same general direction. the rest of the deep south not moving at all. texas is its own world. so georgia is not there yet, but if republicans nominate someone that cannot reach out and do and those that are moving to georgia over the past 30-40 years, that would be one they could potentially lose. that is really the only republican seats i'm paying much attention to at all. that is where we are right now. lot ofraising a questions. it is early in the cycle. that is what keeps the stabbing, keeps it interesting is all the different permutations of what can happen. to don't we open it up now questions or comments or accusation

republicans like this one.d of fitting, one of the quietest members of the senate and also possible that he wasn't at the senate floor at that moment but more dramatic if we put it this way. take our word for it, he's really quiet. he has been there for 17 years and rarely makes headlines. partly because he is a low-key guy and never does anything that is really surprising. he votes exactly like you would expect a senator to vote. that means a lifetime rating of 93 out of 100 from the american conservative union. means he was ranked by the national journal this year as the eighth most conservative member of the senate. ahead of tom colburn and it means he has spent the obama presidency republican ubstruckism. you can say a lot about the experience he has racked up but keep him safe from what every republican on capitol hill came to feel most, a primary challenge. >> i am running for the united states senate. because i believe deeply in the values that have made our state and our nation great. i am running becau

very few republicans are convinced by that. a lot of republicans just sort of assert that. what we really is the industry, the k. street, the chamber of commerce pushing for something that will bring in more workers and that will help business. this cuts against the idea of trying to get the missing white voters. because the missing white voters aren't the southerners that you spent the opening talking about. the missing white voters are people in pennsylvania. in ohio. all the way down to nevada. who are working class whites, who feel left out by both democrats and republicans. >> so this is a fascinating analogy. first, take them in steps. i completely agree, here's what i would say about the marco rubio thing. i agree passing comprehensive immigration reform, with republican votes, marco rubio at the signing ceremony, that's going to turn the boat around for latino voters. i agree that is magical thinking. what i do think is this, having the house republican caucus kill this bill when the hopes of 11 million people are on the line will be absolutely deathly destructive f

now by decree, from republican governor john kasich and the republicans in the ohio state legislatureyour pregnancy begins even before implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterine lining. since several forms of popular birth control work by stopping implantation in the uterine lining, the ohio state budget now essentially says, hey, you want an iud or want to be on birth control pills? that means you want an abortion. now, of course, there's a mandatory ultrasound before you can do that. followed by the speech from your doctor that your doctor doesn't have a choice about. under this bill, under the letter of this new law, ohio women might conceivably need to get a mandatory ultrasound by order of the state just so you can keep your birth control pills. the birth control, the iud, the birth control pill you've been on forever, now mandatory ultrasound? that's how the law is written. nobody knows for sure if they really freaking mean that or if they have considered that implication of the change in the definition of the word pregnancy that they put in the state budget. nobody knows i

defeat republicans. >> the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the republican party. >> he never appears to be governing. >> the president is finished with governing. >> i'm about defeating them. not compromising with them. >> so you did compromise. >> we found common ground. >> why won't you say -- you're afraid of the word. >> i reject the word. >> speaker boehner must be attending rush limbaugh's speech writing workshops. one by one, the gop mimic what rush says. but what might even be worse, they refuse to denounce his ugly talk that pollutes our political conversation. >> we have a name for michelle, moochelle. mooch, mooch, moochello obama. he's a street thug. as a community organizer that's what you are. you're a street thug. there is a gay mafia that has inflicted the fear of death, political death in the republican party. as the cdc ever published a story of the dangers of catching diseases when you sleep with illegal aliens. 2016, waiting to happen. that is if obama decides to abdicate. obama may not give up the crown. just like queen elizabeth. >> th

within the republican party on foreign policy. and we will listen to recordings of phone calls president nexen made in the summer of 1972 and discussed them with historian richard norton smith. ♪ good morning, the debate over changing the senate filibuster, known as the nuclear option will continue this weekend with senator harry reid and senator mitch mcconnell here tomorrow on nbc's "meet the press." on monday night, behind closed doors, the full senate will meet in the old senate chamber to discuss and debate the issue. "the new york times" called the exchange, -- and another new headline this morning, "is congress broken? you can send us a tweet or give us a call. you can send us a tweet or join us on facebook.com. this morning from inside the new york times, and other look back at what happened thursday, essentially setting up the debate that that will come front and center on monday. she makes this point -- sarah wheaton has a q&a on a book focusing on the dodd frank legislation. you can read it online at nytimes.com. nytime

it's not crazy a republican won. what was unusual about bob mcdonnell getting elected, it was the fact that the republicans picked him. that the republicans had picked somebody so very deeply conservative for a statewide virginia job like that. i mean, he had been a leading anti-abortion crusader his whole time in the legislature, he had done an adult masters degree at the pat robertson televangelist college, how public policy should be used to punish homosexuals, fornicators and adulterers. it was a real statement for the state to put this guy up for governor after the state voted for barack obama for president. the ideological saving grace for bob mcdonnell has turned out to be a man who he ran with that year when he first got elected. bob mcdonnell does not want to be seen as the new jesse helms, the new rick santorum, the new alma matter, pat robertson. i mean, he wanted to govern in that vain, the forced ultrasound bill and the bill that would close the state's abortion clinics. he wanted to honor the brave conf

>> republican leader? >> i listened to his speech, and i hope he does me the curtesy of listening to mine. since this is a very important day in the history of the senate. i have a couple observations which i hope my friend will listen to. first, he is trying to justify an advance what would be a very clear failure to honor his very clear commitment to the to break the rules of the senate. what he's referring to in his own statements, not mine, regarding extraordinary circumstances. he said that, not me. in other words, to justify breaking his clear commitments not to break the rules of the senate in order to change the rules of the senate, he's atritting to me something somebody else said. that somebody else, by the way, is him. attributing to me something he said. we need to keep our commitments here and not break them. we have to be honest about quoting around here. we have to be com breaking excuses to come up with commitments. this is about manufacturing a pretax for a power grab. i listened very care

all republicans have to do, john, play mr. republican here and say we like that corporate tax cut.that. on the infrastructure, we'll do it as long as you don't waste money on what it's spent. on real construction. i want to smell the construction. and three, the tax -- the minimum wage, we'll give you little, but close to living adjustment for that. why don't you guys come back positively on the republican side? >> well, first of all, i do think there is a mistake that we have to have lobbying response that any time obama opens his mouth, we're going to criticize and say no. and i actually had some hope for this speech that maybe he could say something that we could agree with. the problem, obama took a speech that he could have unified people, talked about middle class and hardworking jobs and instead turned into it a political speech where he rapped the republicans, he complimented himself. and what he put forward is raise taxes over here so we can create -- >> raise taxes? >> he is going to get rid of loopholes. that's code for him. >> that's always been the case of lower rates.

not a single house republican voted for the measure and only three senate republicans went along with it. one of those senators, arlen specter, too so much heat that he switched parties. here's the kicker, out of republicans voting for, it the stimulus ended up representing one of the most bipartisan economic achievements for the president. he was fresh off a landstslide election victory, 65% approval rating and resistance from republicans was still nearly universal that set the tone for what was to come. a year after the stimulus in early 2010 with unemployment crossing 10%, obama offered a significant concession to republicans, one that infuriated many on the left but was designed to loosen the partisan opposition to him. >> families across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions. the federal government should do the same. tonight i'm proposing specific steps to pay for the trillion dollars that it took to rescue the economy last year. >> then december 2010 a month after democrats suffered historic midterm election losses. bush tax cuts were to expire and o

chuck schumer has turned out to be the bipartisan guy. >> on the republican side, but a lot of republicans saying we to want get something done. >> that's true. i think people run to be obstructionist. i do they want good policy. the interesting thing on the student loan piece that the media blew right past, the republicans came to president obama's side and said here's the compromise, it was the left-wing democrats holding that up. showed that president obama still has some sway with them. he had a meeting on tuesday night at the white house and told the senate democrats and said get it together and get this behind us. guess what they did the next day? they got it done. that was telling. >> it was more democrats than republicans. >> they're in a position to retake the senate, the republicans are, a very good position. but can't run on nothing as incumbent republicans. and the country is so mad at the congress right now, and they're madder at republicans than democrats according to the polls. they really do have to have something. >> i disagree on part of it, i think they're both drawing d

for republican women, they need to make an argument as to how they can frame republican issues to appeal to women, and you saw callet thy mcmorris-rogers, the chair partially on that argument. in the senate, republican women don't have core power in the caucus because there's just four of them. they can't band together as a group, and they have desperate ideologies, the four there, so collins and mccowski, and there's an unknown in terms of some of the issues as they come up. i'll be, actually, watching deb fisher from nebraska because she was not the most conservative candidate in the race, and she kind of won because of the fight between the two most conservative guys, winning the primary because of the fight of the two conservative guys. there's no doubt she's conservative. >> host: i don't want to earn a reputation on c-span. >> guest: got the engorsements in the conservative circle. the republican women, they are in the position where the issues are not the core issues. they may not want to focus on them. look at kelly ayote, shements foreign policy and military issues, and she gets

if republicans nominate a normal republican, they held out a seat. georgette is shifting a little bit. in the south, virginia has become a mid-atlantic states. it is really not behaving like a southern state anymore. it is a classic swing state. north carolina is working its way through the transition. not as far along as virginia it is, but giving less and less of a southern state every day. georgette is way back, but moving the same general direction. the rest of the deep south not moving at all. texas is its own world. so georgia is not there yet, but if republicans nominate someone that cannot reach out and do well and those that are moving to georgia over the past 30-40 years, that would be one they could potentially lose. that is really the only republican seats i'm paying much attention to at all. that is where we are right now. we are raising a lot of questions. it is early in the cycle. that is what keeps the stabbing, keeps it interesting is all the different permutations of what can happen. why don't we open it up now to questions or comme

, two republicans, the president is nominating the republicans won't let it for a vote. until mitch mcconnell gives them a vote, the nlrb is in limbo. now, why would anyone want the nlrb to be in limbo? big business wants nothing more than for the nlrb to not issue decisions, and conservatives want nothing more than to just quietly destroy and render permanently inoperable the government body that oversees labor law. they want to make it disappear without anyone noticing. so far they've been able to do that. today at that news conference, those lawmakers featured workers whose lives are in limbo because the nlrb decisions effecting them are just out to lunch. here's kathleen von eitzen, a baker at panera bread in michigan, who works the night shift, describing the process of trying to organize her fellow workers. >> we had to attend meetings where the boss, a good christian, decided we didn't need a union because he would take care of us. during this process we heard about how we would have open talks, we heard about how they would take care of us and then they started t

time for the republicans to match it.ey really want to partner in growing this economy, they'll act. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. >>> thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, history's repeating itself. and guess what? it's on the president's side. 48 years ago today, president johnson signed establishing medicare and medicaid. signing the social security act into law. over the years, it's strengthened our safety net and has saved millions of lives. today the president spent that monumental anniversary defending his own health law in going right after republicans who are standing in its way. >> rather than keep our focus on what should be our priority, which is

time for the republicans to match it. if they really want to partner in growing this economy, they'll act. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. >>> thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, history's repeating itself. and guess what? it's on the president's side. 48 years ago today, president johnson signed establishing medicare and medicaid. signing the social security act into law. over the years, it's strengthened our safety net and has saved millions of lives. today the president spent that monumental anniversary defending his own health law in going right after republicans who are standing in its way. >> rather than keep our focus on what should be our priority, which is growing our economy and creating good middle class jobs, we've seen a certain faction of republicans in congress hurt a fragile recovery by saying they wouldn't pay the very bill the congress racks up in the first place, threatening to shut down the people's gov

who are blaming the republicans, it's other republicans who are blaming republicans. >> you're talkingut "the wall street journal." that's an editorial journal that is neither republican nor democrat. >> george bush, lindsey graham who won't be happy if the bill dies in the house. >> i listend to george bush. i agree with everything that he said in that clip that you just had. i don't see how george bush and i disagree on anything. i actually think george bush and i agree 100% on what needs to be done. we need to have responsible immigration reform. reducing it by 30 to 50% is not responsible immigration reform. >> let me ask you one question though. you're accusing democrats of being absolutists. isn't that what republicans are doing, exactly the same thing. you want 100% security on a border that is tens of thousands of miles long when you have a proposal that reduces it up to half? >> nobody is saying 100%. it has to be better than 30%. cbo is saying it's going to be between 30 and 50%. we know it's less than what the cbo scores because when the cbo scores everything else, they alwa

president, republican leader. >> the nlrb is not republicans. i mentioned to the administration on several occasions to send us up two nominees who are not illegally appointed. we cannot seem to get that done. the tank attached to the two nlrb nominees and to mr. cordrey is that they were illegally appointed. the agencies have not been at a disadvantage. they are waiting. he is not waiting to do the job, he is in office. the question is -- do we respect the law? a federal court has said that two nlrb members were illegally appointed. mr. cordrey was appointed on exactly the same day in exactly the same way. is it the senate completely lawless? do we not care what the federal courts say? i am just stunned at what radar. i am just stunned at where we are. all of the other nominees are likely to be confirmed. what it comes down to is the majority leader is owing to break the rules of the senate to change the rules of the senate in order to confirm the 51 votes, three illegally appointed positions. the federal courts and told us there unconstitution

the republican women voted with most of the other republicans and you did see that split with a more liberal situation. many voted with kristen gillibrand against women. so still i wonder, were you watching a? did you have any thoughts about where that debate is going in the future and the split between women on our? >> well, i think that all of these things take a very long time. recently we have this lifting of the rules regarding women in combat. that took a long time to get there in the shaping of culture and of opinion. i think when you have somebody who is in charge of these policies and you find out that they have been engaged in a cycle. >> those stories are very bad publicity. and the more that something like that comes up is kind of amendments will get more support in making potential changes. already that you have had this hearing, this is the first hearing where you have all of the leaders coming in to testify on this issue. as matt for private discussion in the past. things are changing, but it's slow to change policy. more attention is drawn to it, the more that it chan

how did the republican party?t emancipator lose the trust in faith of an entire race? from the civil war to the civil rights movement for a century, most black americans voted republican. how did we lose that vote? >> so then paul tried in that same speech to answer his own questions and he did so by pointing to the great depression and fdr's new deal. >> i think what happened during the great depression is that african-americans understand that republicans did champion citizenship and voting rights but became impatient because they wanted economic emancipation. they languish below in every measure of economic success and oppression was harsh for those on the lowest rung of poverty at that time. everybody will get something, well republicans offered something that seemed to be less tangible, the promise of equalizing opportunity to free markets. >> but the real answer to the questions rand paul asked about why the republican party has failed to crack even 20% of the african-american vote in every election since 19

on republican violence. this kind of dlint sit only took place in certain urban communities but this is what we're seeing between republican presidential candidates? >> they'll blame black culture first for its wide influence. >> it's all down to baggy pants. >> it's no doubt about it. you know, obviously, squabbles are good and healthy. people ought to express their differing viewpoints. it's rather interesting that the soul of the republican party is at stake here and that people are making arguments based upon you know, strange alliances and they become strange bedfellows because on the one hand, they're forced to acknowledge that maybe some liberals or progressives have a viewpoint that is legitimate and on the other hand, some of the conservatives are finding themselves at a loss for words to really express how they can remain relevant to the broader conversations in american society. so when it comes to intelligence is, surveillance, when it comes to food stamps, when it comes to talking about how we w

north carolina will join the republican government of texas and the republican government of mississippi in rushing through voter restriction laws on the heels of the supreme court's voting rights decision. according to a "los angeles times" report, north carolina freed from the voting rights acts preclearance provision, well in addition to working on a voter i.d., work to end early voting which 2 million people, mostly democrats, took advantage of during the last election. eliminate same-day registration. and end sunday voting. now, the context of this is that the republican party in the south, in particular, is, well, it's a party of white people. a party that has, frankly, every incentive, strategically, to maximize levels of white turnout and minimize levels of other turnout. that's more or less the tactic the republican parties of the south have taken, certainly in north carolina, sparking massive protests in response. those suppression tactics were not supposed to be the strategy of the national republican party. particularly after the clock cleaning they received in 2012. because

abraham lincoln was the first republican. that's when the republican party started. so i don't know that it has anything to do with the war, civil or anyone. as far as the filibuster thing, i wanted to say that that i think that the biggest problem here is all the lying and rhetoric going on. lining harry reid was p. this is according to the republican side, but i didn't hear harry reid try to refute ny of these numbers. it's taken 51 takes to confirm nominees, obama's administration, whereas bush it took 55 days, and clinton it took 50 days. so i mean, they're all basically the same averpblgs, so i think they're just pulling this -- getting rid of the fell getting rid of the filibuster thing. host: national labor relations board, also members of the president's cabinet, and the head of the consumer financial protection bureau. here's what chris in alabama tweets in. the filibuster is not being removed, it's being limited with respect to obama's nominees only. chris, columbia, maryland, independent caller. go ahead. caller: that's what i was going to talk about, the

so this is an opportunity for republicans. this is an opportunity to show we can get the policy right. this is an opportunity to show we are ruled by not just by political motive but by a desire to do the right thing. i reread his 2006 address to the nation where george w. bush made a call on -- it was on the congress, but it was really a call to his own party to stand with him and very few of them did. and that speech really laid out exactly where we are today in the senate bill. so marco rubio's office has built on all of the failures of our 2006 effort. they have put together a much better effort. they brought along the conservative sort of talking class as far as they can and to see it fall apart now would be a policy this disaster. the political consequences would be dire but they concern me far less than the consequences of getting the policy wrong and missing the opportunity to do the right thing. >> the pundits in the conservative media, on the conservative side were onboard. >> which was miraculous. >> it's over now.

and what republicans largely republicans and conservative men are doing is laying the groundwork, reinforcinge democrats want to push, and that is there is a war on women. and republicans are leading that war on women, not just on abortion, but on pay equity and on health care and other issues. and so you see in texas, you see the message in ohio, in kansas, and elsewhere, something that clearly republicans will want to do. we were just talking about hillary clinton. you get hillary clinton as the nominee in 2016, and you not only have invigorated democrats, you invigorate these suburban republican women who typically have voted for moderate republicans who would like to do that. suddenly they see the war on women, they and young latina women especially. they grow in constituency. latinas are more liberal than their parents. so you see the makings of a new potential constituency in many places in the country, and that's good news for democrats. >> let me go to representative dukes. representative, i have to ask you about this, and give me an open answer. i don't know what the answer. are ther

we've seen a lot of examples more recently at a gathering of republican voters, you know, our republican congressman dissent told some nasty things and was told why don't you learn some english. obviously the congressman knows english. we've got other people that are saying some things that i don't even want to repeat on camera that are hurtful for hispanics and latinos, you know, senator rubio -- has been chastised for his hispanic heritage. they make pins and buttons with mexican hats which i don't think it is an insult. if he was mexican he should be proud of it, of mexican heritage but he is of cuban heritage and what they're trying to say is that you know, because he is hispanic that he is less of a human being in some way. so there's a lot of issues like that that are permeating the republican voter base right now. >> john: so, what do you think it's going to take for the party of lincoln in this century to move beyond ignorance like the stuff you described and intolerant policies and attitudes that seem to flow directly from its base? you ever see them cutting the bigots loose? >>

republicans, congressional republicans decided they were going to prebutt the president's big speech announcing ahead of the speech that their plan on energy in the environment is to cut the budget of the epa by a third. oh, yeah, environmental protection, who needs it, especially now. house republicans ahead of president obama's big speech today moved to cut funding to the epa by 34%. and while the president is insisting that americans reduce carbon emissions, republicans included provisions in their bill today to block the epa from controlling carbon emissions. house republicans while they were at it, voted to slash the president's funding request for renewable energy. i know everybody says slash whenever they're talking about 2% cuts or whatever, look at this, it's a 72% cut for renewable energy. that's slashed. the top republican in the house appropriations committee laughed about it to reporters, saying, his priorities are going nowhere. we are in the midst of a slow motion environmental disaster when it am comes to energy right now. and the two sides that are fighting it out in