jonathan capehart and josh marshall. jonathan and josh, i have to think this is the strangest 180 by a guy who's been poisoning the atmosphere since he got there trashing his fellow members of his caucus calling them all squishes, whatever that means. calling them appeasers. and saying what they should have done is not only shut down the government but caused default on the national debt. that would have been real manhood from his perspective. he has the strangest little way of acting like a big shot. your thoughts. >> look, you laid out the case against senator cruz here. i mean, the idea that he is lambasting harry reid for poisoning the well is laughable. i'm glad you played the series of clips from him saying the most outrageous, the most divisive things said about the senate, aid about democrats in the senate, said about republicans in the senate. one thing we have to remember

jonathan capehart is an opinion writer with "the washington post." both are msnbc contributors. jonathan, it's not every day you hear a president say i'm sorry. evaluate the weight of that apology and its effectiveness. >> i mean, it was something the president felt he needed to say for that narrow sliver of americans who are in the individual insurance market in terms of the overall insurance market. those are folks, you know, who felt a little betrayed by the president's assurances that said they'd be a i believe to keep their plans if they liked their plans, but it also speaks of a president who probably feels weary that this big thing they, the affordable care act, has

jonathan capehart of the washington post, and joan walsh of salon. let's look at the far right's hatred of president obama. number three on our list in our countdown, u.s. congressman blake fairentold of texas, he sided with a group of birthers in a town hall early this summer, and openly discussed impeaching the president. he is also an ardent supporter of ted cruz, 2016 campaign for president. and this is a clip now from his appearance here on "hardball" in september. it's remarkable. >> obama's president. ted cruz can be president. >> what do you mean? this is serious business, congressman. >> absolutely. >>. >> you've been doubting the guy, said he could run for president. explain. is he eligible. you brought it up. i didn't. >> i think he's eligible. i'm giving you a yes answer. >> so if obama was born overseas to an american mother, even if that crazy theory of donald trump is true, he would still be eligible to be president, by that standard. >> we're talking about ted cruz. >> can't you -- an inch mentally? >> i'm telling you that president o

and in washington, msnbc contributor, jonathan capehart, opinion writer for "the washington post." minority leader, mitch mcconnell, says this is nothing but a power grab to advance the president's regulatory agenda. he also said, this was an attempt to move attention away from the affordable care act. is it either of those? >> no, it's neither of those. that's preposterous. harry reid has been talking about doing this for much of this year. i truly believe that it was not until this week that he had the votes to do it. you had a lot of reluctant senate democrats who didn't want to change the rules. who remembered coming to this agreement in 2005 and wanted to stick with it. but over time, they became really convinced that this is a republican party that's lawless, that's not playing. by any rules known to man. >> and do you think it was the judicial appointments that broke the camel's back, not even the chuck hagel nomination, but it was actually not a personality or a policy, it was simply the

jonathan capehart is an opinion writer with "the washington post." both are msnbc contributors. jonathan, it's not every day you hear a president say i'm sorry. evaluate the weight of that apology and its effectiveness. >> i mean, it was something the president felt he needed to say for that narrow sliver of americans who are in the individual insurance market in terms of the overall insurance market. those are folks, you know, who felt a little betrayed by the president's assurances that said they'd be a i believe to keep their plans if they liked their plans, but it also speaks of a president who probably feels weary that this big thing they, the affordable care act, has boiled down to criticisms over how healthcare.gov works. when obama care as we're all calling it is a whole lot more than a website, a whole lot more than the 6 million americans who are losing their health insurance plans now but as you said will get better plans later, and so what i think he's trying to do is trying to just stop the bleeding, stop the political bleeding, and try to move the conversation forwa

. >> jonathan capehart one of the concerns i have with the climate. with all this misinformation that's being circulated against the back drop of the rollout of the affordable care act, the people most needed to by in, so-called young invincibles have a lack of confidence in becoming a part of this whole process. >> even before the debacle of the health care.gov rollout. you have adds being done by organizations trying to convince young people not to enroll, actively telling them don't get health care. remember the creepy uncle sam ads? this is an ongoing effort to make sure that the affordable care act fails so that when it does fail, they can all say, see, we told you it would fail. it's unbelievably cynical. it's something that -- i take it was t was michele bachmann who said obama care kills seniors, kills children what they're doing is putting people's health at risk. >> david corn take a look at this map from mitch mcconnell's office. it's being circulated among conservatives. it shows states where people are receiving cancellation notices. let'

david axelrod is a political analyst and jonathan capehart is an opinion writer for the "washington postd msnbc contributor. david how important is it to get ahold of the war plan? i keep thinking of a bridge too far when the germans got the plans. there you have it's all laid out. there's no spontaneity to this. they're going to ignore the fact the people have been dismayed and angry about the fact they didn't get to keep the health care they wanted. a good complaint, i must say. is six tenths of 1%. while the republicans are out there deny as they've done for the last century, health care to 40 million people surviving in emergency rooms. that never gets mentioned in the mainstream press. the real fight is over the 40 million, not this six tenths of 1%. where there's been a terrible kerr fufl. >> not just the 40 million, chris. since the law was signed, you've got 3.1 million young people under 26 who have gotten insurance. 17 million kids with pre-existing conditions that can't be barred from their family's policies anymore. just this year 8.5 million americans who got rebate checks f

panel howard fineman, jonathan capehart and joan walsh.this is the year republicans in the house of representative shut down the government and contemplated defaulting on the debt in order to get the president to abandon his signature legislative achievement, the affordable care act. a plan that had zero chance of succeeding but didn't stop the likes of ted cruz, michele bachmann and others holding the country hostage for the sake of political theater. many examples of misinformation campaign to turn the far right in the country against the health care law. three of the oddest moments. michele bachmann cheered on the shutdown even as the country turned against the republican tactic and warned the country if the law wasn't repealed it would literally kill women, children and senior citizens. but bachmann topped herself with this incredible victory dance on fox news after the shutdown was over and the troubled rollout. it's number three on our list. lets watch it. >> we hate to say we told you so, but quite honestly we all look like geniuses

and jonathan capehart for the "washington post."ir, i don't know what to say except this is bizarre. that's why we're covering pit. did you get blind sided by this character who came out of nowhere and presumed to be and sold himself as a member of your community? in fact, of the same ethnic group or racial group as most people in the community and people were confused, in fact, bamboozled by this guy. is that what happened here? >> i don't know. i'll tell you what did happen. i think the -- in terms of transparency, in terms of honesty, it was a deceptive trick he used on the population. >> talk about the fact he had a cousin who made it sound like he was cousin to an african-american person of some prestige down there. >> he did sound like -- he did sound like he was the cousin to ron wilson, our former state representative. and it was not true. i think the basis of all the literature i've seen has been to commit a fraud on the community. and on the population. >> when did you first -- wait. you knew he was caucasian. when did you

for more i'm joined by jonathan capehart. ion of why adam lanza did what he did seems almost sort oh of insignificant, compared to what we have learned about this clearly troubled young man and more importantly, what his mother must have known. we have seen pictures of his room. she must have seen the blacked-out windows. she must have known at some level about the video games. at what point do we set aside the fact she is a victim but have to blame this mom? >> yeah, i mean, parenting clearly is at issue here. and when the report came out, and there were -- the headlines were no motive given, i thought, so what? there are 20 children dead. six adults dead. to me, it really doesn't matter what the motive is. it was the result of his actions. and now that we're finding out that violent video games were at fault, that his mother was at fault, buying him these -- buying him these guns and the ammunition, knowing full well that her son was not well, not mentally well, says a lot about her, her parenting skills, and i feel, you kno

let me bring in our msnbc analyst, lisa bloom, "washington post" opinion writer and jonathan capehart. the judge indicated today as far as as he's concerned this is a brand-new case. obviously making it clear to the public here that what happened with the trayvon martin verdict has nothing to do with the bond that he's setting and these conditions that george zimmerman is facing today. >> right, this has to be a brand-new case because legally speaking, george zimmerman was acquitted so this is a whole new case. a different set of incidents, of course there are a lot of commonalties which is would we're talking about it, namely the algation of a reckless use of george zimmerman's gun where he's in a situation where he's under stress. that's the commonalty between this and the incident two months ago with shellie zimmerman and in 2005 when he was accused of domestic violence by a former fiancee. he got one against her. >> legally, does the judge look at a person's state of mind. we've heard he may be $2 million in debt. there's talk of suicide. he's been pulled over a number of times fo

joining me now is "washington post" jonathan capehart. s for being here tonight. >> hi, rev. >> jonathan, your column today points out the gop hypocrisy on all this. you write, quote, what the gop gleefully calls a train wreck was a self-fulfilling prophecy of republican sabotage. so republicans have been fighting against the law for years, and now they're spreading lies about it? >> oh, yeah. see, here's the thing. republican party have been trying to kill the affordable care act since before it became the law of the land. they thought the supreme court would do the work for it by declaring it unconstitutional. that didn't happen. in terms of trying to implement the law first says t"the washington post" said in the paper was they basically starved the federal exchanges of money. so all those state exchanges that were all, you know, applauding and cheering and working perfectly well, there was funding for those exchanges. but the federal exchange, no money. in fact, juliette reports that kathleen sebelius couldn't find enough money to keep

joan walsh, jonathan capehart, both of you have written extensively. i would encourage our viewers to read both. thank you. >>> coming up, president kennedy's civil rights legacy. how it still resonates today. stay with us. >> and this nation, for all its hopes, and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free. side-by-side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. that's one smart board -- what else does it do, reverse gravity? [ laughs ] split atoms? [ flo chuckles ] [ whirring ] hey, how's that atom-splitting thing going? oh! a smarter way to shop around -- now that's progressive. call or click today. many cereals say they're good for your heart, but did you know there's a cereal that's recommended by doctors? it's post shredded wheat. recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient: one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. try adding fruit for more health benefits and more taste in your bowl. it's the ideal

for more, i'm joined by jonathan capehart of "the washington post."n the 911 call, his girlfriend said, and i'm quoting her, he knows how to do this. he knows how to play this game. what game is that, john? >> the public perception game, the legal game. by his -- now, when she made that call, he hadn't made his own 911 call. but with that line, she sort of pressed what would happen. so george zimmerman calling 911 with the police standing right outside, knowing full well that his 911 call would be released, and made public, he suddenly now playing to the court of public opinion, and countering pretty much everything that she -- everything that she told police in her 911 call. that glass tabletop that was broken, that she said george zimmerman broke, he says in his call that she broke it. that he never put -- pointed a gun in her face, as she alleged in her 911 call. so by making that phone -- by making that phone call his own 911 call, he's proving her right. he knows how it works. >> john, you wrote earlier that this is actually similar to an inciden

for that reason, we were not supporters. >> jonathan capehart. mentioned republican millennials a second ago. and it made me think of the gop autopsy that we were talking about in the previous block where, you know, quite a bit of ink was paid to the fact that, you know, for the republican party, for the future of the republican party, and to capture republican millennials, the party has to -- should look to lgbt rights issues as a way of bringing in republican millennials, basically to save the party. but as we have seen with lots of things talked about in that autopsy, that autopsy has been shunted to the side, so how do you get your party to focus on lgbt rights in a way that not only brings in republican millennials, but brings in those moderates out there who would love to vote for the republican party, were it not so mean spirited? >> you know, i don't know that those recommendations of the rnc's growth and opportunity report have actually been shunted to the side as you say. certainly doesn't fit the mainstream media narrative that there a

and thank you jonathan capehart. >>> up next, ron burgundy and mayor rob ford. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ female announcer ] can it get any cleaner? with swiffer bissell steamboost... guys! [ female announcer ] ...it can. introducing swiffer steamboost powered by bissell. it gets the dirt that mops can leave behind, with steam-activated cleaning pads that break down dirt and lock it away. how did you get this floor so clean?!! ♪ steamboost, sir!! [ female announcer ] new swiffer steamboost powered by bissell. not just clean, steamboost clean. >>> sad drug related news this week. like most sad news, it comes from washington. jim? >> republican trey radel of florida today pleaded guilty to drug possession. >> represents florida's 19th district. >> yes, this rising teen party star was caught in a coke bust. apparently he forgot the party of the tea party story where you dump the product in the harbor before the cops show up. folks, personally i hate to lose a congressman so fiscally conservative that i'm sure he snorted his blow through a $1 bill

jonathan capehart is an opinion writer with "the washington post." both are msnbc contributors. nathan, it's not every day you hear a president say i'm sorry. evaluate the weight of that apology and its effectiveness. >> i mean, it was something the president felt he needed to say for that narrow sliver of americans who are in the individual insurance market in terms of the overall insurance market. those are folks who felt a little betrayed by the president's assurances that said they'd be a i believe to keep their plans if they liked their plans. but also speaks of a president who probably feels weary that this big thing they did, the affordable care act, has boiled down to criticisms over how healthcare.gov works. when obama care as we're all calling it is a whole lot more than a website, a whole lot more than the 6 million americans who are losing their health insurance plans now but as you said will get better plans later. and so what i think he's trying to do is trying to just stop the bleeding, stop the political bleeding and try to move the conversation forward. >> well,

joining me now are michelle cottle and jonathan capehart. ank you both for being here. >> thanks, rev. >> jonathan, at a time when republicans are on a losing streak, shouldn't they celebrate any win they can get? >> i mean, they should. the republican party of old would be crowing about governor christie's landslide win the other night. the idea that, you know, you've got senators rand paul and ted cruz calling him and senator marco rubio calling chris christie a moderate, well, i mean, i guess that's true in today's republican party. but that knock on him of moderation simply because he's nice to the president obscures a whole lot of other things in christie's background that prove he's not a moderate. that he is a conservative. >> let's look at that record, michelle. you got chris christie vetoed the marriage equality bill. he vetoed the minimum wage increase that voters ended up passing on tuesday. he vetoed funding for family planning centers. he vetoed several gun control bills including one he first called for. so how do you say this g

and thank you jonathan capehart. >>> up next, ron burgundy and mayor rob ford.his is "hardball," the place for politics. i started part-time, now i'm a manager.n. my employer matches my charitable giving. really. i get bonuses even working part-time. where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. healthcare starting under $40 a month. i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharmacist. sales associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart than you think. vo: opportunity. that's the real walmart. thank you. thank you. i got this. no, i'll get it! no, let me get this. seriously. hey, let me get it. ah, uh. i don't want you to pay for this. it's not happening, honey. let her get it. she got her safe driving bonus check from allstate last week. and it's her treat. what about a tip? oh, here's one... get an allstate agent. nice! [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call an allstate agent and get a quote now. just another way allstate is changi

sunday forecasters today, jonathan capehart. jackie kucinich. ks to you both for joining me today. >> thanks, karen. >> i want to start with you, jonathan. you've got chris christie. he's looking to 2016 even if he won't admit he's talking to 2016. it seems as though there's this dynamic if you listen to what he said and others said. there's this inside/outside washington, i'm not of washington. then you've got the sort of sarah palin, ted cruz sort of establishment, nonestablishment dynamic. what's going on with the gop? >> i wish i knew. i think a lot of people within the gop wish they knew what was going on. look, chris christie is -- he is an outsider by washington standards. he's governor. he's clearly outside of washington. he's actually getting things done. they're not getting anything done in washington. yet he's also someone who is -- he is a conservative. but by the republican party standards right now, he can be viewed as a moderate. and someone as we saw by his landslide election in new jersey, a republican who democrats feel comforta

jonathan capehart, thank you. we continue to follow the returns from virginia tonight with the race too early to call. we're seeing it's democrat terry mcauliffe in the lead. those are raw numbers. our polls show him leading. >>> coming up at the top of the hour, polls will be closed in new jersey where chris christie is looking for a big re-elect victory. and this is "hardball," the place for politics. is is the qur cash back card from capital one. it's not the "fumbling around with rotating categories" card. it's not the "getting blindsided by limits" card. it's the no-game-playing, no-earning-limit-having, deep-bomb-throwing, give-me-the-ball-and-i'll-take- it-to-the-house, cash back card. this is the quicksilver cash card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so let me ask you... what's in your wallet? ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ [ male announcer ] the beautifully practical and

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and jonathan capehart for the "washington post." what to say except this is bizarre. that's why we're covering pit. did you get blind sided by this character who came out of nowhere and presumed to be and sold himself as a member of your community? in fact, of the same ethnic group or racial group as most people in the community and people were confused, in fact, bamboozled by this guy. is that what happened here? >> i don't know. i'll tell you what did happen. i think the -- in terms of transparency, in terms of honesty, it was a deceptive trick he used on the population. >> talk about the fact he had a cousin who made it sound like he was cousin to an african-american person of some prestige down there. >> he did sound like -- he did sound like he was the cousin to ron wilson, our former state representative. and it was not true. i think the basis of all the literature i've seen has been to commit a fraud on the community. and on the population. >> when did you first -- wait. you knew he was caucasian. when did you first see him p

joining us is jonathan capehart of "the washington post."terical josh barrow of business insider. josh, i mean, what do you make of rob ford? i mean, he smoked crack, he lies about it, he is still the mayor. only in america, only he's in canada. >> not only is he still the mayor, a poll came out on wednesday that says he has a 40% approval rating. he's as popular in toronto as barack obama is the united states. it's this crazy thing. and i think part of it is, you know, rob ford has always been kind of a buffoon. we didn't know he smoked crack three years ago, but it was that he still won despite this persona. and he really does connect with people out in the working class suburbs that are part of the city of toronto. he's a real populist, a man of the people. he doesn't have good judgment so the people includes crack gangs. he'll hang out with anybody. but there is still something kind of magical about rob ford allowing him to cling to a certain degree of popularity, even while everybody hates him. >> and john, to josh's point. there was on

howard fine and jonathan capehart, howard, i painted this in strong terms and strong black and white, but i have to tell you. i don't see a republican agenda, except to destroy obama. the president's enemies have tried to destroy, kill, defund, block or destroy everything in his program. the president in contrast has made it his goal to fight to extend rights to minority, the uninsured and the oppressed. his opponents are trying to take away these rights. the opponents of the president prevented millions of people from having access to health care under the law. they've suppressed voting rights of minorities, specifically african-americans. they have derailed the principles of fairness. let's look at the first one of these segments. republicans in 24 states now have rejected the expansion of medicaid. as a result, there are working americans whose access to the insurance under the law has been voided. astonishingly it is a badge of honor for those like rand paul. here he is attacking chris christie. >> on the case of the new jersey governor, i think embracing obama care, expanding med

jonathan capehart and joan walsh. both are msnbc contributors.t i think we're looking at here is not a question, of course, of plagiarizing from wikipedia with all its own problems and credibility problems which we've all come across, but plagiarizing and being caught doing it instead of saying got me. which he should have said you got me. a staff member was rushing through a preparation for something i said. put it in the speech without putting it in words for me simply using their words. instead of admitting that, he jumbles the story, talks about the plot line of movies, moves the conversation just like they conflate one with another subject and hope the people don't have a memory. but we do. your thoughts. >> exactly. all he had to do was say you know what, we messed up. she got me. i apologize. my staff will do better. and let's move on to more substantive issues that the american people care about. and that would have been the end of it. the american people are a very forgiving people. people on the left and rachel maddow, very forgiving pe

joining me now are jonathan capehart and goldie taylor. the news all week, yet silence from the right. why, jonathan? >> well, could it be that they're embarrassed or embarr s embarrassed by what george zimmerman has been doing since he was found not guilty in july? i mean, this guy has been in our faces and in the news and, you know, involved with law enforcement since july. yeah, they're the parking tickets -- or is it the speeding tickets? that's one thing. but the 911 call from samantha this week, the 911 call from his ex-wife back in september. >> right. >> both domestic violence calls, both involving the police. this is something where understandably the right wing wouldn't want to wrap their arms around this guy. rev, these things happening right now are things that folks who have been following the case very closely sort of knew would happen. these things that he -- that police have been -- >> because the media wasn't bringing this out. >> well, remember, thanks to the sunshine laws in florida, we know a whole lot more than what cou

jonathan capehart is in for martin

jonathan capehart is an opinion writer. both are msnbc contributors.xcuse me for a second, but i don't think this has much to do with a family dispute. it has something to do with a family, perhaps. jonathan, you first. it seems to me that a reasonable person might assume based on whatever flimsy poll data is available that the voters who show up in a wyoming republican primary are about six to one against same-sex marriage. this is not a profile encourage on the part of liz cheney. this is full pander bear times ten. you ignore your family. you go to the base out there. i mean that in the worst sense of the word. the base of the hard right who doesn't want to hear there are people who are gay, doesn't want to know people are gay, and certainly doesn't want to recognize their love. so here we go. what do you think is going on here? why would -- is there any other way to look at this besides full pander to the right? >> sure, it's full pander to the right. liz cheney was answering a question from chris wallace. whenever she's talked about this in the me

jonathan capehart is for "the washington post" and willie brown is the former mayor.every issue before the american people, the american people's agenda whether it's health care, it's immigration, it's actual ending the discrimination because of sexual orientation or identity, or gun control and gun safety. it seems name the issue, the republican response is no. >> and under mr. boehner's leadership, it's so out of step with where we need to be in this country for progress purposes and for understanding of all the things that affects the lives of people. it would not surprise me if the republicans lose in the next election cycle. there is no way in individual districts in america that anyone would tolerate what mr. boehner just spoke about. >> jonathan, it seems to me they have another tactic. if they can't stop it from even coming to a vote, they create this kind of poison pill situation whether it's with immigration reform where they bring up a piece of it knowing that the democrats can't support the enforcement part without the path to citizenship part so they sepa

julianna goldman, "washington post" columnist jonathan capehart and joining us from washington, d.c., john stanton. john, let me go to you first since you're in d.c. right now the senate is holding a vote or about to hold a vote on the toomey amendment which will broaden carveouts to corporations who might not feel okay with lgtb employees and just not want to abide by this nonstrip nation act. what do you see for the future of this bill? does it stand any hope in the house. >> the hope amongert spokers of the bill is that by including these kind of exemptions they can bring enough republicans in the senate they can have a big vogt vote and bring parish to the speaker. unequivocal speaker has said will not support the bill, encourage lawsuits, move it further to the right to placate him. it will be difficult for supporters of the bill to get republicans to go for it at this point. >> steve, what john said the speaker thinks it's going to increase frivolous legislation. they have done studies where there are discrimination in place and only 7% of all lawsuits have to do with sexual ori

director of speechwriter for president obama, john fab ro and inimitable elegantly effortless jonathan capehart. as far as gop and chris christie. what do you think accounts for the fact that christie won 51% of latino vote, 21% of african-americans in new jersey, much better than anyone has done in his party with the electorate. nationally he's nowhere with minority groups. >> i think christie can get there nationally. he's been focused on new jersey. his whole point in 2013 is to show republicans, especially in a blue state, can build a different kind of coalition. he's going to have to show in early steps towards 16r 2016 does he focus on iowa or florida and building a tent going forward. >> quoting richard cohn. i personally think the christie problem is the brand of the gop is tan i should, being a representative is difficult. richard is not making it easier. i will read the quote of the morning. jonathan, we're going to ask you so prepare yourself to talk about your colleague in just a couple of minutes. he leads by saying, today's gop is not racist, as harry belafonte -- that rabble rous

. ♪ >>> good afternoon, i'm jonathan capehart in for martin bashir.o continue with our breaking news coverage out of los angeles this afternoon. a terrifying scene unfolding earlier this morning when a lone gunman entered the nation's second busiest airport and violence and chaos ensued with multiple people shot and one tsa agent killed. authorities ga