that's harold ford with a cough. kathleen parker, former enten congressman, harold ford, former new hampshire senator and "boston globe" contributor john sununu who this week wrote a piece entitled "obama care misses the target." also former aol steve case. he's an entrepreneur with a unique perspective on both the business and tech worlds. we're glad to have you with views on the political week that it was. here's the cover of the week magazine that got my attention. alive and kicking, president obama may be a little nicked up after this health care fight, but he seems like he had a fairly good week on this. senator, do you not think so, hitting 7 million the enrollment figures? you still think it hasn't made the mark. >> no, it's not about the figures. it's about reducing the number of uninsured in this country. we have 50 million uninsured. if you only look at the enrollment figure, you miss the question of how many of them were previously uninsured. so you have to multiapply the by about 80% probably will be the

>> harold ford, you had dr.ted states should at least verbally ask the ukrainians what weapons they need. nick kristof suggesting as much. is that is viable option that we actually start talking about the possibility of arming the ukraines? >> the president at one point when we talk about syria has allowed his secretary of state and others to make strong and assertive statements. advised we should think about this. i think they probably went too far suggesting congress should look at all this after they signalled one thing. but i think fundamentally we have to decide what we want. and has to involve congress in the conversation in a serious way. and if so, if we decided we want to stop russia where they are now, then perhaps we have to give a stronger consideration to arming the ukrainians or giving them an ability to push back. what has not been articulated is what are our goals. to enlist russia more so on our side. or are we going to -- are we willing to -- >> i mean, is that an option? putin has not helped i

so there's a lot of different responses here, harold ford jr.think at this point this guy's done on some levels. but what could the nba do? i mean what do you do when an owner acts up? >> i think donnie's place is the free market will handle this. but to his point about the bylaws of the nba, adam silver spoke over the weekend and said he had broad authority. when he was asked what could he do, he said the bylaws allowed him broad authority to take action. he did not expand on what that might be. i sense from his words and the best player in the game lebron james, you have the greatest player of the game michael jordan saying this will not be tolerated. you have his team not showing the jersey. i think he will be out of the nba in the next few weeks. >> i understand he was about to get an award. >> he was about to get a lifetime achievement award from the naacp. >> so any idea, shoot in the dark here, why the naacp would even consider giving this guy an award given his reputation. this is one of the problems, i think, still sort of left over in

harold ford said it's going to have to be market forces, these brand names that are going to pull theirship from the team. it's going to have to be that kind of thing that jars this thing loose. >> well, chris, i've come to learn that the only color that donald sterling cares about is the color green. so all fair minded clipper fans who are outraged like i am have to speak with their pocketbooks. i love the coach doc rivers. chris paul is one of my most favorite basketball players of all time. but i will joan and stand with magic johnson and never again step foot into the staples center so long as donald sterling is an owner. and what has to happen really? there are only 29 people on this earth that will be able to influence donald sterling. he's a billionaire. a fine of $1 million or even $10 million would be pittance to hem. but rather, the 29 owners getting together collectively would be able to influence him into giving up his franchise and then walking away a very rich man. >> let me get back to david biggs. thank you for being on, especially you. >> what do you think will happen h

so is harold ford senior, tennessee. 18 counts of bank fraud, mail fraud. he was acquitted. being charged does not mean you did it, does not mean you will be convicted by any means. congressman michael grim looks to be joining a long line of lawmakers who will be brought up on all kinds of charges and outcomes and it is not clear yet exactly what it is he is going to be indicted for. he first won his seat in congress in 2010. part of why he pulled that off is because he raised way more money than anyone expected. federal grand jury was convened to consider allegations that maybe he raised some of that money illegally. the fbi's public corruption unit interviewed several grimm campaign workers. they arrested a former grimm fund-raiser that she funneled some of that money. one of the things that federal investigations reportedly has been looking into is whether or not michael grimm or his campaign donors illegally got money for michael grimm's campaign from people who are not legally allowed to donate to a campaign because they are not u.s. citizens, because they are foreign c

so was harold ford sr. of tennessee, in 1993. not guilty on 18 counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, and mail fraud. he was indicted, tried. he was acquitted. being indicted, being charged does not mean you did it. does not mean you will be convicted by any means. congressman michael grimm today looks to be joining a long line of lawmakers who have been brought up on all kinds of charges with all kinds of outcomes. and it is not clear yet exactly what it is he is going to be indicted for. he first won his seat in congress back in 2010. part of why he pulled that off was because he raised way more money than anyone expected. a federal grand jury was convened in the summer of 2012 to consider allegations that maybe he raised some of that money illegally. the fbi's public corruption unit interviewed several grimm campaign workers. this past january the fbi arrested a former grimm fundraiser on charges that he illegally funneled thousands of dollars into that campaign. another key figure in the michael grimm fundraising world pled guilty

with us is visiting professor from nyu, harold ford, how you doing, brother?in a second. first of all, did anybody speak out against freedom at the freedom summit or were they for freedom? >> everybody was on the freedom train. >> check that off on all of them. now they go to the next round. >> what stood out for you there? >> this was a gathering for the types of candidates we wouldn't think would be the natural front-runners in new hampshire. we had ted cruz, donald trump, typically people who would have a more evangelical message. it was all nsa, common core. when jeb bush's name was mentioned, he was booed. chris christie wasn't even invited. the one interesting one is rand paul. >> we need to be more bold with our message but parts of our message has to reach out to those who haven't been listening. the door is not going to open up to the african-american community or hispanic community until we have something to offer. your neighbors aren't perfect either. the police don't come to your neighborhood, you great better lawyer. these are some injustices. we

joining the table is msnbc political analyst and visiting professor at nyu harold ford jr.pdate everybody on ft. hood. an army specialist suspected of killing three people before killing himself in a shooting rampage. it is the same military post where a gunman killed 13 people back in 2009. yesterday's dead were all active military and 16 others are being treated at local hospitals. some in critical condition. the soldier identified to nbc news as 34-year-old ivan lopez allegedly opened fire in one building and got in a car firing as he went. reports say he opened fire in another building where he reportedly took his own life. officials on the base say he was carrying just a .45 caliber smith and wesson semiautomatic handgun he recently purchased but wasn't registered on base. lopez served in iraq four months in 2011 and was being treated for his mental health. >> he was not diagnosed as of today with ptsd. he was undergoing a diagnosis process to determine if he had ptsd. that is a lengthy process to be confirmed with ptsd. there are reports he self-reported a traumatic b

i want to ask you the same thing but i'll be more pointed tab because i heard harold ford say somethingt what's happened to people of color over the last, five, six years since barack obama's been president of the united states. the numbers aren't encouraging. and one wonders if there were a republican in the white house, whether there wouldn't be more criticism of the challenges facing african-americans and hispanics in america today compared to six years ago. >> well, the president is speaking at his convention friday, and into today. i think the fact is there's been criticism. if the president had not tried to a jobs bill and other things that would have positively reflected on the african-american/latino community and was not blocked reflects on the president. but when you see every bill, that really reinforces some of these negative numbers, that's the problem. >> so you're feeling the president has done everything that he can do over the past five or six years? >> i think the president has done a lot. i think he's made it his point to sit down with civil rights leader, and women's