. >>> now, a democrat who strongly opposes the strikes on syria, congressman allen grayson joins me, congressman, you heard what israel had to say there. i guess everyone's position on this is changing pretty quickly. because a lot of people are buying now into this idea that if assad and putin can be trusted to deliver on this concept of handing over all the chemical weapons in syria, then that could be the end of any need for military action. what is your view? >> well, it underscores the fact that the administration has not come up with any plausible means to prevent another attack, while diplomacy like this may very well accomplish that. but the element that you're leaving out of this is public opinion. the public is adamantly opposed to this attack, and therefore, members of congress are adamantly opposed to this attack. the washington web count has 240 against, today, the administration picked up one vote in the house, the opponents picked up 16. and our don't attack syria website is getting close to 100,000 members of the public who signed the petition against the attack. what

as we noted there, allen grayson, paul ryan, back-to-back republican, democrat, both agreeing this is the right step in their estimation. >> it's not a party line situation due to the gravity of it, due to the scope of what it means internationally. not your typical capitol hill sort of quarrel over some cliff or some budget or some of those things we've seen play out. it also comes at a time when the entire country is weary about war. members on both sides acknowledge that. those who have been attending these briefings, we've been talking to them. many do believe there is a compelling case to be made. when you talk about a compelling case on intelligence, that also raises questions for some who believe that what happened in past conflicts in iraq and so forth was not compelling enough. so this more work to do angle you're hearing, many people in both parties talk about a desire for the president -- and we'll certain will i hely hear it froy kerry and general dempsey, in being that voice of the administration in a very public setting today to make the case as they see it. i'm also tal

debbie wasserman schultz, allen grayson, not afraid to tell like it is.nal reaction? >> well, unfortunately, the republicans are still talking that they're going to vote, once again, like 40 times was not enough, they want to vote to repeal obamacare. and shut down the government if they have to. that's insane. they cannot do that, because we all know that nothing is going to happen if they vote one more time to repeal obamacare. but if they shut down the government, then they're really hurting the people. so i don't understand this mentality of the republicans, but the democrats are fighting tooth and nail, trying to make sure that people understand what the real obamacare means, and how much it means to all of us. and you know, it makes you wonder. if the republicans are trying so hard to stop you from getting it, it must be because they're afraid. >> no question about that. annette, great to have you on "the ed show." thank you so much. coming up, would god side with the republican party? michele bachmann seems to think so. we'll break it down with our

you had some democrats like allen grayson meeting with rand paul at the capitol, trying to go over annti war agenda. but this new diplomatic strategy that's emerging from both mccain and the white house is really almost throwing cold water on what rand paul is trying to do. rand paul probably gets credit from moving both parties in the anti-war direction but now it's the diplomatic solution on the table that everyone is talking about. >> robert and david, thank you so much. be sure to watch msnbc special coverage leading up to the president's prime time dress on syria, hosted by our own rachel mad do you and chris matthews right here on msnbc. coming up, the polls are open here in new york city. and what a wild race for mayor it has been. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a

. >> florida democratic congressman allen grayson joins us from orlando and he is on the record as awould agree the use of military force would be an acceptable alternative? anything you want to hear from the president or his advisers? >> if you go to the "washington post" website and many other websites, you will see that the count currently is 25 in favor in the house, and 224 against. 217 is the majority of the house right now. a majority already indicated their popposition to this, and the ratio is 9 to 1 against in the house, and that's close to the public's ratio as well. to answer your question, what i need to see is that america is threatened directly. our allies are threatened directly or there is genocide. we have a department of defense, and it's not the department of offense. it exists in order to protect americans and protect our allies. the president has not shown any direct threat to any americans or allies at this point. nor do i expect him to be able to do so. >> congressman, i want to read part of the op ed from the "new york times" that you wrote. it says we reache

host: that's richard from -- for those retired military on our democrats line, allen grayson, democrat from florida, looks at intelligence that's been gathered on syria. headline on syria, vote, trust but verify. he said the documentary record regarding an attack on syria consists of two papers, a four-page unclassified summary and a 12-page classified vietnam. the first enumerates only the evidence in favor of an attack. i'm not allowed to tell you what's in that classified summary but you can draw your own conclusions and he talks more about evidence, he says, even gaining access to classified summaries, involves a series of unreasonably high hurdles. we have to descend into the bowels of the capitol's visitor's center to a room four levels underground for the instructions of the house intelligence committee. note taking is not allowed. once we leave, we're not permitted to discuss the classified summary with the public, the media or other members, nor are we allowed to do anything to verify the validity of the information that's been provided and this is just the classified summary.