that means we're joined by syndicated columnist and self-proclaimed selfie king himself, bob franken.perating my own camera. >> that's why you're the selfie king. >> that's right. they don't want to spend the money this early in the morning. >> all right. i want to get to this. even though the white house is preparing new sanctions tas goes into today's meeting with russia and ukraine, does putin appear to have the upper hand in this geopolitical chess game, if you will? >> one would think. first of all, he has said the obvious to the russian people. he has -- the russian counterpart of a fire side chat. he is saying now that, of course, russian troops back the efforts in crimea. so the fact is now we've moved on to the rest of eastern ukraine and in answer to your question, it would seem that he does have the upper hand. the range of sanctions is somewhat limited by the fact that the european countries, part of the european union, have a real problem applying too much pressure on putin because he can apply it right back by raising the price or cutting off the supply of natural gas. >

. >>> joining me now from washington, bob franken. good morning. >> good morning.i don't think this is a mystery. how many of our politicians are clearly from out of space. >> there you go. let's talk about this so many facets in the supreme court ruling, 5-4, striking down a limit on donations to political candidates and campaigns essentially meaning these limits are an unconstitutional violation of our first amendment to free speech. essentially did buying elections just get easier? >> well, exactly. we are becoming more and more of an oligarchy. will rogers said we have the best government that money can buy this has deteriorated into the worst government that money can buy. in the process just about everybody is pulling away from the idea of participating in the government. >> some people say, you know what? this is democracy in others. others say freedom of spree speech there. we'll see what it does when it comes to the midterms. speaking of the midterms, those who see obamacare and the goal met as something that candidates need to embrace and not walk away fr

bob franken from king features and catherine ward, managing editor at "reason" magazine. good to see you on a sunday afternoon. >> hello. >> chris, much of the focus was on senators ron paul -- rand paul, i should say, and ted cruz. senator paul was asked if he thinks he's a front runner for 2016. this was his response. >> i don't know if that's good luck or bad. why don't we not go there? i guess it's better than not being noticed. no matter what, i think the republican party needs to evolve, change. >> does rand paul see himself as the guy? >> i think he does. he's got a base of support. he doesn't fit the traditional republican mold. obviously more libertarian. more libertarian than tea partyish. he creates a different image. the problem senator paul has, senator cruz has, it's a battle between the fringe. to win a presidential election you have to figure out how to win in a more progressive, less white majority country. you have to figure out how to win women majorities and young voterers. i don't see them able to do that. >> it seems paul is acknowledging what happen

. >> senator franken weighs in on the proposed comcast time warner cable merger, at 8 p.m. eastern on "c-span2." >> our guest on "newsmakers" this week is virginia's bob goodlatte, the chairman of the house judiciary committee. thank you for joining us. >> it is good to be with you and your viewers. >> john gramlich is the legal affairs reporter, josh gerstein is at national security for politico. >> thank you for taking the time today. i wanted to ask about the appearance before your committee this week. it was very contentious toward the end of the hearing where he was making a personal swipe at your committee. i wonder if you can talk about that and whether you think maybe he crossed the line in terms of the oversight. >> it is always wise for anyone appearing before the committee

. >> senator franken weighs in on the proposed comcast time warner cable merger, at 8 p.m. eastern on "c-span2." >> our guest on "newsmakers" this week is virginia's bob goodlatte, the chairman of the house judiciary committee. thank you for joining us. >> it is good to be with you and your viewers. >> john gramlich is the legal affairs reporter, josh gerstein is at national security for politico. >> thank you for taking the time today. i wanted to ask about the appearance before your committee this week. it was very contentious toward the end of the hearing where he was making a personal swipe at your committee. i wonder if you can talk about that and whether you think maybe he crossed the line in terms of the oversight. >> it is always wise for anyone appearing before the committee and members of the committee to not make things personal and the remark by the attorney general, i do not think there are many people out there who believe he is a buddy of the attorney general. as a result, that was not well advised on his part. he did come in answer questions from 34 members of the committee on a wide array of issues. we have a lot of concerns about the