zbigniew brzezinski, general john johns, brent scowcroft, as well as colin powell and former defense secretary bob gates. the senate has rejected only nine cabinet nominees to will chuck hagel be the 10th? >> i don't think so. i thought he would have an easier time that he has, but when all is said and done, there are lots of people from the bush administration, high-visibility people -- npr on friday morning , one spoke extreme in the -- extremely well of hagel. but the way that republicans are approaching cabinet appointments at the moment is different from what we've seen and the past. i am not sure whether it is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, and they will have their day in the sun, or whether they are serious about this. if they are, then harry reid has a proposal to change the rules and the senate and it might -- there are a few democrats who might have reservations about it. >> will take a week confirmed, evan -- chuck hagel be confirmed, evan? >> i think he will. he has a proud guy, but he doesn't like to be muzzled. he has a sort of assertive, ornery side to him

he is not from the lindsey graham school of foreign policy but rather from the brent scowcroft school of foreign policy. the dr. brzezinski school of foreign policy, the colin powell school of foreign policy, the george h.w. bush school of foreign policy, the james baker iii school of foreign policy. so if anybody out there wants to say that chuck hagel is outside the mainstream of foreign policy, i suggest they turn the mirror around on them because i suggest anybody saying that of the guy that's running the atlantic council and is from the realist school of colin powell, james baker iii, george h.w. bush, brent scowcroft, zig nbig brzezinski. >> i should point out that i've known him for decades, and he's a friend of the family. so obviously this comes from that point of view as well. i want to get to the bill kristol part of this, alex, and then go to andrea. >> can we get andrea first? >> sure. >> because we just heard lindsey. >> andrea. >> you and joe have made the point that he is a mainstream foreign policy expert who is supported by just about every retired military person i

really deep connection to the brent scowcrofts and the colin powells and the more moderate wing of the republican party. and what was really clear today, rachel, is these two nominations were really close personal friends and colleagues. and intellectual soul mates if you will of barack obama. he really felt good about these two nominations. this is not a team of rivals. these are the people he likes being around. these are his friends. and it was personal and it was a happy day for him, i thought. remember that when john kerry was nominated on a friday hastily in the roosevelt room, kerry was not even invited to say a word at the microphone. and there was no acknowledgment really of john kerry other than a quick statement from the president, and then out. and today everyone had his turn, even those who, frankly, had not been nominated. mike morel, the acting director of the cia had been passed over. and he had his opportunity. and leon panetta was given a very nice moment there, a platform. so this was a very expansive moment. they feel that they wanted to make a big deal out of this

>> ed, i think people like brent scowcroft and others of the mod ral rat ilk as am i are hearing it.een saying it some time now. with the latest results of the national elections we've been saying it a little more strenuously and a little more strongly. but i will say that the bulk of the republican party seems not to be listening. as you just pointed out. they call it a communications problem or they call it a -- we're just not getting the really hard core message of the republican party across. i'm afraid they are getting that message across. and that message is tinged with intolerance for women, for minorities, for the lgbt community and for others who don't, you know, measure up to the mitt romney image, for example, of the other percent, the 47% that doesn't count is what the republicans simply don't appeal to. >> colonel, are they on their way to being a regional party? >> i think they're on their way to committing suicide, very frankly. this has happened before in our history where an existing party has either morphed into another or died and this might just be happening again

joining us former homeland security secretary tom ridge, general brent scowcroft, former national security to ford and george h.w. bush. andrea mitchell reports next only here on msnbc.

it's marlin and barbara bush and the dog and me and the president and brent scowcroft, who was along for the dinner. c-span: got your tape running? >> guest: no, as a matter of fact, no. but the president always sees me as a friend of junior's, a friend of george w's, because that's how i was introduced to him. so he asked me about george, and we're talking about george, who's the owner of the texas rangers ball team. i say, "he's awful busy trying to sign ruben sierra and he's building that new stadium down there and he's going a mile a minute." "yeah," says the president, "you know, he visited and he was go-go-go every minute and talking about that team and that ballpark. he just couldn't sit still for a minute. boy, i'm glad i'm not like that." now, here is a guy who has spent 68 years -- or however many years on the planet; born, i think, in '24 -- and has never been able to sit in a chair for more than five minutes, and he thinks he's some kind of laid-back old guy. i mean, there is no point in trying to get these fellows to describe themselves in those terms. c-span: i also rea

you saw what colin powell said today he has other advocates, brent scowcroft, don ridge, others who havemany years and support him by, too is in a different part of the republican party. it's not just that he has difficult personal relationship but he really offended john mccain in 2008. he didn't endorse barack obama but he traveled with him and that was a tacit endorsement going to iraq and afghanistan with obama and it really angered mccain. >> governor barbour, one of the questions that andrea raised in discussions with us this week is how does somebody who has got such a tough relationship with republicans help this president lead big budget cut backs at the pentagon? won't that be tough on capitol hill? . >> it remains to be seen. he wasn't picked to improve the president's relationship with republicans. like general powell, not sure exactly why he was picked but as andrea said, normally, the presidents get their choices for the cabinet. these hearings, i think, will be contentious, particularly on iran, israel, hamas and hezbollah. we will see. i should tell you, chuck hagel and i

brent go kroft -- brent scowcroft has come out in support of hagel. it is realist and it is cautious. that probably comports with the obama doctrine he -- we have talked about. we need to be cautious about overextending ourselves. i think chuck hagel will be commensurate with that view. host: and syria? caller: i feel like they base what they say based on substantiated evidence. on syria, why is it that we -- they have written that 50% of the syrian people support assad. they have written about egypt. i think it was egypt, saudi arabia, turkey, and iran trying to form a group to communicate with assad. host: who is "they"? caller: syria, egypt, saudi arabia -- it was iran and turkey would sit down with assad about stepping down. guest: that offer has been out to assad all along. the arab league has made many overtures. united nations has a special envoy for the syrian conflict. mr. brahimi. all of which have tried to get him to of set some sort of deal which dosh to accept some sort of deal which egos and -- all of which have tried to get him to accep

brzezinski, of brent scowcroft, of george h.w.ped us and democrats who helped us through that approach when the cold war. >> and this is the post-superpower era, where there has to be some pulling back, and david said it exactly right. >> i wouldn't say post-superpower. you're right, it's a new era. it's much more indirection in our application of power. the neocons are for direct use of power. this will have to be more indirect. >> and there may be surprises there, as always is the case. look at what happened with algeria and mali. >> dr. zbigniew brzezinski, dad, thanks for not waking me up, by the way. >> in "the hill." >> yes, in "the hill." you would have been obliterated. david gregory, thank you very much. bob woodward, stay with us if you can. we'll be right back with senators amy klobuchar and jeff blake. also, terry francona joins us to discuss his new memoir about his years with the red sox. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop gr

that believe in the sort of foreign policy that colin powell believes in, that bush 41 believes, brent scowcroft can wrangle around and defend in support of limited military venturism. i think that's good for republican party, good for the obama cabinet, i think it's good for america. >> i agree. i voted for bush. one of the reasons i voted for bush, first time i voted republican for president and maybe the last time for a while is because he said we wanted humility in our foreign policy. that struck a cord with me. we're trying to be the world policemen. you're right. i think this debate's going to be about how big a role -- i thought hagel's probably the most controversial thing he said, we know the other controversial things. one that'll be a part of the hearings when he comes up for the job is when he said we shouldn't be a continuing occupying force in the middle east. some people, i believe, pretty much believe we should. we should be the big dog in the middle east. they think that's very helpful to our foreign policy. others go wait a minute. all we do is kill arabs on international telev