now, contrast this whole exchange to another moderate republican, colin powell, who understands thati.d. laws are the civil rights and voter discrimination issue of our time. >> you didn't need a photo i.d. for decades before. is it really necessary now? and they claim there's widespread abuse and voter fraud. but nothing documents, nothing substantiates that. there isn't widespread abuse. and so these kinds of procedures that are being put in place to slow the process down and make it likely that fewer hispanics and african-americans might vote i think are going to backfire because these people are going to come out and do what they have to do in order to vote. and i encourage that. >> joining me now, msnbc political analyst steve schmidt and karen finney, host of msnbc's "disrupt." steve, i want to go to you. you've talked about the fact that many republicans have accepted a sort of mythology of voter fraud and gotten really obsessed with a problem that doesn't exist, as colin powell said. and look at what sensenbrenner said just last week that i was referring to. he released this

colin powell versus reince priebus, who are you going to call? let's play "hardball." matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. colin powell, perhaps the most respected republicans in country, says his party is sending a message to african-americans by pushing measures making it harder to vote, it's saying that it -- the it wants to punish -- this puts colin powell, the hero of the gulf war in a battle with rnc chair reince priebus, who has presided over the multistate effort to close down voting days and set higher requirements for voting in this country. who are you going to c

made with care for you or your family. ♪ >>> that was former secretary of state colin powell dancing williams and jamie foxx at a hamptons benefit this weekend. the document airing on "national geographic" last night, we saw powell, who supported the invasion of iraq as secretary of state, vealing how vice president dick cheney undercut internal discussions with the u.s. to lead the u.s. into war. >> in his speech he effectively shut down the proposal, shot down what we were getting ready to do. the u.n. couldn't do this. it was probably a waste of time. everything that you shouldn't have said in my humble judgment with respect to the decision the president had made. >> i want to go to peter on this. in a sense, some people would argue that colin powell was the peter binart of the bush administration. basically helping go to war and then later found ways to walk it back. you wrote a book about your transformation on foreign policy. and a lot of people feel you should be allowed to change your mind. but if you want credit as a speaker, as an author, a journalist, or as a diplomat, isn

colin powell or reince priebus, the field marshal of the rnc. who vastly reduced the number of black voters. james peterson is a director at lehigh, an engineer, and clarence page, a columnist for "the chicago tribune." let's start with colin powell, and what he said in his own words. he was speaking in raleigh, where he criticized republican efforts to limit voting. the news and observer quotes him as saying, quote, i want to see policies that encourage every american to vote, not make it more difficult to vote. it immediately turns off a voting bloc that the republican party needs. these kinds of actions do not build on the base, it just turns people away. you can say what you like, but there is no voter fraud. how can it be widespread and undetected? what it really says to the minority voter is we really are sort of punishing you. clarence page, you've been covering politics as long as i have. colin powell only comes from from olympus, or wherever he reigns from, and everybody hears every word he speaks, because he is a republican. >> he is,

i have to ask you your reaction to the colin powell comments. i can't believe he did that with the governor right there. >> i thought it was a very courageous thing to do for him because of given his audience, and the right thing to do, and i think that colin powell has shown the kind of leadership in this area we need. here is a -- we're talking about, chris, the right to vote. we're talking about people fabricating that there's some pattern of fraud that has to be dealt with here. when there is no pattern of fraud. when we've done the study. the justice department has even done studies. it's like 0.003% fraud. so clearly this is set up as colin powell said, to deal with trying to deal with minority voters not being able to vote. this is the same battle just done with a little more nuance and polish than we had to fight to get right to vote for blacks and minorities in the first place. and this is outrageous 50 years after the march on washington. we have to deal with this issue. but deal with it, we will. >> what's striking to me is colin powe

but the american role and the french role, colin powell's role was indefensible. >> host: why do you-9 think the change? >> guest: you'd have to ask ron dellums. >> host: had you known ron dellums for a while? >> guest: for years and years. twenty years. >> host: we have another hour and a half today in our "in depth" program with randall robinson, the author of five nonfiction books including this one, "the debt: what america owes to blacks." and mr. robinson begins this book talking about the u.s. capitol rotunda. we're going to show you just a little bit of video from c-span archives of mr. robinson talking about it. >> guest: when i was writing about the book that we will talk about many times ago. and denial, i think, operates for the victims as well. and i came down, and she said look up. and i looked up and saw a painting on the eye of the rotunda. it's called the apotheosis of george washington. it represents to us all the ideals and objectives of of american democracy. george is surrounded by 60 robed figures, all of whom are white. on the rum of the dome -- on the rim of th

. >> and now he is playing the colin powell role, right? the one out in front. >> and what is wrong with what you just said? >> i'll tell you there is a big difference. >> what was wrong with what you just said? playing the colin powell role whom. wants to be there. >> he doesn't want to. but there is an important difference if we're talking about iraq and now. in 2003, the weapons of mass destruction debate are about weapons that no one had seen, that hadn't been used for years at that point. and it was based on this intelligence about where we think they might be. this is a situation with a lot of open intelligence. we know an attack tack place. the issue of whether or not there are chemical weapons that have been used in syria is not really in question. >> i'm with you. the use of the weapons is not an argument any more whether they're existing. the whole question, do you want to be in a position of colin powell, his credibility was used to make the case for war. i don't know what he thought, but he was used. this guy today, didn't you f

. >> reporter: no one knows that better than colin powell. he believes the u.s. should not get involved in a civil war. >> have no affection for mr. asaad. i know him. he is a pathological liar with respect to my interaction with him but i'm less sure of the resistance. >> reporter: but doing nothing has it's own consequences. >>> the problem is, at this point, if the red line is not held we're going to have more refugees flowing out into syria's neighbors. so the president now has to make a decision. the conflict in syria is spilling out over it's boarders and no longer containable and threatening u.s. core interests. >> they warn the u.s. not to jump to conclusions before the un completed it's investigation. cbs news washington. >>> iraq remains tense this morning after a wave of deadly bombings and shootings on sunday. in baghdad a car bombing left three people dead. about four dozen people died in bombings and shootings across iraq. months of violence threatened to shake iraq's fragile coalition. >>> two major trials over the killing of antigovernment protest

see, rob lowe. [ applause ] >> how about colin powell, he's hot. yes? [ laughter ] >> clear that up. >> i love barbara. [ applause ] >> he is wonderful. >> yes, he is. it's just a fantasy. >> i don't believe you. [ laughter ] >> i tried to think of the classiest man i could. >> fantasize about somebody. >> colin powell. >> yeah, but barbara, we read the book. okay? [ laughter ] >> hey -- [ applause ] >> i knew i should have taken today off. >> it takes -- >> can i just clear that up? >> yes. >> i think colin powell is just an absolutely wonderful man. he has a very happy marriage. and we have never gotten beyond -- >> too much, barbara. [ applause ] >> got to go, babe. got to go. [ applause ] >> so what about this? >> change the subjects. >> i'm getting ready to. >> the wife of brooklyn nets star andrei kirilenko says she knows how many women throw themselves at male athletes, so she gives him permission to cheat once a year! he claims he's never taken her up on the offer. >> i have two questions for him. does he think she should do the same? >> no. no.

. >> i got to bring up what colin powell did yesterday. and colin powell goes down. paid speech. i don't know this. i'm assuming. speaking in front of business leaders. does his usual shtick. then he just unloads on what north carolina did. and it seemed to silence a room that was probably filled with more republicans than democrats, business leaders. at the same time, a lot of them streamed out and suddenly felt, boy, if colin powell's lecturing us, maybe something went wrong. >> i think it showed certainly a lot of courage and bravery on behalf of colin powell. but here's the thing. whether it is voting rights, whether it is immigration, for example, which is hot right now, what we need is not just the colin powells of the world but we need the soccer moms of the world, we need the nurses that are tending to emergency rooms and know what it is like to see uninsured populations, of which a very high degree of them are immigrants, standing up with courage, going to attend town hall meetings, attending city council meetings, because it is that participation that dr. k

he was not holding up vials of substances or throwing to sound bite as colin powell did. one could not help but be struck by the parallels between the two and it is precisely the hangover from the fact that that first one turned out to be basically nonsense that it is hard to listen to john kerry with the same kind of open mind to the truthfulness of what he's saying. >> i thought john kerry did a fantastic job of taking that issue head-on. iraq is the background to which this entire discussion about syria is going on. here he is trying to present an intelligence-based assessment just as colin powell did, and, again, in his talk he said right there and then why this is not like iraq. and i thought he was quite convincing. first and foremost, there is no doubt that syria has chemical weapons. there is no doubt that the regime controls those chemical weapons. the only doubt appears to be the extent to which assad, himself, may have personally been involved in any kind of decision about their use. this past week. >> can i say this, first of all, obviously, the iraq situation

the very next speaker after him at that event was former secretary of state colin powell. with governor mccrory in the audience speaking after him, colin powell, a republican, took a direct rhetorical aim at governor mccrory's voting bill saying, "these kinds of actions do not build on the base. it just turns people away. i want to see policies that encourage every american to vote, not make it more difficult to vote." those comments from colin powell in north carolina on thursday made a lot of waves in north carolina. but then secretary, former secretary of state colin powell reiterated that critique for a national audience when he went on cbs yesterday morning. >> here's what i say to my republican friends. the country is becoming more diverse. asian-americans, hispanic-americans and african-americans are going to constitute majority of the population in another generation. you say you want to reach out, you say you want to have a new message, you say you want to see if you can bring some of these voters to the republican side. this is not the way to do it. the way to do

he was not holding up vials of substances or throwing to sound bite as colin powell did.could not help but be struck by the parallels between the two and it is precisely the hangover from the fact that that first one turned out to be basically nonsense that it is hard to listen to john kerry with the same kind of open mind to the truthfulness of what he's saying. >> i thought john kerry did a fantastic swrjob of taking that issue head-on. iraq is the background to which this entire discussion about syria is going on. here he is trying to present an intelligence-based assessment just as colin powell did, and, again, in his talk he said right there and then why this is not like iraq. and i thought he was quite convincing. first and foremost, there is no doubt that syria has chemical weapons. there is no doubt that the regime controls those chemical weapons. the only doubt appears to be the extent to which assad, himself, may have personally been involved in any kind of decision about their use. this past week. >> can i say this, first of all, obviously, the iraq situation i

. >>> colin powell versus reince priebus, who are you going to call? let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. colin powell, perhaps the most respected republicans in country, says his party is sending message to african-americans by pushing measures making it harder to vote, it's saying that it -- the hero of the gulf war in a battle with rnc chair reince priebus, who has responded over the multistate effort to close down voting days and set higher requirements for voting in this country. who are you going to call? the general who wants americans -- all americans to vote and pats are participate? or the party chair who supports bills for making it harder for minorities and young voters to vote. who are you going to call? colin powell or reince priebus, the field marshal of the rnc. james peterson is a director at lehigh, an engineer, and clarence page a columnest for "the chicago tribune. "let's start with colin powell and what he said in his own words. he was speaking in raleigh, where he criticized republican efforts to limit voting. the news and obs

>> well, i hope colin powell is correct. i hope we'll be able to marshall all the troops, 3 to 6,000 people monday after monday while we were in session is, go throughout the state to the most important districts that there are and that we can get people out to vote. and i feel very confident that we can. there is litigation that has been filed in federal court and in state court, basically attacking all the voter suppression practices that have been implemented. the decrease of the early voting period by a week. back in 2008, we had over 700,000 people killed in the first week of early voting. in 2012 with an increase. those people won't have that right when this comes forth next time at the next election cycle. there is a multitude of things that have changed. same day voter registration. not allowing college students to go out there and vote if they have gotten preregistered in the state and will be 18 by the time of the general election. >> let people understand what these new voter laws say. it's the new voter id law in

. >>> coming up, colin powell versus bill o'reilly, over voter suppression. >>> and the clip i showed you last night. >>> and marijuana is legal in some form in 20 states. but the federal government still considers it illegal. so imagine what kind of a mess marijuana businesses get into when they have to file their federal tax returns. in the rewrite. >>> as reported here last week, terry dunlap sr., a former ohio police chief accidentally shot a student last week during a gun safety class. the student was only slightly injured and he told the columbus dispatch, up until he shot me accidentally, it was a very informative and i learned a lot. and you know the hunting trip with dick cheney was great until he shot the guy beside him. and you know it turns out this was not the first time terry dunlap accidentally shot somebody. the report showed he fired a .38 caliber handgun into the air during a hay ride as a scary stunt for his daughter and friend. a bullet ricochetted and hit a 14-year-old girl in the leg. when she heard about the latest shooting, she said, oh, no, he has done it agai

colin powell was an army officer in the jungles of vietnam, but his wife and son were in birmingham. it was the summer bull conner had sicked police dogs on protesters there, so as powell fought the viet cong, his father was back in alabama guarding his family. >> my wife didn't tell me. she didn't want to bother me. mail took weeks to travel to vietnam in those days but i really got a sense of what happened when i got back from vietnam later that year, shortly after kennedy was killed. and i realized what was going on in the country. and as a soldier, i couldn't participate in this. i could just watch it. and as i watched it unfold, i said, you know, this is a time for america to live up to its creed, and this is the time for us to understand that segregation and jim crowe-ism, and awful laws are not just a burden for african americans. they are a burden for all americans, americans carrying this awful weight on their shoulder which we at one time hoped would be relieved by the civil war. but the civil war didn't do it, not withstanding president lincoln's desires before he was assas

last year, now you have colin powell even talking about it.o mainstream that issue i think he would address that. he would address unemployment. the gap in the unemployment between blacks and whites in 2013 is almostp the same gap as it was in '63. he would still be talking about jobs, but he would also be talking about union busting and be talking about right to work states. walter ruther and labor helped put that march together 50 years ago. labor today from people like randy wine garden and lee sanders helped us today. he would be talking the same thing, but he would also challenge us to dream beyond the pain of our circumstance and achieve a greater america and i think when you played that clip of his dream about four little children living in that nation to have his oldest son, one of those four children, and his daughter, ber niece and dexter, lead this weekend with those of us active, i think he would be proud of them, that they did not in many ways let his dream go unfulfilled. >> as quickly as we can. you wonder what he would say abou

. >>> coming up, colin powell versus bill o'reilly, over voter suppression. >>> and the clip i showed you last night. >>> and marijuana is legal in some form in 20 states. but the federal government still considers it illegal. so imagine what kind of a mess marijuana businesses get into when they have to file their federal tax returns. in the rewrite. ♪ (woman) this place has got really good chocolate shakes. (growls) (man) that's a good look for you. (woman) that was fun. (man) yeah. (man) let me help you out with the.. (woman)...oh no, i got it. (man) you sure? (woman) just pop the trunk. (man vo) i may not know where the road will lead, but... i'm sure my subaru will get me there. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones.

people tend to listen when colin powell speaks and i think he is right.law is clearly designed to reduce voting among democratic constituencies. yesterday, there were reports that north carolina republican election boards were closing voting precincts near universities and near historically black universities and at least one city council candidate who is a student or was a student, i'm not entirely sure, has his eligibility decertified which is unconstitutional, as far as i understand, for no particular reason and it's clearly an attempt to suppress voting. >> for folks who have not been following the story, this is what the north carolina law, among other things. attorney general eric holder sued the state of texas officially yesterday over its strict voter i.d. law which critics say disenfranchises minority voters as well. what is the next step? where do we go from here? >> i think it's important to see that these voting rights laws are a potter of a longer term strategy. since the last luckion, talking how about they reach other constituencies? the an

next. >>> colin powell versus reince priebus, who are you going to call?"hardball." >>> good evening. colin powell, perhaps the most respected republicans in country, says his party is sending message to african-americans by pushing measures making it harder to vote, it's saying that it -- the hero of the gulf war in a battle with rnc chair reince priebus, who has responded over the multistate effort to close down voting days and set higher requirements for voting in this country. who are you going to call? the general who wants americans -- all americans to vote and pats are participate? or

colin powell was another one to show off his moves on stage with pharrell williams. look at that. is the former secretary of state, colin powell on the left alongside the great jamie foxx. ♪ seems like he had a good time too. >>> next stop, anyone who has seen "all the president's men" knows it's a watergate landmark. but where he met mark felt, may be demolished. that site was immortalized in this legendary scene. >> i have to do this my way. you tell me what you know and i'll confirm. i'll keep you in the right direction if i can. but that's all. just follow the money. >> i think that was hal holbrook. the building attached to that garage, which was built in the early '60s from us in arlington, virginia, is reportedly nearing the end of its useful life. developers plan to replace wit a full block of offices and condos, but they promise to honor the site's infamous legacy. >>> finally, a bird's-eye view of the local new jersey governor's race. a crop circle maze. you know those things, depicting governor chris christie and his democratic opponent barbara buono. it takes about an

bush dick cheney donald rumsfeld colin powell everyone in the bush administration all of the media c.e.o.'s who propagated all of the lies all of the military commanders who lied and sent us to war knowing that their reasons were fabricated they need to be held responsible not just for the deaths of thousands of u.s. soldiers in the catastrophe created for us soldiers but the complete catastrophe for millions of iraqis over a million who have died become refugees wounded and of course we can't talk about p.t.s.d. for u.s. soldiers without acknowledging that p.t.s.d. for an entire generation of iraqis is a real reality millions and millions of people whose lives have been destroyed and so people want justice for all of these war criminals and people are fighting to win justice and an organization we are forward is working to help get this justice and also help that's opt out thank you so much mike prize the iraq war veteran and co-founder of march forward. so guys as you know this week marks the tenth anniversary of the u.s. invasion of iraq but sadly you wouldn't know if you're just watc

perhaps not ironically it's the people in the military, themselves, former generals like colin powellre wra. asking the key question, okay, then what happens? >> i have no affection for mr. assad. i've dealt with him. i know him. and he is a pathological liar, with respect to my interaction with him. at the same time, i'm less sure of the resistance. what do they represent? is it becoming even more radicalized with more al qaeda coming in? what would it look like if they prevailed and assad went? i don't know. >> well, robin wright is senior fellow at the woodrow wilson institute. i didn't like vietnam, don't like iraq. i think we get into wars that cost us lives of 60,000 americans. fill giant baseball stadiums in overflow with dead people from that war. heroic people, a war, tell me what happened. i'm skeptical. when the bugles blow, i cover my ears. this war, 9% of the american people, less than one in ten say let's go fight in syria. even a the beginning before we shot a single round of anything, the american people say, we're not getting in this war. how do we reconcile not wanti

. >> and now he is playing the colin powell role, right?e is the one out in front. >> and what is wrong with what you just said? >> i'll tell you there is a big difference. >> what was wrong with what you just said? playing the colin powell role who wants to be there? >> he doesn't want to. but there is an important difference if we're talking about iraq and now. in 2003, the weapons of mass destruction debate are about weapons that no one had seen, that hadn't been used for years at that point. and it was based on this intelligence about where we think they might be. this is a situation with a lot of open intelligence. we know an attack took place. the issue of whether or not there are chemical weapons that have been used in syria is not really in question. >> i'm with you. the use of the weapons is not an argument any more whether they're existing. josh, the whole question is, do you want to be in a position of colin powell who was used? his credibility was used to make case for war rather than him believing in the war. i tone know what h

. >> and now he is playing the colin powell role, right? the one out in front. >> and what is wrong with what you just said? >> i'll tell you there is a big difference. >> what was wrong with what you just said? playing the colin powell role whom. wants to be there. >> he doesn't want to. but there is an important difference if we're talking about iraq and now. in 2003, the weapons of mass destruction debate are about weapons that no one had seen, that hadn't been used for years at that point. and it was based on this intelligence about where we think they might be. this is a situation with a lot of open intelligence. we know an attack tack place. the issue of whether or not there are chemical weapons that have been used in syria is not really in question. >> i'm with you. the use of the weapons is not an argument any more whether they're existing. the whole question, do you want to be in a position of colin powell, his credibility was used to make the case for war. i don't know what he thought, but he was used. this guy today, didn't you f

at that time. >> i really felt a bit sorry for colin powell.probably had a bit of a lonely, lonely life there at the top. he's obviously a very patriotic guy, a very loyal guy. really disagreed with this. he tried all he could. you know, a couple times, in fact, got the british to come in to try to fight in his corner against cheney to get his views held. it's really an extraordinary thing. tony blair flew over to washington at one point to argue colin powell's place. but, you know, had somebody else been in the room at that point, i don't know. that was the night before the actual shooting started. you know, this is really a question of do they try to knock out saddam. they thought he was in this farm place a few hours early. as it turned out, he wasn't there. they bombed the place. it was maybe the last in a whole string of intelligence failures. >> well, paul, one of the things remarkable about this film is you get the perspective of iraqis who were serving under saddam and what their view of what was going on was from iraq to america. what