now let's hear from friend of the show and washington wiseman dana milbank.ana with a recess beard. >> what a beard. >> he stole barro's beard. >> i'm going to keep growing it until they pass something in congress. >> it's going to get long. >> old man winter. >> so dana, obviously isis is a very significant issue for the president's foreign policy team, and it's something voters are paying a little bit of attention to, but we just talked to congressman peter welsh and asked, would your constituents be in favor. people are really part of a war weary nation right now. do you think isis can at all play in to the 2014 midterms? you've seen republicans tie this into a culture of incompetence by the obama administration. or is this really just going to be about the economy, more so than anything in 2014? >> well, luke, it's part of the overall stew of issues that is going on here. that'll be one piece of it. but probably a small piece compared to immigration, to the economy, to jobs and everything else. so i think the congressman made a good point here. he said wh

joining me now, jamaal simmons and dana milbank.you both for being here this evening. >> hi, reverend. >> good to be here. >> jamaal, the right wants it make this into a battle royale. is it? >> oh, i don't think it is. look, the reality is, senator, secretary, first lady, whatever title you want to put on her, can't be separated from barack obama just like she can't be separated from bill clinton. the one thing she has to do is stay focused on the few tour. of course she will have differences with barack obama. that's the nature of the game. but i think sort of like george h.w. bush back in 1988, she has it find a way to be focused on what her version of the future will be and not al gore in 2000 and try to separate herself from the previous president. >> dana, you've been writing about this. what's your take on this. >> i think you need to keep this in a little bit of perspective, reverend. if we are looking at over all field of foreign policy views here, you've got in one end zone dick cheney who says, make war on anybody for any

and dana milbank with us as well. chris, let's start with the fact the white house was on a completely different page than a lot of the reporters on the room. opening remarks on the economy, taking some questions on gaza. he almost left the press briefing, chris, before he got those extra questions all shouted out. he wanted to make some extensive remarks as well about the cia. >> yeah, that was a choice obviously that he made and that might have been coming, obviously, were there more questions being taken. but he talked about that report that came out, which was a vindication, by the way, for california senator diane feinstein, who said back in march that the cia was inappropriately spying is on members of her committee. but i think there was a larger theme attic thing that came out of this 45 minutes or so, ari. that's that you can hear this sort of combination of frustration and determination from this president. frustration with congress, obviously nothing new. although, the white house would certainly say it hit

the next generation will not do as well. >> well, you know when dana milbank, who is -- i mean dana isnow that when dana is writing that americans are losing their optimism, dana, i mean locusts from the heavens are next. >> they have come on over to my side, joe. yeah, i'm sorry to be your resident depressive here but that's what i was saying. given this environment that president obama is at 39% approval, wow, he should be popping the champagne corks in this. yeah, this isn't about -- this isn't obama's fault. yes, pessimism has gotten worse during the great recession, but this really isn't about economics because when you look at it, americans were pretty darn pessimistic about their children back in 2006 before the economy headed south. so this seems to be something of an enduring trait in american politics. i don't think either side has figured out what, if anything, can be done about it because the fact is it's true. it's not only that we have a perception that our children are not going to live as well as we are, they're not. the millennials are the first generation in american

also dana milbank wrote for "the washington post," take a look at this.sidents need down time and president obama can handle his commander-in-chief duties wherever he is but the decision to proceed with this getaway 36 hours after announcing military action in iraq risks fueling impression that he is detached as the world burns. andrea? >> a little late for me to take people at "washington post" criticizing the president on a bad visual. a little too late for me to take that seriously. where was the media all the times he stayed in hawaii when a man tried to light his underpants on fire. remember that one. took days to respond to the bp oil spill. there was border crisis but he thought it would be better to hobnob with anna wintour this is pattern of this president. i don't begrudge him of a vacation but now the media is on board, we have these stories every time president obama goes on vacation but this time serious issue in the middle east. if he will not ditch vacation, harris, when there is domestic crises, he will not ditch them when there is somethi

the upshot at "the new york times" josh farrow and political columnist for "the washington post" dana milbank. someone should tell brownback that brick is heading in his direction. it's fairly unbelievable he answered that question by referring to president obama. >> i believe he would give that answer to the question. it's the same thing you see in the ad. the thing in a red state like kansas if you're an embattled republican governor is you try to nashalize the race as month as possible. try to get people not to pay attention to the state budget. kansas has had a republican party at war with itself for decades. it predates what we're seeing nationally in the republican party. the party had a strong moderate wing. brownback's side won the fight within the party over the last few years. there's still a lot of moderate republicans left in kansas. it's not most of the party but it's enough for him to lose 37% of the vote in the primary. to have a serious challenge at peeling off voters in a general election. >> not only are there moderate republicans left in kansas, they are emboldened by the d

i want to thank joe watkins and dana milbank, thank you both forgetting up this morning.ughts on the deadly shooting in ferguson, missouri, next. and startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. thanks to startup ny, businesses can operate tax free for 10 years. no property tax. no business tax. and no sales tax. which means more growth for your business, and more jobs. it's not just business as usual. see how new york can help your business grow, at startup.ny.gov everybody's excited about thsavings at staples. from the customers, to the staples associates. with guaranteed low prices on comp books, you'll flip out! now go tell your friends. staples. make more happen for less. ♪ ♪ ♪ woooooah. ♪ [ male announcer ] you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen. zillow. you're looking for a place for your life to happen. machines will be sprayed to be made. and making something stronger... will mean making it lighter. one day, factories will work with the cloud. one day... is toda

that's not -- >> last question, how important is it when someone like dana milbank, washington post has a headline obama vacations as the world burns? >> the optics are not good. i think everyone's entitled to vacation. i take vacation, you take vacation. the white house for weeks has been saying he can be president. anywhere he goes, he has the national security. >> 36 holes of golf in one day? >> we don't care about photo ops when he was down at the border. they realize the optics of this, what did he do the other day? he came out and made a statement. he's putting out pictures of him meeting with susan rice. they may say look, he's in vacation mode, it's all well and good. they know the optics are not good. >> ed henry, always good to see you. before president obama left for his vacation on saturday. he did take questions for reporters. what i was talking to ed about, our commander in chief caused this current crisis. take a look. >> you know what i find interesting is the degree to which this issue keeps on coming up. as if this was my decision. under the previous administration we

you know, dana milbanks hardly a member of the right wing conspiracy at "the washington post" had a prettyline yesterday. a new rnc ad out, karl, that says the following. you may want to look at this. >> the first family began a two-week summer vacation. the obamas are visiting the island just south of cape cod. >> the president is enjoying his vacation. >> 17-room property. >> almost impossible to get to the basketball court. >> only a few people may have access to it. >> infinity pool. >> it was pretty remarkable. he got here and on the golf course in almost record time he was already hitting off the first tee. >> karl rove, your reaction to this. >> well, i think the most important thing is what general flynn said which is that the president was misleading the american people in 2012. you're right, it's either a lie or he's ill informed. there's a third one which is this president i think engages in self-delusion. he thinks that if he thinks something is a certain way, it is that way. and there's no way that in 2012 intelligence community was telling him al qaeda is receded and is no lo

joining me now, dana milbank and gesmcintosh. ank you both for be here. >> hi, reverend. >> to good to be here. >> let me start with you, dana. how many times do republicans have to prive themselves wrong before they believe it? >> you could say it just proved a conspiracy is broader than anybody thought because now even all of the house republicans on the intelligence committee are part of the cover-up trying to protect this administration. this is the fourth comprehensive report, one at the state department, one senate intelligence, then we had two house committees, both controlled by republicans, both saying, hey, guys, nothing up here. nothing up here with the talking points. nothing up with the standdown orders. yeah, things may not have been handled as best as they could have. no conspiracy. nothing doing here. i suspect it will only fuel further the belief among republicans out there in the grassroots that they're getting a raw deal and that trey gowdy and his special committee better really find out what's going on. >> you

john, so my colleague at "the washington post," dana milbank whose headline goes something like the president vacations while world burns. should he not be on vacation? should the president not be on martha's vineyard at this time? >> i mean, you know, look, he obviously is able to be briefed on things and make decisions from martha's vineyard. so on a practical level, i'm not sure how much of a difference it makes. from an optics point of view, i do think it matters. i think people overseas look at that and think it's a little odd. certainly domestically, you know, americans always find it to be a little bit strange when president isn't back in washington when there's a major crisis going on. i mean, if we look at the katrina incident where president bush was very slow to react and these kind of things, the optics do matter for them. and it does have an impact ultimately on policy. when they start to have to deal with these kind of fires, these public relations fires, it destrakts from their ability to effectively put in place a policy. >> yeah, and then when you look at this discussion betw

also we've got managing editor of the news website, bobby ghosh, sara eisen and op-ed columnist dana milbankdana always cheers everybody up. >> he writes only about the happiest things in washington. >> he's polly annish, i beneficiary he had would be a bit more biting at times. >> the economy is better. >> and see that's the thing, okay. the economy is -- >> no. >> hold on. the economy is better, sara, right? >> right. >> but nobody is noticing that it's better. >> well, no, they do notice. that was what was interesting about our poll. they know the economy is better. it's just not better for them. >> why are they so depressed? >> it's a number of things. first of all, they're not recovered from the recession. yes, financially they have recovered, but there are still one in three americans that are either supporting a child over the age of 21 or a parent over the age of 65. the great recession made that. so you have these folks sitting there, they're digging out and sitting there going i'm still dealing with the recession. yes, my income, by the way, flat, but i have a job and all these thi

let me bring in columnist dana milbank. alex. >> is senator mcconnell's political money machine enough to overcome his opponent's local political bloodlines? >> it's become a bigger race than many expected and that's because mitch mcconnell is extremely unpopular. if barack obama were more unpopular in kentucky, grimes would be in a commanding position right now. look, he does have a commanding political operation there. and it's hard to see how he gets toppled in the end. but what this is causing is the republicans are having to spend a lot more money and attention there and it's distracting from their efforts to take over the senate in the rest of the country. >> do you think control of the senate could hinge on this race, republicans looking to win back the majority? how much is at stake and could this race determine the balance of power? >> it could hinge on this and half a dozen others. republicans have to run the table here and win enough seats without losing a single one or if they lose a single one, then they have t

maureen dowd, president's obsession with gulf and dana milbank about the optics, and we have a smilingwith james foley's grieving parents. wouldn't to much to change presidential optics. forceful speech as commander and chief with american flags in the backdrop. that would be a quick optics makeover. with election 10 weeks away odds that will happen. what you will not see is a change in policy. won't see media demanding change in policy either. the criticisms you're seeing now simply show their concern, hey, we might lose this election. this media shift is all about votes in november. the left is pleading with president. change the optics now, rather than change policy later. well the president is back in the white house after his disasterous vacation and here's the question, is he listening to his former cheerleaders? stuart: here is just part of what maureen dowd said about the president's golf habits. speaks as president obama, quote, speaks as if she is president obama, i should get to play as much golf as i want despite all the lame jokes about how golf is turning into a real hand