we're joined by washington post -- political comments from the washington post, pardon me, dana, dana milbank, friend of the show. dana, we're thrilled to have you here. thanks for joining us. >> glad to see you. >> we're getting as lot as jon stewart aptly showed at the top of this clip here, we're getting a lot of mixed messages from the president. isis is jv, now a real threat but yet we're doing nothing in kobani. is this a policy failure or just a communications failure? >> well, it's a communications failure, to be sure. if it becomes -- it depends on what happens on the ground there for it to be a policy failure. but it is a huge political liability. that's why democrats across the country have forgotten who barack obama is and the republicans are trying fervently to remind everybody. the president has not helped by saying, my policies, my economic policies are going to be on the agenda. certainly, leon panetta has not helped. he has every right to come out and make these criticisms. probably if he did not want to deliver the senate to republicans, he might have waited to release the b

people like dana milbank at "the washington post" do glowing stories about these people. er it's a democrat like leon panetta who tells the truth about the foreign policy failure in this white house, dana calls them stunningly disloyal. suddenly the truth is not as important. it shows you the partisan nature of how people in washington confront the truth. sometimes republicans are elevated to legendary status for turning on president bush. >> and yet i think you yourself know something about what they will do to you if you dare cross this administration. because you did work for the department of justice under eric holder, under president obama. and when you quit on principle over the way they were handling a case, they came after you both barrels blazing. >> it was a lot of fun, but i'll tell you marc thiessen is right. there's a culture of deception. they lied about me. they lied about jared. for a long time the media wasn't holding them to account. people like dana milbank were doing their bidding. but the american public is catching up. the fox news poll over 80% of th

washington post political columnist dana milbank joins us for a look at the races. we are one week out, picking up on what chuck said there in georgia and also north carolina. these are states that if anything prove a lot of the political pundits in washington wrong on their predictions. these aren't races that are being decided by obamacare or even ebola. we're hearing a lot about education and jobs on the ground in places where republicans aren't even supposed to be in this tight of race, dana. >> right. the issues are all over the lot and it hasn't been a national election to any extent. what's surprising here is how many seats are like that that were surprisingly tight. it goes in both directions. it seems likely republicans will get the half control of seats they need to take control. >> dana, let's dig in more to the shaheen race in new hampshire. i'm from new england. we think of it as one region with a shared sort of character but also state loyalties i don't understand why the former governor and incumbent senator from new hampshire is in a close race with

here to explain what may be going on or at least give an opinion about what he thinks is going, dana milbankumnist in from the "washington post" whose latest piece is entitled "obama, the pariah president." dana, i don't think anybody would call you a conservative pundit but omg, that's harsh even by your standards. >> i guess so. i'm really talking about from the point of view of where the democrats are and they've -- not only have they asked him not to show up in their districts, a lot of these vulnerable democrats running for the senate and for the house, they're actually actively distancing themselves from him in ads and you've got the democratic senate candidate in kentucky refusing to say whether or not she even voted for the guy. so you almost felt bad there. i was there in prince georges county, it's a very supportive area for obama. i was there in maryland sunday night and to see them walking out before he finished his speech, he was sort of like, you know in the seventh inning when your team is down by five runs and you just want to get a jump on the traffic and it just -- it just

. >> it goes back to what we saw from dana milbank in "the washington post" that he is president pariahright now. >> yes. >> these democrats don't want anything to do with him. and yet is the public, i mean, truly with all due respect do they think the public is stupid? these democrats voted with him lock, stock and barrel. doesn't mean they're not democrats through and through who agreed with mostly fallacies. >> right. well, i think that's for their opponents to point out. but for the candidate they're going to do whatever they can to suggest that i'm going to go to washington and be sort of a check against, you know, president obama and i'm a moderate. >> i want to play for the audience how the white house, josh earnest, reacted when asked about the fact kay hagan would not say he's a strong leader. >> senator hagan is somebody that has a track record and credentials for getting results for the people of north carolina even if it means criticizing members of her own party, even if it means criticizing the leader of her own party. i think that's a testament to her character. >> a test

. >> it goes back to what we saw from dana milbank in "the washington post" that he is president pariaht now. >> yes. >> these democrats don't want anything to do with him. and yet is the public, i mean, truly with all due respect do they think the public is stupid? these democrats voted with him lock, stock and barrel. doesn't mean they're not democrats through and through who agreed with mostly fallacies. >> right. well, i think that's for their opponents to point out. but for the candidate they're going to do whatever they can to suggest that i'm going to go to washington and be sort of a check against, you know, president obama and i'm a moderate. >> i want to play for the audience how the white house, josh earnest, reacted when asked about the fact kay hagan would not say he's a strong leader. >> senator hagan is somebody that has a track record and credentials for getting results for the people of north carolina even if it means criticizing members of her own party, even if it means criticizing the leader of her own party. i think that's a testament to her character. >> a testamen

this from dana milbank. to the heart of your search for presidential leadership, doesn't it? >> there is not a lot of happiness in u.s. foreign-policy right now. everybody is staking out. it was not me, it was the president of course, whoever, and that is what panetta is doing in this book, obviously. >> is this a president that did not hold executive position before hand, came quite from a legislative branch position? do you make a big deal about that? he was not the governor of a state or did not run the trading desk at cantor fitzgerald. >> that would have done it. i think there are issues about executive management, but when it comes to foreign policy, it really is about international experience, and he had indeed very little of it. the world is changing very fast. >> he arguably had the most experienced diplomat around, hillary clinton, on his staff. >> i do not think it added up to any clear policy. we are seeing a lot of things unraveling right now p are a lot of loose ends and we do not have a direct

and they're, you know, there are some people who say like dana milbank, the washington post columnist, says, okay, this is proof that the fix is in, grand jury is a farce, to clear wilson because any prosecutor who really wanted to get an indictment would be providing a narrative and be honing the facts in a way to get the indictment. but tn again, i talked yesterday to -- on the other side of that, i talked to a guy who used to, his name's david rosen, used to prosecute police cases in st. louis, and he thinks it's a good idea to let the grand jurors hear all the evidence. and apparently, mccullough is going to provide more legal guidance at the end of the grand jury once all that material is before them. so that's the back and forth of it. >> another question, when the curfew was in effect, most reporters went into what i call the press playpen, a roped-off area for them far from the action. why did the journalists comply with this? can we -- those of you who were there, can you talk about this? because i heard about this too. >> we didn't all comply wit. >> that's right. >> i was o

a couple of articles in "the washington post," one by dana milbank.kentucky's grimes left in the cold, shows some fire." another story from "the washington post," george f will has a column about mitch mcconnell, the republican senate minority leader who alison lundergan grimes is trying to unseat in that kentucky race. i also want to point out one other story, one of our callers brought up, retirement issues. this is the money section of "usa today." 1.7% richer year for employees." cost-of-living raise for social security recipients in starting in january, the social security administration announced wednesday. for the average retired person receiving social security, monthly payments would rise $22 28 from $1306.3 we are talking about economic issues. the question for you -- which party is better on the economy? let's go to david, waiting in grand rapids, michigan, on our line for democrats. caller: good morning, everybody. you were saying since 1987 america's people have gotten poorer. tocomment is, are we blind who is in charge and who has been m