thank you, eugene robinson. thank you, jonathan capehart. >>> coming up, more on the man at the center of this scandal, david wildstein. he is the guy christie has been criticizing, or somebody in his office. he is also christie's worst nightmare. that's why he is going after him. >>> it's been done again. rand paul tries to smear hillary clinton by going after bill clinton. he called him a predator again. this guy just trying to curry favor with those on the right or does he think this stuff will actually work in a primary situation? we'll see. >>> and look. who sees no obvious reason why he shouldn't run for president, joe biden. well one obvious reason is hillary clinton. is he ready to run against hillary clinton? that's my issue. i know it seems strange. i think he is basically wanting us to believe he is willing to go up against her for a lot of reasons. >>> finally, let me finish tonight with how the pattern in the christie matter is so clear now, crystal clear. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

up next, joy reid and eugene robinson will join me. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ (dad)hanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked, giants stood tall, and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real. avo: whatever you can imagine, all in one place. expedia, find yours. >> well, is'll put it in a nutshell, if you don't run chris christie, mitt romney will win the vote and we'll lose. >> chris christie is now off my list. >> enbefore scandals started swirling around him, chris christie had a problem. the same problem marco rubio has. the anne coulter, rush him language wing of republican party hits immigration reform which they call amnesty. today, john boehner delivered them a victory. he will not push immigration reform this year. >> i've never underestimated the difficulty in moving forward this year. frankly, one of the biggest obstacles we face is the one of trust. the american people, including many of my membe

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eugene robinson? >> yes, yes, i did sigh. i did sigh.s and dies by the cbo. ask the cbo what the stimulus did, it saved or created 1.6 million jobs a year. that is not a drop in the bucket but the number of jobs we have lost in the great recession, if you add it up. it's not insignificant and as far as what has happened to our long-term debt obligation, something actually has happened to the train wreck that has been pushed farther into the future which is not solving it. however, the drivers of that train wreck are diminished. health care costs are growing at a slower rate than they have in decades. that is not an insignificant thing. i don't know if president obama can claim credit for that. but he certainly can't be blamed for it. in fact, our long-term fiscal position actually looked better than it did five years ago. >> i would agree with that. >> this is a failure and tragedy. >> i don't think so. those are ridiculous choices of words. sam stein, let me ask it this way. at that point in time given the choice we were facing with our

. >> joining me dana milbank and eugene robinson., there is something here that has become a code for something that has nothing to do with what it is talking about. benghazi doesn't mean benghazi. >> no. >> it means something -- because the bipartisan intelligence committee, both parties said everything susan rice said was accurate. it was caused by that crazy move in california which caused the craziness in cairo which was copyrighted in benghazi. that's what we knew then and now. nothing has changed. the president was telling the truth and so was susan rice. why do they keep saying this stuff? >> benghazi means i hate president obama, i hate hillary clinton, and i hate susan rice. >> just like you. >> that's what it says. >> just like you. so i'm okay on that one? >> yeah. >> that's what it means. why lindsey graham, who has a brain? >> we can set jim inhofe aside. >> i really like the guy. i'm watching him, i'm thinking p.o.w. he has to read the statement. >> so inhofe says whenever it snows that's proof that there is no global w

thank you, eugene robinson. thank you, jonathan capehart. >>> coming up, more on the man at the center of this scandal, david wildstein. he is the guy christie has been criticizing, or somebody in his office. he is also christie's worst nightmare. that's why he is going after him. it's been done again. rand paul tries to smear hillary clinton by going after bill clinton. he called him a predator again. this guy just trying to curry favor with those on the right or does he think this stuff will actually work in a primary situation? we'll see. >>> and look. who sees no obvious reason why he shouldn't run for president, joe biden. well one obvious reason is hillary clinton. is he ready to run against hillary clinton? that's my issue. i know it seems strange. i think he is basically wanting us to believe he is willing to go up against her for a lot of reasons. >>> finally, let me finish tonight with how the pattern in the christie matter is so clear now, crystal clear. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ n

associate editor of "the washington post" and political analyst for msnbc, eugene robinson., look what thomas has. i'm going to show it to you. do you have a monitor? >> yeah, i have a monitor. >> look. >> jerry in graphics made this for us. it's coming to a toy store near you at christmas. >> keep it away from my kids. >> i have know idea. >> i'm going to give this to jack! >> look at the blond hair. >> what is up with the hair? >> my sister texted me right away. you know we used sun as kids in the summer, so you know you had blond hair. >> it's a voodoo doll. >> you're not going to give that to jack. >> i think jack will love it. >> you want to give him a dick butkus or ray nitschke doll, that's fine, but a guy missing two or three teeth and gnarly. you look gray. >> i don't know. i'll have to go back and research this. >>> any way mika, it is wonderful. we have a lot going on. why don't we start with the news. first of all, a shock. i was watching thomas' show. a shock in ice skating. "the new york times" said there is a reason why ice skating is popular only once every f

we are going to kick around that with chuck todd and eugene robinson. >>> also some other people are deciding to get in the game on the democratic side. a new study linking soda to the nation's number one killer. now, do you all remember? i don't mean to be doing this but do you remember for five years i've been saying soda is poison? >> oh, no. mika, have you ever said that? >> never. all the time. the cdc says sugar has something to do with that and heart disease. so it's really scary story and it's a very legitimate study. we are going to be talking to some doctors about that. we are going to talk to the republican -- turned democrat" contemporarily crist and look who has a new shoe line? she is amazing. she is going to be on the show today, sarah jessica parker. >>> the weather is unbelievable what is going on out there. airline travel should go a lot smoother today compared to yesterday. after a snowstorm grounded thousands of flights across the east. but the relief is not going to last too long as a new round of nasty weather moves in. let's check in with bill karins and maybe

we dent tell us who the client is. >> eugene robinson?inside of christie's office or inside his inner circle? >> i was surprised that the governor said he is doing a town hall on thursday which may be cancelled due to snow. it's really the operation system is shut down. the press office, for instance, is really not responding to comments. you have to e-mail your questions most of the time. the governor has been doing his work and traveling for the rga but not much else. day after day seems to be no public schedule at all. >> kate zernike, thank you. keep us posted. >>> up next, we will ask claire mccaskill if the democrats are in danger of losing the senate as we approach the midterm elections. "morning joe" is back in a moment. ♪ while we sleep we will find you acting on your best behavior ♪ [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors... oh hey, neill, how are you? [ male announcer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great.

john heilemann and eugene robinson and thomas roberts all back with us.ator of "meet the press," david gregory. good to have you on board this friday morning. >> good morning. >> we are going to continue with this story that you just heard us bumping in with rand paul, five years into the tea party movement, its leaders are trying to steer the message into the future with a renewed tone. senator rand paul is calling, as you just heard, for an air of optimism. a happy tone. he is trying to keep the movement from being sidetracked by distracting comments. meanwhile, there are signs of divisions between the republican party's mainstream and its right wing. senator ted cruz was, let's just say, less than enthusiastic about minority leader mitch mcconnell when politico's mike allen asked him to play a game of word association. >> last one. mitch mcconnell. >> leader. >> that's a statement of fact. >> that is what is stencilled on his door. >> that's all you have to say? should mitch mcconnell be the senate republican leader? >> look. that is a decision for the

editor of "the washington post," eugene robinson.huck todd. we are remembering a legend really. you were so upset when you heard the news he had passed. >> he is a legend actually. we had somebody on here who is known for high art in the movies and he had decided that he was going to do a really dumb movie and follow up to a really dumb movie. we said are you embarrassed? off air. a lot of people say that you're -- and his response was, you know what? when i go see kids that come back from a rock. >> walter reed from iraq and afghanistan, nobody is asking me about my important work. jeff daniels. i talked to him about "dumb and dumber." and they laugh. i see all of the things that i've done, i can put a smile on people's face. thomas, harold ramis, you look. "animal house." we have stam stein on. i don't know if he was alive when "animal house" came out in '78. >> you know double secret. most of my friends and others were on that in college. >> just extraordinary. i understand you're a massive "caddyshack" takfan? >> also "stripes" a

. >> joining me now, washington post columnist and msnbc contributor eugene robinson and mark thompson, host of "make it plain" on sirius xm radio. eugene, there's a lot to react to there. and the new revelations from jurors, and in the last 24 hours, what parents have been saying. just your thoughts, gene? >> well, you know, this is another one of those heart breaking situations. and if you stand back from that case, you can say that the parents of jordan davis at least got a measure of justice in this trial. i don't understand what the jurors are saying exactly. i mean, two jurors, their accounts don't really jibe with each other except that there's a lot of yelling. and i frankly don't understand that there was no thought even of race in that jury room, given the obvious context. and one wonders kind of what world these people were living in. i'm just tired of this. i'm tired of funerals and trial, lawrence. you know, i want this not to happen. and i want us to at some point focus on that and not focus on the grinding wheels of justice, which sometimes work and sometimes don't, but

eugene robinson is a pulitzer prize winning columnist with "the washington post," of course. msnbc political analyst. and sam stein is senior politics editor for "the huffington post" and an msnbc contributor. gentlemen, i want to talk about the phenomenon that is going on. not the old story we're used to of the problems with obama, roll-out and this stuff that goes out in anything, especially government programs. but this sort of festers heat. they keep fanning the flames of hatred, the ideological fury, you must hate obama because you hate obama care. you must hate all democrats because his promises weren't fill filled. >> yeah. well, they think they've got something there, right? they think they've got something that works, that works to destroy trust in president obama and democrats who supported the health care law. and so they're going to push it. they're going to continue pushing it as hard as they can, regardless of what actually happens with the law that becomes kind of irrelevant. it is just the narrative that they want to push, they're going to continue to push. >>

joining me now is eugene robinson. you've written about this rather provocatively. should do about the grip of this growing epidemic. i interviewed dr. peggy handburg yesterday from the drug administration and we were talking about the fact that heroin is just a terrible addiction. >> it really is. for years and years, talking about heroin. when i first came to washington in 1980, we were talking about a heroin epidemic. there is a huge supply, and what appears to be happening is that some people who had perhaps been hooked on oxycontin, the very powerful painkiller that apparently has a similar effect, have switched to heroin because it's difficult now to get the prescription drugs and it's also more expensive if you're buying them on the black market. and so they find it cost effective to become heroin addicts instead of oxycontin addicts. addiction is a problem that we have had for years and years and years. and that is something that the war on drugs doesn't seem to address in any effective way. >> so, solutions? >> well, good question. >> some way of intermedia

joining me now, ns nbc analyst eugene robinson and editorial columnist ruth marcus. my cold. i'm having a hard time today just talking. this law, i mean, where do you begin? >> i don't know where to begin. it's outrageous on its face. one would get -- you're the lawyer, but -- you went to harvard law school -- >> don't out me there, gene. >> i'm sorry, but you do know this stuff. it seems to me that a layman on constitutional law on its face and so counter the way society is moving. it's the sort of last ditch sort of measure that is frankly outrageous. >> it was passed by the state legislature based on so-called religious principles by those supporters of it that florists and caterers didn't want to have to be required to do same sex weddings. >> they didn't want to be required to celebrate same sex weddings much as they did have to be required to celebrate interracial weddings. and very apt ananalogy. i think the most striking is something you mentioned, that the state's two republican senators not exactly flaming liberals -- >> neither one. >> are opposed to this

. >> in washington, prize winning columnist and associate editor and political analyst eugene robinson. so joe, joe biden just being blunt. >> joe biden just being joe biden. i've got to say, i've got to comment about john roberts. john roberts version of casual friday. the guy is like palm aspirins right there. my version of casual wednesday we remember this week was me wearing pajamas on set. >> i'm a huge admirer of elastic pants and you know that. >> can we see the pocket square in full? >> it's for the olympics. >> an american flag. >> and i wore my blue shoes. >> wow. >> those actually make the slacks. >> comfortable. all about comfort. >> you spent a lot of time planning that. >> i did. i laid it out last night. >> you know what my saying is, mika, clothes are good enough to sleep in, they are good enough to wear the next day and i prove that every day. the comment by joe biden. he's right. laguardia is an absolutely miserable airport. the worst part is after you escape laguardia, certainly the delta terminal i go to all the time, they are making upgrades. once you get on the ru

harold folder jr., howard dean and eugene robinson. how's the snow down there, gene?got a lot of snow in both sort of blows of this snowstorm, but we are surviving and there is no school, which i think is smart actually. >> i think it's fine too. i'm heading back down today and then actually i'm going to head off to brazil tonight. i think i'm done with the snow. >> brazil? >> yeah. i thought i'd go and do -- i just picked this week to do my show from rio next week. i will be thinking of all of you, a lot. but let's get -- enough of brazil, let's get to thatnor'ea. it's delivering a parting blow of snow and sleet after yesterday's blizzard-like conditions. some areas saw more than a foot of snow. the storm is being blamed for at least 18 deaths, including tragically a pregnant woman who was hit by a snow plow in new york city. doctors were able to save her baby, though. more than 400,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark. 90% of those are in georgia and in south carolina. 49 out of 50 states had snow on the ground yesterday, and florida was the sole exception