jim demint's support was to all three of us who won. demint said we right now i in the for in the senator jim demint. and that legacy has already transformed the u.s. senate. any issue, pick any fight, and who are the people charge being out into battle and the fight? they are the rand pauls, mike lee, marco rubio, leaders there because of jim demint's support. and that is how you turn the country around. freedom. principle is freedom is really the value of our country. and the tool we crafted, our crafted that was quite revolutionary to preserve constitution.e thomas jefferson described the chains to united states senate if bind the mission of government. seeing our are freedom under assault because our constitutional liberties are threatened. in my view we should stand for the constitution and every part constitution. we should stand for the first amendme all of us are yet shocked and horrified to read newspaper headlines this weekend that this administration is threatening to court-martial the military if they share their faith to oth

but jim demint was not the thinkiest united states senator out there. previously, he had owned an advertising firm. once he got to the senate, his legislative agenda was things like sponsoring the commemorative coins reform act. it would have forced senators to pay for the printing costs of commemorative resolutions. earth shifting policy wonkery was not what jim demint was known for in the senate. he was a campaigner, tried to get other super duper conservatives elected. he backed candidates like sharon angle in nevada, those can still be seen in another galaxy today. but the heritage foundation is in the news today because under jim demint's leadership as a think tank, it is trying to kill the prospect of immigration reform. capital k, capital ill, they are trying to kill it. the heritage foundation is not supposed to be a campaigning foundation, they are supposed to deal with policy, facts, figures, and complex data sets that can't just appear to be killing immigration with straight-up politics, but use something that looks like research, something t

chuck norris wears jim demint pajamas. aughter] [applause] but jim also reminds me of another person. whose perseverance helped us defeat the mightiest army the world has ever seen. when he was in the senate, he found himself over and over again a voice in the wilderness. he did something starting in 2009 that was really quite extraordinary. he said the senate will not change unless we change the people who are in the senate. he began getting involved in the republican primaries. it is worth underscoring how incredibly unusual that was. that was not done and yet he began going all around the country saying, i want to find strong leaders who are willing to stand up. he was concerned for every man and woman here today that our freedom is in jeopardy. he got behind candidates like mike lee and rand paul marco rubio and ron johnson, everyone of those races, the gray beards decided someone else should win. yet jim stuck his neck on the line and said we need stronger conservative leaders. everyone of them won with grassroots. [ap

problems worse. >> your playing six degrees of white nationalist, that means you're getting to jim demint steps. >>> up next i'll talk to the leader of the group trying to make sure demint is the next person to tender his resignation, and we'll hear from someone who thinks the heritage foundation threw jim ridgewine under the bus. stay with us. >>> a correction to last night's commentary how the amount of carbon you're putting in. thanks for your kprent coverage of carbon build-up and the crisis of global warming on last night's show. as a paleontologist, i appreciated your comments on the warm pliocene, but lest some climate change doubters protest that if woolly math moms could make it in the hot pliocene, why worry now about polar bears, i felt compelled to mention that those hairy booeeasts evolved later. if you want to contact us, you can go to our facebook page. christina says, it's quite possible i'm a wee bit obsessed. her sharpie graffiti intercepted with our hash tag. we'll be right back. we're all totally different. ishares core. etf building blocks for your personalized portfo

we'll talk next about jim demint who left the senate. who else? sarah palin left. they just keep taking french leave, these people. can we still say that, french leave? >> they make a lot of money when they leave, to. >> i think they go to the elephants graveyard. thank you, david corn. thank you, alex. you always outdo me. >> hardly. >> i never lie. you really do outdo me sometimes. on those occasions i salute. >>> michele bachmann is exiting. these people are leaving but being replaced by an even scarier group of rand paul and ted cruz and mike lee from utah. even further additions of the tea party. you can't get rid of these people. democrats keep control of the senate next year? we'll see. with barack obama not on the ballot in 2014 that could be a bit harder. take a look at this extreme ad by the man who vowed to make barack obama a one-term president, michelle mcconnell. >> do you believe it is illegal? >> i don't believe it is. >> when the president does it, that means it is not illegal. >> what does the president believe? does the president believe that wou

jim demint used to be the godfather and rubio was the little guy.the conservative movement around him. i think they thought it was going to be 2007 all over again, heritage comes out with their report and everybody jumps on the heritage bandwagon. this isn't the left versus the right. this is heritage versus the world. i think rubio is going to come out on toop. it's torrent to notice the number that is this report are based on, they just don't add up. when you have both bad politics and bad math, you get a bad outcome for jim demint. >> rubio keeps saying during the 13 years, it would take for an illegal immigrant to wind his or her way through the process, go and eventually get u.s. citizenship, during those 13 years, he says they would not be eligible for any of these federal benefits. >> exactly. they're not eligible for means-based benefits. and it also does not take into account job growth or how it affects the rest of the economy and the benefits that it brings in. and most conservatives agree that when you are looking at the cost and benefit

these are not killer amendments, here you've got jim demint versus marco rubio. rubio was a protege of jim demibt. is taking a hard line against marco rubio, who has been very forceful about his support for the immigration compromises. >> the big difference between the gun debate and the immigration debate is this is actually a debate that more republicans want to have. they need to get on the right side of immigration, in way they did not need to get on the right side of the gun issue. marco rubio is basically the future of the party where jim demint was the guy from the past. i mean he obviously has a role at the heritage. i think that the folks in washington who understand where the party needs to go, want to be on the train with marco rubio. >> i'm just, so jim demint comes out with the whole thing which is putting a price tag he says to what he's calling amnesty to what they're doing. >> and the reason they're putting it out there. we've not had time to go through it. but the economic data on this is -- >> they come up with trillions of dollars. what are you

jim demint is doing to the party from the inside what he was doing in the senate.ut of heritage, championing this study, even grover norquist thinks it is bunk. if you legalize the immigrants, they're going to take welfare. that's all they want. >> it is counter intuitive to be saying this. the center for american progress, not a bastion of conservatism, but did studies on a legal immigration system says the economic benefits of undocumented immigrants granted legal status in 2013, not eligible for citizenship in ten years, cumulative gain between 2013 and 2022 would be $832 billion. >> they become legal taxpayers, and in the rubio bill, they're barred from getting obama care, can't even get the benefits you would think they would be entitled to by working. you talk about people that pay in, not even eligible to get anything back, wouldn't be eligible for any of that. all they want to do is frame it in the old 47% makers versus takers. this is why they're losing hispanics and losing rational people in the middle. keep doing it, jim demint, democrats love it. >> cou

we'll be joined by former republican senator jim demint that warns the american taxpayers could be onook for trillions of dollars. listen to this. >> there is no reason we can't begin to fix our many he congratulations system so tha our immigration system. the bill presented is unfair to those who came here legally. it will cost us trillions of dollars and make our unlawful system worse. martha: steven moore is a writer for the "wall street journal." trillions of dollars? is this right. >> her tapbl is a very well respected research organization, i think it leaves the impression, martha that immigrants are a cost to the economy. that is one thing almost all economists disagree with that we are very much benefitted by being a nation of immigrants, and that when we allow in skilled people, and hard-working people it makes our economy grow. what heritage is saying in this report is by moving these 10 million illegal aliens into the legal system, that they will then become eligible for various kind of government benefits and that will cost money, i think one of the things they leave out,

you talk about the new jim demint which means nothing to america but means something to you and me you have sources who say that is being talked about. can ted cruz run for president and if so would he be just far way to the right of rick santorum in 2012. >> isn't that amazing, to the right of rick santorum. that's really the play under way here. cruz wants to establish himself as the go-to person, the figure around which the radical right the far right the radical primary constituents in iowa florida, and elsewhere can rally as an alterative to say rubio, jeb bush or others in the party. you have to think what is the ultimate percentage there? can he garner more than 20% to 25% of the vote even on a good day? i just don't see it going farther than that. inet end i have to think that cruz who has a number of strengths with respect to his appeal to the tea party becomes a marginal figure throwing off votes, and maybe in the end giving the nomination to someone like a jeb bush, due don't kid yourself, he is a serious candidate. >> michael: he does seem--yeah, the more i see him the more

after that was reported the heritage foundation run by former senator republican jim demint, tried to distance themselves from this guy they had write the report and la meanted they were focusing on the dissertation an not this study. it does not reflect the positions of the heritage foundation or conclusions of our study. they further dismissed the guy that wrote the latino dumb thing and said he did not shape the methodology or policy recommendations in the heritage policy paper he provided quantitative support for the lead author. basically, he was just a temp, good with a calculator, all we hired him for. >> yesterday, you put out a statement, one of the authors of this study, jason ridgewine has now been found to have written some rather explosive anti-hispanic statements. in your statement, you basically just said he provides the numbers. is that right? >> he's the number cruncher. >> let me just finish, if i could -- that's fine -- so you're telling me that you're using the numbers from a man who has written that hispanics have a low iq and will have a low iq for generations. w

we saw alan west lose in his last election, jim demint stepped down. think she'll be remembered for the kind of policies that were dangerous and bordered on frink policies. >> igor, she has 18 months left in congress. what can we expect especially now that we know she might have nothing to lose in what she wants to go for? >> i think without a democratic challenger, she's open to pursuing most of her off-the-wall positions. she's got really no pressure on her for re-election, and i think that includes statements like calling for the impeachment of president obama as she did, you know, before the capitol steps earlier this month much with the pleasure of senate minority leader mitch mcconnell standing by her side. i think she's obsessed with how obsessed washington is with scandal mania and investigation investigations into the irs and doj and the supposed benghazi coverup which never really existed. it kpem employ fies how it overshadowed a lot of the economic reports we've seen. two reports out yesterday about greater house prices gaining in the rates

. >> thank you, jim demint, the thing about the tea party is, it's like a big game of whack a mole.s down, another pops up. people like rand paul and ted cruz are following in the footsteps and ripping a page out of the bachmann play book with the new ad attacking the president. >> this administration and allies have used the resource of the government itself to intimidate or silence those questioned or oppose it. >> the tea party is not over by a long shot and voices like michele bachmann keep dragging the republican party farther and farther to the right. joining me now is joy reid and ryan grim. thank you for being here tonight. >> good to be here. >> good to be here. >> joy, are bachmann's -- are the people that follow her paranoid? i mean, extreme politics basically the norm now call for the gop? >> yes, when you were showing that list, i was thinking, is that the new cap for saturday night live? it's so much fun to listen to. basically, it is gone and barack obama was president and suddenly didn't like government spending and government spending on social programs that a lot o

obviously sarah palin left office and she had a tv platform for a while and jim demint. what do you think? will she go to the heritage foundation or a research council? >> i would be surprised if she went to the heritage foundation. we have discovered if you're a conservative firebrand on either side of the spectrum and you want to leave office to make a public servant salary, that would be a pretty good economic bet. >> she's also a former member of the tea party caucus. a couple of years ago she gave her own tea party response to the state of the union which gives you a sense of her own platform, but the economic issues are less of an issue now frankly. i don't know, jim. is the tea party sputtering because of that? is that why she felt maybe she was losing some influence. >> well, for sure, some of the economic news we get, people less nervous about selling their home, having a little bit more disposable income, in generally no longer feeling sick and tired, that certainly plays a part. and if you're the democrats and i confirmed this morning with jim israel who overs

there was jim demint, allen west, and then this new gallup poll that shows the number of americans whohemselves as economic conservatives, that number is down significantly since 2012 mid term elections, from 51 to 41%. and those identifying themselves as conservatives are also slightly down in the poll. what does this tell you about the tea party news trends. >> i think it remains kind of where it's been, which is on the fringe and pocket of support and certain states. it will have an influence and this is, i think, the most damaging thing for the republican party and influence in primary system. you are seeing that for example in virginia. and so, i think, you know, michele bachmann and the other, you know, folks she mentioned that are leaving the republican party, if you will, the damage has been done. and until the republican party kind of figures out what kind of party want to be in the 21st century, i think it will continue to suffer this tea party hang over it is suffering with. >> what do we think is potentially next for michele bachmann? >> well, that's the thing, you have all

heritage cites the think tank's new president south carolina senator jim demint begs to differ. >> no sensible thinking person could read this study and conclude that over 50 years that this could possibly be have a positive economic impact. >> well, i don't know if grover norquist counts as a sensible person, but enter grover norquist. went before a congressional joint economic committee to make the free market, conservative argument for comprehensive reform. the short version of which is legalization and immigration will contribute to economic growth. >> if we didn't have the 12 million illegals in the united states now, what would the economic effect of that be? >> well, you can look at where people came in. people who -- there was no legal opportunity. >> would it be -- >> would it be positive or negative if we didn't have those 12 million illegal immigrants? >> gdp would be smaller. >> okay. >> norquist also questioned claims on the cost of reform. >> you take those numbers that heritage puts out on entitlement, it's an argument against having children. i mean, children tend to b

they have a new -- jim demint, the mr. tea party in the senate. now head of the heritage foundation has really turned what was a right wing -- a right wing research organization. >> legitimate. >> right wing political attack machine now. >> he's really taking a turn to the right with heritage. didn't think that was possible. >> bill: exactly. he's really all the way there. you know, i think if anyone is excited about different news this week, it has to be demint and heritage who had a very bad week last week. they released that immigration report which found that reform is going to cause some $6.3 trillion. it was discovered that the report was co-authored by a guy who believes that hispanic and latino people have lower i.q.s. he has since resigned. and we at think progress -- >> bill: he was forced to walk the plank. >> after like four days, this wasn't immediate action. they were struckelling what to do with this racist. and we went through all of the other things that heritage staffers, including jim demint believed that are not only conservati

this was a press release for jim demint. >> john: it seems like we're in this world where you have half of our republican friends wanting immigration reform because they know you can't get the white house without the latino vote. the other half who doesn't want immigration reform and democrats sitting back and laughing. that may be entertaining for progressives but isn't a recipe for nothing getting solved in this country? >> it is. even those republicans who are maybe more focused on the election issues than you hope, they also see the benefits to the economy because there's no getting around it. so much so that even these people that we wouldn't expect are saying wait a second! this is crazy. of course they benefit the economy. there's no way they couldn't. people come here. they spend money. they start businesses. they start families. they buy clothes. all of the things you kind of have to do to exist and they completely omitted that from the analysis. >> john: all of the things that help the italians and irish flourish they seem to have forgotten about. i have to give marco rubio pr

jim demint's heritage foundation claims immigration reform will cost $6.3 trillion. well, that's a lot. heritage's fuzzy math, you might call it, is being challenged. it's being used by the hard right to kill reform which a lot of republicans think is needed to save their party. so they'd like to get it off their back, but yet they're trying to kill it. you figure. >>> also, tomorrow's election day in south carolina. looks like we could see a big turnaround in that race. a ppp poll has mark sanford up now by one point over elizabeth colbert. by the way, that's a ten-point net pickup in sanford's favorite in just two weeks. so he might just win tomorrow. who knows. >>> and our series "the unkindest cut" on the real damage those sequestration cuts are actually doing. tonight, kids being turned away from head start. a great american program. is this a smart way to save money? hurting kids? >>> finally, let me finish tonight with the definition of true immigration reform. this is "hardball." the place for politics. >>> wow, gabrielle giffords received the john f. kennedy

members of congress, that includes joe walsh, allen west, and todd akin who lost their elections, jim demint who quit the senate, and we should not forget the list of tea party members that never became members of congress or senate because they lost their general elections to democrats, sharon engineer he will, christine o'donnell, richard murdock. michele bachmann was the first candidate to drop out of the republican presidential primaries after she lost the iowa caucus. let's take a look at why getting reelected in her congressional district was becoming increasingly difficult, including in the last election which she won by one point. >> the lord says be sub miss i have, wives, you are to be sub miss i have. we moved to virginia beach, virginia. >> we know the founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more. >> i find it interesting it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another democrat president, jimmy carter, and i am not blaming it on president obama, i think it is an interesting coincidence. >> it is a brand new billion dolla

. >> a big force on the right-hand side of the political spectrum is senator jim demint, who is now atnator. he was largely one of the people responsible for derailing the immigration reform bill then. he does it as head of the heritage now he disagrees to strongly with you on economic grounds engine said your bill would take, the people, the illegal or unauthorized immigrants would ultimately take out more in federal benefits than they would pay in taxes. is senator demint right or wrong on that? because one you have is right and one of you is wrong on that. >> i have tremendous respect for jim demint,mint, and his objecto this is the economic costs so we have to make sure there aren't economic costs. that's one of the reasons in the billy helped prepare, illegal immigrants, when they get legalized and get it to work, they don't qualify for any federal benefits at all, including obamacare. if there's way to make is it better, we are open to it. we want to hear from everybody how to improve it. what we have come up with it is starting point. we don't want to see costs to the government

after that was reported yesterday, the heritage foundation run by former senator jim demint. they tried to distance themselves from this guy. saying they were focused on his dissertation saying it was not a work product of the heritage foundation and its products do not reflect the opinions of the heritage foundation or the conclusion of our study. they said he did not shape the methodology or the policy recommendations in the heritage paper. he provided quantitative support for the lead author. basically the guy was a temp. he was good with the calculator. that's all we hired him for. >> one of the authors han fwound to written some rather explosive anti-hispanic statements. in your statement you basically just said he provided the numbers, is that right? >> he's the number cruncher. >> so sorry. let me finish fi could. that's fine. you are telling me you are using the numbers from a man who's written that hispanics have a low iq and will have a low iq for generations. so ma what makes you think, unless you agrow with that premise, that makes agree that his numbers are suffi

it's the jim demint argument. jim demint is the progenitor of this. things have been done in the senate are by nature, therefore, wrong. that's why you hear ted cruz say, look, i don't trust how this is going to work. i think mccain and others say what's the alternative here? but it's a rejection of the institution, chris, i think more than it is anything about who's a conservative versus who's a moderate within the republican party. >> you know, michael, i don't know why they don't wear uniforms like the code pink people do or other political group. show up, we're here to screw things up. all we're here to do is heckle. they look like hecklers. i'm sorry. mccain is right. he knows how the government works if it wants to work. if it doesn't want to work, there's a lot of ways to screw it up. these guys are doing it by saying, oh, we can't meet because we might agree. even though it's on television, it's a secret meeting, therefore, we can't have it. i mean, they're just making it up. >> they're playing to their base. they have folks who, as chris said

jim demint has come in here and really stepped in it. we all remember the -- at least i do. the heritage foundation wasn't a quirky conservative think tank. the heritage foundation is where people like bill bennett and jack kemp went, very serious conservative institution. it's being battered. >> well, they wanted to, you know, sort of get sexier and have more edge and be out there more. they thought they were getting -- clearly thought they were getting too, sort of stoddard and old and stuck in the concrete. and jim demint is a darling of the tea party. he is a very smart guy. but he decided to take this position. i think, you know, it's a disaster for the republicans. if they just keep doing this, forget benghazi. that's not going to be their concern. their concern is going to be they keep turning off the fastest growing group in the population. we have the census numbers out this week that the african-american turnout was the highest in history and higher than whites for the first time in history. republicans got 6% of that vote in t

led by former senator jim demint, the immigration bill would cost u.s. taxpayers, $6.3 trillion because 11 million immigrants would be eligible for benefits if granted citizenship. congressman paul ryan says the study neglects the economic growth that would follow immigration reform while former governor haley barbour called it nothing more than, quote, a political document created to make headlines. and on twitter, writing, here we go again. new heritage study claims huge cost for immigration reform ignores economic benefits. no dynamic scoring, from jeff flake. >>> former south carolina governor mark sanford says if he loses the first district congressional race today it will be the end of his political career. a moment most thought came years ago when he abdomen abandoned hs to visit his mistress in argentina. no small feat for a democrat in traditional deep red district. sanford has closed the gap to within the margin of error. with just one debate, the contest has been fought with personal attacks and some unusual campaign theatrics on the trail. sa

former senator jim demint talked about passing the laws.was talking about amnesty for undocumented workers. >> the bill that is being presented is unfair for those who came here legally. it will cost americans trillions of dollars. it will make our you be lawful immigration system worse. if you consider all the factors related to the amnesty, believe me, this is comprehensive, it will have a negative long-term impact on our gross domestic product. we just want congress for once to count the costs of a bill. >> and now for the latest from boston. robel phillipos will ask to be released from federal custody later today. his lawyers say he had nothing to do with the bombings, he was simply confused and scared when he was questioned by authorities. they conducted another search of tamerlan tsarnaev's apartment yesterday. they are arriving in boston to lay the older suspect to left. the family is having problems locating a cemetery willing to take his body. the suspect's uncle says, quote, no one wants to associate their name with such evil. >>>

heath shuler, jim demint. to me, there's something really sad about this whole thing, which is, being a member of congress was once the thing you wanted to get to, was the major leagues, and now being a member of congress is the thing right before the thing you want to get to, the major leagues, which is any one of these much-more highly paid, influential positions. >> which is anything to make a lot of money, whether it's big pharmaor a hedge fund or wig nut welfare. and that part of it is bipartisan, because you -- >> that's my point! >> some of our lovely former democrats. >> but also, the feeling that, like, when you look at being a member of congress between calling for six hours a day and the fact that the washington feels completely broken and dysfunctional, particularly in congress, it's like, well, sure. >> it could be a rational decision. i'm not sure it's a totally rational decision on her part, because i'm not sure any of them have been, but, you know, she's going to have a lot of fun. >> and sarah

jim demint is wrong.ll continue with that and a whole lot of other topics here on the "full court press." stay with us at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: like politics? then like the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show." now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? we have a big big hour and the (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use

you get to the state line of new york, we have andrew cuomo -- i blame this on jim demint he says it's like the difference between north korea and south korea. [laughter] the line between pennsylvania and new york one is driving and depressed because they won't let them do anything there. the geology is the same underground so we've got these great chances now with the federal system. that's what we are all about as a country. not every good idea is invented in fact very few of them are beyond the capital beltway and let's learn from each other. his lead the way as we have been talking here this morning and building heritage as a government institution. and i think that builds into this major force of american policy changing think-tank culture not only here but it can be set across the country and even in the world. i think the question so many people here would like to have your address and that is what's next for you? >> the need thing and first thing i want to say is thanks to the board of trustees the boss to me to stay on. i'm going to be having authors in the pennsylvania avenue

. >> michael: that was at a dinner honoring jim demint.t ted cruz doesn't realize, or he probably does and is angered by are things like this . . . cruz i should remind you is a republican from texas. i invite joe williams back in and jack burkman as well. you know, i'll ask you first this time, joe. am i right do you ever remember somebody coming out with this kind of brashness? and then do you think this is serving him well? >> i think it is serving him well to his base. a lot of people are comparing him to the other young senator barack obama. but certainly obama had two years in the senate before he decided to run for president. it seems like cruz is running for president right out of the gate. but he has got a lot of policies that have been proven to be unpopular for w the american people as recently as six months ago when mitt romney was running for president. the stance on abortion, on income inequality and others. and the people voting republican, are the shrinking voter base of the gop. you have got -- certainly smaller numbers of

. -- jim demint. >> we believe that opening up the gates of our memories bringing people closer together , to bring people to a realization that what a human being, an individual can do. i think of those who saved lives, all of these christians who saved lives while risking their own. everyone of them is a hero. >> on the 20th anniversary, i ask you to replace the director memories of those who still live with being the memories of this museum so that no one will ever forget the stories and these lessons. about howu to sink the -- to think about all the historic slurry -- storing of the holocaust reflects a story that takes a human form. the idea that our differences are more important than our humanity of a test of our differences -- are not more important than our humanity. the nationalm., rifle association's annual meeting with chris cox and wayne lapierre. on book tv this weekend, your llips.ons for melanie phi on sunday, book tv in london. withart a 12 week series british authors. birmingham, the 1963 race riots. president obama traveled to mexico thursday and met with mexican presi

host: jim demint, heading up with heritage, has he sat down with senator marco rubio and talked aboutang of eight proposal? guest: unfortunately he cannot because of ethics laws, which i have my own views on, having been a former senate staffer. i had to observe some of the same restrictions myself for a time. so, senator jim demint cannot talk to any of his former colleagues or anybody in the house on policy matters for a certain time. host: has senator rubio sat down with anybody at heritage? guest: absolutely, we had meetings with him and his have to talk it through. we appreciate his willingness to take on these issues. we disagree with the approach, and we were all very frank with him about that, and he understands that. but it does not mean we cannot also provide hard is it -- positive nonpartisan research analysis on elements of the bill. host: senator jim demint, when he was a senator, sponsored senator marco rubio's run for the senate, both favorites of the tea party. a viewer on twitter says -- our border policy tracks undocumented workers in the u.s.. they can't go home bec

when health care reform is being debated, jim demint from south carolina told his colleagues, we need to vote against obamacare and break the obama administration. for senator mcconnell, senate majority leader announcing in 2010 that his highest priority as senate majority leader was making barack obama a one term president. ephrata coalition presidency were restarting it would elect a partner, it would entertain as much political it and pitch. with a status is they still share with the other party. said that it would be much for your to judge legislative proposals. it's not surprising when you have winner take all elections for presidencies to the level of an imperial president be, we shouldn't be surprised with high levels of partisan conflict. indeed, the increase in partisan conflict if you go back to the 50s and 60s, it was much more working across party lines. it residences the 45th is gradually. the presidential power has increased and it's not surprising. we now have people elected with a small majority or even a minority of the popular vote, substantial numbers of voters feel

however, ted cruz, who's reportedly considering a run himself, will speak at a dinner honoring jim demintago is any indication, it sounds like he is read to take on the vice president. >> i would like to invite the vice president to engage in an hour long conversation and debate. how do we stop crime? >> and joining us now is karen finney, a soon to be colleague of mine here at the msnbc and former communications director at the dnc. let's get to the reasons why democrats hope mr. cruz wins. what is his biggest achilles heel in your view? worries over sharia law, his opposition to same-sex marriage, his able ility to insult memberf his own party? should i keep going? >> you can. i would say all of those have one thing in common and i think we just saw it in that clip. his ego. >> but karen, egos have never gotten in the way of people wanting to run for president. it normally is the very thing that drives them. >> however, there is a point at which you have to be able to be self-critical and recognize maybe critique criticizing members in our own party that you may need to get some things

you've seen mike huckabee, jim demint, others who have decided this is not the place for me. >> quicklyhe hill now, my impression was she left almost no imprint on capitol hill. her colleagues on the republican side let her do her thing. is that fair? >> she tried at one point. she was robust pretty aggressively, so she really hasn't found -- you know, there are a handful of other conservatives in the house who she pals around with, louie gohmert, steve king from iowa. there's sort of -- even in that group they're competing with each other for influence. so she was completing with steve king for air time on talk radio. >> i want to start with you and address this before we end the show. eric holder through intermediaries said he had some regrets about the way the fox news case regarding -- they followed him in and out of buildings, james rosen. what do you make of this? is this a p.r. move? >> i think one thing we learned is it's too much to expect air holder to be up to date on what eric holder has been doing. so he has to read the "washington post" to discover what he's doing and whel

i thought it was a mistake when they brought jim demint in last november. he's not that well liked. >> to be fair, this is the same person who did the study last time around. >> no. >> i think there are a lot of establishment conservatives in washington who would like heritage to stop being a problem on things like the debt ceiling and various other fights and immigration. you talk about an elite consensus that ignores mass opinion, this is cutting in our favor. elites are much more in favor of immigration than the base of the republican favor. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> rising emission and carb upon levels and one congressman just can't take it. >>> today, senate republicans blocked president obama's nominee to head the epa, jenna mccarthy. that was not constructionist. they get a committee vote to deny a quorum and barbara boxer complained republicans should get out of the fringe lane. the republicans wouldn't let the nominee out of committee. here's the other reason blocking this nomination is so compare. she is currently the assistant adm