and joan walsh editor at large for salon.com and an msnbc political analyst. she just wrote an article about the president's role in protecting the great society built by lbj. thank you both for joining me. >> thank you, rev. >> thanks. >> joan, president obama has been firm from the start on this. where do you think the republican leadership is today? >> i think you're right, reverend al. there are signs that they are starting to crumble and, you know, jared and i, we've all talked several times about what it means when the president is having to play chicken with people who are crazy and are willing to default on our debts. and that was a situation he was in in 2011. and it was very painful. and as the adults in the room and the responsible person, he did not want to be responsible for -- or even partly responsible. he never was responsible. for throwing us into default. now it's a different situation where you do hear john boehner and mitch mcconnell. mcconnell wouldn't take the debt ceiling off the table, but he wouldn't commit to doing it. and when you ha

joan walsh visits with me about the hypocrisy on the right. that's next.s something unexpected and you see the woman you fell in love with. she's everything to you. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such

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. >>> joining me now is joan walsh, editor at large at "salon.com," msnbc analyst. and dana milbank, editor for "washington post." >>> dana, let me go to you first. weren't president obama's nominations today a perfect example of how elections have consequences? >> well, sitting where i'm sitting, not in the clint eastwood chair, i would say yes, it certainly does. it's a case of continuing a very tough policy of enforcement at the sec. so the president is sending a signal that at least in this area of regulation enforcement, he's not going to be backing down at all. surely, that's exactly what wall street and corporate america expected when he won that election. >> and that was the way he campaigned. in many ways, we're looking at, joan, him continuing the path that he campaign ds oed on, gots on and won. look at the poll on rights for gay people, 60%. on aid to the poor, 59%, on tax levels for millionaires and big corporation, 59%. women's issue, 55%. immigration, 55%. i mean, these are high numbers of people feeling the gop is out of touch on these issues. >> yea

thank you, joan walsh. thank you, lauren ashburn. we appreciate you being here. >> thanks. >> when we return, the big reason it's become so difficult for congress to cut a deal. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. but your erectile dysfunction - you know, that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you

let me go to joan on this. joan, and i watched this group. we're both doves. i think i just am very skeptical of any wars, these bite-sized wars. what we confront with iran will be hardly bite-sized. not a neat war where we do the job and live with it. in saying these are dangerous propositions, it seems to me evidence of sanity. >> it's absolutely sanity. he's also called the defense budget bloated. they'll probably get him to walk that back even though it's true. he called for an earlier exit from afghanistan than perhaps the president would have backed at the time that he said it. although things have changed since hagel said it. so it's a terrifically important piece -- decision, and peter's latest piece is great. i hope -- i'm probably too idealistic. i hope he's not going to walk back his positions because he's right on all these things. >> you're talking about hagel, not peter. looking at his face while you were talking, he was worried you were talking about him. >> no, no, i'm talking about hagel. peter is right about this, too, generally about this. i

joan walsh and cynthia tucker, thanks for your time to be the. >> thanks, reverend. good to be here. >> ahead, republicans are already threatening to hold the economy hostage to get what they want. are the democrats ready to stand strong? this man is. he's back. the king of political haymakers reelected to congress, back in the house and ready to defend democratic values. he joins us live next. >>> and as the gop brand free falls, chris christie rises a day after his blistering attack on john boehner, we have news on the governor's next move. stay tuned. >>> plus, white house photos revealed. behind-the-scenes presidential shots you don't want to miss. you're watching politics nation on msnbc. [ male announcer ] no matter what city you're playing tomorrow. [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪ but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold

joan, what do you make of this? is this a policy surrender by republicans, they have to do this to win? >> yeah that. >> know they are on a course of demographic extinction, ed. 90% of their voters are white. their voters are older. and rather than change their policies and think about how to really reach the new america that is emerging, they decided they're going to change the voter, not change the policies. now, we saw after 2008 and president obama's election, we saw 38 states, republicans in 38 states introduce some kind of legislation that would restrict voting rights. and now they've gotten even more sinister, and they're trying to change the way districts are drawn. and in this case, you know, a wonderful civil rights hero in virginia, a state senator, henry marsh went to the president's inauguration. and while he was gone on the martin luther king holiday, they voted without him. and that's the only way they got it passed. i just want to say we turned back a transvaginal ultrasound bill in virginia. there i

thank you, joan walsh. thank you, lauren ashburn.ate you being here. >> thanks. >> when we return, the big reason it's become so difficult for congress to cut a deal. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you. ♪ >>> let me finish tonight with this question. why was it so difficult to avoid the fiscal cliff, especially where in the end we didn't even get a grand bargain. we got a quick fix. that is a question i'm sure voters who have been clamoring for compromise would like answered. nate silver had a partial response in a recent 538 blog post. silver noted that where in 1992 there were 103 members of the house who were elected from what might be regarded as swing districts, which he identified as those were the margin in the presidential vote was within 5 percentage points, today silver ca

. >> eric scott followed by julie christian son, and then joan wood. >> good afternoon. >>> this is not a project that's intended to benefit a single neighborhood. this is a project that's intended to benefit all san franciscans. when it was originally proposed to the public, the timelines and the cost estimates were based upon completion this year with revenue service starting no later than next year. there are very few projects that get better by being delayed. they just get more expensive. and all of the calls for additional environmental reviews. the frivolous lawsuits and so on, these are the things that are responsible for the explosion in the costs. we don't have to take this thing out through columbus avenue. we could have taken it out through the park and left the roadway open. but we had even more vocal opposition to the people who didn't want to harm a single tree or a single blade of grass. this was the compromise that was intended to mollify the public. there is nothing wrong in principle with pagoda option. it's just there are additional costs there. they have to come from

something never changes, joan, and your smiling face reminds me of it.ics. screw the government, bring it down, scream, yell, mommy, mommy, i don't like it here, do your usual crazy acrobatics. meanwhile, we lose our credit rating. the government once again falls into disrepute and the world laughs at us. your thoughts. >> there is one important thing here, and that is some of them have moved away from using the debt ceiling as the big cudgel on the government. even newt gingrich himself said he didn't think the debt court of appealing is the big thing. everyone shifted to government shutdown. that didn't help president clinton. it didn't hurt him. gives president obama more leverage. it's very hard to see him facing saying okay, let's just default. it is possible to see him with the example of president clinton and with the new strength that he has standing up and saying, okay, we don't want you to shut it down, but if we have to, we're not going to have any hostage taking anymore. it's a little bit different, chris. >> once again, joan has taught me so

right now, we're going to go over to joan. it is time to make a contribution to support this station right now. and choose a thank-you gift to get even more out of "the money class"." with your gift of $75, you'll receive a dvd of this program suze orman's "money class," with the great bonus footage that is fun but also has even more information in it than what you saw in this broadcast. now with a $150 gift, we'll thank you with the dvd and "the money class" book and that book has advice and information that applies to people of all ages and situations from starting your child's college savings plan to how much you should spend on a new home to managing your finances in retirement. at the $250 contribution level, you'll receive "the money class" collection featuring the 6 cd "money tools" set. the cds will protect the people you love, the money you worked so hard for, and the things you acquire with that money. the legal documents, credit report and other resources are virtually invaluable and can be shared with everyone you

on yesterday's program, joan was very relaxed and solid until final jeopardy!ut she didn't lose too much in that one. helen and diva, welcome aboard. pick up those signaling devices cause here comes the "jeopardy!" round. and today, we deal with these categories. we start off with... you have to correct the word that we have changed in the title of these books. joan, start us. thanks, alex. i'll have the story of english for $200. helen. what is european? right. title changes, $200, please. joan. what is night? yes. okay, title changes for $400, please. helen. what is garp? right.

they're going to look like complete obstructionists. >> joan, the president has known this for a longe tried to block them at every turn. here's a 2010 statement he made on this. listen to this. >> they've said no just to about every idea i proposed, every policy i've proposed, everyone id even ideas they've traditionally agreed with. i'm not exaggerating. we've had situations where they would sponsor bills, i'd say okay, and they'd say oh, if you're okay with it, we must be against it. it happened a bunch of times. [ cheers and applause ] >> i mean, it is really a continuation of that kind of political lunacy, joe. >> well, it is. and governor rendell is right. this idea that somehow they share in the cabinet and that somebody who the president trusts and is already appointed and who has worked for the president is somehow not qualified or disqualified from serving as his treasury secretary. >> they're not getting the fact that what you do in this country is you compete. and, during campaigns, on the field of ideas and then you win ideas and get to put your people in charge and do th

joan walsh is with the salon. i'll start with joan. i want to get your thoughts.et's show a clip of this. here's secretary clinton getting into some heated points today. this morning, by the way, she said that there was never an effort to mislead americans about whether the benghazi attack was spontaneous or planned ahead of time. conversation with the right wing crowd in the senate. he said the administration should have been in contact with survivors to get a better sense secretary clinton pointed out there was an fbi investigation and is still going on. it wil s >> when you're in these positions, the last thing you want to do is interfere with any other process -- >> i realize that. >> number two -- >> i realize that's a good excuse -- >> no, it's a fact. number two, i would recommend hilyouead both what the arb said about it and the classified arb because even today there are questions being raised.doubthey were terrorists. they were militants. attacked us. they killed our people. but what was going on and why they were doing what they were doing -- >> no, no,

joining me is joan harris, the attorney. you've been talking to us throughout the trial. you filed a civil lawsuit. tell me what this means to you. >> i feel very happy about the verdict. i think mr. leopold needs to resign immediately and i think we need to get a county executive in the office this can restore integrity to the county. >> reporter: we heard a lot of testimony throughout. witnesses were on the stand and people saying time and time again that they were afraid of him. did this go along with his experience. >> absolutely. you were always afraid you would do something angry and hoe would fire you. when patty was testifying, i could feel the main she went through and the fear she felt every day just knowing what she would have to face at work. he definitely will intimidate you and a person who abuses power as an elected official. >> reporter: john singleton, you have been standing by joan's side as well as carla's side. both have filed civil lawsuits. tell me what's next for your case. >> we're happy this part is over. it allows us to go forward with the civil

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dana milbank is with me along with joan walsh of salon. are you buying the demise of the tea party argument that dana has made? >> i would love to, but i think it's too soon. and dana says that himself. all of these data points are real. i guess the only one i would take issue with is the bobby jindal characterization. i think bobby jindal remains, i guess talks a good game but remains a conservative force and tea party force. because he's trying to do away with personal income taxes. and he wanted to eliminate hospice care for medicaid patients. so this perspective on spending that the tea party brought certainly hasn't gone away. anytime you've got 36 united states senators who voted down sandy relief a couple days ago, you know that something has fundamentally changed about the way that republicans talk about government. so i think it's too early to say that they're dead, but all the things dana points to are good signs and signs of some kind of sanity seeping in. >> and dana, maybe it's all in a name. because i think what continues on

joan took bill for his morning coffee at mcdonald's and told him to stay put while she went nearby tobe a simple way to track wandering alzheimer's patients. - we're looking at upwards of 20 million people with alzheimer's disease by 2050. now the problem is that 60% of them will wander and become lost. if they're not found within 24 hours, they have very high rates of hospitalization and even death. - carle heard about joan and bill and their son alan, a software engineer, and thought this would be the ideal family to test the shoe. - joan carries a cell phone. she doesn't have a computer, but this is fairly typical of these older couples, where she has a cell phone, and if he does wander, become lost, she can simply call her son alan on the phone, and he with the push of a button can locate him. - i could be out hiking, i could be at the store, i could be anywhere, just log onto this web site, and i can find his location. - so we asked joan to call alan several miles away and see if he could use his ipad to locate his father. - hello. - alan? - hi. - ok. we got bill in the car now.

so, joan, you know, of course, republicans like to blame republicans.has nothing to do with the fact they don't know how to talk about issues or don't have good positions on issues. it's really the media for all their ills. if it weren't for the media, there would still just be one woman on their women and minorities panel that held as part of the retreat. >> we did not organize that. >> what -- but what does that say? they had to be gilthed into adding two more people in the same way, frankly, they had to be guilted into adding a woman to a leadership position when they announced their chairs for their various committees in the house. >> right, and they thought it was fine to talk about contraception without a woman on the panel. i mean, they do this over and over and over again, and, you know, karen, you know this as well as i do. i think it's great that they're talking about rape because we're really getting to hear what they're saying. i watch my old friend dick armey on "hardball" a couple weeks ago say that the solution for the republican party wh

they joan 40,000 people including military members at 2 gala tonight.erformers included alicia, perry and cast of glee. tomorrow lady gaga is rumored to be performing at private function held for the president campaign staff. >> more than 1 million people packed the streets of washington to joan the second inaugural for president. [ sworn]. >> congratulations mr. mr. president. [applause]. >> he was sworn in today using a pair of bible one belonged to dr. martin luther king jr. and the other president lincoln. in the inaugural speech the president talked about his focus on the next 4 years. deficit. immigration rae fovrment and the fight against climate change. he called on americans to solve our nation's problems together. >> my fellow americans we are made for this moment and we will seize it as long as we seize it together. [applause]. >>reporter: and president obama spoke of unity today from the capitol steps but some key component of the second term agenda we spoke today is hardly easy for democrats and republicans to agree on. and dealing with cli

>> i'm in the process to reach joan from planning to finalize the list. we get, say, 7, initially they come back with more than that. both sides get an equal number. >> 7? i think it was 14. how do you get consensus with that number of people. are you saying they are bringing it down to that number of people? >> i will meet with joan and finalize it. >> so before the meeting in january we will finalize it and they will know who's on our list. >> since president mccarthy says our list is together, is it just staff or does it include stake holders and people we look at. >> one commissioner and also outside consultant. >> stake holders. >> could we see that list too? >> yeah, i'd like to see the planning list. a lot of people are going to put their time and effort into this so we want to make sure we have a good working group. okay. >> thanks. >> thank you, penny. >> item 8d, update on other technology projects. >> director tom hue, since pam is not here because she is home today, same report last month, i don't think there's that many update on the item. >>

they joan 40,000 people including military members at 2 gala tonight.rformers included alicia, perry and cast of glee. tomorrow lady gaga is rumored to be performing at private function held for the president campaign staff. >> more than 1 million people packed the streets of washington to joan the second inaugural for president. [ sworn]. >> congratulations mr. mr. president. [applause]. >> he was sworn in today using a pair of bible one belonged to dr. martin luther king jr. and the other president lincoln. in the inaugural speech the president talked about his focus on the next 4 years. deficit. immigration rae fovrment and the fight against climate change. he called on americans to solve our nation's problems together. >> my fellow americans we are made for this moment and we will seize it as long as we sei [applause] together. [applause]. >>reporter: and president obama spoke of unity today from the capitol steps but some key component of the second term agenda we spoke today is hardly easy for democrats and republicans to agree on. and dealing wit

joining me now is nia maliqa henderson and joan walsh. >> joan, two weeks into the second term, whatu think he can get done? >> well, you know, i'm semi-optimistic about immigration reform, reverend al, although i'm starting to have a few more doubts. you know, if democrats were like republicans, they would not help the republy c llicans out and d immigration reform. but the president is trying, chuck schumer has put together this bipartisan group. but the thing that seems like a big sticking point to me is even the supposedly pro-immigration forces are saying enforcement first. and they're ignoring the fact that this president has been all about enforcement. i mean, you know it better than i do. there is some civil rights folks who are entirely happy with some of the deportation policy, border enforcement has gotten a ton of money and the net inflow of new, illegal immigrants doesn't exist, basically. they're acting like he's done nothing. so this clamber for enforcement first ignores the political reality and makes me wonder if people like marco rubio are trying to have it both way

they joan 40,000 people including military members at 2 gala tonight.erformers included alicia, perry and cast of glee. tomorrow lady gaga is rumored to be performing at private function held for the president campaign staff. >> more than 1 million people packed the streets of washington to joan the second inaugural for president. [ sworn]. >> congratulations mr. mr. president. [applause]. >> he was sworn in today using a pair of bible one belonged to dr. martin luther king jr. and the other president lincoln. in the inaugural speech the president talked about his focus on the next 4 years. deficit. immigration rae fovrment and the fight against climate change. he called on americans to solve our nation's problems together. >> my fellow americans we are made for this moment and we will seize it as long as we seize it together. [applause]. >>reporter: and president obama spoke of unity today from the capitol steps but some key component of the second term agenda we spoke today is hardly easy for democrats and republicans to agree on. and dealing with cli

i'd love to think joan is right. clearly we had a very successful election in november. i worry a bit, though, about 2014 when we don't have the president at the top of the ticket. we have a disproportionately higher number of older white guys and, frankly, being one of those types, we're the most insecure component of our society. as far as i'm concerned, we're much the problem with these kinds of things. but, you know, we can overcome this. this is a democracy. and he's going to -- i think he's going to mobilize his base. he's going to ask everyone who worked so hard to get him elected now to pass the legislation that is most important for our children and our future and given the fact that he is as committed as he is, you know, it's entirely possible that democracy will succeed, that we'll get this kind of legislation through or at least to feed a sufficient number of members who have shown the fact that they're sbim dated by the n rerks a. . >> well, let me say this, joe, also, a lot of it is the ugliness that we are seeing from the other side. i think that, clearly,