talking about pro-creation for a reason for marriage, you lost the argument. >> steve schmidt and karen finney, thank you for joining me. karen, we will see you at 4:00 all week, filling in for martin bashir. >> yes, sir. >> we will be watching. >>> coming up, the violent talking revolutionary that wants to overthrow the american government, and why republicans are palling around with him. >>> and a billionaire wants better condoms and he is willing to pay for them. bill gates will actually give you a million dollars if you can come up with a better condom. seriously. that's coming up. it's not what . it's a phoenix with 4 wheels. it's a hawk with night vision goggles. it's marching to the beat of a different drum. and where beauty meets brains. it's big ideas with smaller footprints. and knowing there's always more in the world to see. it's the all-new lincoln mkz. google's backyard for the wbing it on challenge.. [fight bell: ding, ding] what's your preferred search engine? search engine, uhh, probably google. if we do a side by side blind test comparison, and you end up choosing google, you

talking about pro-creation for a reason for marriage, you lost the argument. >> steve schmidt and karen finney, thank you for joining me. karen, we will see you at 4:00 all week, filling in for martin bashir. >> yes, sir. >> we will be watching. >>> coming up, the violent talking revolutionary that wants to overthrow the american government, and why republicans are palling around with him. >>> and a billionaire wants better condoms and he is willing to pay for them. bill gates will actually give you a million dollars if you can come up with a better condom. seriously. that's coming up. with the bing e to show google users what they've been missing on bing. let's bing it on. [fight bell: ding, ding] how many here are google users? what if i was to tell you that you would actually like bing way more than google when it came to the results? prove it. let's look up some taco places. i like the left side. yeah? okay, do we need to find out what the waves are like down at the beach? what side do you like better? i like the results on the right. i'm gonna go with the one on the left. oh! bing won! pe

. >>> turning back to some of our top political stories, i'm joined by karen finney.s for being here this morning. >> good morning. >> let's start with this bipartisan gun proposal. do you think this has a changes of succeeding? >> it does have a chance of succeeding because gun trafficking has been one of the issues, part of the strategy, you know, separating this issue from some of the other more contentious issues. this is the one where there seems to be the most agreement. so that's why you'll see chairman leahy try to move this part forward. you'll see others trying to move the other pieces like background checks and assault weapons ban which is a bit tougher as well. >> now, moving on to the president's approval ratings. a recent gallup poll shows the president's approval rating is at 46%, down from a high of 58%. is he suffering now because of the sequester? >> it's likely that it is. i think there was always the expectation that frankly at some point voters are just angry at washington and not distinguishing between parties. that being said, you know, support

. >> joining me now is karen finney and jonathan k. part.broke my heart not to be able to go to the cpac. i've never been to this thing and i know i was going to hear some lood boos and that kound of thing, but the chance to let them hear something that's actually true. in fact, it might be the only opportunity, me going there, that might be the only chance for them to hear something true this year. >> that is what breaks my heart, because i think you would have introduced two key concepts, science and math. that would have just blown them all away and i'm so sorry that we won't have the opportunity to see that happen this time. >> well, i don't know if i would have been heard over the booing, i don't know. i was assured, actually, a certain level of politeness, and i actually think, jonathan, they do have -- included in everything they're doing, and this may be part of the misstep they've done in trump's direction, there is always a certain kind of spirit of fun at this thing. there are certain things they're doing at cpac that really are j

joining me now are karen finney, former dnc communications director and ezra klein columnist for then post. both are msnbc analysts. it eliminates history that they lived themselves that some of them deserve credit for, which was what they actually did do in fighting deficits during the 1990s, that newt gingrich and president clinton both contributed a great deal to that effort. >> right, but that's not the strategy now. the strategy now seems to be driven far more by their fear of the tea party. and i mean that sincerely, there's no reason that john boehner, if he wanted to, he could stand up to the far right in his party, and he could be making those kinds of deals with president obama. there are enough democratic votes, there are enough moderate republicans, as we've seen time and again, to get those things done. time and again he seems like he's a man treading water, trying to stay one step ahead. they're on the senate side, these guys who are up for re-election are terrified of being primaried from the right. in the house, john boehner can barely control his caucus and they real

our power panel, karen finney, david winston, thank you for your time today. >>> coming up next, thebama administration takes a dramatic step in what could be the most groundbreaking supreme court decisions ever. >>> plus, msnbc's co-host of the cycle joins me on why she goes to the biggest conservative gathering of the year and why chris christie completely didn't get invited. >>> first, does the bob woodward controversy enlighten the sequester debate in any way? tweet me or find us on facebook. ha ha ha! no no no! not today! ha ha ha! ha ha ha! jimmy how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? happier than dikembe mutumbo blocking a shot. get happy. get geico. >>> the house lp fund the government on march 27th. i'm hopeful that we won't have to deal with the threat of a government shutdown while we're dealing with the sequester at the same time. the house will act next week and i hope the senate will follow suit. thanks. >> speaker -- >> why did you wait until friday to meet with the president? >> that was speaker john boehner who came out from the white ho

i'm karen finney in for martin bashir on tuesday march the 26th. a day when the equal rights of every american hangs in the balance. >> u.s. supreme court hears a landmark case today that could drastically change how the government handles the controversial issue of same-sex marriage. >> a water shed moment at the united states supreme court. history being made as we speak. >> there are no second-class marriages in america. >> or if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. >> marriage is between one man and one woman. >> marriage is between one man and one woman. >> more than 30 states either by statute or constitutional amendment have defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. >> marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. >> i believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. >> marriage, itself, is a relationship between a man and a woman. >> it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >>> it's

also msnbc political analyst karen finney and leo gerard, president of the united steelworkers international. great to have all of you with us. karen, politically we're in unchartered territory. political winners and losers, why can't washington do this deal? >> well, i think the problem that the president has had is he is trying to negotiate with people who aren't actually interested in negotiating. i mean, the president has been very clear all along that he wanted a balanced approach. we all know the talking points by now. and the republicans, though, they were pretty clear after they did that deal in the fall where they said we're not going to do any more revenue. i think most of us thought they were going to see the light and sort of not get us to this point. but then we realized that the tea party guys think this is a great thing. and now they've all tried to reframe the message as, hey, these cuts, at least we're cutting spending without really thinking about what the impact of those cuts are going to be. >> mr. gerard, isn't this the president that campaigned on sticking up for the mi

joining us now, karen finney, a former communications director for the dnc and jared bernstein, formerviser to the vice president. karen, jay carney has just said the president has engaged consistently with congress in numerous ways from telephone conversations to meetings in the oval office. so why this? because john boehner reiterated today no more talk of taxes. ja let's be honest. i'm a big supporter of president obama but one of the criticisms i think is fair is that over certainly the course of the first term, he probably could have done more. i certainly believe the republicans could have done more as well, but there needed to have been more of this kind of interaction because i think when you know where someone is coming from, it is a lot harder even if you disagree with them to go out and simply demonize them. i think it does shift the tone at least of the conversation. i think people forget how personal these things can get. i mean, at the end of the day, a lot of the stuff that we see playing itself out in front of the cameras and on screen, various screens, is he didn't cal

also republican strategist susan del pecrio and karen finney.sk you first, i mean, what's going on here? is this a communication problem here? you know, why would the republicans pull a stunt like this. >> i don't know why a handful of republicans would decide to do this. frankly, you should be proud of every vote you take in congress and you should stand up for it. and what they are doing is downright cowardly. if you voted against it, say why you voted against it. there's nothing wrong with that. but taking that vote was -- taking that vote and manipulating the day the president signed it was just wrong, plain and simple. >> but here's the thing. this, i believe, why john boehner allowed the vote to proceed as it did. remember, we were all scratching our heads thinking, wow, has john boehner turned a new leaf that he's not going to use the hastert rule? he let the republicans vote on their version first. then they voted on the senate version so that everyone could say, technically, they voted for violence against women. >> and they also did it

good afternoon, i'm karen finney in for martin bashir on this monday march 25th. welcome to what is shaping up to be quite a watershed week for same-sex marriage, immigration, and sgun safety in america. >> a pair of potentially groundbreaking cases on same-sex marriage go before the supreme exhort. >> this is a big historic moment. >> this is a basic civil rights issue. >> our colleague, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends. >> can you imagine the next presidential campaign, a republican candidate saying flat-out, i am for gay marriage? >> i could. >> immigration makes us stronger. it is part of what makes this such a dynamic country. >> no immigration reform is going to happen unless republicans in the house sign on to it. >> the time's come for comprehensive, sensible immigration reform. >> we are going to have a vote on assault weapons and we're going to have a vote on background checks. >> he can't spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the american public. >> 90% of the public want something. >> i mean, it's insane the stuff he says.

. >> with us is msnbc political analyst karen finney and political analyst michael eric dyson.hey are all telling us higher taxes would result in massive job losses, higher inflation, and the collapse of industrial jute put. this week the stock market has broken records virtually every day and now we have a much larger than expected jobs report and clear signs of recovery within the housing market. what happened or is paul ryan as badly mistaken as we suggested he was three months ago? >> yes, he was, although i do love the fact that apparently from what we know at this point in his budget next week, he's perfectly happy to take credit or account for all of the hard work that president obama had to do in terms of raising tacks on the wealthiest as part of the january 1 deal. so he's happy to take credit for that but he can still keep saying how it's not a good idea. that's kind of my favorite part of this fuzzy math. you know, i think if anything what we've seen in the stock market though also sort of proves part of the point, which is trickle down economics doesn't work. compa

with us from washington msnbc karen finney and msnbc from "the washington post." o feel a certain amount of sympathy for paul. he tries to speak some truth to the gop. >> yeah. >> to give them a wake-up call. the country sees them aznar row minded stuffy old men. the establishment seems to be suffering from avoidant personality disorder. they close their eyes and don't want to hear it. >> that's right. that's a lot of what we saw last year during the election. i mean, what struck me was that all of the information that ryan was put forward about how people felt about the party were the exact same things we were hearing from voters all stlut last year. and all throughout last year they chose to ignore it. and now somehow because it comes in the form of a binder that i guess says rnc on it, all of a sudden people are supposed to believe it. the other problem on the other side that the party has, you have such a split with the tea partiers and the cpac sort of wing of the republican party, they also don't trust the so-called establishment. so, again, what we're seeing

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. >> karen finney, jonathan capehart. thank you for joining me from washington. >>> coming up, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu welcomed president obama today, after netanyahu appeared to do everything he could during the presidential campaign to help mitt romney. >>> and ten years after the start of the iraq war the verdict is in on who was right and who was wrong about going to war in iraq. tonight, we salute those who were right. ess pro. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. yes, you could. the words are going this way-there's no way. oh, the lights came on. isn't technology supposed to make life easier? at chase we're pioneering innovations that make banking simple. deposit a check with a

karen finney, former communications director for the democratic committee. former spokesperson for newt gingrich and publisher of "mullings.com." good to see you. >> president obama on friday making clear why the administration needed to take action in the case. take a listen. >> the basic principle that america is founded on. the idea that we're all created equal applies to everybody regardless of sexual orientation. >> what's the message that president is sending to the supreme court here, rich? >> it's the same message that 74 or 75 other republicans including me are trying to send when we signed a similar friend of the court brief that was filed on thursday, and i am a proud signer of that and that is i absolutely agree with the president. polling shows across the country that it's largely based upon your age. i'm 66 years old. i grew up with people that were probably gay, but i didn't know it and maybe they didn't know it. my son who also signed the friend of the court brief. he's known gay people his whole life, high school, college and it's not a big

joining me for strategy talk is msnbc political analyst karen finney and tony fratto, former white houseetary under president george bush. good to see you. >> hi, alex. >> karen, three years later, what is the status of the health care law? >> well, the status is that it has partially begun to be implemented. i think we're seeing in places where it's been implemented, i was reading a piece in kentucky, looking at how it's starting to not just change people's lives but under some of the rules like the 80/20 meaning that 80% of the money has got to be spent on actual care or you get some money back, that's already taken into effect. that's already working. people with pre-existing conditions, children with pre-existing conditions, that's already starting to work. lots of things are already starting to have a real impact on people's health care. at the same time we know that as you pointed out, there are many who are still trying to fight it either by trying to repeal it, which is not going to happen, or what we've seen at the state level are some of these efforts either to say they're not

with us from washington msnbc political analyst karen finney and msnbc political analyst professor michaelc dyson. karen, if i might begin with you, have we not arrived at the most ridiculous and absurd moment when the speaker of the house of representatives is praised and lauded by his caucus not for his achievements, but for doing absolutely nothing, nothing whatsoever in the face of these devastating cuts. he gets paid for doing nothing. >> he gets praised for doing nothing, but he's obstructing, and that is what the tea party members in particular in his caucus, that is why they're here. we've talked about this before. they do not believe in government. so to them this is a victory. halting the wheels of government is to them a victory. i hope as these cuts start to show the implications and start to feel the ramifications throughout our economy, that they might take a step back and say, hey, blowing the whole thing up might not be a good idea. >> professor dyson, i'm beginning to wonder if republicans in the house are nursing a love for say dough mass kiss am. how else do you explain

. >> karen finney, jonathan capehart. thank you for joining me from washington. >>> coming up, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu welcomed president obama today, after netanyahu appeared to do everything he could during the presidential campaign to help mitt romney. >>> and ten years after the start of the iraq war the verdict is in on who was right and who was wrong about going to war in iraq. tonight, we salute those who were right. yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues... with three strains of good bacteria. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ female announcer ] stress sweat is different than ordinary sweat. it smells worse. get 4x the protection against stress sweat. introducing new secret clinical strength stress response scent. impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one

hertzberg of the "new yorker," former dnc communications director and msnbc political analyst, karen finneyitor of the "new york times" book review, sam tanninhouse and executive editor at msnbc.com richard wolfe, next week the supreme court is taking up two major cases on marriage equality. the constitutionality-the-defense of marriage act and california's prop 8, which prevents same-sex couples from marrying. in recent history, this has been an issue that breaks along party lines. in recent days, the view on the right has become increasingly hazy. as a reminder, this was the official republican position at their convention last summer. we reaffirm our support for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. but leading figures in the gop appear to be coming around to the idea of marriage equality. some like rob portman have changed their position for personal reasons. and others, like raince priebus, for political expediency. the chairman of the gop which drafted the gop platform last summer is now arguing for inclusion. >> i know our principles and

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karen finney, martin, sam, and jacob weisberg will look into how the vice helps or hurts president obamaterm. plus, jeb bush is putting out all the signals that he is in for 2016. where does his back and forth on citizenship leave republicans on immigration? best-selling author david baldacci will join us for a history lesson and debate whether or not we suffer from american amnesia. all that starts when -- all that starts soon in 180 seconds. i have low testosterone. there, i said it. how did i know? well, i didn't really. see, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms... then he gave me some blood tests. showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number -- not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% (testosterone gel). the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy, increases testosterone when used daily. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and

without karen finney, joy read, k krystal ball. the producer of this segment.ve a broadcast. what else can we do practically to improve work circumstances for women? >> first of all, thank you for that compliment. that's major. i appreciate it. i think we continue to have this kind of dialogue, martin. we talk about the issues that impact working mothers. that, you know, for african-american women being the head of the household for some. and being a single mother. we talk about issues as it relates to women, as sheryl sandberg put it, who are trying to scale that corporate ladder and have other things they're thinking about like maybe wanting to be married one day. just having an open dialogue is certainly the first step, and i think you're doing a great job of that, martin. thank you. >> angela, you are, and we're grateful to you. thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> next, the gun violence debate from a slightly different perspective. >>> but first, hampton pearson has the cnbc market wrap. good afternoon, hampton. >> how you doing, martin? another day, anoth

." >>> joining me today msnbc political analyst and former dnc communications director karen finney, the "new york times" book review, sam tenne northeast haus, host of the economist msnbc show martin bashir and chairman of the slate group, the most powerful person on this panel, quite clearly, jacob weisberg. >> tallest dwarf. >> for the first time in his second term president obama huddled with his cabinet on monday afternoon. their to do list is long. >> one of the things that i have instructed not just my white house, but every agency is to make sure that regardless of some of the challenges that they may face because of sequestration, we're not going to stop bork. >> leading the charge on one of the president's top priorities is the veep, joe biden, who has been tasked with gun safety reform, but there are other signs that the scranton scrapper may have considerably larger role in the coming seasons. a white house aide hinted as much last week. he will be more important in the second term. he has proven to be invaluable to the president. biden has indeed been invaluable and at t

i'm karen finney. chris matthews picks things up right now. >>> it's up to the court. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. the history of america is being written tonight. the supreme court of this country heard arguments on whether two people of the same sex should be allowed the public recognition of their marriage. this is not a decision about whether two people of the same gender can be sexually intimate. the highest court decided that matter in lawrence v. the state of texas. decided affirmatively. it's not whether citizens of a state in question here, california, can be allowed civil unions. they have, as have gay couples in eight other states. no. the matter before the supreme court today is neither about sexual relations nor civil unions but about basic human liberty. who you want to be publicly married to. our guests, two men of california, who have been in this debate. governor newsom. thank you very much. gavin, thank you for joining us tonight. it seems to me, observers said the court did

karen finney is in again for martin bashir. >>> thanks, guys. good afternoon.th. as we learn new details on the newtown shooter, preside m

karen finney, always good to see you. dawson, keep holding it down in the palmetto state, sir. >> absolutely. >>> republicans are clamoring for the doctor in the house. ben carson's future in the gop. we will talk about that. >>> plus -- >> [ speaking hebrew ] you are not alone. >> that historic trip for president obama, it wraps up today. we will go back live to the middle east for what it all means. >>> we will also go live to cyprus as well, where politicians are racing to come up with a plan to keep that country from going broke. don't go anywhere. this is msnbc. [ slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium-rich tums starts working so fast you'll forget you had heartburn. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't ha

karen finney is the former communications director for the dnc and ari melber is a correspondent for od afternoon to both of you. karen, sunday was the 48th anniversary of the march across the edmund pettus bridge. this year it took place in the shadow of a supreme court case that would overturn section 5. do you think conservative justices want to destroy the legacy of that day. >> it sounded like they were perhaps looking for a way to do so, although i found justice roberts' contention if you look at turn out numbers and voter registration numbers that somehow that suggests there is no longer a need for section 5 of the voting rights act to actually be the wrong question. i mean, think about part of the point of section 5, we know that we've gone from the beating men like john lewis in crossing the edmund pettus bridge to poll taxes to voter i.d. laws to new tactics where they're trying to change the electoral college apportionment. >> or change the time you can vote. >> that's right. tactics keep changing and part of what section 5 recognizes is that to some degree tactics in the s