that's the big takeaway. >> karen finney with an important message. thank you for being willing to play along. >>> up next on today's show, handicapping tomorrow's big game. everything you need to know about unloading a c-note or even two on that death match with belgium. instead of mailing everyone my vacation photos, i'm saving a ton of time by posting them to my wall. oh, i like that one. it's so quick! it's just like my car insurance. i saved 15% in just 15 minutes. i saved more than that in half the time. i unfriend you. that's not how it works. that's not how any of this works. [ male announcer ] 15 minutes for a quote isn't how it works anymore. with esurance, 7 1/2 minutes could save you on car insurance. welcome to the modern world. esurance. backed by allstate. click or call. welcome to the modern world. but we're not in the business of naming names. the volkswagen passat is heads above the competition, the fact is, it comes standard with an engine that's been called the benchmark of its class. really, guys, i thought... it also has more rea

i had to bring in karen finney again.conversation on the team. i think one user made the point aptly on twitter. he photo shopped his image on to calvin klein, hugo bos, givenchy ads. >> never mind those five weapons charges. >> five weapons charges, one gang charge. one of the most violent criminals in the area. there was one viewer who was like, if he broke into my home, i wouldn't know what to do. would i be really afraid or just really happy. >> here's the thing i have to tell you. a couple people who used to work on my team had worked on lockup and apparently, a number of times after "lockup," that airs here on msnbc, they would get calls from women trying to find some of the men who were featured in the program. so, i mean, you got to figure, i guess he's being arraigned this afternoon. probably a lot of women down at the courthouse. there's something -- this is like the bad boy lust gone astray. i'm not sure. he's hot, but -- >> to women out there hankering if bad boys if you will, how do you put a stop to this. th

joining me now is msnbc contributor karen finney. karen, what do you make of this? >> i make it that the republican party needs to get a different pollster, because yet again it seems like the internals in no way -- it's really hard for me to believe, i have to be honest with you, that they had no idea this was coming. and so yet again we see what i would consider political malpractice. and i mean that quite seriously. and as you pointed out, cantor wasn't even in the district today. that tells you a lot about how poorly that was managed. it also says, though, that this is, and i think you were talking about this a little earlier, congressman moran made this point that the gerrymandering of these districts, this is what happens. because it enabled brat to run a single issue campaign against eric cantor to which he was very vulnerable, as we have just seen. and, you know, to that i also say to people, that's why elections matter. that's why activism matters. a lot of times you don't want to go out and vote in a midterm election. but this is a great cautionary tale. >

we've got karen finney coming in in a minute for that. let's start with the foreign policy what you cover here. syria, doing air strikes into iraq, which iraq welcomes. the u.s. right now saying apparently we're not going to do air strikes. where does that leave this conflict on the ground? >> boy, you know, where to begin. it is just a scrambled egg of problems right now where you have this civil war in syria. has bled into iraq. you are even seeing violence in lebanon now. there's concern about the borders of jordan and saudi arabia. i think what's interesting is the president announcing this $500 million to fund to step it up the arming and training of the rebels in syria. president obama has been very reluctant for years to wade into this conflict in syria. he doesn't want anything to do with it. and now you have two -- the iraq crisis has changed it in two ways that run against one another. all of a sudden you are thinking these isis guys are really out of control. we better support the moderates to create another, you know, center o

thank you kiki and my pal, karen finney. you can hear more from hillary clinton tonight with brian williams on your local tv station. >> we are continuing to follow breaking news developments where a gunman went into a school and shot a student. and just moments ago governor john kitzhaber asked to please keep students, staff, the extended reynolds community and first responders in your thoughts and prayers. students who were evacuated are now being reunited with their parents at an off-site location. >> there was a lockdown so everybody went running. we thought it was just a drill and then they announced it was real. they turned off the lights and everybody had to get on the ground and then we all got evacuated. the cops came in with their guns and evacuated us all out across the street. >> we're expected to get an update from officials coming up at the top of the hours. >>> when kevin knight left the army, he decided he wanted to help other veterans assimilate into civilian life. so he started knight solutions. the contrac

karen finney, thanks for your time. >> thanks so much. take care. >>> remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen and share your answer. we want to know what you think. >>> next up, a group known -- >>> and later heaven can wait. here's your tax dollars at work. >> no matter what you think he basically says nobody can go through heaven except through me. >> we can have a very interesting discussion some time, probably not in a congressional hearing. replace your laptop? start with the best writing experience. make it incredibly thin. add an adjustable kickstand, a keyboard, a usb port, and the freedom of touch. and, of course, make it run microsoft office, with the power and speed to do real work. introducing surface pro 3. the tablet that can replace your laptop. 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 [ f

joining me to weigh in, karen finney, former communications director at the dnc and host here on "disrupt" here on msnbc. thank you both for being here. karen, i start with you. with all these suspicions about sergeant bergdahl, but also about his family, his father whose alleged tweets are getting blowback for being sympathetic to the taliban some critics are saying, was the rose garden conference announcing this release a bad move? should the president been photographed hugging this family and announcing this triumphantly? >> it depends on how you feel what happened. if you believe in the idea that we don't leave anyone behind, no man, no woman behind, and that this was a successful effort to get him back, his parents obviously very happy to have him home, then yes, that is appropriate. i think certainly there are questions, and i do think the white house probably should have been better prepared for some of the questions that would come out. because obviously we're having multiple discussions about not just questioning the president's decision, but also questions about bowe himself. i

. >> joining me now is joe berg, the coalition against hunger and karen finney.ht. >> hey, rev. >> joan, the child obesity crisis is becoming a national security threat. why are those on the other side, why aren't they taking it seriously? >> well, we've known that decades that hunger and obesity are flip sides of the same malnutrition coin. the whole reason the national school lunch program was started in the 1950s was as a defense effort prk because generals came to president truman and said our kids are too malnourished to fight. it seems that the only play in the republican playbook since the time of reagan has been taking away food from hunger and middle class kids. it makes no sense. it's bad on substance, bad on politics. >> the first lady argued this isn't just about health, it's about helping kids succeed a academical academical academically. listen to this. >> we are paying billions of dollars to invest in that food as taxpayers. and as a result, it's up to us to make sure that these kids get the best food that they can get into their stomachs because i

i'm karen finney.ant bowe bergdahl have just wrapped up an emotional press conference and a plea for time to let beau heal. others have turned it into a political football. >> the united states of america does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind. >>> five years after taken captive, bowe bergdahl was freed this weekend. it's wonderful bergdahl's been freed but this was a badly misguided policy. >> sergeant bergdahl wasn't simply a hostage, he was an american prisoner of war captured on the battlefield. >> this was essentiall

joining me now, krystal ball and karen finney. >> thanks, rev. >> they are down to 7% for confidencecongress. are they hoping to get to 2 or 3%? >> you have to wonder who are the 7%? that's the question. >> that's a good question. >> the sad thing is for republicans with their anti-government rhetoric and ideology, in a way it serves their interest when government institutions like congress are viewed so unfavorably. sometimes we don't do a good enough job are. we do at this network, but often times there is not enough attention paid to who is in the way. where is the obstruction coming from. voters say none of this is working. let's get them out without making the distinction between folks really standing in the way of things like a jobs bill, things like infrastructure, things like improvement to education. all of the things our nation needs. they don't make the distinction between those in the way and those who are working to make progress. >> you know, karen, in the past there's been ups and downs in how the public views congress. in the last few years confidences has cratered. i

. >> joining me now, karen finney, a former press secretary contributor and blake zeff, former presidentrmer aid to hillary clinton. now an editor at salon.com. good evening. blake, what are we looking at will? what is the significance to it? >> there may be reaction to the word terrorize, we can expect anything she says, particularly the spotlight on her, there will be some sort of reaction, what i take a step back and look at the purpose of this book tour and pedia tour for hillary clinton. i think in a big way she is test driving her answers to a lot of questions that are inevitably going to come up. last week we saw her get asked about gay marriage. she had 15 different answers, today in a town hall, like most of the country evolved. that answer was very good. there wasn't much controversy about it. she improved her answer, test drove the first one, refined it, has a new answer, i think this is a few issue, i to the her answer was quite good. it was emotional. she felt compassioned about it. those types of words, terrorized are the things she will refine, she will come back with pan

i'm karen finney. the parents of newly-freed sergeant bowe bergdahl have just wrapped up an emotional press conference and a plea for time to let beau heal. others have turned it into a political football. >> the united states of america does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind. >>> five years after taken captive, bowe bergdahl was freed this weekend. it's wonderful bergdahl's been freed but this was a badly misguided policy. >> sergeant bergdahl wasn't simply a hostage, he was an american prisoner of war captured on the battlefield. >> this was essentially, in our opinion, to save the life of sergeant bergdahl. >> we save an american life on foreign soil, the president and foreign policy gets criticized. >> you now are going to have five people potentially on the ground targeting american troops, afghan troops and the afghan people. >> they sent a clear message. kidnap americans, we'll pay you for it. >> are you seeing a theme here? it's politics. >> this is a guy who probably went thro

us now "washington post" columnist jonathan capehart and carolyn finney, a former dnc communications director and msnbc contributor. karensident obama will take questions about the student loan debt issue on tumblr, which mez to the demo they are trying to get to. is it just a ploy to excite young voters or do you think there's substance behind this? >> i think there is real substance behind it in that we know that this issue isn't just affecting college kids but affects families an this is part of the fight for the middle class and sort of that framing that we know democrats have been setting up for the midterm elections. on the policy side there's substance to it but the timing and sort of -- all of that, sure, it's also i would say good politics because they are setting it up as a political choice. is it millionaires or are you looking out for college kids so that they cannot have crushing debt? >> it's a pretty astoout framing aimed to connect with a dis illusioned young populist who doesn't like how inactive this congress can be some of the time. the president is taking executive action here and it allows him to ski