since 1985. >> mcconnell is the senior senator from kentucky. he is the longest-serving senator from kentucky. he is the republican leader in the united states senate, and some would contend he is the foremost republican in kentucky political history. he was born in alabama, came to kentucky as a young person, got involved in republican politics, served as the county judge executive here in jefferson county which is where louisville -- the largest city in kentucky -- is located. ran for the u.s. senate in 1984 and ousted the democratic incumbent and has been reelected four times since then. it's been a steady, upward climb in the ranks of republican leadership in the u.s. senate. he came in with really no connections and no national reputation, kind of built his reputation on issues like campaign finance reform, resisting a lot of measures of campaign finance reform. got into the leadership and now is the leader and would aspire to become the senate majority leader after the elections this fall. well, his primary legislative area of expertise is

mcconnell has not been just an ideologue who won't move or change with the times. basically mirrored where the republican party has been. george will described as thoroughly marinated in the institution of the senate. he really is a creature of the senate, and the only other position that i thought he might be well suited for a secretary of state, at some point. but unlike a lot of senators he's never really wanted to be president. and i think that's been very much of a factor in his success in the republican senate leadership. he's always been a creature of that chamber and has never really thought he was a president when he looked in the mirror in the morning. i worked on the book for about five years. interviewed countless people that know senator mcconnell. out a lot of interviews within. i have met him before but we weren't by any close acquaintances, and i probably would not have done the book if he had been unwilling to cooperate. the book is not an official biography, but the senator did go operate with it. sometimes i would share with him something i was t

floor of senate mcconnell once again attempted to repeal obama care. now why was it so important for him to stop it yesterday? well, it's because today is the day that rush limbaugh tried to warn us about. >> the obama administration's controversial contraceptive mandate goes into effect today. most businesses including kat lick institutions must ensure that health insurance provides birth control coverage to employees. >> stephen: that's right. free government birth control for all the ladies. so don't forget -- [cheers and applause] don't forget reset your watches and check your calendars because it's now whoroclock on the first everybody reported to bell hooked up to the yaz force feeding tube like a sex crazed. the gangs of hot blooded sluts are ma rawing the streets. of course, birth control means no more american children, and i think that was the whole idea. leaves our women all the more free time to take the loose lady express to bonetown junction. worst of all. worst of all if you are a regular viewer of this show you know that this year maxim

mitch mcconnell want president obama to fail. over the past three years, we've watched the republicans put partisan politics ahead of the american people. look at the number of filibusters. and the proof is if the pudding -- record number of filibusters. no jobs plan, and a tax proposal that helps millionaires at the expense of the middle class. a peculiar called "the new new deal," confirms what we've known all along. mcconnell is leading the charge against president obama. vice president biden tells author michael gruenwald that early on, several republican senators told biden upon to expect any cooperation on major votes. "the way it was characterized to me was, for the next two years we can't let you succeed in anything. that's our ticket to coming back." former senators pop bennett of utah and arlen specter of pennsylvania, both retired, have confirmed that these had these conversations with senator biden -- vice president biden at the time. former senator george voinovich of ohio tells gruenwald mcconnell ordered troops to

it may not be sufficient for msnbc viewers. >> no, mitch mcconnell, senator, the republican mitch mcconnellor him and his party and karl rove. >> the reality is mitch mcconnell is one of the worst political hacks on the a plant earth. mitch mcconnells of the world are one of the biggest problems we have. i think more and more conservatives through this todd akin situation seeing the double standard here are recognizing that really the problem here so much isn't the democrats trying to oppose, but it has been their human shields, their defacto human shields in the washington republican establishment that is the most clear and immediate danger. that's why you're seeing such a fault line develop here over this todd akin situation. if there was a consistency of a standard here from the republican national leadership, people might be more inclined to say hey, maybe you need another senate nominee. really what they don't like about todd akin is that he's pro-life. they want somebody who will take marching orders from the mitt romney party establishment. they want somebody in there that won't figh

that is going to be mcconnell's savior if it comes down to mcconnell versus rand paul. >> jennifer: ift works like it does in the house the tea party is going to wag the dog if, in fact, they get the majority. if they get the majority from a presidential level if you had a majority republicans in the house and the senate that, means that the president's favorite four letter word is going to be veto. >> absolutely. the veto power it is possible that obama will exide the record -- exceed the record that was registered by another democrat more than a century ago. grover cleveland who is the all-time veto champ because he had a republican congress. of course, he was a conservative democrat and believed in -- he tended to veto measures from a more progressive republican congress that wanted to do things. but nonetheless yeah, you'll have barack obama being the grover cleveland of our age. vetoing dozens and maybe hundreds of bills. >> jennifer: i just hope that's not where we end up. let's just get specific though. you have looked at missouri and indiana. in fact, you were making some predi

senator mitch mcconnell weighing in saying although representative akin has apologized, i believe hee time with his family to consider whether this statement will prevent him from effectively representing our party in this critical election, so now senator mcconnell weighing in on this and echoing what we heard from john corning as well, many indicating this is a nudge for akin to drop out of that race which would be an incredible development for claire mccaskill. fact finding mission gone wild. a gop congressman now apologizing for skinny dipping in the holy sea of galilee during an official trip to israel. what kevin yoeder is saying now about that evening that involved alcohol and more. we'll have the details. first there is a lot going on today. here are things we thought you should know. big news as the world of golf meets the world of politics. after 80 years augusta national golf club made history by allowing the first female members, one of those selected former secretary of state condoleezza rice. rice will be joined by darla moore as new members when the club opens for a ne

but senate minority leader mitch mcconnell seems worried that as the benefits of the affordable carereality the popularity of the law just might increase. >> i think it would be appropriate to have a vote on the repeal of obamacare, and i would and hope to be able to offer that amendment during the pendency of the bill on cyber security which we believe will be open to amendment. >> no discrimination where they're charged more and get less. that's what obamacare is. if you want to repeal that, then bring it on! we're ready to fight. >> yes, it is a war on women. because if they really cared about women and they didn't like obamacare, they would still have a proposal on the floor to keep these fine pieces of the legislation going forward. >> so i'm wondering, what is with this idea of repeal? do you really want to take away these benefits from women? from children? from men? from families? yeah, i guess you do. >> joining me now, women's health advocate sandra fluke. sandra, it seems to me that the best selling tool for the affordable care act is to actually have it go into effect and

mitch mcconnell wants president obama to fail.st three years, we have watched republicans put partisan politics ahead of people. no jobs plan, and a tax proposal that helps millionaires at the expense of the middle class. there's a new book out, "the new new deal" confirms what we have known all along. mcconnell is leading the charge against president obama. vice president joe biden tells the author that early on, several republican senators told biden not to expect any cooperation on major votes. the way it was characterized to me was, for the next two years, we can't let you succeed in anything. that's our ticket to coming back. former senators bob bennett of utah and arlen specter of pennsylvania, both retired, have both confirmed they had these conversations with senator biden, vice president biden at the time. former senator george vein vich said they told them to oppose anything. if he was for it, we had to be against it. explains a lot. ari melber, nation magazine, also keli goff, and republican strategist michael maslanski

i don't. >> we heard it from senator mitch mcconnell.e said democrats are making promises they can't keep and they are writing checks they can't cash. your party under barack obama has become a tax and spend party. a big government party which is unpopular. the guy can't get past 45, 46 he polls. i think you're in trouble, howard dean. i think paul ryan is going to illustrate with facts, truth and figures exactly how much trouble y'all are in. >> first of all, mitch mcconnell said "no" to every reform that came through the senate. he's mr. no the entire time. it's irresponsible. his only goal as the senate minority leader is to get rid of barack obama's president e si. that's not the right thing to do for america. that's first. secondly, barack obama has cut taxes for middle class people. and there is no plan to do it at all by the republicans. so, look, these guys -- >> only temporarily. >> these guys are in the pockets of big corporations financing their campaigns that i don't trust at all. >> oh, all right. >> lots of money going into

say that about sums up the last two years in the house of representatives the bad senator mitch mcconnell mcconnell is making good on his promise to filibuster every judicial nominee of president obama yesterday he led the charge in filibustering the very uncontroversial or non-controversial nomination of robert bacharach nominated to the u.s. tenth circuit court of appeals in oklahoma say our courts are woefully understaffed yet rather than doing something about it mitch mcconnell is content on just being a jackass and the very very ugly another jackass rep steve king most of the nation finds dog fighting disgusting but steve think thinks it's a ok and defending his efforts to weaken animal cruelty laws can express his support for animal abuse and dog fighting telling his constituents that quote it's wrong to raid animals above human beings and quote instead that if we allow humans to fight i can boxing in dogs and other animals should be able to fight too well last time i checked we don't allow humans to fight to the death but i suppose king would support that too right you know next up

a mcconnell aide is quoted in this new book, and i'm quoting the book. there were two totally opposite thoughts on how to approach the situation, a mcconnell aide recalls. quote, one was we don't like the president and ought to pop him early. the other was, he's really popular. we should work with him. the boss' take was neither. mcconnell realized it would be much easier to fight obama if republicans first made a public show of wanting to work with him. so this was planned. >> well, i think they very much wanted to get obama on his promise to get washington to work together. and the problem with a promise like that is you're giving the other side a kind of veto. they didn't want to say outright we'll work with him because they wanted him blamed. there are times when parties are going to oppose another party on principle. democrats did it when president bush wants to privatize social security and they didn't work with him on that. they fought him on that. but when you look at the stimulus right out of the box, everybody in the country knew we needed a st

mitch mcconnell agreed to do it. >> wow.hings are getting lower and lower by the day. >> martin, that's the way this speech writing works. okay. they are not all completely tone deaf. there were people in that speech writing room who knew that we are taking this speech directly to a barack obama/tiger woods comparison. we are trying to put those two characters together. is that something we should really let the senate republican leader do and they all agreed yes, we should. and then the worst thing is the senate republican leader agreed to do it. because he doesn't control his speech, martin. every speech here is controlled by the people running everything that happens in this room. that speech is not up to him word for word. >> okay. lawrence o'donnell, thank you very much indeed. lawrence will, of course, be a part of prime time convention coverage which follows this broadcast. keep it here. >>> next, more red meat for the gop base. good times. tampa style. stay with us. >> the guy walked into a bar and heard that story a

mitch mcconnell will return us to what i would call the regular order. committees will do what they're supposed to do. committees will do oversight and investigations to make sure taxpayers are getting their money's worth. legislation will come to the floor. we will have the opportunity for people to offer amendments and shape the legislation and for the senate to work its will. that is where the senate needs to go to regain its reputation as the world's greatest deliberative body. we are not that now. >> jennifer duffy. >> you talked about two races. in new mexico and hawaii, you have strong women. how do you overcome the fact that obama will carry the state by double digits? >> linda is an extraordinary candidate. she has to do some of what scott brown is doing in massachusetts. that is to run on their own brand and a unique personality in somebody he will exercise a fair degree of independence in recognizing the best interest of their constituents. scott brown we know is the massachusetts miracle and successful running with that brand and image and re

party leaders like senate majority leader mitch mcconnell suggested akin quit the race for senate in missouri to consider, in mcconnell's words, if the l'stement will prevent him from ent wiively representing our party in this critical election. akin rejected the idea of pa akinting, insisting his anti- ,bortion positions are a strength, not a weakness. >> ev reporter: until yesterday, il yblicans were counting on akin to defeat incumbent democrat claire mccaskell and to in back a republican senate majority. now mccaskill has new life and nde argues that akin has harmed ppeal tublican appeal to women. >> so i think when you start ying t to split hairs around the subject of rape it's offensive andomen and it shows a blatant bck of understanding about the nature of the crime. >> reporter: several republican sources say akin has been warned if he doesn't quit the race he will lose the party's financial support. ialleast $5 million. behind the scenes, norah, they're not asking akin to consider stepping down, they're actively pressuring him to give try an alternate republican nandidate. >

party leaders like senate majority leader mitch mcconnell suggested akin quit the race for senate in missouri to consider, in mcconnell's words, if the statement will prevent him from effectively representing our party in this critical election. akin rejected the idea of quitting, insisting his anti-abortion positions are a strength, not a weakness. >> i stuck to just basically our conservative principles. and i have a sense that we are still a people of forgiveness and when people make a mistake and they're honest about it they say it was a mistake. i believe they'll move on. >> reporter: until yesterday, republicans were counting on akin to defeat incumbent democrat claire mccaskell and to win back a republican senate majority. now mccaskill has new life and she argues that akin has harmed the republican appeal to women. >> so i think when you start trying to split hairs around the subject of rape it's offensive to women and it shows a blatant lack of understanding about the nature of the crime. >> reporter: several republican sources say akin has been warned if he doesn't quit the

mitch mcconnell some of the democrats in the senate. and of course he is the son of ron paul who ran against mitt romney. now, it's very interesting. they had a few minutes ago, harris, a profile of ron paul but they separated it from rand paul's speech. my guess they don't want the ron or rand paul fever to get too heated on the floor tonight. remember this is convention. >> harris: when we come back i do want to ask you about some words that senator rand paul had to say about the vice presidential nominee's budget plans. very interesting on the heels of his speech. we'll do that coming up with chris wallace of "fox news sunday." for now we want to go back down to new orleans where i'm just reading there have been many more rescues, shep, are going on in the areas where those levees are now either being breached on purpose or they are giving way. >> yeah, and they found out about a number of people trapped laplas, louisiana not far from here at all. where numerous people are said to be trapped in their homes, in their attics, waiting f

because obviously these words from mitch mcconnell are of concern for a reason.rt your party in november? >> i think what we're doing is talking about it today and not talking about unemployment number or jobs, we're talking about rape. though it's a terrible thing to talk about it it's like one of the most -- i can't imagine anything worse for a woman than rape, that's what we're talking about and we're 80-something days away from the campaign. this doesn't help us as we go into our conventions next week. >> chris, i was going to ask you, does it help the democrats. obviously it does. senator boxer was on made the point of the legislation co-sponsored by the potential vp here, paul ryan, and his close association at least on that legislation with congressman akin. >> i mean, listen, it hurts the republicans because you have akin becoming a story, if he doesn't drop out, it's something that's going to literally hang around and haunt the republican party to the election, no question about that. especially when you're already having problems reaching female voters

they can say mitch mcconnell helped us. he was not just the ideologue.e has smeared where the republican party has been. he has been marinated in the institutions of the senate. but unlike a lot of senators he never wanted to be president he has been a creature of the chamber and never really thought he was the president. >> interviewing countless people that senator mcconnell had a lot of interviews. i met him before but we were not close acquaintances. i would not have done the book 50 did not cooperate. it is not official but he did cooperate. sometimes i would share with him and he would say where it might be wrong but he would say is your book here is my take on that. sometimes parts would remain he did not agree with. whether president reagan had coattails that helped him to win the 1984 election. i happen to think there is something to it. there also criticisms i am sure he would dispute the administration and is where it is different but for the most part who i am an agreement with the mcconnell philosophy. there are instances where we

they have the approval of senator mcconnell and me. i ask unanimous consent these requests be agreed to and be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the majority leader. mr. reid: i now ask unanimous consent that at 12:50 today, the senate -- 12:50 p.m. today, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 651, there be an hour of debate equally divided. upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on that judge. it's judge drain of michigan, a judge drain in michigan. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from connecticut is recognized. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mcconnell suggested he quit the race and believes the statement will he fat and prevent him from a effectively representing the party. >>> i stuck to my conservative principles that we issue forgiveness when people make a mistake. i believe they will move on. he is running against republican statement gaskell. hmong >>> kiet do reports on what gives? >>> santa clara tax assessor office admits it made mistakes. the 540 million parcel tax would fund trail and creek projects. >>> the effort to fix the ballot language requires 24 hours for public discussion. the fund could set a precedent but that's not believe that when should be fired. >>> you can never be too careful when dealing with the public. >>> kiet do cbs 5 >>> counterfeit food has turned up on store shelves. the fed said busted the fakes. >>> fake fish cheese and tomato sauce. counterfeit olive oil too expensive want that the fed say is fake. >>> within or bind this type of product >>> this could cause health problems. >>> counterfeit foods are often substituted with cheaper oils and sugar and corn syrups. >>> the bad guys cannot follow

did anyone get that word to senate republican leader mitch mcconnell?a administration the very night of obama's inauguration. how many times these past four years have we looked at the republican house of representatives and seen a caucus devolted to rejectsing obama's programs? all of them.

>> mitt romney, mitch mcconnell,

but, again, mcconnell saying i want to make sure you're not around in tour years. mistake -- in four years. make no mistake, the other problem we've got is it's a permanent campaign. if romney wins or obama wins, there'll be people already starting their capable for president -- campaign for president, you know, in 2016 and starting to whatever bills they oppose and things and fights that we see in washington are just going to start happening because of the 2014 race in senate and the house and 2016 -- it's permanent, and the cycle's now with both cable and the internet which, you know, i was a part of, starting that with howard dean in 2003 is, i think, driving it so that partisans on both sides is where you get your money and your grassroots support so you start the partisans on both sides in both parties are starting to drive which members of congress and how, you know, and what they're responding to. and i think we're just seeing a very, very partisan time, and i think that obama meant it, president obama meant it when he said it, but he's coming to washington,

it wasn't just mitch mcconnell. you saw the names, i reeled off all of the leading. >> yes. he said women who were legitimately rape their body shuts down conception. there are two parts that are controversial. one of which is an attempt within the republican party going on for a while to divide violent rapes from statutory rapes, or from less violent encounters and only grant rape exceptions to violent rapes. so there is a an attempt to divide rape into legitimate and illegitimate rape and people felt from his language and there was also the question of the biology, and there's no biology to support what he a was saying that the body shuts down. you know, estimates are that 25 to 32,000 women become pregnant from sex crimes every year in the united states. >> ifill: what is the significance of -- i notice both yesterday and today, the strongest statements of todd akin made about staying in this race were on michelle bachmann's radio show, ran for president a couple of years ago, has now got a radio show which he obviously has been a great supporter of todd akin. is there so