i have not left the republican party. it left me. cannot tolerate a political party that demeans texans based upon their sexual orientation, the color of their skin or their economic status. >> welcome back. we are talking about the republican party and its positions on social issues as some members are move to go take a more moderate stanchion. that was judge carlo key. he left the republican party a couple of weeks ago for the reasons he just highlighted. okay. gina, with people leaving the party like judge key, do you think it's possible for the g.o.p. to move forward with this current internal divide? >> you know, i think there is, as i mentioned before, internal divide in both parties. you look, for example, at governor brown pushing this situation where you have kids, elementary school age kids who can declare their gender identity for a day and pick a bathroom and if some 15-year-old boy decides there is a cute girl that just went in the girl's locker room, he can follow her in there. i don't care whether you are gay, straight,

is the republican party at war with its self over gay marriage? >>> same-sex marriage is now legal in fourteen states. just before it came into effect for new jersey, republican governor chris christie quietly dropped his effort to stop those unions. now, some say his action or lack thereof shows a larger shift within the republican party on the issue of gay rights. earlier this year, the republican national committee voted unanimously to keep the definition of "marriage" as between one man and one woman. so is the g.o.p. sticking with socially conservative values, or are there signals that it's tent is getting bigger? our digital producer is here. feedback. there was never a shortage of opinions about the g.o.p. and issues. >> this is a very light-hearted issue with no divides. >> we tackle the easy stuff? >> using the hatch tag ajanstream. >> an antiquated from puff daddy, why should the perverts have extra special rights above others? maria from nyc says, i will say the g.o.p.'s defense of marriage initiatives is proof of how afraid they are of

>> well, i read that it is not the republican party. it's the tea party. and they're activated by -- most of them tend to be republicans, but they don't speak for the party even though they think that they do on a regular basis. to kathleen's point, what we're trying to do in our new little enterprise of main street is to recruit people. we have one litmus test. that is you not be crazy. and we will support you against some of these people? >> how do you do that? do you put weights on them and see if they float or one of those things? how do you know? >> if they can fog a mirror and not spew repeal obama care, they're in. but this is going to be a fight between now and 2016 where noses are going to get bloodied. but we've got to have this fight. because these folks are hijacking the republican party. i was representing a democratic district for years. they say i'm going to vote for you because i didn't leave the democratic party. they left me. i didn't know what the hell they were talking about. today i know what they were talking about. >> well said for yo

this is the national story for the republican party. that is a fight in the states and in washington. about whether or not republicans should just give in and admit, hey, this is what we have to offer. we make no bones about it. we will force you to give birth against your will. they have affected radical change in the states an the fight right now is not about whether or not to keep doing that, it's about whether or not they admit to it instead of pretending that's not their first priority. if they pick ted cruz, that means the we're proud of it side wins. joining us now is president of planned parenthood. action fund. the group is running an ad right now highlights ken cuccinelli's anti abortion. thanks very much for being with us. i appreciate your time. >> sure, rachel, good to see you. we have talked before about the bay that abortion is both used in political campaigns and sometimes disappears. conservatives have been trying to use the issue to turn out their base as the last minute thing in this virginia governor's race. you're tr

republican conference. there is an effort ongoing to break tea party of republican tea party. they are not, the tea party is you and me. they are not going to wipe us away. >> republicans are at war with republicans. republicans are running ads against republicans. ted cruise is raising money for an organization that runs attack ads against his fellow sitting republican senators. this is no surprise to me and anybody who covered the 2010 elections, this is no surprise to them either. you started to hear grass roots republicans getting very frustrated. just think back and just the rage that you saw at the town hall meetings. they are in congress now. they are running not just against democrats. they are running more against republicans. they want to take the party for themselves and that's what this is all about. half of the gop republican caucus has been there for three years or less. so you think about who is there now, who's in charge. john boehner is a typical dc legislator who people think is very nice. that is is a huge disconnect. so to see this to see it playing out and

that's the happy ending that the republican party establishment is hoping for. n't happen next month, but eventually the gop will evolve back into a relatively healthy and relatively functional political party. we watch the extraordinary lengths, the increasingly extraordinary lengths that john boehner has to go to just to do things like averting a default. it raises another possibility. what if this isn't just a passing phase in the history of republican party. what if we're living through a bigger more fundamental turning point? republicans have bp t s havs ha of business for a long time. it is one of their favorite things to talk about. how many times have they invoked job creators past few years? we're watching right now the interest of the tea party and the interest of the business community diverge. businesses terrified of a default, hates of idea of flirting with a default, which is what it did. in the tea party, well, it just didn't seem to care all that much. that leaves establishment figures stomach pd abofigure s stumped about what to do. i can't see h

joining us is now is the coauthor of "the tea party and the remaking of republican conservatism." you very much for being with us. >> it's very nice to be here. >> has there always been a neo secessionist among tea party activists or is this a new phenomenon? should we see these as separate things? >> well, it's striking that it's so visible right now. from the beginning of the tea party outburst in 2009 and 2010 there, there were always ties in the grass roots parts of the tea party to various fringe extremist anti-government groups. and i'm sure all along there have been ties to various confederate commemorative groups and groups that talk about secession as a way to express their alienation from the things that the federal government is going under democrats. >> how much continuity do you seen between the views and affiliations of people that identify with the tea party now and the previous sort of hard line conservative elements of the republican party that we didn't used to think of as a separate and competing force? >> well, keep in mind that the tea party right now is not on

democrat with national appeal, cory booker or tea party republican, watch this space. >>> so here we the first time in three years asking whether john boehner will survive putting on the house floor a bill the tea party will hate. here we are asking, yet again, whether even house republican whose in their hearts would like to vote for the bill will decide it is in their political self-interest to vote no any y way. this is stoery that led us to te moment. 26 hours from the default. the story that led us into the shutdown. the story that took us from one pointless, destructive, maddening episode of brinkmanship to another since republicans gained control of the house. the story of why a sophomore republican house member with no leadership, no legislative accomplishments, why he can threaten as he did today, fellow republicans with primary challenges why the fellow republicans will take him seriously. to understand all of this, to make sense of what seems to be an endless string of moments like this, all you have to do is go back to one specific night, three years ago. the evening of s

is there any resistance in the republican party? >> i'd say there is enormous disaffection in the rank and file. of course, a lot of republicans started planned parenthoods around the country. that was the first thing they were concerned somehow the national republican party in congress was trying to defund planned parenthood. then they went after birth control. they kept going. we think of ted cruz as being an outliar, but the truth is, he is leading the republican party. it's incredible. we talk about these antics to close down the government. totally disrupting our economy. losing tax pare money and yet, the republican the republicans in congress voted right along with him. >> do you see this could not become a litmus test issue? there is no such thing -- and i can't imagine they will allow that to happen anytime soon. can you see any way to interrupt that process where pro-choice republicans might be able to gain any ground? i know you're saying it's not happeninging already, but if you were inventing a strategy for them and i be

. >> some think they can control the republican party. >> are you referring to heritage? of course i am. >> this was seen as the ted cruz shutdown. >> really strong language. from your own fellow republican senators. >> there is an old saying that politics -- >> ted cruz is doing a fabulous job of being ted cruz down the field. >> i'm not serving office because i desperately needed 99 new friends. >> this is a fight that's going to continue. >> i would do anything to stop the train wreck that is obama care. >> you don't like a particular policy, go out there and win an election. ♪ we don't get fooled again >> good afternoon, and a hearty tgif after a week that began in frustration, careened into chaos and ended in abject surrender by the gop. and as republican lawmakers slumped back to their districts, bruised, batter and had bleeding from the fright, it's time for another round of republican soul-searching. unless, of course, your name is ted cruz. >> so you would do it again. >> i would do anything, and i will continue to do anything i can, to stop the train wreck that

whole party is dead in the water. and republican what they said, after 2012? if we do not do this, our party's appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only. that might not even fly in buncombe county anymore. the party knows what it needs to do, but can they help themselves do it? can they do it? president obama today tried to throw them a lifeline. he tried to give them another chance to do what they, themselves acknowledge is their only way out. >> obviously, just because something is smart and fair and good for the economy and fiscally responsible and supported by business and labor and the evangelical community and many democrats and many republicans, that does not mean that it will actually get done. this is washington, after all. so everything tends to be viewed through a political prism. and everybody's been looking at the politics of this. and i know that there are some folks in this town who are primed to think, well, if obama's for it, then i'm against it. but, you know, i'd remind everybody that my repub

i can no longer be a member of the republican party. >> forget it. here. >> i'm now running for re-election as a democratic candidate. >> a texas judge rules against running on the gop ticket. >> rational republican beliefs have given way to ideological character assassination. i cannot tolerate a political party that demeans texans based on their sexual orientation, the color of their skin, or their economic status. i cannot place my name on the ballot for a political party that is proud to destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of federal workers, my principles have led me to the democratic party. i can only hope more people with principles will follow. ♪ change will do you good >>> let's turn it professor james peterson, director of africaa studies at lehigh university and msnbc contributor. professor peterson, before i get to judge keys, i have to ask a question about con kanye west, getting heat because of his interview on the bbc, and on jimmy kimmel. even though he i man misdirected in some areas, i think he's essentially right and brave. t

once upon a time there was no one more in love with the republican party than the south. egrated the military. when lbj signed the civil rights act in 1964, which through a series of events like that, the white house south split off from the democratic party. that series of events also marked the birth of the modern republican party. for generations after the civil war, there was basically no such thing as the republican party in the south. because the gop had been the party of northern liberals, anti-segregation. but when those white southerners came up for grabs -- together they changed, they shaped and he defined the modern republican party. and sometimes parties don't even get to keep their names. sometimes they just disappear. mentioning the whig party might get you a laugh these days, but it was a real party leading up to the civil war. the whigs came up in the 1830s to fight andrew jackson, they wanted to push for national bank, infrastructure improvements. they wanted the federal government to create a situation that was -- democrats preferred the idea of an agrari

and the republican party, it's at minus 29. thing since sliced bread to the tea party folks, but the real surprise, democrats are also loving him these days. joining me now are dana milbank and maria teresa kumar. thank you for coming on the show. dana, your column this week is titled, quote, the cruz afiction of the gop. you write the standoff has been a political blood bath for republicans and maybe that's exactly what was needed to right the political system. what do you mean by that? >> well, look. ted cruz did something very good for ted cruz and very bad for the republican party. and for that matter, for the conservative movement now you showed him being under water with that negative 14, the reason it's not much lower than that is not enough people know him yet. the more he's getting known to the american public, the more negative his numbers become. so he became the de facto leader of this shutdown, this -- and it was chiropractor clear from the beginning that it would be a disaster for his party. he took them in that d

and so, you know, when you ask people what do you think about the future of the republican party, theot was, well, i'm a conservative, not a republican. . right. so josh, i mean, listening to what mckay says, he describes the republican party like a sack full of ferrets. is that how you would describe it? >> that's a good and colorful way to describe it. and i think when you go to the logical conclusion of this thing mckay is saying, these activists hold, i think -- at one level, it's good to say, i'm not a party person, i'm an ideology person, i care about the government doing things that i want it to do. that's all fine. the problem is that you need a political vehicle to advance your goals. and that vehicle needs to be smart and strategic. and you need to figure out what you can achieve and what you can't achieve. and by blowing up the republican party, these activists are blowing up their own ideological agenda. i think democrats are inappropriately down about what they have achieved policy-wise over the last few years. i think actually most of these fights really have gone libera

of the republican party. the polling is actually quite fascinating. if you ask tea partier where they fall, they put as much distance between themselves and republicans as they believe there are between the republicans and democrats. this is why cruz and mike lee and these guys were able to cause such chaos. they don't have to care about whether this is good for the republican party because their supporters don't care about whether this is good for the republican party. that's why the democrats have a structural advantage. even though liberal democrats are frustrated with obama, they still want obama and the democratic party to succeed. the republican base, the tea party base of the republican party doesn't care about the fortunes of its own party. >> that's why they're so perfectly aligned with the rush limbaug limbaug limbaughs, who also doesn't care if president party succeeds. disappointment with their own leadership is what drives the base. >> i think there's an institutional breakdown of the republican p

h r if one thing is clear right now, it's the coalition that defines today's republican party isn't stableast not at this moment. republicans have been the party of business for a long time. it's where they raise their money, it's where they recruit a lot of their candidates from. how many times have they invoked job creators these past few years. we're watching the interests of the tea party and the interests of the business community diverge. businesses hate the idea of a default. they can't understand why a they can't understand why a quest to defund obama care is linked to the -- establishment figures like john boehner are stumped about what to do about this. actually i'm stumped too. because i can't see how the alliance between business money and tea party populism can last. how the american constitutional system collided with the new politics of extremism. i guess i'll start with that point about what looks to me about the instability of today's republican coalition, with the business community on one hand and the tea party populace on the other. it's so striking to me how liberal th

this is not a strategic fight within the republican party. it's a tactical fight. for jim demint to say that the other republicans are part of the surrender caucus, he's doing it for one reason. he wants to raise money off of a tea party that hates obama and this is the best way to do it. >> let's talk about tactics. you go to a bank and take money out, withdrawal, or go with a with a gun and shoot the bank teller to take the money. that's tactics. i think it's a difference between robbing the bank and making a withdrawal. you can still want the money. but there are different ways of getting it are very important. you can oppose capital punishment. you're not going to burn down the prison system. there's all kinds of ways to oppose things. >> almost every republican outside of ted cruz thought shutting down the government was stupid. john boehner warned against it. mitch mcconnell warned against it. you're absolutely right. there's ways to do it. had we kept the focus on the failures of obama care, we'd have more. >> why were they into going along with this. boehner

this is a big mistake for the republican party. the democrats have made mistakes before. ld have just sat back and said, see, we told you obama care wasn't going to work, they may have won this battle. >> newt, do you gr he thagree t speaker boehner took these things to the point that they are because he wanted to stay speaker? >> first of all, every speaker does what they have to do to be speaker. otherwise, they're not speakers. s is a silly formula. but notice what's going on. boehner goes down and says i'll give you six weeks of a clean debt ceiling. the president says, no. harry reid is now trying to redouble the bet and saying not only will i not accept it from debt ceiling, i want you to actually roll back the sequester. now at some point you have to understand this is a profound fight over the size of federal government, the size of the federal deficit and whether or not washington is going to run the whole country competently as it has with the health.gov. in a country that has amazon and google, they can't figure out how to put up a site can you go to? this is a

in his wake, our dana bash with tea party favorite texas republican ted cruz. then what's next for the tea party? our political panel weighs in on the fiscal fiasco the flawed health care launch and the 2014 midterms. good morning from washington. despite a failed effort to defund obama care that resulted in bringing much of the government to a stand still for 16 days, senator ted cruz isn't giving up the fight. and even though he isn't winning many friends here in washington, republicans in his home state are standing by their man. cruz received a hero's welcome saturday at a texas convention of republican women. and cnn's chief congressional correspondent dana bash was there. dana, that was quite a hero's welcome, right? >> they greeted him as a hero sh not as a senator. i asked ted cruz about criticism from his own party, the like of which i have rarely seen in washington including from john mccain who called what senator ted cruz did a deception of the american people which he says he relentz. >> well, look, i respect and admire john mccain. he is a war hero

is right, big stories about where the republican party is going next year. y ken cuccinelli loses in west virginia but chris christie wins you have pro-life conservative governor republican winning in a blue state. that's going to be one of the lone success stories of the republican party. chris christie when you talk to allies and advisers they feel pretty poised for 2016. he tactically made a mistake with how he managed the storm and embraced president obama. >> indeed he does not have romney care on his back. a short break. when we come back, while you were watching republican melodrama white house launched despite reports about problematic rollout there hasn't been much talk about the future of the affordable care act. the latest prognosis next on "now." [ male announcer ] a new test with pluggable febreze. we rented this resort, hid smelly objects all over each villa and plugged in febreze. then real people were asked to stay for a long weekend. would they smell anything? the room itself was like [sniffs] ahhh. feels like someone has pumped fresh oxygen

and that's hard politics. >> i don't think they're breaking from the republican party. i think they're breaking from what they see as a tea party domination or potential tea party domination of the republican party. they're not running toward president obama and the democrats by any means. but you saw the chamber of commerce say in the end, republicans should vote for the deal that ended the shutdown. meanwhile, the conservative tea party groups were saying the opposite. theil straights the split. it's which kind of republican party. >> schieffer: could there abe third party come out of this, stu? is there some sense maybe the tea party people will just say there's noct here for us in the republican party? >> well, i never say never anymore. ( laughter ) i've seen it all, and there's something else will come around the corner. having said that-- institutionally, it's very difficult to get a third party, just the name of our winner-take-all districts and the fund-raising and personal loiment of loyalty. i think it's possible we might have a kind of brief fracture in the r

republican party, 24%. tea party, 21%. lowest favorables for the tea party and the republican party ever in nbc/"wall street journal" polling. do you think as many have now started talking about -- i grant you, a lot of them are democrats -- that there has been some irreparable harm done to the republican party? people talking about how this is the beginning of the end of the republican party as we know it. >> i think our demise is a little bit overstated. i would say that both parties are going to catch a lot of blame on this. this is not -- >> do you agree republicans are taking a lot? >> well, i think both are, and i think democratsho think this is a parlor game, who think this is fun -- here is what the democrats think. they think we'll send a bunch of government workers out there to close off the roadside viewing of mt. rushmore because that will be funny, you know, so i think it isn't funny, and i think that democrats and republicans are going to catch blame. so i don't want to be here. i don't see this as winning or

the republican party, the entire republican party, checks in at minus 29.hat's the end of the world. that's terrible! that's 28 points south of the democrats on the favorable/unfavorable scale. that doesn't exist in two-party states. the republican party has never polled lower than they are polling right now in the history of this poll. why do people dislike them so much right now? well, in the same poll, 70% of people say republicans are putting their own political agenda ahead of what is good for the country. these are horrifying, finger vision numbers for republicans. these numbers in tonight's brand-new nbc/"wall street journal" poll. and these arrived on top of yesterday's gallup numbers, which were also historically bad numbers for the republicans. the gallup survey, over the last 20 years, shows that in the past 20 years, republicans have really never been as unpopular as they were in that moment, in december 1999, when they voted to impeach president clinton. i mean, nothing could compare to -- december 1998, sorry. nothing could compare to the plun

. >> the tea party strategy has been very much to either actually run candidates or to cut deals with more moderate republicans further to the right, we will run a candidate against you. in some ways we live in an increasingly one-party democracy. what i mean by that is when you look at everything from cities to congressional districts, there are often parties that dominate completely. all you have to do is win the primary to survive. so in that case, the tea party has pursued what is a very logical and powerful strategy of not just running candidates, but even the threat will often move existing republican party members to the right. and so it will be very curious to see if we see a move to the right by some of the existing, more moderate republicans in congress. >> fear and intimidation is an interesting motivator. guys, thanks so much for your time. i appreciate it. you can find more from our panel on our website, msnbc.com/thomas-roberts. >>> today's producer picks, oil rig workers lip synching toto's "africa." ♪ i hear the drums echoing tonight, cheers only whispers of some quiet conversation ♪ ♪ she's co

the republican party.l we pay our debts? are we going to keep the government operate something can we govern effectively? the tea doesn't think we need to do any of that. each member of the tea party caution has to make a deposition to work within the system or bust up the system. if they want to bust up they might as well start their own party. i for john boehner his biggest problem is he doesn't have control over if the conference, he doesn't actually -- he's a speak, but doesn't have enough votes voyt t to actually run an. the tea party caucus north on his team. >> how is the broader gop manage these tpoepgz in. folks? >> how they do it by winning primaries, making sure that there is rational republicans running in every primary and that if these crazy guys get out there and say they are not going to support the leadership, not going to support the party, that they lose in the primary system. you know, we have seen what happens now when you have completely dysfunctional government. it doesn't work. and

this is not a strategic fight within the republican party. it's a tactical fight. for jim demint to say that the other republicans are part of the surrender caucus, he's doing it for one reason. he wants to raise money off of a tea party that hates obama and this is the best way to do it. >> let's talk about tactics. you go to a bank and take money out, or you go with a bank and shoot the bank teller to take the money b. that's tactics. i think it's a difference between robbing the bank and making a withdrawal. you can oppose capital punishment. you're not going to burn down the prison system. there's ways to oppose something. >> all republicans outside of ted cruz thought shutting down the government was stupid. john boehner warned against it. mitch mcconnell warned against it. there's ways to do it. had we kept the focus on the failures of obama care, we'd have more. >> why were they into going along with this. why did they sustain this to fight for something and averting for it if they didn't have another approach. >> because this is where the strategy is. >> the

for a while, these progressive republicans and conservative democrats stuck with their party heritage. but steadily over the ensuing decades, liberal northerners migrated to the democrats, conservative southerners to the republicans. each party became more ideologically uniform. voters recognized this shift. 40 years ago, a third of voters would split their votes for congress and for the president between the two parties. they were ticket splitters. back then both democrats and republicans appealed to the same individual voter. compare that last year when not even one in ten voters split their votes between the parties, a record low. if you're right of center today, if you identify with the conservative tribe, with red america, there is velittle reas to vote otherwise. if you're with blue america, there is very little reason for you to vote anything but democratic. the parties have basically sorted themselves out which leaves few natural bipartisan coalitions in congress anymore. one party believes in the right to abortion, the other doesn't. one party believes in large cuts to the so

i think ted cruz is a de facto leader of one wing of the republican party. war. but there's a deep distinction in the party today. you look at the folks who might run in 2016, you see ted cruz, marco rubio, rand paul. possibly chris christie on the other side of the ledger. there is a deep divide in folks sbsds in governing and people who are much more interested in grandstanding about purity and planting the flag and playing to their base. that divide is deep. there's a lot of bad blood. and in these fissures, beneath the republican party right now, there's no question that ted cruz in less than one year has emerged as a leader of that wing of the republican party. >> you're one of the smarter people i know. i want you to put odds on a deal happening, the debt ceiling, a deal happening in the next few days. is the optimism we heard overnight, is that enough to carry this through, do you think? >> i -- you know, looking at washington today, whenever you hope for a deal, and i am an optimist, but it's hope over experience. they have found a way to screw thing