if rice deserved a promotion after thousands of americans were killed on rice's watch why isn't riceerving after four americans was killed on rice's watch. why is what rice did acceptable if what rice is ircome pre-hencible. whatever susan rice's qualifications are comparing her to condoleeza rice is like comparing tony bennet's skills of jazz sing to go william bennet's kills of jazz singing. the person in charge of national security got a promotion. but this lady is the bad guy. that's "viewpoint" for tonight. i want to thank the greatest all-star political panel including basil smikle, republican strategist, the bipartisan national public affairs firm that will never speak to me again after that that, tom doherty and democratic statist rick unger. good evening everyone, i'm john fugelsang. dan savage is tomorrow. we'll see you then. good night mom. >> joy: tonight jesse ventura went from pro wrestler to governor and he now he is considering a presidential run. plus, one of new york's top plastic surgeons is here with tips for looking younger. my advise for looking younger? hang ou

rice and just like the cultivated rice it grows in these depressions where after the rains they collect water, so we are going to look for these depressions. >> is it--do you recognize this area? >> yeah, it's this area. this area, yeah. >> mutha has a very harsh dry climate with unreliable rainfall, where only the toughest species can survive. a wild rice that can survive here could hold vital genetic material. >> they have some... a few crops that are well adapted to these conditions and even in aberdare there are some types of sorghums that would be able to survive and give some crop, which would help people living in these very dry areas where the environment is very harsh and where they have persistent droughts. >> i mean, it's just too dry. it's just gone... sometimes you can, you know, find remnants or you might find a little wetter place than most, but this is just... it's just all burnt up. paul took the original specimen; he took a gps reading. you know, theoretically, we should be able to go back to the exact same spot. it's 1.8, yeah, so we're not far off. yeah. >> 1.8. >> o

susan rice has been the u.n. ambassador to since january tween when unanimously confirmed by the u.s. senate. her new job at the white house does not require any senate confirmation. many lawmakers are still highly skeptical of rice since she was the official sent to five sunday shows just days after the terrorist attack in benghazi, libya, that killed four americans to say that the attack was not preplanned and or premeditated and it was inspired by a online video. david plouffe recently called on republicans to apologize to rise since new e-mails reveal she didn't come up with the talking points but repeated them five times. nobody ever apologized and now susan rice has a new job. bill: who replaces susan rice then? she leaves a powerful position at u.n.. who goes there, peter? >> reporter: the president wants samantha power to take over. she must be confirmed by the u.s. senate. in 2008 samantha power made quite a few headlines who was a unpaid advisor to the obama campaign who had to resign because she called

that's susan rice's job. feel grateful that she is in that job. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (vo) from the underworld to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current per

that susan rice will replace tom donolan.tha power to take over the position of u.s. ambassador. kristin, the image here of the president talking about these two women, referring to them as strong and tough, as well as lawyer and watching the image of the two of them now, the white house standing certainly behind the president's word, at the height of the benghazi back and forth with susan rice. this adorable picture there. we just saw samantha powers' son run behind them. the republicans today, some of them still going after susan rice. >> that's right, tamron. you only heard one sort of veiled ref ren to the criticism that susan rice got after the benghazi talking point controversy. you heard her thank the president for his enduring confidence in her. that is the one veiled reference that we had to the ben gedict x gau -- benghazi issue. these areç two strong outspoke women. susan rice led the charge to some extent in terms of the u.n. involvement in libya. and also, in terms of increasing sanctions, in iran and north kore

susan rice the u.s. ambassador to united nations will be his next national security adviser she has been controversial as all of our viewers know as a result of what happened after the benghazi attack the controversy over ambassador rice stems from her appearance on five sunday talk shows following the september eleventh terror attack on our consulate in benghazi the appointment which does not require congressional approval or bringing rice further into the inner circle of policy decision makers at the white house but the pick is already drawing criticism from some republicans who spent months targeting susan rice for they say was her role and the talking points her role moving gazi talking points that's what you're concerned about him i'm not surprised kudos to all the corporate news anchors out there takes a lot of talent and guts to spend an entire day regurgitating the same trivial rhetoric needless to say if you think benghazi talking points is the extent of susan rice's controversy you haven't hear

susan rice the u.s. ambassador to united nations will be his next national security adviser she has been controversial as all of our viewers know as a result of what happened after the benghazi attack the controversy over ambassador rice stems from her appearance on five sunday talk shows following the september eleventh terror attack on our consulate in benghazi the appointment which does not require congressional approval or bring rise further into the inner circle of policy decision makers at the white house but the pick is already drawing criticism from some republicans who spent months targeting susan rice for they say was her role and the big talking points her role in the benghazi talking. points that's what you're concerned about am i not surprised kudos to all the corporate news anchors out there it takes a lot of talent and guts to spend an entire day regurgitating the same trivial rhetoric needless to say if you think benghazi talking points is the extent of susan rice's controversy you haven'

tremendous respect and affects for susan rice. she's done a wonderful job for the united states at the united nations. this is not a senate confirm-able job, so there's no concern on hisç part in the elevating susan to this very important role. >> does that now make john kerry odd man out? samantha power, a former ointoa foreign policy adviser and human rights, who famous oy clashed with hillary clinton during the 2008 campaign. >>> weathering the storm, the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll showing that -- but there are warning signs for the white house. >>> christie's choice, was it a move to avoid cory booker? new jersey's governor defends his decision to spend millions just three weeks before the general election. >> there's no political purpose. the political purpose is to give the people a voice. i will not permit the insiders and few party leaks to determine who the nominee of the republican party and the democratic party will be. >> and remembering a liberal lion. vice president biden and hillary clinton just among

susan rice the u.s. ambassador to united nations will be his next national security adviser she has been controversial as all of our viewers know as a result of what happened after the benghazi attack the controversy over ambassador rice stems from her appearance on five sunday talk shows following the september eleventh terror attack on our consulate in benghazi the appointment which does not require congressional approval or bringing rice further into the inner circle of policy decision makers at the white house but the pick is already drawing criticism from some republicans who spent months targeting susan rice for what they say was her role and the big talking point for her role in the ghazi talking points that's what you're concerned about am i not surprised kudos to all the corporate news anchors out there it takes a lot of talent and guts to spend an entire day regurgitating the same trivial rhetoric needless to say if you think benghazi talking points is the extent of susan rice's controversy you

recall that rice, the current u.s. ambassador represented the obama administration on all the sunday shows five days after the attack on the u.s. posts in benghazi, libya, last september. >> we're hearing that the libyans have arrested people. there might even be al qaeda ties. >> our current best assessment based on the information we have at present is in fact what this began as was a spontaneous, not a premeditated response to what had transpired in cairo. in cairo, as you know, a few hour s earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated. >> as we now know, none of that about the benghazi attack turned out to be true. and in fact, diplomats and intelligence officials on the ground at the time believed from the get-go the attacks were terrorist in nature, not the result of a spontaneous demonstration. we also now know that rice did not play any kind of role in crafting these talking points, nor for the matter was she the one in the months before

president obama plans to nominate samantha power for rice's job. she quit the president's 20088 campaign after calling senator hillary clinton a monster for remarks which she laterr apologized. joining us now is jown sununu. governor, good to see you again. your reaction to the move to elevate susan rice to a more powerful position. >> it is sort of a trifecta with donilin leafing and samantha power going offer to the un and ambassador rice coming in the white house. it is not a surprise in terms of donilin leaving. you get worn out there and i think there were hints of this happening and the fact that he's bringing susan rice in confirms that the president is really comfortable with people that he's most comfortable with . bringing susan rice in because he wants somebody there that he feels is loyal to him particularly in these troubled times with the republicans in congress putting pressure on and with these issues swirling around the white house. he needs to have chief-of-staff and national security advisor two people to trust implicity and that

so instead of susan rice, john kerry got the secretary of state gig and susan rice stayed on as the u.n. ambassador, until today. president obama gave susan rice a new job, very powerful new job, which doesn't have a confirmation process. president obama announcing today that susan rice will be his new national security adviser. also naming samantha power as his nominee to replace ambassador rice at the united nations. today's announcement comes on the heels of the three nominees the president announced in the rose garden yesterday to the powerful d.c. circuit court of appeals, nominees who, themselves, are pretty noncontroversial but republicans have reacted to with outrage. those three nominees yesterday, susan rice and samantha power named today, president obama clearly not shying away from a fight these days, but how hard a fight are any of these moves expected to be and were they unexpected? joining me now, andrea mitchell, host of "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc, andrea, thank you so much for being with us tonight. >> thank you. my pleasure. >> you and i talked on this show the

we're talking about susan rice.sident obama has decided for his national security sizer he is--adviser he's going to appoint susan rice. there will be no hearings, it will be just an appointment and the republicans are outraged. here he is making the announce announcement. >> obama: is susan was a trusted adviser during my campaign as president. she helped lead our diplomacy in the united nations during my first term. i'm thrilled she will be back at my side leading our security team once again. cue republican outrage. >> he's awarding someone who showed amazingly poor judgment. thismisled the american people and failed to call benghazi what it was, which was an act of there there terrorism. >> she had very poor judgment and went on the talk shows and perpetuated a myth, market a lie. >> cenk: shocking, the republicans are against this appointment. i thought they would throw roses at her feet. let me go to my panel and see what they have to say about this. this is the principle political power panel i don't know if

as does ambassador rice. both these women are incredible talents and i think our country will be well served in both of the capacities that they're chosen to fulfill right now. i think samantha has incredible skills and i think she'll do a fine job as the ambassador. >> thanks for making time for me. >> thank you. zwl joining me now, james carville. we have a number of new polls i want to flow out there this morning to show the current trio of scandals inside washington. raising doubts among the majority of americans about honesty and integrity at the white house although the president's job approval rating is holding steady. in your experience, how big of a deal are these numbers? >> i don't think they're an awfully big deal. i think the white house was pretty satisfied with this. self-identification in front of the democrat as 13-point differential in the parties. i think on the whole, the white house looks at these numbers. >> so his approval rating is up since april. although the favorable, unfavorable ra

embassy rice faced criticism from the g.o.p.going on all five sunday shows after the attack in benghazi and reporting the assaults from a ation. the learned it was an actof terror. president says she's done her job with skill, professionalism, toughness and grace. since 2008 insiders say she developed a close relationship with the preside and advisors. trace gallagher with more on the top story at the bottom of the hour. what more -- she had a long career. >> reporter: yeah. really her resumÉ begins at birth. born i d.c., both parents politily active. her father a memberhe federal reserve. foreign policy was a t at the dinner table. rice went to stanford and oxford university in england where she studied foreign policy. she worked fan international consung firm in canada where she married her college sweetheart. we worked for the presidential campaign of michael dukakis and in the clinton adminison as assistant secretary of state for african affairs. sheoined the ob cagn from the start as senior foreign policyor. she joined the

rice as his national security adviser. she has been a lightning rod since delivering the benghazi talking points. we'll have more on this when james carville joins the conversation. but first, boys of summer. topping our agenda today, a new statement from the mlb players association. what appears to be a huge developing story coming our way. espn's report that the mlb is set to suspend around 20 players, including alex rodriguez for using performance enhancing drugs. it traces back to an antiageing clinic in miami. espn reporting the found e of that now closed clinic has reached a deal and a deal that will tell on major league baseball on players he supplied with banned substances. they could suspend ryan braun, melky cabrera and a-rod and suspend them for 100 games. nbc news has not confirmed the reports, but this statement just in says the commissioner's office has assured us no decisions regarding discipline have been made until those interviews are completed. >> you know what i worry about? about baseball being affecte

now susan rice moves from u.n. to inside the white ve morehere she inncto the president's national security policy. he also bri in power, someone who had beenan aid to him for some time. inee to replace rices u.n. ambassador. all in all t president ieves this is a strong team, take a listen. dedicated to amerie has they have made america safer. >> and interesting that samantha power was a strong advocate for u.s. action i libya. san rice has been pushin behthe for more muscular approach to sa. tmay be reas why john mccain a fierce critic of susan rice and others today to got behind both of these picksan basical says he wantssamantha wers nomination acted on quickly. moremuscular approach foreign policy challenges. we maye canges here. >> ard: it's interesting. i wonder if john mccain's stance that line of attack ublicansst the whites one the republicans choose not t lose? >> mccainou know just came back from syria. took that secret trip. while he has stieen pushing the benghazi story. focus to syria.hed there are o

ambassador susan rice. susan rice by all accounts was going to be the president's nominee for secretary of state until republicans in congress decided that they were going to go after her for benghazi. which she had nothing to do with, but they decided they would go after her for the talking points that were drafted by the cia after the benghazi attacks. susan rice used those talking points in september 2012 on the sunday shows. nobody in congress made all that big of deal on her appearance at the time until months later when it seemed she was going to be nominated to be the next secretary of state. suddenly, susan rice having used those cia talking points on tv made it unfathomable she could ever hold the secretary of state job, because she useded talking points the cia gave her. it was around that time that senate republicans also just started calling her names. >>> susan rice appears to be the front run r for secretary of state. you told cbs last night you will do everything to stop her confirmation. why

we don't know what susan rice like that n that regard. gwen: you covered the last administration and the balance strikere trying to amongst state, defense and the national security adviser's was often somee friction there, whether it was and donald rice rumsfeld, that sort of thing. how is the balance now with the three people in those three jobs? well, in the first term, there was a fair bit of friction saw frequently secretary clinton and defense secretary up, for example, against vice president biden and some of the political -- particularly over afghanistan. in this case, we haven't seen between john yet kerry, for example, and secretary hazel at defense and we don't know quite how this thereng to play out but is very much the sense that the president isn't going to hear as ash contention in the system he did in the first term and that can be bad news because sometimes you need that contention in the system to air out not only differences but other policy options. gwen: if you're chuck hagel and john kerry who wasn't part of way obama

ambassador and long time ally susan rice to be national security adviser. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, we take a closer look at rice's record, the nominee to replace her as u.n. ambassador and what that means for america's role abroad. >> woodruff: then, we get the latest on the battle for a key syrian city, as government forces claim they have retaken control of qusair. >> ifill: margaret warner reports from lebanon on the spike in sectarian violence in the country's second largest city. >> in the past five weeks alone, three dozen people have been killed and at least 250 wounded. it's the worst sectarian fighting lebanon has seen in the nearly quarter century since its own civil war ended in 1990. >> woodruff: plus, we debate the potential economic benefits and costs of immigration reform. >> ifill: and the civil rights activist medgar evers was honored today at arlington national cemetery. we examine his legacy, as we near the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination. >> woodruff: that's all a

anne-marie slaughter to you first, let's talk about susan rice. to begin, we heard the president call her fierceless and tough. how is she going to fit in with the foreign policy team? >> well, i think she's been a core member of the foreign policy team from the beginning. i mean, really, as a u.n. ambassador, she's been in the white house, in and out of the white house the whole time. she's played a key role. this is not going to be that much of a transition i think for the white house in terms of policy. >> woodruff: but, richard haass, she's going to be just a few steps away from the president down the hall in the west wing. we also heard the president say it runs-- she knows how to throw an elbow, that it runs in her family. what does that say? >> well, you know, that may well be true, but what we need is a national security adviser who ready can wear two hats. on the one hand in this case she will have to be the principal honest broker, the person who makes sure the president is well served by the process, he gets the advice he wants, that de

rice with drew her name once republicans made clear she would not be confirmed. >> rice did not need senate approval for this next appointment. the president will also name former white house advisor samantha power to take rice's u.n. post. donalin will be national security advisor until early july and will play a key role in the president's trip to africa and europe and the senate in california with the president of china. >> rice first started working for the president during his 2008 campaign. >>> we're going back to the white house right now. the ravens are coming down the steps of the trueman porch behind the white house getting ready for a big ceremony. we're taking a break and coming right back. >>> the ceremony will be with the president. first everybody will be put into place. the white house staff and the rest of the media will be put in place. i'm trying to look through the faces there. i have a different aspect to try to pick out the players. we know ray rice is going to be there. he tweeted so this morning. we zoom back in to the picture and go live to kai on the phone.

rice the latest, how she has failed all the way up obama ladder. on september 11th, 2011, four were killed by terrorists. they claimed the video was responsible and then president obama flew to las vegas. on september 14th, hillary standing in front of caskets, insults america by blaming the video again. september 15th, the obama administration changes the intel talking points to reflect the dishonesty they had been saying all week. this was weeks away from the presidential election. on september 16th hillary refuses to go on record and sends susan rice out to cover for them all. let's get this part of it out of the way. the timing is beyond interesting to me. it's hot under america's collar. is this an attempt by the obama administration to transfer the focus from the irs back to benghazi. >> bob: first, i don't think benghazi is turning out to be the big epic conspiracy that everybody thinks it is. let's keep something in mind. she doesn't have to go under oath. donalon was involved in this. the she is one that said we did a poor job. i think ben

for susan rice's loyalty, but also a sign that president obama and susan rice areç in sync on a broughtaid of issues. >> i was struck by what jeffrey wrote there. the irony in all of this is the fact when she withdrew her name as possible secretary of state, it looked like she was getting pushed to the side to some degree, but now going right to the hard of the president's foreign policy. in effect she kind of becomes the supervisor of the person who was ultimately appointed as secretary of state john kerry there. she's the one who sort of disperses the administration's foreign policy views and its desires throughout multiple agencies. she's also going to be joined, of course, in that sort of foreign policy epicenter as you described it by the samantha power becoming the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, though that will require what would be a tough senate confirmation fight, another interventionist, a person who fought very strongly for intervention, military intervention, in libya, though like president obama, she opposed intervention in iraq. alex? >> peter baker at the "new yo

the president likes susan rice, he trusts susan rice. a big question being asked by democrats does she have the management experience. the national security adviser has a tough job. they have to decide what gets to the president, decide the order of the questions, if you will. that's a big open question does she have this. you make a key point about the politic, washington is broken right now and this is not a move that's going to help fix it. not a move that will make the republicans think the president is reaching out to us. you had pretty good evidence to the contrary. >> this is sort of giving the bird to the republicans and that's fine and good except for when you supposedly need to work together on whether it be a grand bargain or anything else, right? they will be completely ill disposed to do so after this, right? >> it's a great question. here's a foreign policy person. number one she's been an intervention person in the past. so has samantha power. john mccain said i don't like this but i'll work with susan rice. be interesting

samantha power, to replace susan rice as the u.n. ambassador. she later apologized after calling hillary clinton a nster, and made a passionate plea for muscular american intervention. >> i have seen troopers built to protect the people of bosnia. as the most powerful and aspiring country on the earth, we have a critical role to play. reporter: she was an advocate on libya and susan rice has said that the senate needs to act on her nomination as soon as possible. lou: thank you. ed henry, chief white house correspondent. president obama is not the only to find one in the midst of these scandals swirling about him. attorney general eric holder today missed a 5:00 p.m. deadline to personally explain questionable remarks he made before congress last month. when he testified, he wa unaware of any potential prosecutions of journalist. house judiciary chairman congressman baca block received a low-level denial from the justice department this week. turning back to the appointments today, our first guest says that ambassador susan wright is not confide

reporter: the president nominated samantha power to replace rice as u.n. ambassador.ower resigned from the 2008 obama campaign for calling hillary clinton a mop steer. she later apologized, and today made a passionate plea for more muscular american intervention. >> i've een u.n. peacekeepers fail to protect the people of bosnia. as the most powerful and inspiring country on this effort , we have a critical role to play insisting the institution meet the necessities of our time. reporter: power, an advocate for strong u.s. action in libya, and rice pushes for approaches in syria, planing why john mccain today said he could work with rice as national security adviser and threw support behind power saying the senate needs to agent on nominations as soon as possible. lou: joining us now, former frl prosecutor, andrew mccarthy, great to have you with us. >> thank you. lou: outright, simply not qualified. >> if she purposely lied or knew what she said on those sun shows was false, she's unfit to serve ethically, morally, and she simply -- ii she was about the business of p