playing with us roland martin, cnn political analyst. >> hey! >> hi!cnn contributor and analyst for the blaze, will cain. hello, will. >> hello. >> okay, first question the drone a remote controlled killing machine now a hero? outgoing defense secretary leon panetta wants to honor the people who operate unmanned aircraft. >> i'm pleased to announce that i formally approved the establishment of a new distinguished warfare medal that provides department-wide recognition for the extraordinary achievements that directly impact on combat operations but that do not involve acts of valor or physical risk that combat entails. >> keep in mind the drone medal could outrank the bronze star which is awarded for specific heroic acts performed under fire in combat. the question s drone warfare worthy of a medal of vor, roland? >> you're sitting in an air conditioned room and a joy stick and sort of playing a video game, if you will. it's life and death. there's no way in the world that should outrank somebody who exhibits heroism on the battlefield. that to me is cr

roland martin and john avlon thanks for playing today. >> talk back question, is it right for dennis your responses coming up next. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afib-related stroke. there is limited data on how these drugs compare when warfarin is well managed. no routine blood monitoring means bob can spend his extra time however he likes. new zealand! xarelto® is just one pill a day, taken with the evening meal. and with no dietary restrictions, bob can eat the healthy foo

the question trayvon martin one year later what have you learned. rolandwrote a piece entitled request "trayvon martin did not die in vain" writing "even though the trial of zimmerman won't take place until june, almost 16 months after the fatal shooting of trayvon a lot of things have changed are in the process of being debated." what are some of those things? >> first thing a lot of us had no idea about stand your ground law and how they were significant across the country. the american legislative exchange counsel a group we learned as a result of this they were actually behind these kinds of laws, behind voter i.d. laws and after change.org lost, the companies pulled back and said we're going to stop doing some of these different things. we also of course remember at the department of justice they're investigating the sanford police department because of their actions as well, it is also caused people to recognize that they have to pay attention to local races like district attorney, and prosecutor, those kind of races and local judges because that's w

. >> i want to bring in our political analyst, roland martin and douglas brinkley. >> roland, it lookse believe that is true and what is potentially the dangerous of that? >> suzanne, i've been talking to a number of civil rights advocates and they have been warningi warning this for the past six to mine months. and so for them to now be looking at it again four years later, they believe they are going to do that. it's amazing at the rosa parks statue unveiling. here you have republicans and democrats talking about rosa marks and fighting for the right to vote and just across the street you have the supreme security court hearing this case. many are fearful they are going to absolutely do that and we saw the voter suppression last year. the vra stopped voter i.d. taxes in texas. this is a huge issue that cannot be ignored. >> we saw the head of the naacp weighing in there outside of the courthouse. how is he responding to the case that some folks are making that it's a hold-over from the civil rights era and it's not necessary? >> here's the deal. look at last year. look at what happen

roland martin will join us in a moment. analyst and chris john farley, editorial director of digital features of "the wall street journal." and john berman as well. let's talk commercials. thumbs up overall for the ads last night, or you think create 'til they were a little -- >> i thought it was a mediocre showing. the game was better than the commercials, not what usually happens. people pay a lot of money for these commercials, $3. mi8 milln per 30-second spot. i thought the jeep ad with oprah winfrey had some emotion. god made a farmer pulled at the heartstrings, but nothing -- >> i thought they were good. i thought it was funny. i think a lot of people tune in to the super bowl for the ads. i know that. you told us plenty of times that football is not your thing. >> rugby now -- >> i thought they were humorous, funny. >> some were good. remember after 9/11? the quality of the ads was spectacular. so much emotion that they were tapping into. and it was really incredible. and i would agree with you. some were funny, some

roland martin and will cain are playing good.me, gentlemen. >> glad to be here. >> washington's blame game in full effect over the spending cuts or as washington likes to call them sequestration. republicans blame the president for that stupid idea, democrats say republicans agreed to that stupid idea. president obama now urging congress to do something to act on something, not on capitol hill of course but in a series of interviews with local television anchors. in the meantime, some republicans say the buck actually does stop with him. >> i'm not really willing to discuss it in the framework that he's made up for himself. i mean for goodness sakes, it was his proposal, you know, he proposed the sequester. it was his idea. he signed it into law, and now he's going to tell us that, oh, well it's all our fault? >> senator rand paul. so our question who is to blame for the forced spending cuts and really should we care? roland? >> all of them. i wish they would shut up, all of them. first and foremost remember, okay, congress had t

contributor and republican strategist ana navarro, amy kremer, cnn contributor pete dominic and roland martinill the state of the union further divide us. >> no. last i checked republicans have the house, democrats have the senate. they have of course the white house as well. so we are already divided. so how can we divide even more so? what, we are going to form a third party after tonight? i don't think so. >> hey, let's talk to the tea party express chairwoman. what do you think, amy? >> no. i think it's actually historic, that we have two tea party senators responding to president obama's state of the union address tonight. that's a huge victory for us. it shows the strengths of the movement. we have no -- we don't want a third party. the republican party doesn't necessarily represent all of us, and they don't speak for all of us. we still have a voice, we are still here, that's why we asked senator rand paul to give the tea party response to the state of the union. this is a third consecutive year we have done this. it's not like we are doing this for the first time and are trying to ste

> today's panel of fabulous people, will cain, cnn contributor and columnist for theblaze.com, roland martincal analyst and chris frates, reports for "the national journal." thank you, gentlemen. >> great to see you all. >> in the man show. >> and brooke. >> so chipper. >> hey, good morning. >> wouldn't you be if you were surrounded by such handsomeness. >> manly types. >>> moving on the story we're grateful for the kindergartener gets to spend his sixth birthday safe and sound with his family tomorrow after spending nearly a week as a hostage in on underground bunker. yesterday the fbi stormed that bunker where ethan was being held captive by jimmy lee dykes. after negotiations deteriorated, fbi agents decided to go in. >> dykes was killed. last tuesday he shot and killed a school bus driver. the young boy, ethan who reportedly hases a. perger's and adhd was abducted and held in the bunker for six days, he is said to be okay at least physically right now. >> a little boy, a special child, he's been through a lot, he's enduring a lot, just by the grace of god he's okay. >> is he is doing fin

our team congressman randy forsh from the state of virginia, roland martin and ron brownstein and johnge to a large degree after performing a third successful nuclear test. u.s. intelligence estimating the blast was several kilotons in size, caused a 5.1 earthquake in the region. the country's minister says the test was a defensive measure against what he calls hostile activity from the united states and more drastic measures could be on the horizon. the u.n. security council called an emergency meeting that will take place in an hour. jill dougherty is live at the state department. what is the u.s. response, jill? >> reporter: first of all they're trying to find out obviously the explosion took place but they want to know what kind of explosion, what kind of material did they use, auranium or plutonium and how big it is. the indications are it was bigger than was expected last night, but president obama, no question, condemning it, that it was a very provocative and he did issue a statement in which he said north korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs constitute a thre

now roland martin on the other hand, president obama yesterday going down to leesberg village to joinissues retreat. a lot to talk to them about there, sequester, the president talking about the republican budget and other issues. joining us from leesberg virginia, from vermont, congressman peter welch. good morning, congressman. >> good morning >> bill: always good to have you with us. thank you. so how was the president received yesterday? >> you know, he was extremely well, short answer. you know, since the inauguration, he's just had a lot of confidence and fully em embraced the victory that he won in this election and the agenda. the middle class economy, building from the middle, middle out and the bottom up and his speech was very good. he talked a bit about sequester and, you know, really was saying that if the republicans want to have a debate about their alternative, which is essentially to substitute the sequester cuts with medicare and social security cuts, he is prepared to have that debate. so people feel pretty good about how the president is acting. >> we have a little

playing with us today roland martin cnn political analyst and -- >> hey!n contributor and analyst at the blaze. hi, will. >> good morning. >> let's talk about the forced spending cuts, one day to go, no deal, it's still not exactly clear what will happen if the forced cuts take effect and president obama may now be softening his message. >> this is not a cliff. but it is a tumbledown ward. a lot of people may not notice the full impact of this sequester, but this is going to be a big hit on the economy. companies are preparing layoff notices. families are preparing to cut back on expenses. and the longer these cuts are in place, the bigger the impact will become. >> okay. so, you see how the tone is changing, and does that mean the sky won't fall after all, and if it does mean that, then republicans were right. so, the question, what if the sky doesn't fall, roland? >> well, first of all, republicans were right about it. then when you hear governor bob mcdonald talking about how the virginia economy will be decimated, he's also a republican, so i'm not qui