that's "new york times" columnist david brooks and "washington post" columnist ruth marcus. mark shields is off today. and whether they're watching us on television or their laptop or their smarthone, we're gl yore here. >> or stone tablets. (laughter) >> warner:. >> woodruff: so the president's big speech on national security, he said we need to redefine as a country our approach to the war on terror. you said if we don't -- he said if we don't define it, it will define us. david? >> i think "redefine" is a little strong. i think we're fine. we had a period of intense expansion of the national security state in the early bush years. by the middle of the bush years we'd begun to try to normalize things and they tried to figu out how to scale things back and get out of guantanamo bay and things have been slowly returning to some sort of permanent normalcy since and i think with the speech the president gave this week was a very mature speech and serious speech and moved us another step in the direction. rhetorically it was big, substantively it was uncertain and small but a s

shameless plugs. >> ruth marcus, happy birthday, but my colleague, dan balls, has a new book coming out election. >> excellent. >> i will plug the national law enforcement memorial today in the capitol is honoring thousands of offers that have been killed in the line of duty. everyone tune in to cspan. >> hopefully all of us will be showing a little bit. >> and i'm going to plug a day late angelina jolie for really adding to both awareness and willingness for women at risk to take the steps they need to take to preserve their health. >> let me add happy birthday. tomorrow on the show, a deep dive into the benefits of burdens of running for office when you have a famous last name. up next, chris jansing. ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love. lactaid®. for 25 years, easy to digest. easy to love. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 adv

ruth marcus. thank you for joining us.es it for what is a very packed edition of "andrea mitchell reports." she's back tomorrow to talk with nicki song gas. tammer ron hall has a look on what's next on "institution nation." >>> breaking news, attorney general eric holder still testifying on capitol hill after it was revealed that the justice department seized the phone records of ap reporters. we'll have the latest on holder's testimony. we were told it would be a grilling. so far, though, that's not happened. >>> plus, new details on the irs scandal, including how tea party groups were targeted. we're getting nuggets about that investigation. >>> and two high-profile criminal indications right now. we're hearing from o.j. simpson for the first time since his conviction. and that woman, jodi arias, back in court for the death penalty phase of her trial after spending much of time since her conviction on suicide watch in a mental health facility. both of those trials. we'll bring you live testimony coming up. d? not that we

i want to bring in "washington post" columnist ruth marcus and the "national journal's" hotline editor, reid wilson. let's start with you, ruth. the house passing a plan to link student loan rates to financial markets, something the president agrees with. but here's the difference. the president's plans would lock this rates for borrowers. the gop plan allows adjustment but then sets a cap. when you look at the data here, are these two sides really that far apart? >> it's unclear whether they're far apart, but one thing that is clear is this is a very hot-button issue for a lot of people, as somebody who's got a daughter who will be a freshman in college next year, i can tell you that from personal experience. and the thing that this argument feels reminiscent of to me is not just the last time we had this threat about student loan rates, but a little bit, the issue with air traffic controllers and the logjams. if there's one thing that congress is responsive to, it's constituents who are well-conducted and loud and this is one of those issues where people can be really loud about it.

thank you very much, ruth marcus. >>> and we'll be right back. i even wrote a play about that.y symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. if you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer, be brave, go to the doctor. ovarian and uterine cancers are gynecologic cancers. symptoms are not the same for everyone. i got sick...and then i got better. (announcer) at scottrade, our cexactly how they want.t with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine. >>> jason collins' decision to become the first actively gay player is make news across the nation. his newest fans might be matthew shepherd's parents. this morning on nbc they indicated what his jersey number and declaration meant to them. >> we didn't have any co

and the "washington post" ruth marcus., both. >> this was a fun sunday, if not a full ginsberg, going door to door. it was enough. >> hoping to put this story away, which it's pretty clear, it's not going away any time soon. >> it's only 10% of the white house's attention right now. >> sure, that sounds about right. >> the real question i think is how much more, how much leverage can republicans get on the day-to-day drip drip drip story but can they turn this into an election issue in 2014. the only way they can effectively use this is if they make it much more about the government incompetence, than they do about process. which a lot of the story is now about process, who knew what when. and to say -- if the government right now can't handle these little issues here, 60,000 applications, how are they going to handle obama care? i'm surprised we haven't heard it yet, people against immigration reform. conservative groups talk about this as well. how possibly can the government handle processing 11 million new people if th

. >> i want to bring in politico's alex burns and washington post columnist ruth marcus.lex, what do you think of this development? how could this amendment attack the entire bill here? >> richard, first of all, i think it's a reminder of just how precarious this whole process has been from the beginning. i think the folks in washington, because there's such broad support for immigration reform among elite, got this sense at some point this might be a slam dunk. it never has been. we now find ourselves at a place where democrats have to balance out demands from two very, very important constituencies in the party. immigration reform groups and gay rights groups. we've heard a lot this season about democrats' commitment to equality under the law for gay americans and, you know, in this case gay immigrants. now we're going to find out how far on a limb they're willing to go. >> this development happened in the last 24 hours here, ruth. has a lot of twists and turns. gay rights advocates feel like the tide is turning with many more senators coming out in support of marriage

. >> i think of you often but joining us ruth marcus.nk for the average person they say 300 amendments offer 32 amendments agreed to, this is a process that we expected, tell us what we should take from what happened on the hill yesterday as it relates to the broader chances, some kind of comprehensive immigration reform bill passing. >> yesterday was the first day of what's going to be several hearings to hear all of those amendments and what they did yesterday was take up the board of security portions of the bill, so what you saw yesterday was the committee embracing a lot of republican amendments and bringing them on board, immediately afterwards hearing members of the gang of eight pushing this bill saying look we're including these, look how we're listening to the other side, at the same time there are four members on the committee part of the broader gang of eight and they manage to resist any bills that would really as they term poison pills, things that would blow this out. >> and in a way if you wanted comprehensive, if you wan

. >> ruth marcus, alex burns, a lot going on today. thanks to both of you. >> about an hour from now the president could hold a grilling on benghazi and the irs. you can see the prime minister and the president. come here, boy. ♪ there you go. come on, let's play! [ male announcer ] there's an easier way to protect your dog from dangerous parasites. good boy. fetch! trifexis is the monthly, beef-flavored tablet that prevents heartworm disease, kills fleas and prevents infestations, and treats hook-, round-, and whipworm infections. treatment with fewer than 3 monthly doses after exposure to mosquitoes may not provide complete heartworm prevention. the most common adverse reactions were vomiting, itching and lethargy. serious adverse reactions have been reported following concomitant extra-label use of ivermectin with spinosad alone, one of the components of trifexis. prior to administration, dogs should be tested for existing heartworm infection. to learn more about trifexis, talk to your veterinarian, call 888-545-5973 or visit trifex

msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com and the "washington post" columnist, ruth marcus. chris, you've seen these issues boil up on the hill with the cabinet members including top members like the attorney general. this seems to be getting steam. just because the house is republican led and we don't hear so many of eric holder's defenders coming out to his defense. >> right. >> you know andrea look first of all i would say and you know this, better than i do as does ruth. the attorney general, whether it's a republican or a democratic administration is almost always a lightning rod for the other side. it's just, they're sort of delving into topic areas that tend to be very controversial. alberto gonzales in the bush administration certainly was a good example of that, janet reno in the clinton administration, but talking about eric holder specifically. he is someone from very early on, republicans were not thrilled with. they did everything that they could as it related to fast and furious, the gun trafficking scandal to sort of highlight that as that he should leave off

. >> joining me now, "washington post" editorial columnist, ruth marcus and "national journal" columnisttributor. first of all, let's get this out here. paul jones has issued a statement saying my off-the-cuff remarks at the university of virginia were with regard to global macro traders 24/7 and likely less than 1,000 successful practitioners in the world today. macro trading require as high degree of skill, focus and dedication. life events such as birth, divorce, death of a loved one and other emotional highs and lows are objectk obstacles to success in this particular field. >> some might say that women have a certain connection, bonding that men don't share, some might object to that statement. your take on as someone who has balanced family, children, career, very successfully. >> well, i'm sorry, andrea, i was thinking about my kids. i wasn't paying attention i -- >> focus, focus. >> okay, all right. here i am. what an unbelievably stupid, self-referencial, 19th century thing to say. i mean -- my goodness, first of all, everybody learns, except for if you want to have a world run

we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening with david brooks and ruth marcus, among others.nk you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> more than two years ago, the people of b.p. made a commitment to the gulf. and everyday since, we've worked hard to keep it. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. we shared what we've learned so that we can all produce energy more safely. b.p. is also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> this is "bbc world news." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york,

george will, "washington post" columnist, ruth marcus.eneral james cartwright, former vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and abc news white house correspondent, jon karl. jon, you broke the story this week of the e-mails. what's the fallout? >> clearly, there's a credibility question that the white house has to deal with because it directly contradicts what they have said about this. but you mentioned in the interview with senator reed, that the white house has had tried to have it both ways. saying they immediately called it an act of terror. and saying they couldn't do it in these talking points because they couldn't prejudice the investigation. there's problems on both sides . but one very important point here. all 12 reinvestigations of the talking points, originally drafted by the cia, they begin benghazi started by a reaction to cairo. that was false. they took out all of the al qaeda references. >> they say they didn't know that at the time. how about cia director david petraeus? how did he respond to the talking points? i

but people should read ruth marcus. she points out the real scandal is how the irs has just laid down for all of these special interest groups from both sides, left and right. the right has been much more active in it than the left. but aside from that they have laid down these operation have registered as social welfare groups and they have done nothing of the sort. they have not promoted anything but political candidates for or against. the irs has set by silently. i hope this in a counter institutetive way gets enough pressure for the irs to look at this and regardless of whether they are a karl rove group or somebody on the more will ib recalling side. they spent 40 million against me. it's not a personal thing. i won. nobody is entitled to a tax exemption. they should have to meet criteria, have to sign basically a finds saying they will senator shelton whitehouse has spoken out about this and did a hearing on this about how these social welfare groups are basically not telling the truth on when they file under pen

ruth marcus also writes on syria, quote, saying this.g it. mumbling about establishing a chain of custody. "the new york times" editorial board went after the obama administration for betraying, in their words, reproductive rights and science when it comes to the plan b morning after pill writing the administration's continued stubbornness may please some groups critical to the president but hurt girls and women and is bound to undermine mr. obama's credibility when he calls for principled evidence based policy making on other issues. eugene robinson, our own eugene, writes about the president's approach to congress saying, looking and sounding like the one reasonable man on a ship of fools is good for obama's political standings. i suppose. but he's no longer running for anything. somehow he has to govern until january 2017. what do you mean by that, eugene? >> he does. clearly he had a bad week, right? you know, we do a feature every sunday who had the worst week in washington. it might be the president this week. not his best week. he