. >> brown: and on this fourth of july, ruth marcus and michael gerson, substituting for mark shields and david brooks, are here to analyze the week's news. those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved, staying engaged. they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. >> united healthcare-- online at uhc.com. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the united states observes 238 years of independence today and except

here to talk about all of this and our daily fix, washington post editorial columnist ruth marcus andolly ball, political writer at the atlantic. great to see you both. ruth, henry is a democratic congressman on their side, so the fact is that he was shocked at the president's decision to shoot pool and drink beer with the governor of colorado, governor hickenlooper last night. if you're not going to go to the border, this is not the moment to do that photo op. >> or if you're going to be in the neighborhood, you have to do that kind of photo op. any way you look at it, the polite way to see it is it's a little mystifying that the president obviously does not want to be seen assessing the situation, meeting with some of these children and families that are streaming across the border. and it's a little bit weird because it seems like he is already in the hole and he's keeping on digging. >> this is what -- a little bit of what the congressman said to us, molly. >> the optics and the sepsense of it is he should show up at the border. he can just look aloof and detached and not go to th

joining me for the daily fix, ruth marcus. this is what some might commonly call a catfight. >> if the cats were of a different gender, they might. and as i was -- first of all it was kind of a nice line. boom. but think about if it had been two women politicians talking to each other that way. or even one male talking about a woman's glasses. only men can get away with that kind of thing, i think. >> but the realan taganism is that rand paul is gaining a lot of weight as the most active republican on the preprimary, pre-election phase. and the one sort of draw back he has among traditional republicans is the isolationist aspect of his foreign policy. >> you know, it is among traditional republicans a draw back but it may be very much in keeping with the set of voters that he is appealing to. he has been a little looser on immigration. a little looser on some social issues. and sort of his libertarian streak comes out there. so he's been appealing to a sort of, what i think of as the potential younger republican demographic. a

chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com and ruth marcus.ou have young adults -- >> i call them teenagers. >> chris cillizza, you have a few years to go with your kids. >> i do. >> this is an issue for families across america, not just politicians. let's talk about pot, the issue. you said something on "meet the press" about the data on the effect on intelligence and on iq. >> i would like to say that first of all, we are engaging in a massive social experiment and we really don't know the implications of it. because the data are limited because we've been dealing with an illegal substance. however, there are studies that show on average a loss for adolescence. the big concern here for me is adolescent drug use. for adolescents who are significant users of marijuana, there is an average eight-point drop in iq. and what i said was, and i'll say it here, too, you can afford to lose eight iq points but i can't. and for those that -- i want to make two other points ra s real quickly. for those that say all these laws would make it illegal to obt

we don't debate anything nowadays. >> ruth marcus -- >> i'm champing at the bit. >> like harry reid,o, no, no votes. >> there is a legitimate for debate on the floor. that said, i do believe that ted cruz must be texan for chutzpah, because for ted cruz of all people to be complaining about obstructionism and lamenting dysfunction when he's been the chief architect of that, with a ridiculous all night filibuster to stop a bill that everybody understood was going to pass. complaining now in terms of immigration, that he won't vote for any immigration money if we don't undo some president's previous acts for the dreamers. i'm going to lump in your other guest, as long as i'm on my roll here, to listen to paul ryan saying the senate chose not to legislate when everybody understands the senate's immigration bill, allowed to go to the house floor, would pass. okay, done. >> one of the things, david, i see when i talk to people around the country, until the incentives are changed, a desire for some compromise or even meeting challenges that americans want dealt with, will not get done beca

roundtable, ruth marcus columnist for "washington post," david brooks, henderson, political reporterhington post." welcome back. so many intractable problems overseas. why don't we tackle something few people can agree on at home, that's marijuana. "new york times" this morning with a major statement, lead editorial calling for the legalization of marijuana by "the new york times." a portion of the editorial board piece this morning. there are no perfect answers to people's legitimate concerns about marijuana use. but neither are there answers about tobacco or alcohol. we believe that on every level, health effects, the impact on society, law and order issues, the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization that will put decisions on whether to allow recreational or medical production in use with where it belongs at the state level. david brooks, you've weighed in on this debate before. >> i disagree with them on the larger issue. i don't know what they have been smoking up there. the haze. >> they didn't inhale. >> yeah, right. >> actually, they did. >> i have two ba

. >> brown: and on this fourth of july, ruth marcus and michael gerson, substituting for mark shields and david brooks, are

let's bring in our panel to talk about it and more, ruth marcus, "washington post," be peter baker white "new york times" and the author of the book "days of fire, bush and cheney in the white house." i will get to immigration in a second but bush and cheney in the white house, what struck you from the vice president cheney interview, if anything? >> what always strikes you about him he does feel very certain about his point of view and not willing to retreat an inch. on anything. a lot of politicians would good-bye a little bit in order to make their case. you asked him the question whether he's the flawed messenger. he sees a void out there. the reason he's out there making his case is because the republican party is so discombobulated at the moment. he doesn't hear enough voices that he's used to hearing about national security out there. he's trying to fill the void. >> what do you think, ruth? is he a flawed messenger? >> in his own mind, no. in reality, sure. i think he's a powerful messenger for a piece of the party but i think he is associated with what many people, republicans a

i'm judy woodruff, we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening with ruth marcus and michaelson among others. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved, staying engaged. they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. >> when i was pregnant, i got more advice than i knew what to do with. what i needed was information i could trust, on how to take care of me and my baby. united healthcare has a simple program that helps moms stay on track with their doctors and get care and guidance they can use before and after the baby is born. simple is what i need right now. >> that's health in numbers, united healthcare bae systems, inspired work. >> and by the alfred p. sloan

it's hard for me to imagine -- i was just listening to david brooks and ruth marcus on "meet the press terrific layout of their own thinking. look, i spent a lot of my time in and out of drug and alcohol treatment centers around the country. associated with the national association of drug courts, west huddleston, and we think increasing marijuana availability will predictablpre and it has, after three years of reducing adolescent drug use, it's gone up. no use will come of this. they say let's make it more like alcohol and cigarettes. for gosh's sake, cigarettes kill 400,000 people a year -- >> but they're not illegal. >> well, what do we want to do? make another big tobacco out of the marijuana industry? it's another carcinogenic smoked compound with euphoric impact. i think, again, this is bad policy and we ought to carefully consider what science is telling us about this. >> beth, we're already seeing this with some gop presidential candidates already. so far governor chris christie in colorado this week, slammed the state for legalizing pot. then senator rand paul, who may be runn