and in washington, senior political editor and white house correspondent for "the huffington post" sam stein. we also have editor for "the washington post" david ignatius. with all going on in ukraine, glad you're in early this morning. >> an eventful weekend. willie, happy belated birthday for you. >> thank you. it was a great saturday. it was a derby/birthday combo.

sam stein on the board.ing, a proposal to video tape gun sales was introduced by what major midwest city mayor. >> rahm emanuel. >> 100 points. >> am i dominating here? >> president obama announced tuesday that he plans to withdraw american troops from afghanistan by when? >> 2016. >> that is correct. 100 points for sam. on wednesday paul ryan told a gathering of republicans flight attendants mistook him. >> anthony weiner. >> that's correct. stop the clock, sam. that's the video bonus trigger. i got some exciting news for you. because you answered that question right, you will have a chance to add more points to your score. we asked to read a famous political quote. all you have to do is identify who said it and you'll receive an extra 100 points. there's no penalty for guessing. take a look at our monitor for the first video bonus question. >> chris matthews here with this week's up against the clock quote. who ended his presidential campaign at the 1980 democratic national convention with these words. for

>> do you think if you look at obamacare more broadly as sam stein pointed out in the last hour, it's difficult to talk about national polls because each state is different this time around. but if you talk to republicans they feel there's a wind at their back. how do you feel about the senate? >> i feel we're going to keep the senate. >> you do? >> yeah. you look at the four key races. alaska, arkansas, louisiana, north carolina where we have incumbents in red states. they're ahead in each one. even kay hagen is ahead by two, but she's had $12 million of unanswered commercials against her. and she hasn't even begun to put on her positives or go after her opponent whoever it's going to be negatives. so i think if you look -- this is how it always is. nationally it looks better for republicans right now. mainly because middle class incomes are declining. what we talked about here. and the public is sour. >> all right. >> but state by state looks much better for us. we will keep the senate. >> texas governor rick perry -- i want you to stay for this one -- has been mentioned among poten

. >> political ed tore and white house correspondent at the huffington post sam stein. i'll start with you, sam. there have been a lot of head lines here unsurprisingly, senate republicans, john mccain, lindsey graham, have not be happy with the president's the announcement. lindsey graham tweeted president obama is not ending wars. he's losing them #afghanistan. it's not surprising the three amigos are not happy with this decision. but in many ways i have a hard time imagining a republican president would do anything that much different. >> well there's multiple factors at play here. one is what does the next afghan government want us stoed because they have to be a partner to the bilateral security agreement and second, other republicans in the gop tent who want a more precipitous withdrawal and house speaker john boehner came out with a statement in support of the president's plan and thirdly is what the u.s. military commanders want us to do. the president's policies pretty close in line with what they were recommending which is about 10,000 troops. the problem senat

sam stein joins us as well.te in the severe life-threatening flooding in pensacola, florida. "morning joe" will be right back. ♪ when laquinta.com sends him a ready for you alert the second his room is ready, ya know what salesman alan ames becomes? i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! a "selling machine!" ready for you alert, only at lq.com. red and seventy-seven thousand dollars per minute. that's what big oil made last year... now they're spending it to rig the system against you. pushing washington to cut american-made biofuels... bullying gas stations to use more of their oil... all so they get richer...and you pay more. truth is, biofuels are cleaner, better for your engine and less expensive. washington, don't let big oil rig the system any more. protect the renewable fuel standard. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -

joining me now is casey hunt and sam stein. good to have you both here. casey, i'll start with you, what struck you most about this news? >> this is just going to be the beginning and is possibly the most -- one of the worst things that could come back to haunt hillary clinton from the 1990s. this is something the country went through over the course of many years. >> even with the narrative she presents about bill clinton being fairly positive. gentlemen, my boss did take advantage of me but this was a consensual relationship and the worse trauma came from reaction on the hill. >> the other thing she discusses that i thought was interesting is this idea that hillary clinton was blaming the women that were involved, blaming monica lewinsky and blaming herself for what happened. as somebody who is setting up a potential bid to be the first female president, that's striking. >> sam, how do you think republicans are going to react to this? >> call me ideaistic, call me naive. i think republicans will generally avoid this. i feel there's a general fatigue --

and sam stein is here.ser and closer to being over. >> steve ballmer has put in an offer to buy the clippers for $2 billion. espn reports experts have declared donald sterling, quote, mentally incapacitated, which makes his estranged wife, shelley sterling, the sole trustee of the franchise. she can now move forward with the sale of the team without donald's approval, but donald sterling's attorney general says, quote, he is not selling the clippers, he has not agreed to sell the clippers at any price. that's from the attorney of donald sterling. >> are the experts going to get a chance to interview donald's lawyer, who just said that. >> who has ruled him mentally incapacitated? >> who knows. >> if a court has ruled him mentally incapacitated, he doesn't have the ability to do anything. his lawyer might as well be representing a tree stump. that's the fascinating part of the story. >> i mean, $2 billion, that's the other side -- $2 billion. i guess it's an l.a. market and there are tv deals coming up. >> t

sam stein. appreciate your reporting from washington. eugene o'donnell.nk you for joining us. >> thank you. >> thank you, ari. >> coming up. we are going to tell you how lawrence o'donnell is doing. stay with us. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. i missed you, too.ou. hi buddy. mom! awesome! dad!! i missed you. ♪ oh... daddy. chevrolet and its dealers proudly support military appreciation month. with the industry's best military purchase program, for all that have served. to help people clean better, and that he travels the world inventing amazing new cleaners, like his newest invention, liquid muscle, that lifts and cleans tough grease with less scrubbing. it's a

sam stein. appreciate your reporting from washington. eugene o'donnell.k you for joining us. >> thank you. >> thank you, ari. >> coming up. we are going to till yell you h lawrence o'donnell is doing. stay with us. . whatever happened to good? good is choosing not to overshoot the moon, but to land right on it. good is maxwell house. ♪ good to the last drop good is maxwell house. allthat's it?go out to dinner. i mean, he picks up the tab every time, which is great... he's using you. he probably has a citi thankyou card and gets 2x the points at restaurants. huh the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on dining out, with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards and this park is the inside of your body. see the special psyllium fiber in metamucil actually gels to trap some carbs to help maintain healthy blood sugar levels. metamucil. 3 amazing benefits in 1 super fiber. 3 amazing benefits nehey!r! [squeals] ♪ [ewh!] [baby crying] the great thing about a subaru is you don't have to put up with that new car smell for long. the versatile, 2

. >> sam stein, political editor for huffington post. and ezra klein, msnbc analyst. what more could possibly be achieved or learned through this select committee? >> that's a good question. i wouldn't totally dismiss the importance of having investigations into this. two major things have happened because of prior investigations. the first is that we've sort of understood the holes that we've had in our embassy security system. second is that we've understood the problems we've had in streamlining requests for more security and the hlavac intelligence on the ground in place like libya. so there are good things that can be generated from these types of investigations. the problem in this case is that the topic's been a bit beaten to death, and it seems like the incentives on the part of the investigators are purely political. so i wouldn't be surprised if this -- if the democrats in the house just decided not to go along with it because it seems like the objective's already written out and that they're basically there to figure out if the obama administration had this

and in washington, senior political editor and white house correspondent for "the huffington post" sam steinwe also have editor for "the washington post" david ignatius. with all going on in ukraine, glad you're in early this morning. >> an eventful weekend. willie, happy belated birthday for you. >> thank you. it was a great saturday. it was a derby/birthday combo. >> how much bourbon did you drink? >> you mean bottles? >> you should have seen the hat he was wearing. >> it was a fascinator. >> you guys in washington, you were at the correspondents -- president was good. >> president was great. >> thought he was funny. >> his performance skills are very high when it comes to these events, i think. has that dry sense of humor. he's got the great second beat on those jokes. >> we'll stay on it. more of the jokes at the white house correspondents dinner. >> we cannot believe what these olympic athletes do. death defying feats. haven't seen someone pull a 180 that fast since rand paul disinvited that nevada rancher from this dinner. as a general rule, things don't end well if the sentence starts

joining me now is senior writer for politico, glenn thrush, and also sam stein. sam, i want to go with you first. we were quoting the piece you had today about the fact that trey gowdy's big question has already been answered. do you think it's laziness, bad preparation? how does trey gowdy not know that very yes has been answered by hillary clinton in testimony a year ago. >> i'm not sure whyhas been ans by hillary clinton in testimony a year ago. >> i'm not sure why he put that forth. there have been other questions he's put forth that have also been answered. but it underscores to a large extent just how comprehensive the investigation has already been. a lot information coming from the investigations. to cgowdy's credit, a lot touchs different aspects from that night and maybe it hasn't been put into a comprehensive investigation, but at this point in time people probably know what remains to be answered. there are some questions that remain to be answered. >> i guess if there is something new to mind here, there is one they think new to mind here, which is ma

chuck todd, sam stein, and bill kristol up next on "morning joe."y amazing day. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today at angieslist.com nehey!r! [squeals] ♪ [ewh!] [baby crying] the great thing about a subaru is you don't have to put up with that new car smell for long. the versatile, 2015 subaru forester. love. it's what baru, a subaru. when salesman alan ames books his room at laquinta.com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. so he knows exactly when he can check in and power up before his big meeting. and when alan gets all powered up, ya know what happens? i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! he's a selling machine! put it there. and there, and there, and there. la quinta inns & suites is ready for you, so you'll be ready for business. the ready for you alert, only a laquinta.com! la quinta! for $175 dollars a month? so our business can be on at&t's network

sam stein is still with us.of the weekly standard bill crystal. >> how are you? >> i'm good. >> and i saw actually bill kristol first. and then i saw what they're supposed to be wearing, sort of the hamptons. >> no socks, ahead of the memorial day weekend. no socks. it's only wednesday. >> i can pull that off and you can't. don't do that. >> you're too excited to do that. >> that's the problem, those shoes, though, have enough dignity to actually wear socks. >> thank you for that trivia. >> there's a reason why i don't wear socks, i have no dignity. >> okay. >> you are a member of the chosen -- you are the chosen people. you need to at least wear socks, donny. >> we have evolved -- >> it's in the book of gesis. >> okay. >> certainly, it's in the middle of leviticus. >> whoever that is. >> i'm one of those progressive jews we got away from sock wearing. >> be who you are. >> might you have something to say today? >> i'm sorry? >> might you have something for me today? >> you know, i actually -- >> we have a lot t

read the teleprompter and white house correspondent and political editor at the huffington post, sam steingentlemen, i'm so overcome by benghazi fever the words have begun to blur together. sam, let me start first with you, as a reporter who watches democratic politics, should they participate in this select committee? >> i don't know whether they should or not. the sense i get talking to people on the hill right now is they're leaning against it for the reasons that james clyburn represented or james clyburn articulated which they think the outcome is already prejudged. and they also believe that if they don't participate in it, they can cast it as an illegitimate partisan-driven inquiry and not a legitimate fact-finding investigation. and so for those reasons i would be unsurprised, let's say. i wouldn't be shocked if they decided not to participate in this. >> michael steele, take off the red hat for a moment. and put on the blue hat. if you were chair of the dnc, what would you advise democrats to do in that situation? >> probably, i think, i would be a little bit concerned about it. i

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joining me now is new york magazine's jonathan shade and political editor at the huffington post sam stein. i think at this point they need to say benghazi, hillary clinton, benghazi, hillary clinton, for maybe the next two years. >> can they keep it going? i didn't think they could keep it going this long. >> they did. what strikes me -- you wrote today, john boehner, let's talk about the select committee. this seems to be like the most exciting thing that happened in conservative circles possibly in years, that boehner decided to let his freak flag fly and authorize this select committee on benghazi, no less that michele bachmann expressed her joy over this. because apparently the nearly 50 hearings have not uncovered yet the truth. >> it's like one notch more respectable than birtherism. it's like the michele bachmanns of the world who are embarrassed to be birthers but not embarrassed enough over this. john boehner knew it would be freak time, you know, 24/7 once he let this select committee get started. now it's like he can't hold back the tide anymore. so on with the show. >> because

chief for "time" michael sharer and political white house correspondent at "the huffington post" sam stein. shinseki is meeting with the president tomorrow. is there any sense a resignation may be the result of that meeting? >> it could be. the white house message today is they're going to wait for further reports. one of the most damning parts of this report is there are more institutions we haven't uncovered. for shinseki, the worst part of the report is it made clear the problems are systemic. on the hill a few weeks ago, he said it was isolated cases. he doesn't understand the problems when he testified before congress. that raises questions about whether he's in the best position to fix it. i think obama has a number of candidates running for office who don't want to be answering these questions going out of the summer. >> sam, it's hard to understand what the further calculus is beyond -- the president was out there last week and said, i don't yet know how systemic this is. the i.g.'s report says this is systemic. it feels like he's got to do something and something soon. >> yeah, on

sam stein, thanks as well. chuck todd, thank you.n" at 9:00 a.m. michael steele, stay with us. coming up a round table, and the story of one man who exposed the most secretive agency. how glenn greenwald and edward snowden broke the surveillance state. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ don't worry! the united states postal service will get it there on time with priority mail flat rate shipping. our priority has always been saving the day. because our priority... amazing! ...is you! the amazing spider-man 2 delivered by the united states postal service. when salesman alan ames books his room at laquinta.com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. so he knows exactly when he can check in and power up before his big meeting. and when alan gets all powered up, ya know what happens? i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! he's a selling machine! put it there. and there, and there, and there. la quinta inns & suites is ready for you, so you'll be ready for business. the ready for you ale