and he was put on a ship for 60 days and interrogated. >> that was saxby chambliss. dianne feinstein had a little different take in terms of the high-value targets. this is what she said. >> having the executive being the prosecutor, the judge, the jury, and executioner all in one is very contrary to traditions in the laws of this country. particularly in this ditch away to where there is time. if a soldier on the battlefield does not have time to go to court, if you're planning a strike over a matter of days, weeks, or months, there is an opportunity to least go to some outside of the executive branch body like the fisa court in a top-secret way, make the case that this american citizen is an enemy combatant. >> i think is worthy of discussion. our tradition, judicially, is a court of law is used to determine one's guilt or innocence for past actions for it which is very different from the decisions made on the battlefield as well as actions taken against terrorists. because none of those actions are to determine past built for those actions they took. the decisions

because remember, both georgia senators, saxby chambliss and also johnny isakson voted against hurricane relief for sandy victims. and besides congressman jack kingston every single house republican from georgia voted against helping the northeast in their time of need. pretty heartless move, don't you think? well, things sure turn around, don't they? republicans voting against sandy aid and slowing down the process had members of congress from the northeastern portion of this country outraged. >> over two decades the congress has looked at these set of disasters and said it's an emergency. but when it comes to the northeast somehow it's not an emergency. i can't look at the face of a fellow new jerseyan and say i still can't tell you what the government will do to get you back in your home. and i would suggest to any of my colleagues that you wouldn't want to look at the face of your citizens and have to be in the same position. >> senator menendez of new jersey is exactly right. the people of georgia, in every state in this country, deserve federal aid when a disaster hits. but if geor

lagging in education i'm not putting saxby chambliss on a pedestal. but are too many of our political leaders beholden to the extremes of their parties to be part of the solution? >> there's no question that that's the case. i think john hit it exactly right when he talked about democrats being extremists on the point of entitlements, but republicans are also being extremists when it comes to the tax code. our tax code needs reform. if you reform it in the right way, the economy can take off. that's certainly for small businesses and corporations that have $1.7 trillion of cash sitting on the sidelines right now. could go to investment in plant and equipment and job creation that would create taxpayers and that would bring revenue actually into the treasury if you did this right. so you know, even to those folks that are saying don't touch the tax code, i would say tax reform would increase the amount of revenue coming into washington. that's a good thing because it causes, because the economic growth is what's causing that. i think both sides need to

why is it they were willing to talk to pat robertson, me, or saxby chambliss and dianne feinstein but not anybody else? until we literally bludgeoned them into agreeing to include everybody. like carl levin's not trustworthy? you know, i think it's amazing. >> i don't think he meant literally bludgeoned. but still. this was the really unexpected clear partisan divide of the day. democrats demanding more ability to oversee what the intelligence community does, more access to more information by more people including their staffers. and republicans chastising john brennan for what they view as him providing too much information to the public, not keeping enough secrets. you always hear that there is broad bipartisan agreement on matters of intelligence and national security in washington now. that was not the case today. at least on this issue. and that's not necessarily a bad thing. but it tells you that we really do still have two very different parties in this country when it comes to national security. common wisdom be damned. play. ♪ doing it with a cold, just not going to happen.

richard burns, saxby chambliss discovered e-mails discussing change the talking points. i think her story after what we found out was incredibly misleading. i want to know what our president did. what did he do as commander in chief? did he ever pick up the phone and call anybody? i think this is the stuff the country needs to know. we pushed back against bush. we asked for rumsfeld to resign after iraq went to shambles. chaim not going to stop until we get to the bottom of it. >> schieffer: all right. >> if it hadn't been for the investigations and your show we would still think it was a video that caused a riot and the senator was hands on. >> schieffer: senator reed, i have to ask you, can senator graham do this? >> this is unpress dented unwarranted to stop or attempt to try to stop the nomination of a sopped. we need the men and women-- the men and women of the department of defense need a secretary of defense. he has been supported by madeleine albright brent scowcroft, by a host of alexanders knowledgeable of national security patriots who served both republicans

party's standard bearer when they try to hold on to georgia's soon to be open senate seat once saxby chambliss retires. what could possibly go wrong with paul broun as their candidate? >>> and further news how paul broun is adjusting to a second term of barack obama, senators decided in virginia that voting should be made much harder in that state. in the state of arkansas, republicans voted their state should ban abortion at 20 weeks. this comes just days after republicans in the senate there voted that their state should ban abortion not at 20 weeks, but at six weeks. in iowa today, a new round of polling shows that iowa republicans first choice for their open seat does remain congressman steve king. congressman steve king, seen here in this footage, demonstrating on the floor of the house how he thinks that immigrants should be electrocuted just like livestock. the announcement from karl rove's money machine a few days ago that they would try to stop candidates like steve king and paul broun from continuing to cost the republican party seats in the u.s. senate. the reaction to that announce

that gang of eight, two of the former republicans, saxby chambliss. they had a nasty republican fight two years ago, and necessarily governor heineman decides to run, and he seems likely, if he doesn't, there will be another brutal fight. he acknowledged to the omaha world monday that the situation is different now because term limit. i don't think i've ever indicated that being in the sate is my amber job but those i have to look at it. others include state treasurer and always thinking about it, candidate don stenberg. he's run for the senate four times. then congressman jeff fortenberry. if heineman doesn't run, gop's likely to struggle with same candidate issues as iowa and georgia, brings the number of senate retirements to five. it's been more of a surprise that the two republicans, chambliss, who was becoming a bigger player in the senate and johanns after one term are heading for the exit. up next, the florida freshman who won a seat in congress 20 years after her first try. meet the knew series, it continues, she's got a lot on her plate. plu

paul broun, the georgia congressman running to replace saxby chambliss, and "the times" pointed out todayquote, mr. broun, a physician on the house science, space, and technology committee, attracted attention last fall for saying that, quote, evolution, embryology, and the big bang theory, all of that is lies straight from the pit of hell. i'll bet that plays well in his congressional district, but my hunch is that's not playing well even in a conservative state like georgia when you're talking statewide in the general. what do you say? >> well, of course, paul is going to get a lot of competition in that primary fight. you're going to be looking at guys like tom price and tom graves who have an incredibly strong record of fiscal conservatism. i think the core of the tea party, remember, is not social issues, it's not abortion, it's not immigration, it's not these other things. it's whether or not we should spend money we don't have. it's whether or not the government should live within its means. that's how the candidates that have been successful have won, and i do think there's a mess

>> saxby chambliss doing a delicate tango. he said he would be surprised see a filibuster.the first time i have been surprised. >> that's supposed to be -- we don't really know what's going to happen. >> i still think it's -- in the end remind me of what we're all hagel played in benghazi? it's just -- this is even for the republican party this is pretty -- this is a pretty big reach, i think. if they want to argue about hagel's confirmation hearing, if they want to argue that there was something in that hearing that he said about being defense secretary, that somehow disqualifies him, then they can make that argument. >> instead it's how much money did you make on speeches that you gave nearly a decade ago? >> all that stuff needs to be looked into, you know, income and you want to know who is in whose pocket, et cetera, et cetera, but i think those questions were baseless. >> they asked for above and beyond what has ever been asked before previously. >> yes. >> that's part of carl levin's point. >> the theme of our show today -- is gridlock a dysfunction? this is a pretty

georgia republican saxby chambliss asked whether hagel still supports direct talks with the islamic republic i think the president has gone as far as he should go publicly on that. he said clearly, in his words, that he has israel's back. he said his policy is not to allow the iranians to get a nuclear weapon. if in fact the military option is the only one required, i think we're always on higher ground in every way, ternational law, domestilaw, people of the world, people of the region to be with us on this, if we have tried and if we have gone through every possibility to resolve this in a responsible, peaceful way, rather than going to war. >> reporter: if he's confirmed, one of hagel's first challenges could be tens of billions of dollars in automatic defense spending cuts, starting in early march. he warned today of serious harm, unless congress acts to prevent those. >> when you hang that kind of uncertainty over any institution, but especially the institution charged with national security in our country, it's very dangerous. >> woodruff: by day's end, it was unclear exactly what hage

run for the georgia senate seat held by retiring -- i used to think this guy was right wing -- saxby chamblissbroun said this, i think the only constitution that barack obama upholds is the soviet constitution, not this one. he has no concept of this one, though he claimed to be a constitutional lawyer. steve king who suggested president obama's parents may have announced his birth by telegram from africa. he's the leading pick for an iowa senate seat. can your party stop its candidates being taken up by nuts? >> i think for washington people to say to grassroots activists we have to tell you how you're going to make your pick is a big mistake. >> how do you stop these groups from winning? >> you know what you need to do? you need to educate the voter and get back to the -- >> get them with the right majors. >> hit them with the right -- >> and marco rubio is a great example of somebody who was an alternative candidate. you throw the baby out with the bath water. i don't think you can mandate for that from the top down whether it's the democratic party or republican party. >> how do you avoid

. >> reporter: but republican saxby chambliss of georgia wanted to know if brennan stood by previousments that harsh interrogations produced results. >> in a november 2007 interview you said that info from the interrogation techniques quote saved lives close quote. but you also say that c.i.a. should be out of the detention business, the main benefit that your view seems to be that even if we could save american lives by detaining more terrorists using only traditional techniques it would be better to kill them with a drone or let them go free rather than detain them, can you explain the logic in that argument? >> i respectfully disagree with that senator, i never believe it's better to kill a terrorist than to detain him, we want to detain as many terrorists as possible so we can elicit the intelligence from them in an appropriate manner so that we can disrupt follow on terrorist attacks. i clearly had the impression as you say when i was quoted in 2007 that there was valuable intel that came out from those interrogation sessions, that's why i did say that they save lives. i must te

brown is currently the only republican officially running to replace saxby chambliss. >>> meanwhile,carolina, republican senator lindsey graham's allies are planning to form a super pac to help his re-election campaign. graham's recent voting record has drawn some anger from conservatives, specifically the club for growth, and has led to speculation that the senator could have a tough primary next year. we'll see. some of the bigger, most likely challengers have said no, but if it happens, the new super pac gives more resources to graham, in addition to his already growing $4.4 million actual campaign account. and finally, nbc news has learned that general john allen is likely to withdraw his nomination to be the next nato supreme allied commander in europe. it's unclear why allen plans to withdraw, but several military officials told nbc news that he does not want to drag his family through a public process that could bring up e-mails that came to light during the resignation of cia director david petraeus. allen exchanged e-mails with tampa socialite joe kelly, and even though a su

saxby chambliss is leaving. john d. rockefeller leaving in west virginia. the leading goper is shelly -- murdock, again, we have this example time and time again the seat is offered up. the arch conservatives get their guy, and then maybe ashley judd or someone like her, some democrat from who, what, where, when, how comes in and ends up winning the seat. >> charlize theron is -- >> from south africa. >> oh, sorry. >> there needs to be a reconciliation here, right? as the party becomes more -- the battle lines are drawn with firmer and firmer markers, if you will, how do you build the tent big enough? >> if every republican who looks toward the center and we just have a crazy right, this is not good for our democracy. i mean, that's the bottom line with those constituents. >> iran, you're a betting woman, aren't you? >> could be. >> you could be for this moment in this television moment. how worried does mitch mcconnell need to be? >> by ashley judd? i think -- >> in general. in general. but, yes, probably. >> i think ashley judd is -- she has her masters f