saxby chambliss isn't going to marry you. ergo you don't get to marry anyone.ughter] it's the same reason, i believe. this is same reason i say we should eliminate social security-- because i'm not old, and never will be. [laughter] and why should i care about women's reproductive rights? i don't have a vagina. i've checked. [laughter] all saxby and i are saying is nothing is worth fighting for unless it's happening to you. if memory serves, lincoln freed the slaves because he was black. [laughter] but senator chambliss on the other hand is white that explains why he's against affirmative action. [laughter] and he voted against the 2009 stimulus bill, because he's already got a job. [laughter] and by his own logic, no marriage is legitimate except marriage to saxby chaxbliss. [laughter] sorry, ladies. so marriage is safe as long as saxby chambliss never turns gay. which you know, could happen. because he has proven he really only cares about one special man. and that's the word. we'll be right back. #$2ff%qi [cheers and applause] >> stephen: welcome back, every

rob portman was a more important marker than saxby chambliss.e saw in the election is one stupid candidate can brand the entire party because there's a significant group of that party that still thinks and talks like this. it does affect the whole group of them. unless they can correct this kind of behavior, unless they have the good sense and grease to correct it, they're going down as individuals and as party. >> good sense and grease indeed. michelle, this very issue, marriage equality is one of the prisms younger voters are judging the republican party. that's a shift the older republicans are not ready for. how are they doing? >> they're not ready for it and their whole party isn't ready for it. this is an example of the bind the republican party is in because while younger voters have changed and the country as a whole has changed. the republican party still hasn't. republicans may be more supportive of gay marriage than they used to be and still overwhelmingly against it. and i suspect the voters who will re-elect saxby chambliss are over

saxby chambliss said, "i'm not gay, so i'm not going to marry one."uess that clears that up. >> there are two things -- i'm not going to marry one is already sort of one of -- like the otherness implicit in that is sort of offensive. but actually, it's even more offensive than that if you substitute the question about gay marriage for interracial marriage. well, i'm not black, so i'm not going to marry one. i mean, these are fundamental questions about equality. and the marriage question, marriage equality, is a civil rights issue. and i think it has dawned on certain corners of the republican party they can no longer hold on to antiquated and perhaps bigoted views. but it is going to be tough, lawrence, as much as there is progress, there is a base that is very, very violently resisting entering into the modern era as far as this is concerned. >> and ari melber, of course what john boehner and lindsay graham and these guys who say i believe in marriage of one man and one woman, what they, of course, mean is they believe in a marriage of one man and a

and i want to go back to what saxby chambliss said. don't think what he said is something that is irrelevant. i think it is quite revealing. here is what the republican party is essentially saying through saxby chambliss. that essentially that if an issue doesn't affect them personally, they don't care. saxby chambliss is essentially saying, because he's not gay, he doesn't have to care. he doesn't have to care. and i think this is exactly what the root of the problem is for the republican party, they continue to project an idea that if something doesn't touch them personally, that's the way they're going to be. >> okay, ben, quickly, go ahead. >> what i think is absurd about this conversation is the fact that you guys are sitting there trying to imply that i, or any other conservative automatically takes saxby chambliss pill at 8:00 a.m. and we agree with everything he said, which is absolutely absurd. let me finish. you're showing -- you're assuming there is absolutely no tolerance by others. do you know how many congressmen -- >> wa

republican senator, saxby chambliss says he doesn't support gay marriage because he's not gay.hich would be pretty believable if his name didn't sound like a brand of pink champagne. [ laughter ] saxby chambliss. [ light laughter ] speaking of the gop, this week, the republican national committee announced that it will spend $10 million to reach out to hispanic, asian and african-american voters. you know, to ask them not to vote. [ light laughter ] i hear that pope francis is so new at the vatican that receptionists are having trouble recognizing his voice when he calls. luckily, the vatican records all of their calls. and it's true. they really don't recognize him. listen to this. [ phone ringing ] >> this is vatican. how may i direct your call-a? >> eh, it's a-me, the pope-a! [ laughter ] i said, it's a-me, the pope-a. >> eh, i don't know the pope-a. >> what do you mean, you don't know who the pope-a is? it's me, the pope-a. i wear a big hat, wave-a to the people, i drive around in a pope-a-mobile. [ light laughter ] >> you're the pope-a? >> yes, it's me, the pope-a! >> eh,

according to one senator, when dinner was over, saxby chambliss offered to pick up the tab.ut the president refused and picked it up out of his own pocket. >>> last night the house easily passed a $982 billion short-term bill to fund the government through september. most of the no votes were democrats. those automatic spending known as the sequester. meanwhile, house speaker john boehner brushed off the idea that he and the president could work one-on-one to come up with a wide-ranging plan to deal with the fiscal cliff. >> no more deals, no more boehner top-down deals? >> those haven't worked. i don't think it's the way to get to one. you don't have enough member buy it. two people hiding behind closed doors doesn't replicate 535 members of congress or the wisdom of 535 members of congress. or 300 million americans. this should be done out in the open. members should have a chance to participate and i think we need to grow this organically through the house and the senate. >> the senate takes up its own government funding bill next week. >>> former congresswoman gabrielle

. >>> next, if nothing else, georgia republican saxby chambliss leads the week with comments that leaveshinking, what's that supposed to mean? on whether he would change his position on gay marriage. chambliss says i'm not gay, so i'm not going to marry one. chambliss is not alone in making a situation based on his own person situation. first former senator john kyl of arizona. in '09 he wanted to cut out the part that required employers to cover basic maternity care because it made everyone's insurance more expensive. >> i don't need maternity care, and so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that i don't need and will make the policy more expensive. >> that's big thinking. anyway, a colleague of his later pointed out that kyl's mother likely needed some services at one point and then there was the fiasco overstates affected by hurricane sandy. back in january, 67 house republicans voted against providing flood insurance for sandy victims and it turns out that 37 of them have a history of supporting aid after natural disasters when their own states were affected. mis

attempt to filibuster cia nominee john brennan senators ted cruz mike lee ron wyden lago rubio and saxby chambliss are among those that joined him on the floor senator paul has repeatedly asked officials can the government conduct drone strikes on americans on u.s. soil here is holder's response to the senator quote i suppose to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate for the president to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the united states for example the president could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland and the circumstances of a catastrophic attack well this answer has raised many more questions earlier i was joined by mike reg's of reason magazine and i asked him if he finds holder's position on drone strikes toward american citizens to be troubling. we don't actually know if he's ruling out or not ruling out i think if you want to look at the exchange that was that sort of put the finest point on this it was when ted cruz senator ted cruz a

the others are senator saxby chambliss, republican of georgia, and the democrat from new jersey. and the republican from nebraska. tom harkin, a democrat from iowa. and john rockefeller a, a democrat from west virginia. also, a story from the new york times -- that report will be coming out around 8:30. we will bring you those numbers here when they are released. i want to go to herb from orchard park, new york, on the democratic line. your take on the president's charm offensive and how optimistic are you that some grand bargain is going to be reached? caller: none of us were a fly on the wall at the meeting that obama had with many of the republican senators and other people from congress. but if we had a truly progressive president, he would embrace entitled to perform and not run away from it as the democrats have done. in my opinion, the president in three simple steps could make social security and medicare fiscally sound. social security, all he would have to do is ask congress to lift the income cap on social security, the actuarial specialists say that would make social

of interest to me was the fact that all these guys wanted to get in on this, the mcconnells, saxby chambliss the rnc, get on the floor. >> there's the show that was going on on the floor but there's all sorts of politics going on northeast it. you have mitch mcconnell, you have marco rubio. he might run for president, a breaking news story. and so you have everyone with these other agendas going on, some of whom we know, some of whom we don't know but it's more complicated. >> everyone covering their bases. hang out for just a second because we have to go to the white house as we do every month at this time. we want to get our first reaction from the white house on the brand new job numbers. joining me now is allen krueger. good morning to you, mr. krueger. >> good morning. so first, i want to get a reaction to the jobs numbers, 236,000, that's obviously positive, but i want to put up what john boehner just released. he said, quote, any job creation is positive news, but the fact is unemployment in america is still way above the levels the obama white house projected when the trillion dollar

saxby chambliss told politico, quote, i'm not gay, so i'm not going to marry one. i love that. it means absolutely nothing. in the same article, lindsey graham says i believe in traditional marriage, at least he without animosity. figure that one out. i don't mind if people are able to transfer their property, visit their loved ones in hospitals, but marriage to me, i've stayed with the concept of traditionally marriage. >> i love that phrase you. they're so awkward in saying something. first of all the party keeping says marriage is between one man and one woman. why do -- >> they say it that way, because that falls into the argument that when you open up this pandora's box that it would lead to marriage between -- >> or among. >> -- among more than one person. it's silly. oh, that's a debate. there are some very strong and i think important voices of gay republicans within the party. >> yes, they always astound me. >> the go proud republicans and others need to be expressed and to help move the party along in this argument. because, keep this in mind, there are gay members of

saxby chambliss joined in as well. did rand paul accomplish anything with the 13-hour filibuster?tina? >> yes because we're talking about it and when we have to talk about rand paul, it is usually when he does something stupid like say that just because the supreme court has ruled on obamacare doesn't make it constitutional. >> john: what did he accomplish with this? >> i think that he brought to light that -- the filibuster is broken. >> john: okay. richard? >> you know, i think -- don't give him too much credit for anything. but the one thing i would say is that it was good that someone finally stood up and did an old-fashioned filibuster. >> john: i agree. >> maybe going forward people will not be able to do this sort of behind closed doors secret filibuster that nobody hears about. when you filibuster something in the senate, you ought to stand up for it. i thought it was terrific he brought that back. but i think that what he really did -- what he was really doing was taking advantage of an issue which sounds like it is not quite right just to get himself some publicity. a dr

georgia seat is open, saxby chambliss leaving. a lot of republicans talking about running. paul brown, a tea party guy already in the race a lot of other candidates talking about getting into the race. this is georgia, right? still a republican state. but does it matter who republicans nominate? if they nominate brown, are we looking at a situation -- are we looking at a potential christine o'donnell from four years ago? >> nominations always do matter. since 2010, republicans typically go for the most conservative candidate in these primaries. it's not always true, but, traditionally, that's what we've seen over the past three years or so. but equally important, democrats have to find a candidate, as well. >> they have no one right now. >> the reason they were able to win in indiana and beat murdoch in 2012, they found the best person they could recruit. democrats will have to find somebody in georgia to take advantage of anything opportunity that presents itself. >> they have the congressman from the athens area, form eer r.e.m. lawyer, random factoid. they're circling hi

. >> so political thought it would be a good idea saxby chambliss what he thought about gay marriage.se. quote, i'm not gay, so i'm not going to marry one. >> bill: woe, that's profound. yeah, uh-huh. >> it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. i'm not sure what he is trying to say with that. i'm not gay so i'm not going to marry one. so if you want to know where saxby chambliss stands on same-sex marriage he is not gay, so he's not going to marry one. >> bill: that's was his name position on segregation. i'm not black, what do i care? god what an idiot. russell calling from hickory hills, illinois. hey, russell what do you say? >> bill: yes, you left out two other important things in the ryan budget. he gives a tax break from 39 to 25, that's a $200,000 tax break for the rich. >> bill: yes, that's right. it lowers it even beyond where george bush had lowered it yes. >> and a $5 trillion hole in the budget too they say when this is all done. >> bill: yeah but he makes up for that by getting rid of obamacare and medicare. >> caller: right it's $200,000 tax cut. >> bill: exactly. but russe

republican side, mike johanns and georgia's saxby chambliss is also stepping down.ll be right back. >>> the "times" wrote a number of really bad stories. inadequately sourced, unskeptical stories about saddam's weapons capabilities. the stories were rewarded with lavish front page display. "times" also wrote a lot of very good stories. more skeptical stories. those tended to be on page a-13. >> that's our story tonight. welcome back to "hardball." that's the "new york times" great bill keller. the editorial decisions wound up carrying great weight, of course, in getting the american public to support the war. in friday's "washington post," for example, it's pointed out there was some skeptical coverage but it was often buried inside the paper. like this article which ran on page a-13. the day before we invaded iraq. it was headlined. bush clings to dubious allegations about iraq. page a-13. 13 pages into the newspaper. and in the sunday edition, three days before we went to war, "the washington post" put this on the front page, audacious mission, awesome risks, comp

so far just two republican senators, georgia's saxby chambliss and mike johanns have said they will notk re-election. with democratic seats vacating, are senate republicans streamlining the message and laying the ground work for a unified front in the upper chamber? >> mr. paul wants to be taken seriously, then he needs to do more than pull political stunts and fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. he needs to know what he is talking about. >> to my republican colleagues, i don't remember any of you coming down here suggesting that president bush was going to kill anybody with a drone. >> unity? not so much. this week senator rand paul's talky filibuster did much to expose a rift within the gop over one of its core concerns. while some elder statesmen, including john mccain and lindsey graham, mounted a strong defense of aggressive counterterrorism actions, paul's 12 hour and 52 minute extravaganza scored a significant victory with the party's right flank and beyond. buzz feed reports "although wednesday's filibuster originally enjoyed only the support of conse

among those attending, john mccain, tom coburn, saxby chambliss, ron johnson, kelly ai yacht, lindseyham. stoo several republicans in recent days. senator graham on tuesday described his phone call as and i'm quoting, the most encouraging engagement on a big issue i've seen since the early years of hissed. si. get that man an extra glass of his favorite reislin. a continuing resolution that led to democratic outrage on the floor. >> this is a disgraceful bill. and this process is not on the level. we have a budget that is doubling down on grinding down on the middle class. >> wall street is celebrating while the backs of poor people are been broken. this is not a rule that should pass today. we should remain snowed out. we shouldn't even be here. snow us out until we can get the right kind of balance. >> despite that clear opposition, it did pass keeping in place the sequester cuts while softening the blow for defense naturally. expected to take it up next week saying they'll oppose the measure without a vote to defund the affordable care act. i guess bitterness is always a dish best

next if nothing else, georgia republican saxby chambliss leads the week with comments that leaves youosed to mean? on whether he would change his position on gay marriage. chambliss says i'm not gay, so i'm not going to marry one. he is not alone in making a situation based on the his own personal situation. first former senator john kyl of arizona. in '09 he wanted to cut out the part that required employers to cover basic maternity care because it made everyone's insurance more expensive. >> i don't need maternity care, and so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that i don't need and will make the policy more expensive. >> that's big thinking. anyway, a colleague of his later pointed out that kyl's morgue likely needed some services at one point and then there was the fiasco overstates affected by hurricane sandy. back in january, 67 house republicans voted against providing flood insurance for sandy victims and it turns out that 37 of them have a history of supporting aid after natural disasters when their own states were affected. missouri congressman sam grav

you have people like saxby chambliss that sht going to seek re-election. they've always been considered sort of cooler heads. then you've got two tea party senators, pat thoomey of pennsylvania and ron johnson of wisconsin who do not have a relationship with the president like the others because they weren't in the senate when he was here. it was an interesting mix of bringing people together who represent different parts of the republican party of the moment. it's important for them to go without the leadership. i've heard many times from republicans that this applies to democrats as well. when are you in the leadership, you have almost no running room. everything you say is, in effect, then policy for your party. when you have these other members, they do have a little more breathing room. i've talked to some of them. they really described being surprised at the seriousness the president put forward in his willingness to talk about changes to entitlements, those sorts of things. we were talking about sort of the trust barrier earlier. i think there were

mike lee of utah, jerry moran, marco rubio, ted cruz, john cornyn, pat tomb mix, saxby chambliss, the democratic senator from oregon, ron wyden. but it was senator paul who did the lion's share of the talking by himself. he argued today, he is still arguing now, that there should be more information disclosed about the government killing people with drones, and the rules under which that happens should be made more available to the congress and to the american public. now, what senator paul did today i have to say will never be publishable as a book. it was not the most coherent thing on two legs. and honestly, because it is rand paul, we barely got a half hour into him starting talking before he got to his gratuitous hitler references. >> hitler was elected democratically. they elected him out of this chaos. the point isn't that anybody in our country is hitler. i'm not accusing anybody of being that evil. i think it's an overplayed and a misused analogy. but what i am saying is that in a democracy you could some day elect someone who is very evil. >> i'm not saying anybody is like h

mike crapo, saxby chambliss and tom coburn and, not to mention dick durbin on the other side actually stepped out on a limb here. and it'll tell you where we are in tribal politics that when barack obama praised the gang of six, an aide to a senior republican in the senate immediately sent an e-mail to politico saying that kills that plan. if he's for it, we're against it. this is not less about ideology now than it is about tribalism. so that's a challenge that we have, and it's not encouraging moderates or providing space, it's intimidating them. every time that, you know, getting to the question, every time we get people who leave congress, we get these republicans who leave, and it's like you've been inside a tent where you're breathing a gas, and suddenly you're outside and you say how could i have done that, how could i have acted that way? so one of our ideas is to create a shadow congress that consists of former members who span the spectrum but who start with a common set of facts and maybe have them debate not in the way that congress used to because congress never was a gre

. >>> senator saxby chambliss is reaffirming his opposition to same-sex marriage.onsider changing his views, the georgia republican said, quote, i am not gay, so i'm not going to marry one. recently, senator rob portman of ohio announced on cnn that he now supports same-sex marriage after his own son told him he was gay. >>> the founder of the hot yoga movement may be in hot water. the "new york post" reporting a former student is suing the founder. she claims the yoga guru sexually assaulted her and tried to derail her yoga career. the 67-year-old yogi has not responded. >>> it is a big day for blackberry, yes, blackberry. the new blackberry z-10 finally goes on sale today. it had been delayed for months and expectations are rather high. cnn's zain asher is standing by in new york. good morning. >> hey, carol, this is an absolutely crucial release for the company. it's had so much trouble competing with apple and samsung over the years. its market share is pretty much a pittance compared to its rivals. in the fourth quarter of 2012, blackberry owned about 3.5% of

. >> the worst one was they got into a bickering fight with saxby chambliss' office staffers and apparentlyated debates. >> bill: i don't like this idea you can poach on someone else's office. hey, this looks pretty cool. get out. no. >> it really is like a fraternity. >> yep. and what you like on facebook may reveal more about you to others than you might think or want. "usa today" reporting this morning on a new study university of cambridge has put out where researchers were able to accurately predict people's qualities and traits including race age i.q., sexuality personality, substance abuse and political views using their facebook preferences alone. companies or even people with ill intentions can find this data and use it to their advantage. so think twice before clicking "like" on a page. >> that seems pretty obvious though. >> bill: you put all of that information on facebook. isn't that what it's all about? >> they came up with an algorithm that pulls out the data instantaneously. >> it seems like a pretty simple algorithm. it doesn't seem that scientific. >> you can ask the unive

he is giving individual members a chance to talk to him and you can get five, six republicans, saxby chamblissg enough, le s lindsay graham you can get five, six deals and get a deal out of the -- >> i think that report is over simplified and not on the money. >> my goodness! >> no. i believe people -- >> not like that. >> i believe people said this to jim and others. but i think the real fact is that obama is a pragmatist. he wants revenue and so far republicans won't give on revenue. if they give on revenue to some extent, obama as much or more than anybody in that town wants entitlement reform in terms of medicare and social security. knows it has to be done for the long-term health of those programs, cut down the percentage of gdp that they represent. it's basic to what he believes. and to think that this game is over, it's only beginning. we have got until september to come up with something. it could happen and it really depends on the republicans willingness to embrace some revenue. >> the thing is, willie, if you go back to what the president said in 2005 and 2006 and 2007 and 2008, th

georgia senator saxby chambliss told politico, i'm not gay, so i'm not going to marry one.e wanted to choose his words a little differently. jonathan, let's take a look at republican governor john kasich from ohio, who was asked ant his feelings on same-sex marriage this week by abc affiliate wcpo tv. take a listen. >> if people want to have civil unions, i'm for that. but i don't support a gay marriage. and i'm not angry at anybody because of this. i just think marriage is between a man and a woman, but if you want to have a civil union, that's fine with me. >> that seems like a pretty declaration in support of civil unions. his spokesman released a statement in part staying -- >> where does john kasich stand, jonathan? >> all over the place. look, i mean, i don't know how you use the term "civil union" which has this point has a lot of sort of, you know, legal history behind it loosely. i think that politicians are struggling with this issue. it's one of those where a lot of the voters have a strong feeling pro or anti, and the politics may not feel as strongly. when you

but saxby chambliss says it's hard to be optimistic.white house press secretary jay carney says the two sides, republican and democrats, really aren't that far apart. here is a bit of what he had to say. >> one of the issues that seems to be still a matter of debate is what do you do with the revenue gained from improving our tax code, closing unnecessary loopholes, eliminating special breaks for the well connected and well off. do you take that and convert it into tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy or apply it to the deficit? >> mitch mcconnell, who you remember was able to work a deal with vice president biden, says he's not surprised the president is trying to talk to republicans on the hill. here is a bit of what he had to say. >> well, i expect the president to talk to various members. frankly, i wish he had done more of that over the years. we've had all of us, very limited interaction with the president and he's certainly doesn't have to go through me to call my members. i'm sure he will. i encourage him to do s

. >> so saxby chambliss, a dear friend of mine, is getting out of the senate.t you possibly running for the senate. you decided not to. why? >> i did, i did. you know, that's a tough decision, quite frankly. you have a lot of supporters that are with you and want you to do it, but it's hard to tell them no, but, ultimately, my family and i thought put our district and georgia first. not this time. maybe in the future. >> first things first. chuck todd, of course, a lot of talk from the senators this weekend about doing a deal. bob corker from tennessee said he was up to a deal. dick durbin said we might be moving towards a grand deal. of course, they have to position themselves appropriately for their bases running at home. are you skeptical this week that a deal could get done? >> i don't know. i think even hrybody has their hearts hearts in the right place. can they do a deal that is big enough on entitlements, for instance, medicare and social security, that allows john boehner to get off his pledge and enough house republicans to say, okay, we will accept s

and john thune and i and dianne feinstein and saxby chambliss and tom carper and susan -- dr. coburn are all going to work together this time. three committees working together. i believe that two other areas are absolutely critical for government and industry to come together to addressing pressing needs. first, the construction of a nationwide interoperable public safety network that our first responders are owed and have been given under law. second, we must make sure that every child in this country is prepared to compete in the global economy and that means having access to the internet and all innovations deriving from the internet. as most of you have heard me say, the the gentlewoman yields back of being an f.c.c. commissioner is surely one of the hardless, difficult, perilous jobs in all of washington, but then again we just had our caucus lunch with the president, so i'll modify that a little bit. your actions affect how we commune kuwait, what we see on television, the deployment of new technologies and services. making sure our first responders have the spectrum an

saxby chambliss, republican, tom harkin, democrat of iowa. mike johanns, republican of nebraska. frank lautenberg, carl levin, michigan democrat, and jay rockefeller who we've already discussed of west virginia. only two republicans on this list. for other seven are from states that mitt romney won in 2012. given the discussion we've had for the last 25 minutes, how does all this fit into 2014 at this point? >> guest: democrats have the political momentum nationally. when you look at the 2014 senate math it's been contested in republican friendly states. of the seven seats that are up held by democratic senators, six of them, more than seven. they are seven democratic seats up that romney won in states that mitt romney to fix it to the states that mitt romney carried by double digits. the very conservative landscape. when democrats are positioning themselves, not on ability of the national polls but a look at these state polls in these conservative states. that's what makes these debates over immigration and gun rights complicated because they're democrats like mark pryor in arka