they're not charity. >> steve schmidt we're out of time on this segment, need a quick word before you go. your reaction to cpac? >> i said a couple weeks ago, it has become the star wars bar scene of the conservative movement. it was certainly that and more as we look at this. the good news for republicans is that group's power is mostly illusory. they're a group that will make a lot of noise, it will be incumbent on our serious candidates to call out the excesses of some of the people at cpac to be taken seriously by the middle of the country. >> robert gibbs, steve schmidt, howard fineman, thank you for joining me tonight. >>> coming up, a new poll showing a surge in the support of marriage equality, support that now includes hillary clinton. but according to john boehner, he will never support marriage equality. but john boehner has a startling new point of agreement with president obama. and in the "rewrite," how the story of sarah palin is the story of the failure of our political media coming up. ill h. [ male announcer ] a lot of sinus products don't treat cough. they don't? [

steve schmidt, interesting week for 2016 potential candidates.cork board, everyone from rand paul and then jeb bush. a lot of activity. how did jeb bush come out of the gate if that's what this was? >> well, he had a rough week politically because he reversed his position on immigration, but it won't matter in the long run. he's not the first politician to do a flip-flop, you know, getting ready for a presidential run. but it's important to remember he's always been a voice of reason on this immigration issue. he's always been a voice of reform. he's one of the deep policy thinkers in the republican party. he was an extraordinarily effective governor of the state of florida. and if he decides to run for president, he will be a very, very formidable candidate. >> what about rand paul? so much praise really, bipartisan praise for rand paul as really beginning something of a more youthful, grassroots conservative movement that could run -- end up being a run in 2016? >> well, it was fun to watch the filibuster. i thought he was filibustering about t

steve schmidt, i noticed -- you're in the higher economic brackets. i noticed that new sensitivity to the 39% i hadn't seen from you before. >>> the south carolina republican lawmaker who says expanding medicaid is a good idea, then voted against it because it's good politics to "oppose the black guy in the white house." introducing olay fresh effects' unstoppable skincare! when every day is a new adventure there's a new skin care line-up that can keep up. start fresh and finish sparkling 24/7 with new olay fresh effects. ♪ catch them if you can at olayfresheffects.com >>> back to "hardball," now to "the sideshow." what's the deal with this headline from "new york magazine"? the romneys are the new kennedys without the long history of winning elections. the piece points out whenever a political office opens up in massachusetts, connecticut, new jersey, new york, or pretty much anyplace within a 300-mile radius of boston, some kennedy somewhere either actively considers running for it or is assumes to be interested. a pattern has begun for the romney f

steve schmidt, i noticed -- you're in the higher economic brackets.oticed that new sensitivity to the 39% i hadn't seen from you before. >>> the south carolina republican lawmaker who says expanding medicaid is a good idea, then voted against it because it's good politics to "oppose the black guy in the white house." [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understand. our financial advice is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. life brings obstacles. usaa brings retirement advice. it's not what you think. it's a phoenix with 4 wheels. it's a hawk with night vision goggles. it's marching to the beat of a different drum. and where beauty meets brains. it's big ideas with smaller footprints. and knowing there's always more in the world to see. it's the all-new lincoln mkz. is it when you've when left work behind,ise? and only the waves remain? is it when stress is replaced by serenity? there's no one answer. but when the moment arrives... ...everything will be perfec

steve schmidt, i noticed -- you're in the higher economic brackets.d that new sensitivity to the 39% i hadn't seen from you before. thank you very much, robert gibbs. >>> right now we know the answer to one of the biggest mysteries of the 2012 election. it was the bartender. that's who did it. who recorded mitt romney's infamous 47% comments. he did it. the working people. they got some power, too. you know, he's going to be ed schultz's guest tonight. ed's going to join us in a couple minutes to tell us what he's up to tonight with this amazing whistle blower. this is the place for politics. . hmm, we need a new game. ♪ that'll save the day. ♪ so will bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller powerful sheet. the only one with trap + lock technology. look! one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. use less. with the small but powerful picker upper, bounty select-a-size. [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa

back with us on set, we have mark halperin and steve schmidt. to get to the highlights from charlie rose. governor chris christie is slamming leaders in washington for failing to find better solutions to last week's across the board spending kuts. the new jersey republican called out president obama and congress. >> the worst thing about sequester in my view is they're not spending any time talking about entitlement spending which is where we need to really focus over the long haul to make a big difference in terms of our long-term fiscal health as a country. i'm disappointed in that, but you know, if you stacked up all the things that disappoint me about washington, d.c., it would be pretty tall. if anybody in this room thinks they understand washington, d.c., please come on up and you give the answers because i don't have the first damn idea of what you're doing down there. seems to me it should be pretty easy to fix. real leadership would get this fixed. you get everybody in the room and you fix it and you don't let them leave until you fix i

to talk about just how stupid all of this is, governor howard dean and msnbc political analyst steve schmidtanks for joining me, both gentlemen, many questions for you. steve, the first one to you, though. donald trump, in this time of wagon circling, at a time the republican party is looking to renewal and new ideas, why is he still at the speaker's podium? >> beats me. i don't have an answer for you other than to say that one of the things that hurt mitt romney in the eyes of a lot of moderate and swing voters was why was he hanging around with donald trump during the campaign, and the fact that donald trump for a brief period of time was atop the polls, threatening to run for president, adding to the reality show specter that was much of our primary season. none of these things were good in the context of trying to win the general election, so most people in the country look at donald trump and see a clown, not a leader, and that's a problem for republicans. >> it certainly is. governor dean, i wonder as a former governor what you made of mitt romney's comments we should be looking to pur

. >> joining me now, msnbc analyst, former mccain adviser steve schmidt, one of 131 republicans to sign onto an amicus brief supporting marriage equality, and msnbc's karen finney. steve, i have to ask you the rove question off the bat. can you imagine the next republican presidential candidate being in favor of marriage equality? >> i think that the next republican candidate could be in favor of marriage equality with there being no consequence in the road to the nomination and no political consequence for senators like rob portman who come out in favor of it, but i doubt we will see it in the next election. >> steve, i've got to tell you, i think karen finney and i are both wondering please explain to us, steve, how that candidate would get through the iowa caucuses as a first stop? >> well, look, rick santorum won the iowa caucuses. he wasn't the nominee. pat robertson won iowa caucus, he wasn't the nominee. iowa doesn't pick the republican nominee any more than it does in the democratic party, but the republican party in 2016, 2020, cannot be held hostage to the social extremism tha

joining us now is steve schmidt from palin campaign '08. hanks for being here. >> good to be here, rachel. >> you were one of the republicans that signed on to the supreme court in support of illegal immigration. >> i was. >> now we see jeb bush going to a much more conservative position on this issue. >> first off, i think they're two very different issues, but let's look at the immigration issue first, and let's evaluate jeb bush through the prism of potential candidacy for president. there is no question that he has stumbled over this issue, that he's been inconsistent on this over the past couple days, but we should remember he has been a voice of reason on this issue, he has been a voice for solutions on this issue, he has been a great friend to the hispanic community in this country. jeb bush is an important voice in forging a consensus around this issue. i was sitting next to him when he was on "morning joe" and he clarified his answer. what he said there was he would be open to a path for citizenship. i think, in fact, if we are to s

i was talking to steve schmidt who said there is a rift between the evangelical base and libertarians, and rand paul, in some ways, is a schizophrenic candidate representing that. >> this week marks the 10th anniversary of the american invasion of iraq that following the 9/11 attacks. a cnn poll says 56% of americans believe it was a mistake. one quarter of them think it is a victory. the bush administration told us we had to get there to get the weapons of mass destruction. president bush said the new regime in iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom. how did it play out, nina totenberg? >> it played out horribly. when you read the postmortems, a lot of people from iraq and here and policy wonks, many who were supportive of the effort, have come to regret it, and part of the reason is we have changed the balance in the middle east. we had a saddam hussein who was a check on iran. he is gone. there were no weapons of mass destruction and the country is in shambles. >> i have read comments from those who fought there that thought they were engaged in a noble eff

steve schmidt, msnbc mccain-palin senior strategist, thank you for being here.. >> thank you, rachel. >> we'll be right back. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands? thto fight chronic. osteoarthritis pain. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. to fight chronic low back pain. to take action. to take the next step. today, you will know you did something for your pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is a pain reliever fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have

steve schmidt, msnbc mccain-palin senior strategist, thank you for being here.ll be right back. i'm doing my own sleep study. advil pm® or tylenol pm. the advil pm® guy is spending less time lying awake with annoying aches and pains and more time asleep. advil pm®. the difference is a better night's sleep. with annoying aches and pains and more time asleep. but that doesn't mean i don't want to make money.stor. i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments. i also try to keep my costs down. what's your plan? ishares. low cost and tax efficient. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

republican strategist steve schmidt says the republican party has what he called a structural problem lack of women leaders in the gop. >> we don't have enough women at the table, but any company, any organization in today's day and age that doesn't give equal opportunity to women, that doesn't advance women to the table is going to be an organization that has difficulty competing. >> well, the white house is dismissing reports about next january's party for first lady's michelle obama's 50th birthday. they report that beyonce and adele will report at the party are, quote, 100 percent percent false. they said it was fabricated by a british tabloid. >>> former mitt romney congressman paul ryan said that lunch at the white house was his first ever lunch with the president. >> i'm excited we had this lunch. we come from different perspectives so we exchanged very frank views but they were different and at least we had this conversation. >>> and president obama attended the annual gridiron lunch. our cameras are never allowed inside, but we do know what he said including a joke about wash

the "morning joe wts crew will discuss the issues with steve schmidt and author wes moore. >>> when wee back, we'll huddle around the water cooler where "the daily show" offers its take on the president's trip to the holy land. jon stewart is planning to stay. ♪ i am stuck on band-aid brand ♪ ♪ 'cause germs don't stick on me ♪ [ female announcer ] band-aid brand has quiltvent technology with air channels to let boo boos breathe. [ giggles ] [ female announcer ] quiltvent technology, only from band-aid brand. use with neosporin first aid antibiotic. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle. >>> enough are the real news. let's gather around the water cooler. i still can't find my friend lewis. to watch one of the least surprising things you'd expect tim tebow to do. on sunday, a plane carrying the jets quarterback stopped at a airport to refuel. arriving at the same airport, the wichita state men's basketball team. fresh off its win over top-s

also steve schmidt, stephanie cutter, eugene robinson., a special guest joining us live from florida where he is at spring training. that's coming up in this hour. but first, bill karins with a look at the forecast. hey, bill. >> willie, as advertised, a difficult travel morning for everyone in new england. i'm sure a lot of schools are canceled and a lot of parents are scrambling to figure out what they're going to do. we are watching that heavy snow continuing at this hour, especially boston, massachusetts, all the way out on the pike in southern portions of new england. this is that same ocean storm that hit virginia and moved all the way across the country including dumping that snow in chicago. it will finally leave us during the day today. so here's a look at the radar. the white shows you the snow. the blue is the heavier snow inside. we have snow all the way from philadelphia to south jersey. not expecting a lot of accumulations there. but the travel trouble's really outside the big cities especially outside of new york city. once

also, a lot of people who are political pros say in a campaign, steve schmidt talks about this, working with john mccain. he said a presidential campaign is like an mri. everything that needs to be known about you will be. if you try to have conversations with people behind closed door that is are different than the conversations out in public, eventually the doors open. >> steve is partly right. had it not been for scott, then steve would have been wrong. >> yeah. >> mitt romney would have gone through the whole campaign telling things privately to people that he did not believe and telling something different to the voters. it was a close call. >> a close call driven by a man alone making a decision of conscience in the middle of the night looking in the mirror figuring out what he needed to do for his values. david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones and the man trusted because of his reporting. congratulations, ape gain, thank you. >> congratulations to scott. >> obviously, that's big news today in american politics. and really big news in the world today is white smoke.

now an msnbc political analyst steve schmidt and combat veteran of the united states army captain wesre. it's a decidedly game changy feel at this table. >> haleprin's not even here. >> he'll be in game change 2020, i predict. the big news of the day, of course, is that mike barnicle's wearing a tie. it's a tie with watermelons on it. >> thank you. >> what's the occasion? >> the occasion is a phone call from my wife last night who told me to stop dressing like someone waiting for a bus to an assisted living facility. wear a tie, tuck in your shirt and act your age. >> she wins the day again. >> yes, she did. >> by the way, i wanted to say that this morning. >> i did not -- yesterday. in one of the news reports -- >> kathleen parker wrote a wonderful op-ed yesterday. >> yeah. >> that i confessed to not having read ahead of time and it was in the script. it snuck up on me on the prompter and i said something that doesn't represent -- >> what you said was deuce machine. >> it wasn't that bad, but it was close. >> and i didn't want to embarrass him. >> i'm stunned you didn't humiliate me.

joining me now, msnbc political analyst, steve schmidt, who served as senior adviser to john mccain'spresidential campaign, and nia-malika henderson of "the washington post." steve, this is a rough way to start the book tour, with the flip-flopping. you'd think that jeb bush was up to speed on this issue. >> look, even the best quarterbacks throw an occasional interception, no doubt. >> on the first play of the game. >> even the first play of the game. look, jeb bush has been a longtime proponent of immigration reform. he's been a voice of reason on this issue in the republican party. he's an important voice in the republican party on this issue. and i think he took a momentary detour, but is back to the right place, which is that once people who are here illegally become regularized, get their green cards, if they choose, after they wait the period of time that you need to wait, the number of years once you have a green card and they go through the citizenship process, that they have an ability to become citizens like anyone else who has a green card. >> nia, he explained the flip-fl

she'll be joyed by chris hayes, steve schmidt and actress rita moreno.twitter. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. victor! i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. you know the giants don't have a mascot right mom? [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. you know it can be hard to lbreathe, and how that feels.e, don't have a mascot right mom? copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medic

another signatory steve schmidt was more blunt. >> it's difficult to make the case to go work for a politicalty that wants to discriminate against their friend who happens to be gay. >> are these 131 republicans representative of a wider shift in the gop? maybe. not so much? maybe? last week also saw go crowd left off the list for invitees for this cpac conference. only two are current office holders. ileana ros-lehtinen and -- >> while significant, the movement within the gop may be less than meets the eye. "the fact is that any republican office holder who supports gay marriage is basically begging for a primary challenge. that's why very few have. nicole, you are very involved in this effort, and we commend and applaud you for it because i think it is absolutely the right thing to do, and it's great to see conservatives come out for, this but the question is as aaron blake points out, there not a lot of office holders on that list. is this still kryptonite for parts of the republican party had. >> i don't think so. i don't think this is a political third rail at all, and he think that what

steve schmidt, an nbc con contributor contributor. saying the republican party needs renewal the.nstead we have having one of these confabs with the crazies of the party. sponsored by the american conservative union on the board of which of course, sits grover norquist. but they are trooping out there. and they decide this is their showcase? right? where they bring all of the people that they think are the leading conservatives of the country together to do their little song and dance routine in front of a great big haulll of whackjobs, whacko. >> whacko-birds. >> what cano-birds. it was kind of funny. the candle value of clowns includes sarah palin, clown, the biggest of all. well, i don't know. maybe donald trump is the biggest of all. he will be speaking. rick perry spoke yesterday. mitt romney is going to speak today. today. i look forward to seeing the reaction to the crowd to mitt romney because, first of all, they didn't like him in the first place. they didn't want him as their nominee. they got stuck with him. they didn't really do much to help him win the presidency. the

. >> steve schmidt was the campaign manager for john mccain's campaign in 2008. he says republicans have a serious problem with women. listen to this. >> it is one of the problems we have structurally in the republican party, we don't have enough women at the table. but any company, any organization in today's day and age that doesn't give equal opportunity to women, that doesn't advance women to the table, is going to be an organization that has difficulty competing. >> ana, what do you need to do, republicans, to get some women at the table as they say? >> we have women there, they just need to be at the table. i think we need to highlight more of the women that are involved and we need to attract more women. we have made progress. the republican party has made progress. it still has a long way to go. there's no reason there should be one woman chair of a committee in congress now. there's one woman that's a leadership, republican leadership, kathy mcmorris rogers. i would like to see more of her. she's more pleasant to listen to and look at than some of the oe

schmidt. now there is backlash from the senior organization that says no one is helping contribute -- they called david fluff an as -- must have an ass. >> stevey doing these press opportunities with first responders behind them. i'm surprised they didn't bring in hungry children or head start kids. they really tried their best to mount this enormous pressure because woodward is right, there was the august 2011 deal did not include new taxes. i believe there should be closing tax loopholes and tax revenue, but it shouldn't be part of this crisis. this crisis should have been dealt with in a more sane way, that was more businesslike where you could use a scalpel instead of the blunt ax. it's painful, yes. >> gretchen: it was a game changer with woodward because i believe the administration never thought he would come forward with that e-mail and talk about it publicly. it's now the tip of the iceberg. >> now in the way he has. >> gretchen: because he's not about conservatives. he's not about conservatives. so they never expected he would do this. tip of the iceberg. now you have a lot of other people coming out and saying they faced the same ty