steve schmidt. and eugene robinson, thank you for joining me. i want to go to the south carolina ns. we heard him talk about grace and shared humanity and making his bid as communing with the convenience store worker. eugene, as someone who understands mark sanford's legacy, when he was governor did he tear about the poor and working poor, did his policies reflect that? >> not exactly, alex, not exactly, no. he is doing now what he managed not to do through most of the campaign, which is kind of make it all about him and his personal redemption. he started his campaign that way, that's how i think elizabeth colbert busch managed to get a ten point lead at one point. then he started talking about other things and kind of more or less republican talking points and that district which is heavily republican, he won. so welcome back to congress and i don't know if the people of sc won tonight but i think journalism probably did. >> that is for sure. nia, i think it will surprise many that mark sanford wasn't running against nancy pelosi. he talked mo

, triumphant steve schmidt. thank you all for joining me tonight. >>> coming up, why no one at the party protest against the irs is demanding they enforce that 501(c)4 law. >>> and mayor michael bloomberg and gun safety group got ricin tainted letters that attacked him. and rudy giuliani decided to stand in judgment of anthony weiner. we will examine that in the "rewrite." m on expert on softba. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there. vo: ta friend under water is end usomething completely different. . you don't get that very often. it seemed like it was more than happy to have us in his home. so beautiful. avo: more travel. more options. more pers

, triumphant steve schmidt. thank you all for joining me tonight. >>> coming up, why no one at the party protest against the irs is demanding they enforce that 501(c)4 law. >>> and mayor michael bloomberg and gun safety group got ricin tainted letters that attacked him. and rudy giuliani decided to stand in judgment of anthony weiner. we will examine that in the "rewrite." the tide's coming in! this is my favorite one. it's upside down. oh, sorry. (woman vo) it takes him places he's always wanted to go. that's why we bought a subaru. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. to support strong bones. and the brand most recommended by... my doctor. my gynecologist. my pharmacist. citracal. citracal. [ female announcer ] you trust your doctor. they have no idea what it was like before u-verse high speed internet. yeah, you couldn't just stream movies to a device like that. one time, i had to wait half a day to watch a movie. you watched movies?! i was lucky if i could watch a show. show?! man, i was hap

steve schmidt is republican strategist, both msnbc political analysts. steve, i want to start with you. you're the kind of mind i've come to respect. strategic mind. howard has one too, of course. howard is trying to analyze the news. you run campaigns. when in doubt, put it out. the president had nothing to do with screwing around with who to give tax free status to out there in the cincinnati office. why did he act like he had something to do with it? why didn't he just come out and say i'm the prosecutor, i want to get to the bottom of this? >> well, they're trying to keep the president distanced from it. republicans are obviously trying to implicate the president in it. even though there's any -- there's a lack of evidence that he is implicated in it. but that whenever something like this happens, when you're at this stage of it, the administration is trying to gather the facts to communicate to the american people. and they botched it. they've handled this about as badly as they possibly could. and whether they're innocent or guilty, they're doing ev

steve schmidt will join us coming up next.g joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ sometimes you win sometimes you lose and sometimes the blues get a hold of you ♪ we went out and asked people a simple question: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ cheryl burke is cha-cha-ing in depend silhouette briefs. for charity, to prove that with soft fabric and waistband, the best protection looks, fits, and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try for yourself. see, i knew testosterone could affect sex drive, but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number. [ male announcer ] today, men

and here's msnbc political analyst steve schmidt.ey boo boo before. >> i've seen it one time. i couldn't take my eyes away. it's amazing. it drew me in and -- >> leigh gallagher's here. fortune 500, who is number one? >> number one is walmart with $469 billion in revenue. >> yeah. that's great. >> yeah. >> we're going to be talking about that and we're going to see -- >> have you seen duck dynasty? >> no, i have not. >> you need to see "duck dynasty." >> compelling tv. >> we're going to start. can we please, to the news? i'm begging you. >> we're going to talk about "obsessed" burning up the charts. >> don't make fun of me. thank you. >> chris christie, you talked to chris christie last hour. he's had surgery. >> he's in "obsessed" and we talked about whether or not he should get that surgery. anyhow, it's an amazing story. that is big news. >> that is huge, i'm excited about that. i need surgery to expand my brain, do they have that? what? >> your brain is big enough. >> i think somebody stapled it when i was young, i want to take t

joining us now is steve schmidt, former senior strategist to the '08 palin campaign. >> great to be here. >> what was your reaction to hearing bob dole's critique? i feel like it's quantifiably true in the policies i identify him with would not fly in today's party. >> look, i think it was offered with love and it ought to be listened to seriously. the republican party despite all of the problems that the obama administration is having, those don't mean that the republican party is doing better. if we look at our approval levels, we look where the republican brand is, it's at a very, very low point over the modern history of the republican party. and we will need people who can step forward under the republican banner, communicate to women, to hispanics, to african-americans, and make our party a big party again. we've lost now the popular vote and five out of the last six. >> when i -- the thing that struck me in coming across that website was that it was the internet age. it wasn't that long ago. it wasn't the beginning of time. it was the beginning of internet time, right? and so -- t

. >> steve schmidt raised it a bit yesterday in that he was initial stunned that elizabeth colbert had come as close as she had given the conservative roots of that district. that's what it is. >> 45% -- >> it's not forgiveness. >> interesting. >> it's ideology. >> liberals forgive conservative and it's a conservative district and he is going to vote conservative. by the way, if he also is, love him or hate him, he is one hell of a grassroots campaigner and goes back to the pat buchanan rule, mika. political athletes win and he is a political athlete. the guy was about as good on the campaign trail as anybody could have been in this situation. >> really interesting test question to this is if the gary hart matter happened now that happened pre'88, what would happen to presidential politics? >> let me turn that question around to you. what if gary hart had behaved differently? what, instead of taking it all on his shoulders and being so angst ridden and crying for help, what if he said to the "the washington post" reporting who ever said have you ever converted adultery? he said have re

and you know, i watched rachel last night and she had a brilliant piece and steve schmidt was on andt of touch. they're off the cliff. >> stephanie: dana, a lot of people have said it, including me but you know, i have to say didn't you feel sad watching bob dole? not just his age but remembering -- >> he's looking frail. >> stephanie: remembering -- remember he went to the senate floor? >> caller: he was on the floor. they downed his bill or whatever. >> stephanie: decorated war hero. barely out of the hospital and he makes it to the senate floor for them to disrespect him in that manner. >> caller: i know. it is disgusting. not only that, you know, i mean rachel reminded us, you know, those of us who don't remember, you go to the dole/kemp web site, it is still there. >> it is. it is like a relic of the 1990s. >> caller: you look at it like he still wanted to give food stamps to people. he wanted to give jobs to veterans. you know, all of these things that they wanted to help people and work together. i'm so tired of everyone blaming obama. even my friends who are liberals, democra