Good night, everybody. [ laughter ] [ theme music ] jennifer im jennifer granholm. Tonight in the war room, one week until inauguration and the president s second term will likely begin the way his first term ended with questions about the debt ceiling, questions about gun safety questions about whether this congress will give so much as an inch on any of it. Im afraid we might already know the answer to the last one. [ theme music ] jennifer it has been nearly five weeks since the nowtown massacre, and the towns police chief has a very simple message for washington. Ban assault weapons, restrict those magazines that have so many bullets in them. Jennifer progressives are pushing for a ban and Diane Feinstein says shell introduce on assault weapon ban later this month. John mccain expressed his doubts. Do you think an assault weapons ban can pass the congress . No. Do you think it should . No. Jennifer now the question is without republican support is the president going to push for a ban any ways . So from his progressive basis point of view he has a mandate and he should use it. 62 of americans do support a ban. From the white houses perspective pushing an assault weapons ban is a risky proposition. The president addressed the issue today in its press conference. Listen carefully to what he says. We have to have stronger background checks that we can do a much better job in terms of keeping these magazine clips with high capacity out of the hands of folks who shouldnt have them. Assault weapons ban is meaningful. That those are things i continue to believe make sense. Okay. Will all of them get through this congress . I dont know. Jennifer sort of interesting the way he says that. The way he counters it. The fact that he mentions a ban is significant, because Vice President biden didnt even bring it up once last week. And the nra has already made it clear that it would fight tooth and nail for against such assault weapons ban, and not just on principle, the nra has a vested interest in defeating a ban. Here is how the nra directly profits from the sale of assault weapons. One of the nations top gun sellers is midway usa, and they have a round up program. When a customer bias gun from midway they give the customer the option of rounding up to the nearest dollar. And the difference goes to the nra for their National Endowment of protection of the second amendment. Last year alone the nra made a Million Dollars this way. And of course naturally the nra opposes the band and their opposition carries a lot of weight with House Republicans. Here is nra president yesterday talking about whether he thinks the president will push for an assaults weapons ban. When a president takes all of the power of his office if hes willing to expand political capitol, you dont want to bet your house on the outcome, but i would say that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this congress. Jennifer actually 88 of republicans in congress have received a contribution from the nra at some point in their career although according to the Sunlight Foundation among democrats its 11 . With long oddings of getting a ban through congress some governors are moving ahead with statewide bans instead. Governor omalley is proposing one of these strictest in the nation. It would ban assault weapons and restrict visitor access to school, and require perspective gun owners to provide finger continues to police and undergo a thorough background check. But how much teeth can a state ban have. Joining me now is katrina vanden huevel, editor and publisher of the nation. Welcome back inside the war room . Thank you governor. Jennifer i want to talk about the strategy of this and other issues. The president s strategy on it the progressive base wants the president to push for a ban on assault weapons. But if its not going to Pass Congress, if he can count, should he still pick this fight just on the assault weapons ban . Can i refrain that question. Because its not just a progressive base. I think of mayors against illegal guns, and the Law Enforcement officials and Police Chiefs across this country who also support a responsible gun safety package, and banning the assault weapon is part of that. As you pointed out the nra should not be viewed as representing gun owners. They are really a moneylaundering operation. A lobby for the gun industry. There are 400 millions there are responsible gun owners in this country who could be brought along. I think of Gabby Giffords and her husband, Gabby Giffords who suffered the wounds from a highcapacity gun, so my view this is not a progressive issue. This is a sanity issue, and i think the president should support a ban on assault weapons, and let the fight begin, because it is moving against the nra whose own members as republican pollsters frank luntz show the own memberers support background checks, and the nra pulls fear mongers, as the president pointed out as we spoke of the inantithat the fear mongering the nra has imposed on this country. Its about responsibility and gun safety and public safety. Jennifer so so you think that regardless of what the republicans are saying now that this is worth the fight. Even if he ends up losing in the long run. Should shouldnt isnt there some value to picking a fight on big issues like gun safety for political reasons absolutely. Jennifer because it makes the republicans look unreasonable, right . Absolutely. You have put it far better than i did. It is absolutely vital, especially in a second term strategically, politically, morally, pragmatically that he president obama, pick this fight. This certainly compounds the view that the Republican Party and its operatives are in the pocket of an unreasonable uncompromising National Rifle association. So its a good fight to pick and my only point was i think sometimes theres a self marginalization, because i think this is an allamerican question that is worth though fight. Jennifer i totally get that. Point welltaken on that. There are two conversations, im guessing, that go on inside of the white house in the inner circle. One is do you pick this fight and lose and are you weakened for other agenda items down the road . And the second one is how much Political Capital do you spend on this fight, if this is the first fight out of the barrel . Do you know what im saying. Yes. I think there are three big fights moving forward. If one believes the president was so horrified and moved and angered at what happened in nowtown, and the stars are aligned in this fight, and theres the immigration fight. And the republicans would be insane to step back from that or obstruct that motion. They will come in with all kinds of things. But the Republican Party at this moment is essentially a party that is viewed by the majority of americans as either protecting its a ceo 1 patrons or opposing the president. Then of course theres the debt ceiling fight where they are look like crazies, and i think the president is again as of now effectively painting the Republican Party into a corner and exposing how this party, economic suicide bombers are holding hostage this country to an agenda that once again cares far more after the richest ceos in the corner suits than the rest of this country. They are willing to toss this country back in to recession. Jennifer i would say he has a big ally in every fight. Which is Public Opinion. The public does not want to see economic hostage. He does have an ally in the munty as you have say, and with respect to gun safety there is a huge ally. And then Climate Change will this be a fight that the president should pick . This is one where i dont see the gusto in the president s words or eyes. It is a great grave crisis and we saw it after Hurricane Sandy in my state we have seen it. I dont see enough energy excuse the terrible pun but this should be judiciously and effectively. I would like to see a carbon tax and see the Keystone Pipeline ended. But i think the other ones are fights where well see much more energy. Jennifer all right. Katrina vanden huevel out there saying he should fight all of these issues. Thanks so much for coming inside the war room. Thank you. Jennifer coming up it has been 40 years since roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose, and a battle has ensued ever since. And progressives have been a little bit grumpy as of late and well tell you why. And paul krugman and jon stewart enter into a war of words into cook what you love and save your money. Joe doesnt know it yet, but hell work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. Hell start investing early, hell find some good people to help guide him, and hell set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense. From td ameritrade. Jennifer next week marks the 40th anniversary of roe v. Wade and yet after these decades were still seeing the same old attacks on womens rights. As state legislatures reconvene this month there are a slew of laws being imposed. In wyoming lawmakers introduced a pair of socalled fetal heart beat bills. One would ban apportion if the fetal heart beat was detected and the other would require doctors to describe alternatives to abortion. And the female patient must sign a document verifying she knows she can view the ultrasound and listen to the heart beat. The assault and the intrusion on Womens Health and the assault on womens rights its also app the federal level. Paul ryan is back in congress and sponsored another fetus personhood bill. This even after his latest attempt died in the house in 2011 and an Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a Similar Initiative in 2012. Oklahoma that bahsian of liberalism. The court there called that bill clearly underconstitutional, because it blocks a womans legal right to have an abortion. Joining me now from washington is nancy keenan, the president of naral prochoice america. Nancy, especially now so glad to have you back inside the war room. Great to see you, and thanks for having me. Jennifer you bet as ever. Let me start with the policy stuff. What are you most concerned about federal or state laws at the moment restricting rights . Its both. The u. S. House of rent is full of antichoice politicians that are hell bent on denying womens rights. So the battle is at all fronts and i think the most critical to all of this is we have to make sure that we elect and defeat antichoice politicians and elect pro choice politicians to stop this nonsense that were seeing both at the state level and federal level. Jennifer the last Abortion Clinic in mississippi is on the verge of shutting down because state lawmakers have made the requirements for it to operate so onerous, and the governor said last week my goal of course is to shut it down. So what does roe v. Wade mean if states can do this . Its no longer ago the legality of it and access to care that women seek. What is sad about these politicians is that they dont believe that women can make this decision with their family and their doctors. They believe that politicians should make these decisions. So women, men, and families have to say enough. State out of our business and we have connect the personal to the political, and until states elect governors and legislators that are going to advance pro choice values were going to see this kind of activity. Fundamentally elections matter. Jennifer right and in the off years often democrats do not come out to vote. Which is why these all of the governors took over in 2010 and thats why you are continuing to see all of these bills come forward. Yet another governor put his foot in his mouth about rape. He is cochairman of the 21member House Republican doctors caucus. He defended todd akins comments saying that the body can shut that whole thing down if its legitimate rape and now the Suzanne B Anthony list is stepping in to offer a new Training Program to teach gop lawmakers to talk about rape. My goodness how is it we got here with one party consistently making such offensive comments about women . I think it is the republican brand, and because the most extreme of that party have taken over the party, and because the nonsense that you hear coming from them, and trying to think that it is only in a messaging memo, the fact is that the American Public are pro choice. They have rejected this rhetoric and nonsense. And until these guys realize that politicians have no business in this, and they are not physicians they make crappy doctors these politicians do and we have to make sure as we head into 2014 that we elect pro choice members at the congressional level and in the state houses. It is so critical. When you were governor we knew the power of having somebody there that shared the pro choice values. These folks are so extreme, and we have got to work harder come 2014 to unelect them. Jennifer 2014 but you are stepping down like at the end of this month as president. Today i think your organization announced that ilyse hogue is going to succeed you. Yes. I think for ilyse, it is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity. And a great choice. She is going to do great things. I think she can connect the personal to the political as we move into 2014 and make sure we defeat some of these antichoice politicians, and for me its time to go home to montana enjoy family and a little bit of fly fishing too. Jennifer fly fishing. All right. So you have just been on this show exsorting us to go out and elect pro choice women for office. I know you come from elected office. Any chance we can persuade you to run again . No, no. That is not on the horizon, but i will never give up the fight whether im sitting in montana or washington this issue is so critical to womens freedom that you can be sure ill do my part to make sure those politicians are not reelected in 2014. Jennifer well thank you so much for your repeated visits inside the war room. It has been great talking to you, and im thinking this wont be the last we see of you thank you, nancy. Jennifer thank you, governor. Joy all right. Coming up. Coming up tired of destroying our own planet i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ ryon ] eating shrimp at red lobster is a fantastic experience. 30 shrimp for 11. 99. I cant imagine anything better. Youre getting a ton of shrimp and it tastes really good [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobsters 30 shrimp for just 11. 99 choose any two of five savory shrimp selections like mango jalapeno shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. Two delicious shrimp selections on one plate all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. 30 shrimp, just 11. 99 for a limited time. Wow, thats a lot of shrimp. Im ryon stewart im the ultimate shrimp lover, and i sea food differently. You cant always get what you want you cant always get what you want jennifer having the very Young Mick Jagger in you cant always get what you want by the Rolling Stones released in 1969. That addressed the major themes of that era, love drugs, and of course politics. But its also a great song about pragmatism. I still think that song is incredibly relevant today especially for us progressives. Why . You might ask. Well there are certain progressives who are not satisfied with president obama. They dont think he is pure enough. That he has fought hard enough. Sure he got health care passed but it wasnt a single pairer system. He didnt fight hard enough for the tax hikes on the wealthy. Well, guess what people this is the way Government Works as mac jagger so poetically put it. Joining us tonight from miami via skype to discuss the ivory soap liberals also known as the purity caucus is grunwald. Michael grunwald. Michael is time magazines Senior National correspondent and he is the author of the book the new deal. Welcome back inside the war room, michael. Thanks for having me governor. Jennifer you can written that there are three categories for diseffected progressives ivy soap liberals choice your own issue liberals and the others. Break them in down for us. The ivory soap is 99. 44 pure is never good enough. Right . Yeah okay you got gays to serve openly in the military but why did it take you two years . Yeah, you have launched a cleanenergy revolution and doubled a bill but they dont understand that change that doesnt Pass Congress doesnt make change. And obama never presented himself as a classic paio liberal. And then choose your own progressive liberals. If obama had only done xyand z everything would have been perfect. There were none of the spending cuts that the republicans insisted on he raised taxes on the wealthy, but only on income over 400,000 instead of 250,000. But why didnt you deal with the debt ceiling now, why didnt you just take us over the cliff and then surely the republicans would have folded. Which has not necessarily been the case. Which leads to the heighten the contradictions liberal. The radicals wanted nixon to will elected because that would heighten the contradiction. If we would have just gone over the cliff, it would have created this economic disaster, and then people would have seen how extreme and out of touch these republicans are. Well, maybe. If only we would have minted the platinum coin then surely people would have rallied around the president. But it doesnt really work like that. These outcomes are going to be suboptimal like mick jagger said. Jennifer i loved your columns on this anybody who has served and had to negotiate realizes that you cant always get what you want. At least half of loaf is still half a loaf but if you dont get any of the loaf you go hungry, but i do understand the argument on the left that its important for those voices to be loud to push Public Opinion about what is acceptable policy. Do you think its important to have those voices to broaden the left . Well, look, i would never tell anybody what to say, and it is true that when you hear people you know, complaining about the president s policy on drones or afghanistan, or Financial Regulation its completely legitimate to disagree with him about education reform. Where i seem to take issue more is on particularly these negotiations where there is always this assumption that if you just held the line and were own manly, that republicans would somehow fade and cave immediately. But their elections have consequences too. They do control the house of representatives. They have enough seats to block legislation in the senate and their incentives are very different particularly in the house, and standing up to obama for them is great politics. It just creates a very difficult situation, and sometimes People Like Us who are comfortable and dont have to worry about getting our Unemployment Benefits extended its easy for us to say he should be strong and tough, and lets call their buff and see what happens if we default on our obligations, but, you know, if the president is elected to be the president , he is supposed to look out for the economy, and even an economic catastrophe for which republicans were blamed would still be an economic catastrophe. And i think sometimes people forget there are obligations that go beyond being [ overlapping speakers ] liberal. Jennifer yes, in his press conference he made it clear he is not going to concentrate on the debt ceiling. And made it easy to understand reasons why were not going to negotiate, when we have already acquired the services but i will say i completely agree with you, all of those people who say if he just gets them in a room and has them in there without food or water long enough theyll cave or if he waives his magic wand clearly they will bengd. Its like the Green Lantern theory. I think hes going to have to end up making recessions. You can decide not to negotiate with the terrorist, but then they are going to kill the hostage. Once you are negotiating with terrorists you are negotiating terrorists, you can say i am negotiating with terrorists but not about that. Thats not how it works. I think obama has won every standoff, but none have had perfect outcomes. And i think hell have to make concessions again. And if you dont like that i guess what i would say is there another election coming up in 2014 and that one will have consequences too. Jennifer what is the implication for 2014 if there are unhappy liberals . Would you be concerned for us progressives that thats an excellent point. In the 2010 election after obama and my obsession is the stimulus, where liberals said why doesnt it bigger than 900 billion, when there were senator who would not have voted for one dime of extra option. And those who said the healthcare is awful, all you did was achieve the universal dream. And republicans as much as the tea Party Explosion and the hatred of obama, they didnt go any more crazy than they did in 2008. What was different is the left did not come out in 2010 and there you had these landslides. So i do think you are absolutely right to be concerned that if democrats are saying woe is me and not acknowledging that, you know, change is hard and that change has happened i think there are you know you can expect more of these kind of unpleasant situations that where president obama is looking for the least bad option rather than a great one. Jennifer all right. Absolutely. Michael grunwald thank you so much my dear for joining us via skype. Up next, as blatant of dispspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspspsp vo always outspoken, now unleashed, joy behar. On my next show ill talk to the funniest comedians of all time. Of all time mel brooks and carl reiner. And for once i wont even try to get a word in edgewise. Before the sneeze, help protect with a spray. Before the tissue, help defend with a wipe. Before the cold flu season help prevent with lysol. Because when you have 10 times more protection with each hand wash. And kill 99. 9 of germs around the house with each spray. Those Healthy Habits start to add up. This season, a good offense is the best defense and lysol has your family covered because thats our mission for health. [ voice of dennis ]. Safe driving bonus check . Every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. Ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. Are you in good hands . Jennifer were back inside the war room. Im jennifer granholm. So remember when the National Rifle association blamed the newtown tragedy on violent video game . Well now we learn that over the weekend, the nra released a game for cell phone users that allows players to shoot at coffinshaped targets with bullseyes at the head and heart. So is the nra being hypocritical shooting its in the foot or right on target. Coming to us from pensacola, florida is mike papantonio, host of reign of fire radio show. Welcome inside the war room. How are you governor . Jennifer im so glad you are on. Thank you for joining us. What are your thoughts about this phone app . It is typical what we have seen from the nra. Every time there is a tragedy, we hear the blame game. Its the movie industry the Civil Justice process, the blame game never stops. They are unable to be honest with themselves and say we create a weapon that can kill a hundred people in less than 20 seconds. It was the same thing in columbine, the same methodology, blame somebody else. It continues, and unfortunately the media allows it to continue. Because we dont call them out on it. Jennifer well, im glad you are calling them out but they have been pretty darn effective. Lets listen to what president obama had to say today. Part of the challenge that we confront is even the slightest hint of some sensible responsible, legislation in this area fans this notion that somehow here it comes, and that everybodys guns are going to be taken away. Jennifer so im taking a poll of all of my guests tonight. Do you think the president will be able to win over lawmakers who may even be on the fence about new gun safety laws . Its an uphill slog governor. This is a congress that has been a total failure in their effort to reinstate the assault weapons ban. They have allowed complete and utter immunity for an industry that makes guns of any kind. So when you start with a congress that has that type of mentality, it is very difficult to turn it around. We have a congress that doesnt understand the truth about the fact that the nra is a paper tiger. If you look at their history, in the last election they spent 12 million and had a failure rate of 99. 3 . And in the last four cycles you would find it very similar to that. Nonetheless they have been able to convince legislatures that they are the oz. Jennifer thats very true. They may not have had Great Success in electing candidates that they choose but they have created a successful [ inaudible ] around their power in some way. We we understand that the white house actually has a plan b, so if nra is successful in keeping the president from acting, the plan b might be requiring stricter regulations on gun shop inventories, or requiring background checks on employees. Are any of those ideas are as good as what he might be able to get through congress . They are short lived. I like him talking like that because the threat of executive order means a lot of things, governor. It means you are able to frame the talking points and Say Something that makes perfect sense, and that is we should reduce the capacity of magazines from 10 or 12 to 5. So when he comes out with executive orders that seem to go to those issues and then we see the crazy right say thats a bad idea. The public starts getting the message even clearer. Every time he comes out with the idea of an executive order that makes great sense to most of us and the crazy right says thats a bad idea he wins to some degree. Jennifer there is now a texas lawmaker who says if they use the executive order, hes going to introduce impeachment papers against the president. [ laughter ] jennifer any way, very quickly, if many governors are passing bans on assault weapons, do statelevel bans on assault weapons pass constitutional measure with this Supreme Court if they are challenged and taken up . They are going to be challenged, and they are going to find some way to say there is something sacred about that second amendment, but this president has a chance to change that with some new appointments. This Supreme Court, if you took it up today the chances of the states winning on a ban or anything meaningful would be very limited. Jennifer i agree with you, again, another reason why its important that the next appointments be made while the president is still in his second term. Mike papantonio, host of reign of fire radio show, really appreciate you coming inside the war room. Thank you governor. Jennifer all right. According to slate magazine, there has been 836 deaths by guns since the sandy hook massacre. One of those is 12yearold Steven Curtis from breckenridge missouri. Steven was taken off of a respirator on saturday. The day before steven somehow got locked into a he got into a locked gun safe and he shot himself. The sheriff and the family says it was an accident. His mother told the local cbs affiliate that steven loved the outdoors. He even had a hunters safety certificate. 12 years narrator bill press is on current tv. Liberal and proud of it. narrator unafraid, outspoken, and above all politically direct. Well do our best to carry the flag from 6 to 9 every morning. The Natural Energy of peanuts and delicious, soft caramel. To fill you up and keep you moving, whatever your moves. Payday. Fill up and go at cepacol weve heard people are going to extremes to relieve their sore throats. Oh, okay, you dont need to do that. But i dont want any more of the usual lozenges and i want new cooling relief ugh. How do you feel . Now im cold. Hmm. This is a better choice. New cepacol sensations cools instantly, and has an active ingredient that stays with you long after the lozenge is gone. Ahhh. Not just a sensation sensational relief. Jennifer now to a few other stories that caught my interest for your progressives. So its time to defeat that old obama for America Campaign app on your phone, and make room for the latest in political gadgetry, the president ial inaugural committee launched a mobile app for iphone and android phones today. That app is a must have for anybody who is planning to at ten the inauguration festivities. It provides users it has a schedule of events, transportation information, day of tips, maps if you need help finding the nearest entrance jumbotron or portapotty. That app has you covered because all of the users can also watch a live stream of inauguration and learn about its history, and interact on social media right from your smartphone. And then paul kroougmanugman has taken issue of how the daily show is covering the concept of the trillion dollars coin. Im not an economist. [ laughter ] but if were going to just make [ censor bleep ] up. I say go big or go home. How about a 20 trillion coin. Jennifer so here is what krugman who is a noble prize Winning Economist had to say about that. It is a funny thing, but you want to be funny from the point of view of understanding what the reasons are, and he just did it as a sort yuck yuck yuck oh stupid minting a coin. Jennifer well two of my favorite fighting. Maybe economists and comedians dont mix after all, but both of them are very good at what they do. And finally, lets go to spain where we get a reminder that humanity is everywhere, even in the unemployment office. Here comes the sun here comes the sun and i say, its all right jennifer this is a flashmob organized by a madrid, radio station. Its really a welcome message in a country with an Unemployment Rate at 26 . In the weeks since this video has been on youtube it has received more than 1 million hits. You have got to [ piano plays ] Troy Polamalus going deeper. And so is head shoulders deep clean. [ male announcer ] with 7 benefits it goes deep to remove grease, gunk and flakes. Deep. Like me. [ male announcer ] head shoulders deep clean for men. Jennifer in september of 2011 the white house website launched a new page allowing people to start petitions. Brett ehrlich is here to report on an instance of this democratic dialogue that is truly out of this world. Shhhh, bretts talking now since november 34,000 people have signed an official white house petition to Start Building a death star by 2016. Thats enough for the white house to respond, and it did. The response cheek illy entitled this isnt the petition response you are looking for, says, quote, a death star isnt on the horizon. Paul shawkroft, a chief science guy at the white house, this is a picture of him, outlined three main reasons for killing my childhood dream. Construction of the death star has been estimated to cost more than 850 quadrilian dollars. We can do that. And didnt we just find an entire planet made of diamonds. Two the administration does not support blowing up planets. And three why would we spend money on a death star when the same