Transcripts For CURRENT Viewpoint 20130220

Cenk one fact of the day former senator scott brown has invented a new excuse for his inappropriate from a couple of weeks ago. Pocket tweeght. Well explain what that is on the young turks later tonight. Viewpoint is next. John washington, d. C. Or as fox news put it, a few people loitered around outside the white house. Tim tebow is so christian hes going to speak at a Church Whose Pastor has hatred for jews and gay folks and catholics. Since tim tebow thanks goode when he place football, does he have to thank football when he goes to church . Tonight we launch wtf america where each week well highlight the most ridiculous stupidity of a different state. Tonight we honor mississippi for finally ratifying the amendment that bans slavery after someone saw lincoln and realized they hadnt gotten around to it yet. Today is the birthday of Smokey Robinson Benicio Del Toro and it is the 540th birthday of nicholas cop in cuss, the mathematician who said the sun didnt move, the earth did. Kansas is sure to start teaching that in Public Schools any day now. This is viewpoint. John good evening im John Fuglesang. Thank you for joining us tonight. Coming up, the White House Press corps demands complete transparency where the president s golf dates are concerned. Tens of thousands march to demand action on Climate Change. I hope you didnt hear that here first. Republicans in congress to cost Elizabeth Warren one job, now have big reason to regret their choice. But first he doesnt talk. He doesnt write. He doesnt have republicans over for pound cake. When he does try to lead on an issue, he cant help but mess things up. Yes, if you can believe the g. O. P. President ial obama is responsible for pretty much everything thats wrong in washington, d. C. Today including the traffic. From refusing to reach out across the aisle to the sequester that threatens to disembowel the federal government with 1. 2 trillion in spending cuts starting a week from this friday, it is all obamas fault. Though if you can believe the president , imagine this now, let me stretch your credulity here, the president wasnt entirely to blame. Obama the whole design of these arbitrary cuts was to make them so unattractive and so unappealing that democrats and republicans would actually get together and find a good compromise. Unfortunately, congress didnt compromise. John mr. Obama at least seemed logical to compromise with republicans. Obama i am willing to cut more spending that we dont need. Get rid of programs that arent working. Ive laid out specific reforms to our entitlement programs. John now if youre like me you just heard the president offer to cut spending and reform entitlement programs which means cutting them back. However, speaker of the house john boehner using powers only known to the g. O. P. Leadership, was apparently able to parse that offer and what he heard and i quote was once again the president offered no credible plan that can pass congress. Only more calls for higher taxes. The American People understand that that revenue debate is now closed. Then he leaked from his eyes. Obamas unwillingness to cut programs is a trap. As for who is responsible for the sequester mess in the first place, house budget chair paul ryan knows. Dont forget. It is the president who proposed the sequester. It is president who designed the sequester. John but who passed it, paul . Senate majority leader harry reid kind of knows the answer to that one. 174 Republican House members voted for this. 28 republican senators voted for this. This is not the president s sequester. John you killed filibuster reform but thats another argument. Mr. Obamas bill. Though a gang of eight in the senate is working on immigration, president obama has said he will step in if the evident fails. While some republicans accuse the president of failing to lead, a leaked white house proposal on immigration had other republicans calling for mr. Obama to stay out. Republican senator marco rubio insisted that if actually proposed the president s bill would be dead on arrival in congress. A bill that he pretty much agrees with all of the contents therein and congressman ryan, like the speaker of the house saw more machiavellian mischief from the white house. The president on most of these issues and this one now like the others, seems to be looking for a partisan advantage and not bringing the parties together. John loyal opposition or an everyone tent fractured or an everyone tent fractured party. Congressman ryan, you think helping the president fix the economy might do you some good. For more, Alex Isenstadt is a political reporter with politico. Rick ungar is a contributor with forbes. Org. Thank you for coming back on the show. My favorite place to be. Thanks for having me. John let me start with you, rick. Republicans are whining the president wont lead and when he does, it is only playing politics. Is this the typical whining we hear from the power who is always out of power . We heard plenty of complaints from democrats about president bush or is it personal this time . It is clearly personal. I think senator rubio told the truth. Even though it is pretty much the same bill he would propose if the president proposes the immigration bill, it is dead on arrival. It has to come from the republicans. That spoke volumes. John it was true. Alex, according to the white house, president obama did reach out to speak with senators rubio, graham and mccain on immigration today. Now, is that really so unusual . I mean the white house insists this president makes regular contact with Senior Republicans but doesnt publicize his calls at least before today. Sure. Theres been some grousing among a lot of among several republican senators. My colleague, reid epstein had a story in politico today talking about this. The white house wanted to push back on the line of attack saying the white house is very much engaged with republican senators who want to work with him or willing to work with him. John well, rick, as the president tried to go over congresss head with the state of the Union Address where he urged followers to contact their representatives directly on issues like guns and immigration. Is that because his outreach with republicans hasnt worked or there hasnt that much outreach in the first place . This is sort of like who asked you to the prom first. Look, nobody wants to talk to anybody. We can blame all of them and im including the president. He is the president. Hes the grownup. We all know thats true. If he invites somebody to come see the movie lincoln at the white house and they say no, you know what he has to do . He has to send them chocolates the next day tell them how badly he missed them and that he will be inviting them to the Party Next Week and he really hopes theyll show up and keep inviting them until they come. John it is a good point. Alex, we know that president bush was a really warm guy who had cunning little nicknames for everyone in congress. The rap on this president is hes an unfilling vulcan who doesnt hold their hand at the prom. But a recent Washington Post abc news poll showed the president s position on immigration and runs did much better with Republican Voters and some independents as long as his name wasnt attached to them. So doesnt it seem like they like his policies fine . Theyre the ones who dont like him despite calls from g. O. P. Leaders finish the president to lead on these issues . Do you think he would be better off if he stayed on the sidelines . The president is going to stand on the sidelines. As you pointed out, he will go right to the voters. He believes he has the upper hand on these issues and with the midterm 2014 midterms around the corner, president obama believes he can go to voters and sell the fight to them rather than going directly to lawmakers where frankly hes had a hard time getting things done. Im going to jump in on that. Hes gotta do both. You know i loft president. I do. But on this one subject again hes the grownup in the room. Yes, he can go over their heads. He can go to the voters. I think hell be successful but it will make his life a lot easier. If he just keeps pursuing these people who dont want to go out on a date with him. John hes a grownup with nine days left to make a deal. This one might be a little late. Lets face it. Congress is out of town. The president i never troubled by the president playing golf. I wish i had got ton play with him this weekend with tiger but you know what . This might have been a good weekend for everybody to stay in washington. I mean everybody. John fortunately john mccain has a jet pack that gets him to meet the press every weekend. Alex, is president obama that much worse than his predecessors when it comes to working with congress . Well, look, president obama is dealing with a fairly unique situation that probably is likely to confront future president s which is that hes dealing with a polarized congress. The congress that youre seeing, particularly in the house of representatives and also in the senate is frankly polarized. Thats hard for the president to deal with. John is it more polarized now than it was under president clinton . I will say that president bush after 911 sort of had cart blanch he controlled the house and the senate and the democrats were much more given to supporting his agenda following that crisis and attack on our nation. So is it really that unprecedented or does seem like over the last three administrations, it is okay as long as you give us, the republicans, what we want . Its not totally unprecedented. Whats pretty clear is this particular congress, particularly coming after the last round of redistricting and with the rise of the tea party and the conservative branch of the Republican Party this is conservative with republicans pretty far to the right. Democrats who frankly in many cases, particularly in the house are pretty far to the left. John well, rick, it is true. It is nice to remember we do have democrats who are liberal in the house. Is this another taste of the Republican Party doubling down on obstructionism . The policy that does not work for them in 2012 . I dont think they know what else to do. Look, we have such a weird dynamic now. Elections today in the house are not about republicans versus democrats. If youre an incumbent dont worry about the democrat. What theyre worried about are other republicans. It is all about primaries. So now theyre forced into this position where they cant be rational because they think theyre going to lose their job. We all know what matters. It is their job, not us. John is that a fair argument . Ronald reagan raised the debt ceiling 17 times 198 total. He didnt have republicans terrified of being primaried by tea party members. Is that what were seeing here . The republicans are being tainted into an ideological corner by the fringe of their base . You better get ready for a wild primary season, particularly on the republican side of the aisle. That republican primary season is going to start in the next few months. So if anything, a lot of this dynamic that rick just described, this is something well see really intensify over the next few months. John it seems to me thats winwin for the president. It worked in 2012. Theyll do everything they can to get fringe g. O. P. Candidates who cant win against a moderate democrat. Not necessarily. This is the strange thing about it. You go to some of the congressional districts and if it is a stronghold for republicans, theyll vote for the Tea Party Guy or girl if thats who wins in the primary. It is not necessarily going to help us in the house. John maybe. To keep from getting everything done. John for every ted cruz who gets in, you got a richard mourdock. Alex, if the sequester takes effect and these cuts go into play, who takes the blame at the end of the day . Well, it is a great question and right now, im talking with some republican strategists who were fairly concerned about this. They believe that sequestration is an issue that could hurt them in some districts particularly districts that have very heavily with military plants. John exactly. Not even a close call. Clearly the republicans. Dont think for a second they dont know it. John thats why theyre trying so hard to assign this as being an obama sequester. They know it wont work. The vote will be in the congress. Congress will be blamed for this and it will be the republicans. They know it. They just dont know what to do about it because theyre scared of being primaried. John thats everything you need to know about the fiscal crisis of this month. You guys are the smartest kids in class. Political reporter with politico Alex Isenstadt. Rick ungar, thank you for your time tonight. The president went golfing and he did not invite the press. Is barack obama trying to cover up the most pointless fluff story of the week . Billy zane stars in barabbas. Coming in march to reelz. To find reelz in your area, go to reelz. Com john welcome back to viewpoint. Its time for the thing of the day. Tonights thing the confusing chauvinism of the day from republican congressman jimmy duncan jr. From the great state of tennessee whos on the fence about the violence against women act. Hes against it. But he told the Chattanooga Times free press hes deeply concerned about violence against women because most men can handle it a little better than a lot of women can. Isnt that sweet . He may not spend money to help stop the violence against women but a real gentleman can always find the time to be patronizing to a lady. So talk about making a mountain out of 18 holes the White House Press corps erupted with furious complaints about lack of access after president obama played a round of golf with tiger woods and didnt invite the media along. Ed henry fox News Reporter and president of the White House Correspondents Association released a statement expressing extreme frustration about having absolutely no access to the president of the United States this entire weekend. There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead transparency. Yet while waging this war for access, the White House Press corps sadly and as usual failed to cover the real story of obamas golf ought ignoring the fact that while over 30,000 people were marching in washington to protest the keystone xl pipeline led by Michael Brune of the sierra club who will join us later in the show, president obamas golf foursome included jim crane a houston businessman whos made millions off the oil and gas industry. Just going eye way for a guys weekend with obama and tiger woods. Joining me now is one member of the press who did not miss the story, dave zirin Sports Reporter for the nation. This book is required reading. Dave, good evening welcome back to the show. Great to be, here john. John great to have you. A little bit of irony. The press is complaining about a lack of access while completely failing to report the only real story that emerged from the president s golf outing this weekend. First to the White House Press corps, i almost want to get on my knees and beg them to get assemblance of dignity. Learn a trade. Learn how to lay a brick. Do something with your life for goodness sakes other than what youre doing right now. Youre giving nothing back to journalism or greater society. This is politics as political theatre. And it comes off about as sad as the place that employs ed henry quite frankly. Now, as for the story that you just said about the real story is i couldnt agree with you more. I was out there, i live here in d. C. , the number one thing about living in d. C. Is the short distance you have to go for national demonstrations. So 10minute drive, i was with 30,000 of my closest friends protesting the horrific Climate Changes taking place around the world. Among the people demonstrating was sheldon whitehouse, the senator from rhode island. There were other big heavy hitters there. It was not like president obama did not know we were throughout and doing this on this freezing cold day that we trudged out there on that day. But it says something about i think, the nature of this white house. That he would go out there with jim crane, on this day of all days. Jim crane, as you said, not just an investor in natural gas in oil, as you said but also an investor in the very thing we were protesting which was the Keystone Pipeline as well as an investor in the offshore drilling operation that led to the British Petroleum disaster of several years back. It says something pretty horrible about what it takes to get the president s ear. It is like what can i do . Can i organize 30,000 of my closest friends to go out on a frigid day and march with my 8yearold and my 4yearold who are screaming at me as being the worst dad in the world for dragging them out on this freezing day . Should i do that or just make a million billion dollars call up the white house and get out the clubs . John i dont think its news when a moderate democrat throws an oil derrick. It would make obama look like a moderate and not a raging socialist. I want to take five seconds to defend ed henry in saying dont they have a case of saying that they at least deserve a chance as the Fourth Estate of American Government to know how the president s doing on the back nine . Well, i would only say that as the Fourth Estate, theyve so abused that title at this point. I mean look, the day that a certain gentleman who hosts meet the press David Gregory, got up there and rapped with karl rove and they did their hiphop thing at the white house correspondents dinner, that was the day where the entire institution of inside the beltway reportage officially jumped the sharks. John i would ask a followup question but you mentioned David Gregory so i cant. Lets move on to the Oscar Pistorius story. He competed on two prosthetic legs and is accused of shooting his girlfriend and killing her. Obviously it is a huge story. O. J. Simpson was the most famous athlete up until that time ever accused of murder. What do you make of this entire saga . Step one the number one thing this story is about that is not being talked about is the issue of Domestic Violence and guns. I mean women who go in a hospital on issues of Domestic Violence, they were beaten by the partners, the first thing theyre asked by counselors is there a gun in the house . There is a reason for that. Because women who are killed by in the house are seven times more likely to be killed by a firearm than any other way. Of course, we saw this in the National Football league earlier this year with javon belcher. It is not being framed that way as a story at all. It is being framed as was this an issue of Oscar Pistorius thinking there was a burglar lurking in his bathroom for whom he had to shoot through the door four times or is this a story of a premeditated murder. Thats what it is being called in south africa. Premeditated. Thats why Oscar Pistorius is not able to go out on bail. The worlds of violence against women and sports are intersecting. They intersect far too much. It is a terrible, terrible day in whats been a terrible year for nike. If you look at the last year, theyve had to shut down the joe paterno Child Care Center at their beaverton oregon, facility. Shut down the Lance Armstrong Fitness Center at their facility. And now Oscar Pistorius who is one of their big people in the global market, he did a commercial with them called where Oscar Pistorius looked at the camera and he said im the bullet in the gun. That was also produced by nike. Bad stuff. Just bad stuff. John involve steroid use which will unfold in the weeks to come. I look forward to have you on quite a bit. Quickly to tim tebow. Im a comedian. Tim plans to speak at a dallas megaChurch Whose Pastor has a history of antigay, antimuslim, antimormon anticatholic speech. Good career for a third quarterback for the jets . Well, look, tim tebow, might have faced the music that says itss really difficult to be a quarterback in the National Football league if you cant throw. [ laughter ] as long as that continues to be a job requirement to play qb in the nfl, hes going to have a very tough time. Weve known for a long time that tim tebow has designs on a much bigger political stage than just being controversial nfl quarterback and this is clearly a move in that direction as opposed to a move toward i want to be a starting quarterback in the National Football league because if he wanted to do that, he would be in his backyard with a tire and a ball trying to figure out how to make one of those things happen that he hasnt seen firsthand. It is called a spiral. John we all admire his humility because he talks about it so much. Dave zirin author of game over, i hope you come back next week. I want to talk about Michael Jordan turning 50. I want to go more indepth on pistorius. Sounds good john. John the biggest Climate Change protest youve never heard of is coming up next. The bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobsters lobsterfest. With the years Largest Selection of mouthwatering lobster entrees. Like our delicious lobster lovers dream, featuring two kinds of succulent lobster tails. Or our savory, new grilled Maine Lobster and lobster tacos. Its back, but not for long. [ woman ] our guests go crazy for lobsterfest. My favorite entree is the lobster lovers dream. Whats yours . Come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently. Dont let it get to you. Try mach3 sensitive, with three highdefinition blades. A closer shave in a single stroke for less irritation, even on sensitive skin. Get closer to the one you love. Gillette mach3 sensitive. Gillette. The best a man can get. John tonight we launch a hardhitting new Investigative Journalism series, wtf america. This week, we honor the great state of mississippi. Mississippi, we are so proud of you for ratifying the 13th amendment to ban slavery last week. Its great to see youre on the cutting edge of stuff most states did 148 years ago. Now, credit goes to dr. Ron jon batra of the university of mississippi medical center. He was born in india became a citizen in 2008 and went to see Steven Spielbergs lincoln last november. A man of science who is aware theyre making talking pictures now in mississippi. My expectations defied. I kid but through his research, he discovered that mississippi hadnt ratified the 13th amendment until 1995 and still hadnt gotten around to notifying the u. S. Archivists which would have made it official. So wtf mississippi are you guys aware that ratifying the ban on slavery was a major touchstone in u. S. History . Not some shore like moving up from 49th to 50th in education. Seriously . Wtf . You as a state have made some great contributions to our culture like William Faulkner. And all right William Faulkner is the only one i can think of. Elvis was born there so was orp ra. In the year of our lord 2013, youre having a hard time keeping up with mid 19th century. You, mississippi are a part of our nation. We would be happy to have you along for this whole United States of America Thing that we got going. John our tweet of the day is from barry us who is i can only assume is a cranky doctor. He tweeted the Keystone Pipeline will carry foreign oil across the u. S. To be shipped to foreign refineries. Whats not to love . Good point. All the pipeline will do is selfdeport crude oil to foreign lands while ruining our land in the process. Kind of a winwin. If you have a comment for the show, please tweet us at viewpointctv or at John Fuglesang or use hashtag viewpoint. Washington hosted the biggest Climate Change rally in history. The people who wont talk about Climate Change may not be talking about this rally either. About 35,000 people march on the National Mall with smaller protests popping up around the country. In particular, protestors ask the president to reject the xl extension for the keystone oil pipeline. While he was off golfing as we mentioned earlier with a texas oil millionaire. But as climate awareness spreads, so do attempts to confuse this issue. In kansas, the state Legislature Might make schools include evidence against Climate Change in science class giving equal time to those oil industryfunded 3 of scientists who disagree with the overwhelming World Scientific consensus. Texas, louisiana tennessee and oklahoma lawmakers are considering similar policies and no thats probably not a coincidence. These proposals follow suggestions by the American Legislative Exchange council aka the conservative group known as alec. Joining me now is Michael Brune executive director of the sierra club and one of the organizers for this weekends protest. Welcome to the show. Hi, john. Thanks for having me. John congratulations on the turnout this past weekend. Did you expect this many people . You know, we were shooting for 25,000 actually and the last estimate is we hit 50,000. So biggest climate rally in u. S. History. And we thought it was a great success. John congratulations. Lets get right to it. How much do you think president obama can be relied upon in this issue . Well, thats what we need to see. If you listen to the president s inaugural speech, he was perfect, note perfect on Climate Change. Talked about this as a moral challenge and an Economic Opportunity to transition to clean energy. His state of the union was pretty good as well. The first big tests for the president is whether or not he approves the keystone xl pipeline. You cannot simultaneously say that we want to fight Climate Change with all weve got as a country and expand production in one of the dirtiest fuel sources on the planet. John indeed. Im still surprised at how many of our fellow americans dont understand what the story is about yet. Could you briefly explain how stopping the extension of keystone is important for the climate . Sure. Were talking about the tar sands here, an oil field up in alberta that produces very thick, gooey oil. It is not like conventional oil. And because its not like conventional oil it takes a lot of energy just to drill it up. Or to mine it from the ground. This pipeline is a proposal that the proposed pipeline would bring down about a Million Barrels, a little bit less than a Million Barrels of Oil Every Day and it would increase Greenhouse Gas emissions compared to conventional oil. So we need to cut Carbon Pollution as quickly as we can. If it was conventional oil, it would be a bad idea because this is dirtier than conventional oil, it is a complete boondoggle. And it is coming at a time when the obama administrations made Good Progress in reducing our oil consumption. Last fall, the administration issued a rule that will when it is finalized phase out and save three Million Barrels of Oil Every Day. So if were saving so much oil we dont need to expand production and development in new oil source. Thats one of the reasons why this is such a bad idea. John michael let me quickly throw the number one argument you hear right at you. This is not foreign oil. Drill, baby, drill. Were getting our oil from domestic source. It wont tie us up in the middle east. How do you respond to that one . Energy independence is something that we need in our country. Its a noble important goal. But it also has to be reconciled with the fact that we cant keep building refineries or pipelines or coal plants as though Climate Change didnt exist. So what the sierra club is saying and many other climate scientists and Community Groups and Business Leaders is we have Homegrown Energy in the u. S. It is solar and wind and Energy Efficiency that can increase jobs cut Carbon Pollution clean up our air and water all at the same time and a pipeline, a dirty pipeline pulling down almost a Million Barrels of oil doesnt fit into a clean energy future. John especially when the oil wont be turned to the gasoline for lower prices for americans. I have to bring up, of course, joe nocera at the new york times. He is, as you know, a big supporter of the pipeline. He mentioned you by name in a column yesterday and called your strategy boneheaded. He said blocking the pipeline will make canada send the oil to china and not really cut down on demand. Whats your response . Because i was under the impression most of the oil was going to go to china and india to begin with. His response hurt my feelings. John are you okay with that . Yeah. My mom isnt though. Joes no nocera has been a proponent all along. Im sure hes a nice gentleman. Ive met him before. The key here is he argued that we need to be cutting demand which weve done. If he had done the research, he would know we soon saved 3 Million Barrels a day. Well soon save another 400,000 barrels a day by regulating heavy duty trucks. So were starting to ween ourselves off of oil in the u. S. And pipelines will not be built to china. Theyre already stalled up in british columbia. So the key is we gotta get real here. If we want to fight Climate Change and stop the droughts and wildfires and super storms, we cant pretend everythings okay and keep building out the dirty energy sources. Weve gotta transition to clean energy and do it fast. John lets turn to the Climate Science deniers in the classrooms. Youve heard about whats going on in kansas. How much traction do these proposals have . Right now theyre getting none. Weve seen similar bills in arizona and oklahoma and now this one in kansas. It is a shame that we have to spend time talking about this. Were not spending that much time questioning whether gravity exists or whether elvis is really dead. It is almost silly that this is coming up as a legitimate topic. But nevertheless, it is coming from this group alec, that you just talked about and alec, the American Legislative Exchange council, is also going after Clean Energy Legislation in minnesota, ohio and other states across the country. So this is a very concerted aggressive attempt to try to challenge places where were starting to make really Good Progress and transitioning to clean energy. John alec dominated by fossil fuel executives, thereby writing legislation, handing it to legislators then there is a curriculum set in place. Thats exactly whats happening. John thank you very much. You made it easy to understand. Michael brune is executive director of the sierra club. I hope youll come back. It has been a pleasure talking to you tonight. Thanks, john. John thank you. A Senate Banking hearing somehow goes viral. Could Elizabeth Warren be everything we hoped for . Thats ahead. First, lets see whats coming up on say anything with joy belar. Talk to me joy. Joy thanks, john. Next on say anything, the queen of personal finance suze orman is here. I asked her if she deenjoys denying callers. Wants to go to london. Joy youre like the little grinch, arent you . I get pleasure out of it. I really have to approve you . I so want to deny you. Joy alec baldwin goes ballistic yet again. President obama spends a few hours on the links with tiger woods. More viewpoint with John Fuglesang right after this. Break the ice with breathfreshening cooling crystals. Ice breakers. John a Youtube Video of a senator has gone viral. Instead, it is a video of senator Elizabeth Warren, still sounds nice to say that, doing what she was sent to washington to do. At her first hearing as a member of the Senate Banking Committee Last week, Elizabeth Warren, our new senator from massachusetts and according to Rolling Stones matt taibbi and me, the future president of the United States did not disappoint. The question i really want to ask is about how tough you are. About how much leverage you really have in the settlements and what i would like to know is tell me a little bit about the last few times youve taken the biggest Financial Institutions on wall street all the way to a trial. [ applause ] anybody . John thats a senator and not a lefty blog . The response was a series of regularities from the s. E. C. , the occ and other agencies providing excuses for why they havent brought any of the big wall street banks to trial in recent history. Senator warren was less than pleased with their response. Im really concerned that too big to fail has become too big for trial. That just seems wrong to me. [ applause ] john i would have gone with too big to bail out but it works. Joining me now to discuss this and many other issues are host of the week in blackness in the morning, l. Joy williams. Former Senior Adviser to president clinton and former president of equality matters richard socarides. Host of the podcast employee of the month, catie lazarus. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for coming back and one newby. This youtube clip of senator warren being tough on the Bank Regulators has had over a million views. L. Joy are people this starved to see a politician finally going after the big banks . I think people are this starved to see banks in general take some responsibility for what they caused in our economy. And so far in the foreclosure crisis, in lending to Small Businesses and so many other things, there hasnt been anyone taken to task for what they caused. Like this was not something that generally happened because of the nature of the economy going up and down and prices they caused this. Someone a lot of people were in and they caused this crisis. No one has taken responsibility. People like to see banks in the hot seat, too right . This is really like when youre in the Senate Committee youre in the hot seat. Her timing is impeccable and the way she asked the question. She didnt say when was the last time or why havent you done this . She said just tell me a little bit about the last time as if she didnt know the answer and then she said anybody . Just the way she said that was perfect. Apparently they didnt know the answer. They were stalling. One of them said ill have to get back to you with a response as if she didnt know. Have we ever taken them it to task . Whats interesting also about that is sometimes you see someone who watches cspan and watches those hearings, sometimes. You see agencies where they dont have a response, you know, to certain questions that theyre being asked. How could you not think no one before this committee that the senator would not ask you to tell john ill tell you how because because we become used to senators like mrs. Clinton who spend their first year or two being an under the radar presence. Mrs. Warren is bucking the trend along with ted cruz who isnt afraid to make waves out of the gate. The other thing about the way she asked the question, it is an obvious question. This is the kind of thing youre going to ask them. Senators and people who follow this stuff the cspan crowd get so lost in the minutia they dont often ask the bigpicture questions. John if they hadnt blocked her from running the Consumer Financial protection bureau, they wouldnt be facing her right now. So do you think and ill ask this to you because you worked for bill clinton who has a little bit to do with what were talking about here. Do you think shell be able to enact any real reform on banking . I think shes in a much more powerful position having not been confirmed. She was a United States senator and obviously attracting a lot of attention. Shes a dynamic politician and dynamic person. She probably has a huge future in elected politics. The fact that they blocked her theyre probably wishing they didnt block her now because she would have been a lot less trouble for them. I think she was blocking herself from any president ial run any time soon because she was kissing her Campaign Money goodbye. John if Elizabeth Warren is on one end of the political spectrum, sarah palin must be on the other end. She will be speaking at this years conservative Political Action conference in march. She was willing to speak to cpac but only under any conditions. Fox dropped her. Is miss palin relevant after all shes been through . Is she still the voice of or one of the voices of the conservative movement . Who . Im just kidding. John she has a huge fan base still. Although grizzly bears are not one of them. She keeps referring to the grizzly mama bears. They dont give bit a lot. Theyre also prone to depression. She would have to be able to pay for their mental healthcare. John ask the cubs to pay for a rich guys tax cut. Theyre in for inbreeding. John is she primed for a comeback . I think she should have run if only to keep herself in the public eye. If she wanted to keep herself in the public eye, she should have run. She becomes more of an entertainment personality. Shes more like a headliner. I think this is probably the only group in america who would really want her and pay to have her. I wonder if theyre paying her. John im sure they are although rand paul wouldnt go without a 50,000 check. Just like tupac. You couldnt resist that. John speakers at the conference, i love this. This is like remember in the Adam West Batman movie when all of the batman villains came together . Lapierrre, west. Is sarah palin the voice of reason . There is no voice of reason at all in this conference and if it is, it is probably one little in the back of the conference center, wherever this is being held. If they ban the gay group there is a conservative they didnt ban the republicans. There is a more conservative john go proud. Conservative gay group that was there last year and gave a big party that got out of hand. This year they were banned. John i love gays for the republicans like cows who support burger king. Catie, as a comedian, this interests us greatly. Do you think that the Republican Party and cpac will give us a lot of entertainment for the year or do you think theyll get on a unified message . I think they always have promised to offer you and its career. And that hasnt changed. I feel bad for republicans who logical and would like to get back to the party they consider the party would you really feel bad . Not that bad. Exboyfriends, new girlfriends. John let me shift gears a little bit. I begged my conservative friends to come on. Shifting years, it was discovered this week despite making over 1 billion in profit in 2012, facebook is paying zero federal or state taxes on its income and is, instead, getting a 429 million refund from you and me just for being special. Richard, is this everything thats wrong with our tax system . Yes. This is really bad. I think that the notion that a big company like this thats so symbolically large and has such a presence in our culture today the idea that they have to pay no taxes really speaks to what is terribly wrong with our Corporate Tax structure. It is this is the worst. I think a number of groups like Small Business groups that i belong to and others across the country who are really hurting and need the tax break to take this kind of news and i think, you know, liberals and others who believe in this should use this as a test case across the country in saying here are the companies that are getting off and not contributing to society and heres the rest of us who have to pay these large taxes and probably have to have a payment plan to pay them and you have facebook and other companies. John at least when we log into facebook, we dont have to stare at ads. Oh, wait. My panel stays with me after the break. One of the most controversial things in america coming up next. vo shes joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . The bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobsters lobsterfest. With the years Largest Selection of mouthwatering lobster entrees. Like our delicious lobster lovers dream, featuring two kinds of succulent lobster tails. Or our savory, new grilled Maine Lobster and lobster tacos. Its back, but not for long. [ woman ] our guests go crazy for lobsterfest. My favorite entree is the lobster lovers dream. Whats yours . Come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently. John welcome back to viewpoint. One last quick question for the panel. And yall are brilliant. Im ashamed of myself. At the risk of sounding like james lipton, what is one word you absolutely hate. L. Joy . Cant. We cant go after the big banks that caused our financial crisis. We cant introduce legislation to allow women to choose what they would like to do with their own bodies. I do not like cant. John i want to top that but im unable. Richard . Thats a tough question and im not sure i can say on the air the word that im thinking of. So im just going to pass. John can you hint at it . No. I probably should stay away from it. Stephanie im guessing it is an epithet. I think any word thats used in a derogatory fashion with the intention of demeaning someone or being hateful toward someone any word like that. Im thinking of a word like that. John i understand. I get those called to me on twitter every day. Catie . Lol. John oh. Oh yeah. I want to change my answer. Either experience real emotion or dont. John you type lol but i dont think youre laughing. The loud. That brings me to tonights f bomb. We were having a debate earlier today about the word retarded. Some of my friends and coworkers are offended by anyone over the age of 14 learning that term to describe learning disabled. Im part moron so im offended by the word. I worked in special ed. For years. I have heard the r word so i dont say it. I dont care if other people do but we havent found the right word. Some say developmentally disabled. Over in the u. K. , the guardian uses the word intellectually disabled which sounds just as bad. It applies to half of congress and most tv executives. But we had this debate over that word because tonight the u. S. 11th circuit of appeals and the Georgia Court of appeals once again staid the scheduled execution of warren hill. Mr. Hill is on death row for killing his cellmate with a wooden ford while serving a life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend. No ones agriculturing mr. Hill is in great guy who should be set free. The u. S. Supreme court ruled in adkins versus virginia that executing the developmentally disabled violates the eighth amendments prohibition against cool and unusual punishment. They left who is deciding who is disabled to the states. His i. Q. Is 70 which constitutes intellectual disability. Only 3 of the population are at that level which makes one prone to impulsive actions in times of stress. Mentally disabled people are not considered capable of understanding the consequences of