Transcripts For KNTV Meet The Press 20160214

Right. Thats the 51st time. Can Hillary Clinton win by making this campaign a referendum on sanders, not herself . Joining me this sunday morning for inside and analysis are gwen ifil, chris, ron fournier and kathleen parker, columnist for the Washington Post. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. It hasnt happened since 1968. A vacancy battle on the Supreme Court at this stage of an Election Year. We learned late yesterday of the sudden and tragic death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. An intellectual and conservative thought leader, a man president obama last night called one of the most consequential judges and thinkers to serve on the Supreme Court. Scalias death of course is a personal tragedy for his family and colleagues, but it is also bursting with Major Political implications. What will his loss due to the balance of power on the court . Will the Republican Senate even consider someone nominated by president obama . How long will this vacancy paralyze the court, and perhaps the u. S. Senate . And at last nights republican president ial debate in South Carolina the candidates made clear where they stand on this issue. I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And its not unprecedented. Theres no doubt in my mind that barack obama will not have a consensus pick. The senate needs to stand strong and say were not going to give up the u. S. Supreme court for a generation. I think its up to Mitch Mcconnell and everybody else to stop it. Its called delay, delay, delay. Were going to hear from four of the leading republican president ial candidates this morning, donald trump, ted cruz, marco rubio and john kasich. The Democratic Candidates meanwhile were also quick to respond to the vacancy. Supreme court of the United States has nine members, not eight. We need that ninth member. Elections have consequences. The president has a responsibility to nominate a new justice. And the senate has a responsibility to vote. Well also be taking a close look at the democratic race and how Hillary Clintons team is working overtime to try to turn this contest from being a referendum on her to a referendum on Bernie Sanders. A lot to get to, but we start with the impact and the implications of scalias death on the Supreme Court. Nobody better to join me on this than our justice correspondent pete williams. Pete, welcome back, sir. Let me ask very quickly, were in the middle of some contentious cases on the Supreme Court now. What happens right now . The most one with political implications is the immigration decision. Right. When you have eight justices it creates the possibility of a 44 tie. When theres a tie its as though the Supreme Court decision doesnt count, the Lower Court Ruling stands and the Supreme Court decision has no president ial value. So for the immigration policy it would be a defeat for the administration because it would leave standing the Lower Court Rulings that blocked it. For such abortion question which is coming, it would leave the tough texas restriction on access to abortion clinics standing. Might encourage other states to try the same thing. For Public Sector unions though it might be a victory because they won in the lower courts, defeating an effort to try to restrict their ability to raise union dues. All right. We are headed for the potential of if the president wants to nominate somebody, hes made that clear. The Republican Controlled Senate doesnt want to consider it. Its possible terms of the Supreme Court begin in october and end in june. Right. So at this point under this scenario we might go an entire term, october of 16 through june of 17 without a Supreme Court justice because even if the next president appoints it takes time to get through the process. Two haugtthoughts, majority decisions are not close votes. The court will continue functioning and do a lot of its business. It does raise the possibility that you wont get what only the Supreme Court can provide, and that is the final answer. Only the Supreme Court can resolve these things for once and forever. So a lot of these things will just have to keep coming back until the Supreme Court gets the right combination to make the decision. Scalia, the way cases are heard, once theyre heard, theres an immediate vote that takes place among the nine justice. Thats right. Does scalias vote count posthumously . No, not unless the decision was handed down. The rule is votes can shift and opinions can change, you have to be present for your vote to count. I want you to talk about one candidate i think we may see nominated. Its a judge by the name of merrick garland. If theres a Republican Senate, this is a guy they think they can get through the Republican Senate. Hes considered more moderate than other liberal justices, why . Because of his record, experience in the justice department, widely respected. I mean, the thing is now president s tend to want younger nominees. If you look at the most recent trend, theyre nominating people in their 50s. Thats not merrick garland, but hes the right kind of ideology. All right. Pete williams, going to be a busy 18 months for you on this confirmation process, i think. Indeed. Joining me now is the first of four republican president ial candidates who are on with us this morning. Its donald trump. Mr. Trump, welcome back to meet the press. Good morning. Let me ask you first on the Supreme Court opening. Doyou have a litmus test . Do you have a litmus test on row v. Wade . Citizens united when it comes to who you might appoint to the Supreme Court should you become president . Well, i think we have some great people out there. Diane sikes from wisconsin from what everybody tells me would be outstanding. We need a conservative person. I think that certainly we have some great people. We lost one of the greats. Id like to have the person tailored to be just like Justice Scalia, Justice Scalia was truly a great judge. And respected by all. Both sides. Thats what i mean, how will you determine that . How will you determine whether you got somebody well, i mean, look, you never know what happens, chuck. You look at where a guy like ted cruz pushed very hard for Justice Roberts. Everyone thought that was wonderful. And Justice Roberts let everybody down by approving obamacare, twice. I mean, he really did let us down. Thats largely cruzs fault and the bush fault because they put the wron guy in there. That was a shocking decision. So, you know, you never really know. But at the time he looked okay. But hes that was a ted cruz mistake because he pushed him very hard. Look, we need great intellect. We need i say absolutely conservative. But i think the real plan for it would be Somebody Just like Justice Scalia. All right. I want to move on to the debate last night. By the way which is hard to find. Yeah, i think a lot of con terve sie servetives will agree with you. I want to go to the debate last night. Your 2008 comments about george w. Bush were brought up and this idea that you were surprised at the time that thenspeaker pelosi had ruled out impeachment. Did you believe that and i just want to clarify this, did you believe that there was enough there to bring up impeachment proceedings against george w. Bush in 2008 over iraq . No. I was in the private sector, so i didnt think about it too much. But certainly the war in iraq was a disaster. No, not to be impeached, but the war in iraq it was a mistake. He just made a mistake. We went into iraq, we lost thousands of lives but you dont believe its an Impeachable Offense now . You were implying it might be in 2008. Well, thats for other people to say. Look, that is for other people to say. I can say this, it may not have been impeachable because it was a mistake. I think it was a mistake. But it was a horrible mistake. Number one, there were no weapons of mass destruction. So did they know there werent or not . That would tell you something right there. But there were no weapons of mass destruction. Chuck, the war in iraq was a disaster. We end up with absolutely nothing. Iran is taking over iraq as we sit here right now. And as sure as you can be iran is doing pretty well worldwide. They take 150 billion, we get nothing. Theyre taking over iraq. Theyre getting the oil. It was a disasterous decision the war in iraq and unfortunately bush happened to be president. You were saying president bush lied. How do you know he lied about wmd . I think that people knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction. I think they wanted to go in there. I think they thought it would have been easier. They didnt prosecute the war well. It wasnt well prosecuted and they ended up getting i mean, leaving. Now, i have to say he made a mistake getting in. And im the only one on the stage that said we should not go into iraq. That the war in iraq is a mistake. Everyone else said, oh, you know, all the other people on stage i should get points for vision. Because everybody let me pause you there. Chuck, it took right. Let me pause you it took jeb bush five days wait a minute. It took jeb bush five days to say that the iraq war was a mistake. He went back and forth, back and forth. Then finally his pollster told him what he had to say. But jeb bush then he admitted it was a mistake. I mean, look, hes got no chance anyway, but it almost cost him the election before he even started. Well, i want to for what its worth politifact that has never been able to find, none of us have been able to find any instance where before the invasion you came out against this war. Why is that . Well, i did it in 2003. I said it before dont forget, i wasnt a politician. So people didnt write everything i said. I was a business person. I was as they say world class business person. I built a great company. I employ thousands of people. So im not a politician, but if you look at 2003 there are articles, if you look at 2004, there are articles in fact i saw somebody commenting on it last night that trump really was against the war. I was against it look, im the most militaristic person, im going to build the military bigger, better, stronger, hopefully well never have to use it, but nobodys going to mess with us. But i will say this, the war in iraq, it was a mistake. Anybody would have realized iran and iraq they used to fight. Theyd go back, forth. Chuck, you destabilize the middle east, im the only one that called. I was the only one that called it. You made it clear that you wanted to remind people that 9 11 happened, i believe you used the phrase, during george bushs reign. Do you believe that george bush kept america safe . No. Because the World Trade Center was knocked down. Look, thats another myth. I wish he did. I have nothing against him. I dont know him. I dont know that i dont think i ever even met him. I dont think i did meet him. I have nothing against george bush. Im just saying when jeb bush gets up and says my brother kept us safe. How did he keep us safe when the world trade during his time in office, i lost many, many friends that was the worst tragedy in the history of this country. Worse than pearl harbor because they attacked civilians. They attacked people in office buildings. And you think george w. Bush could have prevented this . Well, according to if you go back, you will see the cia and other agencies had information that bad things were going to happen. And, yes, the answer is he should have known. They were not talking to each other. There was total disassociation. They didnt like each other, all of the different agencies were a mess. They were fighting with each other. Absolutely they should have known. They should have known something. Osama bin laden hey, look, i wrote about Osama Bin Laden in 2000 in a book. I was talking about Osama Bin Laden. If i know about Osama Bin Laden just by seeing press and seeing, you know, whats going on, why wouldnt the president of the United States know about Osama Bin Laden . Well, let me ask you this. In South Carolina as you know, george w. Bush is popular among republicans. You are this is a risky stra strategy. You called him a liar last night about wmd and you essentially said you would have been okay i didnt call him a liar. I didnt call anybody a liar. Well, you called ted cruz a liar. Chuck, i said maybe there were lies because, look, the weapons of mass destruction they said they existed and they didnt exist. Now, it was his group that said there are weapons of mass destruction. Thats why we went in. Thats why so many people got hoodwinked into going into iraq. Then they go in there, they searched high and dry. They looked all over. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Turned out that there were absolutely not no weapons of mass destruction. Now, was it a lie . I dont know. If you lose South Carolina, do you think the game change moment people will point to is what happened last night and what you said about george w. Bush . But if you win, does this prove that the Republican Party is rejecting bush . No, i dontthink so. I think theyre rejecting the war in iraq. The war in iraq is a disaster. I have a great relationship with South Carolina and the people. Ive known them for a long time. Ive been there many times. I have great relationships there. Theyre very smart people. They understand that the war in iraq is a disaster and was a disaster. It totally destabilized the middle east. When you look at the migration, when you look at all of the things that are happening right now, it all started with the war in iraq. And you know what, we got nothing. We have absolutely nothing. Iran is getting the whole deal. Mr. Trump, i have to leave it there. Little short on time this morning. I look forward to speaking with you again soon, i hope. Thanks for congresswomanming on safe on the trail. Thank you very much. Moments ago i spoke to senator ted cruz of texas. And i began asking him about how he might go about replacing Justice Antonin Scalia on the court. Let me go to litmus tests, do you have them for potential Supreme Court justices . Well, my litmus test for any Supreme Court justice is whether he or she will faithfully apply the constitution to the law. Its not a specific issue. It is rather a jurs prudential approach. The only way to determine that is if they have a proven record, if they have spent years demonstrating theyll be faithful to the law. Thats the job of a justice. Its what liberal activists dont do. Liberal activists want to instead legislate from the bench. A perfect example of that is Justice Scalia. Justice scalia was a lion of the Supreme Court. He was one of the greatest Supreme Court justices in history. Spent three decades on the court. But before he was on the court he was a law professor for many, many years. He was a court of appeals judge. He had a long proven record so you knew exactly what you were getting with Justice Scalia. I knew Justice Scalia for 20 years. Is this the mistake you think was made with john roberts . Of course it is. You were a big supporter of him, but in hindsight youre not. Is that because you think that he didnt have a track record . He didnt have a track record. And i would not have nominated john roberts. Once george bush nominated him, i supported the nomination as a republican nominee, but i would have nominated my former boss, a court of appeals judge, Justice Scalias very first law clerk and had a long proven track record. And, chuck, just as Ronald Reagan was to the presidency, so Antonin Scalia was to the Supreme Court. He had that big an impact. And i think his passing yesterday really underscores the stakes of this election. We are facing our fundamental rights in a balance. Let me ask you, does the United States senate have an obligation to at least consider a nomination that president obama puts forward . I understand that you guys dont want it. And you would prefer to let the but doesnt the United States have an obligation to at least go through the process and have an up or down vote . Not remotely. Why . It has been 80 years since a Supreme Court vacancy was nominated and confirmed in an Election Year. There is a long tradition that you dont do this in an Election Year. And what this means, chuck, is we ought to make the 2016 election a referendum on the Supreme Court. I cannot wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders and talk about what the Supreme Court will look like depending on who wins. If Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders wins, or for that matter if donald trump wins whose record is indistinguishable from them on a great many issues, then we will see the Second Amendment written out of the constitution. Another thing well see, and this is very relevant, for conservatives in South Carolina, if donald trump is the nominee, or if Hillary Clinton is the president , we will see unlimited abortion on demand throughout this country. Partial birth abortion, taxpayer funding, no parental notification. And well also see our religious liberty torn down, basic rights. I want to go back to the United States senate here. So you believe the presidency is only three years long in each term . I mean, if we go down this road, were cutting off a presidency with a year to go. And more importantly, senator cruz, the risk here for conservatives is that if you have all these 44 ties in the court, then the more liberal leaning circuits will then have, you know, their rulings will take precedent. Look, the consequence of a 44 tie is that the judgment of the court of appeals is affirmed by an equally divided vote. This has happened many times in history that there have been vacancies, sometimes on a closely contentious case theyll hold over for the next term when the replacement justice arrives. In an Election Year we have a long tradition that a lame duck president doesnt get to jam a Supreme Court nominee through in the very end. Lbj tried that and the Supreme Court rejected it. And particularly when the court is 54 is balanced an obama liberal nominee would dramatically shift the u. S. Supreme court. But why not go through the process . Should the United States senate do its duty and go through the process, reject it, senator, but go through the process . By the way, the senates duty is to advise and consent. The senate is advising right now, we are advising that a lame duck president in an Election Year is not going to be able to tip the balance of the Supreme Court. That were going to have an election, and if liberals are so confident that the American People want unlimited abortion on demand, want religious liberty torn down, want the Second Amendment taken away, want veterans memorials torn down, want the crosses and stars of david sandblasted off of the tombstones of our fallen veterans, then go and make the case to the people. I dont think the American People want that. ] case directly to Hillary Clinton, directly to Bernie Sanders. And i would note, look, how do we know Donald Trumps record on this is going to be bad . He has supported liberals for four decades, jimmy carter, john kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, harry reid, anyone who cares about judges would not be supporting harry reid and Chuck Schumer and john kerry and Hillary Clinton. And the consequence is if either hillary or bernie or donald trump is the president , we will see the Second Amendment written out of the constitution. This is a basic question who will defend our liberties. Senator cruz, i have to leave it there this morning. A lot more to get to. I look forward to hopefully having you on perhaps next sunday and we can get to more of that. Thank you, sir. Excellent. When we come back, were going to hear from marco rubio who hopes to put New Hampshire behind him. And john kasich who hopes New Hampshire is a sign of the future. The World Trade Center came down because bill clinton didnt kil we were born 100 years ago into a new american century. Born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. 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Earlier this morning i was joined by senator marco rubio of florida and Governor John Kasich of ohio. And i started with senator rubio asking him whether the senate has an obligation to give the president s Supreme Court nominee an up or down vote. We have an obligation to do it, but not now. The term of this Supreme Court is already they just started it, but its not all yearlong. The court can function with eight justices, it does it all the time especially when justices have to recuse themselves. Kagan has to recuse herself early in the term. Were going to have an election in november where this vacancy will be an item of debate and voters will get to weigh in. I dont think its wise and its precedent for this president nearing the last few months of his administration to put someone on the court that may be there for 30 years. So you dont think i understand that. And i understand the decision that you may not support and that the republican majority doesnt want this, but arent they obligated to at least go through the motions here . I mean, youre saying no. Youre saying dont even go through the motions, why . Correct. We will go through the motions, but not while Barack Obamas in the white house. Its not going to happen. Do president ial terms end after three years . Thats what i dont understand is why not go through the advice and consent. You dont have to approve it. You can reject it. Thats what happened in 68. But why not go through this process . Because theres actually, its not just for the Supreme Court. Even for Appellate Courts its been both parties followed this precedent. There comes a point in the last year of the president , especially in their second term, where you stop nominating or you stop the advice and consent process. You basically say at this point with a few months left in your term, no accountability from the ballot box and the appointment youre going to make on a lifetime appointment. Thats the important thing here. These are not laws that can be but these are not laws that can be reversed. In essence this is a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the country at a time when the balance of the constitution and the courts interpretation of it is at stake. Mitch mcconnell has already made it clear were not moving forward and i support 100 . Bottom line i dont trust barack obama on the appointment of Supreme Court justice. We cannot afford to have scalia replaced by someone like nominees hes put there in the past. Were going to have an election, theres going to be a new president. I believe its going to be me. Were going to look for someone that most resembles scalia to replace him. I want to move to the debate. You said in response to a Heated Exchange between jeb bush and donald trump on 9 11, this is what you said about 9 11. And i want to ask you about it on the other side. The World Trade Center came down because bill clinton didnt kill Osama Bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. Thats a big charge. I know bill clinton has said it is one of his regrets, but he did make an attempt to go after him. But you believe that is a direct result that basically bill clintons failure led to 9 11 . Well, i believe that if Osama Bin Laden had been killed, al qaeda as an organization would not have grown to the point where it have conducted 9 11. It was in response to this argument that trump was making that somehow president bush was responsible for 9 11. And my argument was, no, the responsibility of 9 11 falls on the fact that al qaeda was allowed to grow and prosper and the decision was not made to take out their leader when the chance existed to do so. Not once but four times according to the 9 11 report. President clinton has acknowledged that has as a regret. So the bottom line is that al qaeda was able to carry out 9 11 because as an organization they grew and prospered in capability led by Osama Bin Laden. Had bin laden been taken out, it is doubtful that 9 11 would have happened. At least on september 11 of 2001 because al qaeda would not have been in a position to be able to carry Something Like that out. So youre not blaming 9 11 on bill clinton . No, he made a decision not to take out its leader which i think ended up being there, the situation that happened with 9 11. And as a response to an attack that the reason why 9 11 happened was because of george w. Bush. My argument is if youre going to ascribe blame, dont blame george w. Bush, blame a decision that was made earlier not to take out bin laden when the opportunity presented itself. So im actually still not quite clear. Are you putting this on are you putting 9 11 on bill clinton . No, im putting it on his decision not to take out bin laden, absolutely. This is what happens when you have a chance to take out the leader of a terrorist organization and you fail to do so and the results are Something Like 9 11. Later this week pope francis is going to speak and certainly going to tour the border of mexico and the United States. In september in front of congress he called himself the son of immigrants. And he called on congress and americans not to, quote, turn their backs on their neighbors. You yourself got emotional listening to that speech. Do you feel that the popes message about immigrants, particularly mexican immigrants and our immigration debate here, do you agree with his take on this . Sure. Were a country of immigrants. We continue to be a country of immigrants. Lets have some perspective here. America accepts close to a million permanent residents every single year. No other nation in the world comes close to that number. Thats not the issue were debating. The issue were debating is not whether or not were going to accept immigrants, because we do. Were going to continue to. The issue is is there going to be a pross people have to follow to immigrate to the United States . Do we as a sovereign country get to control how many people come here, when they come here and who they are . And the answer is, yes. I dont think the pope is saying open up the borders and allow anyone who wants to come in. I mean, you cant move to the vatican just because you feel like moving there. Theyve got laws that restrict who can live within that nations city state. And i think the same is true for the United States. So i agree with pope francis saying we should be compassionate towards immigrants. And we are. The United States is more than any nation on earth. But we are allowed as a sovereign nation have an obligation to have immigration laws and to enforce them. And thats what we need to be doing better than what were doing now. All right. I have to leave it there. Were short on time this morning. A lot to get to, senator rubio, nice to catch up with you. Stay safe on the trail, sir. Thank you. And im joined now by the fourth president ial candidate weve had on the show this morning, republican governor of ohio john kasich. Welcome back to meet the press, sir. Always, you know, if its sunday, its meet the press. I appreciate that. Ive had two u. S. Senators on this morning who say the u. S. Senate shouldnt even bother considering a nomination that president obama puts up. Does the u. S. Senate have an obligation to at least consider it, hold a hearing . And if they vote it down, they vote it down, but should the u. S. Senate, should Mitch Mcconnell at least open up that part of the process . Well, you know, thats their decision, chuck. You know, as the governor of ohio i have to deal with legislators and their decisions. And i dont try to tell them what to do. I do think that really the president i understand the president has prerogative here. I got that. Senate has prerogative too of course. But i just think at a time when the country is so divided it would just be great if the president didnt send somebody forward and we had an election and then everybody would be clear about what they want in the next Supreme Court justice. But i guess its not going to go that way. To roll the dice. Pardon . Governor, its a roll of the dice, you could have a democratic senate, democratic president could come in and then have a more liberal justice than what president obama might provide. Well, but thats life. Then the people actually have had some say. Its really kind of a unique thing when you think about it, chuck. Its unique to say that the public itself is going to have sort of an indirect vote on whos going to be a Supreme Court justice. I think thats kind of cool. And what i dont like now is, you know, we can talk about this all day long. You and i both know in the real world theyre not going to confirm anybody. Unless they pick somebody whos so beloved that everybody goes thats great. Okay. I dont think thats going to happen. Yeah, youre probably right on that. Let me move to the debate. And i got to play this one clip from you last night because i want to get a better explanation of what you meant. Here it is. I got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh . This is just nuts. Okay. That was after jeb bush and donald trump were going at each other. What did you mean by that comment . Explain. Well, i mean, its like all the yelling and screaming and back and forth. Chuck, what i have found i tell you, im having the time of my life. People want to know what youre for. Look, ive been all over. Yesterday i had went to this barbecue shack. There were 500 people waiting there. I was there, you know, taking pictures, must have been another 45 minutes after i got done speaking and people are grabbing onto you saying please stay positive. Please dont get into these fights. I get my energy by being four things. I dont get my energy by being against things. And i think people tend to get negative when theyre not selling their own positive. Look, thats where i am. If it works out for me, great. If it doesnt work out for me, ill get to spend more time with my family. But look, i want to win. And were doing well. Really well. Let me point to something last night you said at the debate. You said you didnt think we should have gone into iraq if there werent any weapons of mass destruction. Right. But you also said we should not get embroiled in civil wars overseas. Thats right. Well, weve done it before. We did it with bosnia. We did it with lebanon. Chuck, let me tell you well, libya was a terrible mistake. Frankly that was thats something people ought to be thinking about in regard to hillary. You know, they spend they talk about benghazi, which is very legitimate, of course it is. But we should never have deposed gadhafi. That was a terrible mistake. The guy was working with us and now weve created chaos in that country. Look, i was not in favor of u. S. Troops in lebanon. And i voted against it. Even when reagan wanted them there, tip oneil wanted them there, then when they got blown up tip was out blaming reagan. Ill never forget it. Civil wars getting in between you know, since the sixth century sunni and shia have been fighting. So you would stay out of syria . I would only go to syria to destroy isis. I would not use u. S. Troops to depose assad, but i would support the rebels there. Its okay to support people who share your view, but for the United States to be embroiled in a civil war in syria against assad i think is a big mistake. You know, youve also been critical of how the surplus that you as a republican budget leader and working with the Clinton Administration you guys foraged a budget that was projected surpluses throughout the first part of the 2 1st century. It was gone immediately. One way Many Democrats have said one of the reasons that surplus went away so quickly was due to the bush tax cuts. Do you concur with that . Were the bush tax cuts too big . No, i think it was spentding, chuck. The dirty little secret is democrats love to spend. And republicans do too, its just that republicans feel guilty. Look, if you dont have a leader that stands in the breach to restrain the spending of government, theyll always spend. Im going to leave it there. Okay, chuck. I appreciate it. Well catch up im sure in the next week or so. Yeah, we will. All right. Coming up, the democratic race and why it may start getting tougher from here for Bernie Sanders. And of course saturday night fights, in other words, last nights Republican Debate and what all of those nasty exchanges mean. You are the single biggest when your cold makes you wish. You could stay. In bed all day. You need the power of. New theraflu expressmax. New theraflu expressmax. The power to feel better. You both have a perfect until one of you clips da food truck. Then your rates go through the roof. Perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. And i quit smoking with im chantix. I decided to take chantix to shut everybody else up about me quitting smoking. I was going to give it a try, but i didnt really think it was going to really happen. After one week of chantix, i knew i could quit. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. 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The microsoft cloud allows us to scale up. Microsoft cloud changes our world dramatically. It wasnt too long ago it would take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome. Now, we can do a hundred per day. With the microsoft cloud we dont have to build server rooms. We have instant scale. The microsoft cloud is helping us to rebuild and reinterpret our business. This cloud helps transform business. This is the microsoft cloud. Welcome back. The panel is here on a huge sunday of political news. Gwen ifil fresh off moderating that democratic debate i think happened in the last few days. Welcome of pbs news hour. Kathleen parker, columnist from the Washington Post and ron fournier. Let me start with consequences quickly on scalia and then move to the debate of the United States senate. Chris, you know the politics of this. Yeah. The United States senate, will it be a functioning chamber this year . Or could this fight shut the entire senate down for the year . Okay. So i generally put myself in the 1 of most cynical people about politics. I was surprised that Mitch Mcconnell came out with a statement as quickly as he did saying not its unlikely that president obamas nominee will go through, theres no point in president obama putting a nominee forward. You then saw harry reid respond. Given that and given what weve heard from ted cruz, donald trump, marco rubio. I think Mitch Mcconnell will feel under considerable political pressure. I know he just got reelected but considerable political pressure to shut this thing down before it ever starts. And, gwen, this is the base. They dont want to see even a chance that somebody could get confirmed. On the other hand theres five blue state republicans who do they want to look like obstructionist . Basically hes got a tiger on one end and the cliff on the other, i think. Its the box that mr. Mcconnell has been in and john boehner was in for a very long time. I was not surprised that he came out that quickly. Im not sure he had any choice but to come out and say this is the line were going to draw and then step back and let other people fight it out. Just as the leader to say this is the line im drawing. As we saw from the pressure coming from the president ial candidates, that wasnt a big risk for him. And for the blue state republicans, worry about them later. Right now they have to worry about the base. I think its even worse. Within 20 minutes of the announcement that he was dead i got an email from a very prominent republican consultant all of who you know saying were not going to allow even a hearing. The mans body, a good mans body was not even dead yet and politics was already in play. The republicans are not going to let this happen. Its totally irresponsible. Its a sign again of our democracy, of our system not functioning. And i have no reason to believe that if a republican wins the white house why would the democrats nominate . I was going to say. I think this is heavy political risk. I think we could have a 33 for years. This seems like a good time to say among conservatives especially people are very, very sad today. I think we should just acknowledge that for a moment. Because Justice Scalia, you know, weve heard a lot about the many wonders of his personality and his brilliant mind and all that. But to your point i agree it was a little bit jarring to suddenly have everyone talking about the political implications. Thats our job. Within hours. Within minutes. And i got a call from the hill just of somebody saying, okay, game over, time to get serious. Everything matters now. But let me just say this, on the conservative side i think a lot of these people, a lot of republicans feel president obama does not respect the constitution and that hes gone around the legislative body to you can argue that he had to, but he wanted done. Lets remember its not unusual no, its very unusual to nominate a Supreme Court justice during an Election Year. Its only happened once in 80 years. And kennedys it was justice kennedy, it took a year. Well, it did. I want to move to the debate very quickly. But well know what kind of fight president obama wants. Does he find somebody whos a little more to the right of his two previous nominations in order to find a confirmable sort of left leaning judge or not. Theres not such a thing i dont think anymore. But its clear that president obama was not going to take Mitch Mcconnells advice on this. Nor should he. But he started out on the high road yesterday with a very high road complimentary of course. About scalia. He should do the same thing. Put up somebody who would be confirmable if things were working well and show that the republicans arent willing to work. Well, that is the big risk for the republicans. Hes got to be thinking, oh, my gosh, ted cruz or donald trump could become president and then theyre going to appoint the next justice. Big story, chuck, this is another sign of the political dysfunction in this town that you and i have talked abtd for a long time. I think this is going to be a long time before we have nine judges on that court. A long time. Can i say one more thing . Theres also a risk for these republicans that maybe Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders does get elected. And by holding up the Court Appointment until the next president , the next president could be a democrat. By the way all of these potential president ial candidates be careful what you wish for. If your first 100 days is dominated by a Supreme Court fight and this environment, you will get nothing else done. Weve talked about this. You have basically one big swing, right. Yes. For obama it was health care. You have one big thing. Its a scotus pick. Well, you have to do the right thing i agree with john kasich, just let the process roll. Let it roll. All right. We got to let it roll here. Were going to do some debate chatter later in the show, but coming up, Bernie Sanders came up big with white voters in iowa and New Hampshire. But can he win over africanamericans to defeat Hillary Clinton in states like South Carolina . Ive said black 50 times. I have asthma. One of many pieces in my life. So when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my longterm control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. Oncedaily breo prevents asthma symptoms. Breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Breo wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. Breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. Breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Do not take breo more than prescribed. See your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. Ask your doctor if 24hour breo could be a missing piece for you. See if youre eligible for 12 months free at mybreo. Com. After the New Hampshire primary we saw a flood of press releases from the National Parties and their related interest groups. And most of them had a similar theme, they did not want to talk about whats going on on their side of the aisle at all. Look at this. The rnc wrote, Hillary Clintons resounding loss in New Hampshire is another devastating blow for her campaign. And then the House Campaign republican arm said, clinton was defeated in the first in the nation primary by an elderly socialist. On the democratic side it wasnt even better. In the New Hampshire snowskap where robot rubios run free and the Republican Debate stage mirrors an snl skit donald trump has emerged as a decisive front runner. And trump has done nothing but cause anxiety and heartburn for Senate Incumbents and candidates since his launch. So National Republicans and democrats burying their heads in the sand about whats going on there. Ha ha sanders and ha ha trump, trying to avoid confronting whats going on in their own parties. Anyway, well be right back with the latest on the increasingly ive smoked a lot and quit a lot, but ended up nowhere. Now i use this. The nicoderm cq patch, with unique extended release technology, helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. I want this time to be my last time. Thats why i choose nicoderm cq. Xerox personalized employee portals help Companies Make benefits simple and accessible. From anywhere. Hula dancing . Cliff jumping Human Resources can work better. With xerox. Which allergy . Eees. Bees . Eese. Trees . Eese. Xerox helps hospitals use Electronic Health records so doctors provide more personalized care. Cheese . Cheese patient care can work better. With xerox. Thats it. After a dvt blood clot. Mind when i got out of the hospital what about my family . My lil buddy . And what if this happened again . 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Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis treats dvt pe blood clots. Plus had less major bleeding. Both made switching to eliquis right for me. Ask your doctor if its right for you. Welcome back. Bernie sanders proved he can do very well against Hillary Clinton in iowa. A new poll gave hillary a 57 point lead. The morning after New Hampshire sanders traveled to harlem for breakfast with my next guest, civil rights leader and msnbc host al sharpton. Reverend sharpton, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. I want to play for you an interaction that Bernie Sanders had on friday with an africanamerican voter in minnesota and get your response on the other side. Here it is. So the question specifically, my black son okay. I know youre scared to say black, scared to say reparations maam, maam, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth, especially within the Africanamerican Community. Say black ive said black 50 times. All right. Thats the 51st time. Is that a fair criticism from the crowd of him . Well, i think that what it is is that people have felt in our communities ignored. And marginalized and that people have kind of like generally discussed things. And we are supposed to assume were part of that when we have some very specific needs. And all of us dont agree nobody can deliver the black vote, but all of us agree that there are specific things that you just cant cover just talking about economic inequality without talking about racial inequality in that. You cant just talk about the problems with washington without talking about a race problem in that. So i think that some of the anger you hear is from being marginalized. And that has come from both liberals and conservatives. Go ahead, guys. I think the reverend is right in that and i think this is the problem for Bernie Sanders is that Bernie Sanders believes at the core the fundamental inequality that explains america is economic in nature, not racial, not anything else. The problem is he believes well, ive covered it. Ive talked about economic equality. Youve heard his response there in minnesota. Thats not enough for some voters. Go ahead. There was also in that same event he was asked about reparations. Right. Hes been through this argument already. Yet somehow he went back to what we were talking about, talking in general about economic inequality. The skepticism about Bernie Sanders among many africanamericans can be summed up in two ads hes run. One, the wonderful simon and garfunkel come to america ad where there was base barely a face of color and then the new ad that has almost nothing but faces of color, this together ad. Reminds me a lot of the will i am ad from 2008 because it was very much about how we can all be together. Part of the problem that i think that is coming to the surface in this is that we have experienced both in the liberal north and the south hostilities. Lets not forget howard beach where Bernie Sanders was born in new york. Howard beach was in the north. People like me emerged in the north. I never lived in the south. We are dealing with hollywood progressive hollywood with an oscar whiteout right now. So i think what a lot of people are beginning to see is wait a minute we do not want to be marginalized. And we dont want to be thrown into a situation where specific needs are not dealt with. What if Bernie Sanders talked about one of the issues where the Africanamerican Community has been marginalized and instead of talking about the number of times he said black what if he talked about the number of africanamericans imprisoned under president clinton . What if he talked about the 101 racial despaisparity under prest clinton . What if he said i have a solution for this, im going to unleash the powers of president ial clemency and im going to free every person, many of who are africanamericans in prison over sentences that have not been grandfathered . How powerful would that be . Whether he talked about issues people not agree specific issues. The problem is when you talk about president clinton and the crime bill, Bernie Sanders voted for it. So that might be one reason he doesnt bring it up. But i think that at the other side of that is mr. Clinton has said he made a mistake, mr. Sanders augtd to say he shouldnt have voted for it. And then we ought to talk about how we deal with mass incarceration, Police Reform and all of these issues. I dont think unless we press it those of us i got to wrap it up here, but reverend sharpton, are you going to endorse before South Carolina . I dont know. Were meeting with mrs. Clinton tuesday. Okay. Were talking to senator sanders. We may or may not. What i dont want to get caught in is who were going to endorse. I want to see whos going to endorse us having a fair share in this country. Not whose side are we on, whose on our side. Reverend sharpton, i will leave it there. Prophetic words. When we come back, we have less than a minute with our end game segment. Some of the highlights or low lights from last nights debate. Coming up, meet the press end game brought to you by boeing, building the future one you set rules around the house, right . So set rules for your kids when they go online dont be a cyberbully. No racy selfies. And remember everyone can see everything you post, even grandma. Rules keep kids safe online. The more you know. Meet the press end game is brought to you by boeing, building the future one century at a time. Well, donald trump was building a reality tv show, my brother was building a Security Apparatus to keep us safe. And im proud of what he did. [ cheers and applause ] and hes had the gall the World Trade Center came down during his reign. Remember that. [ audience booing ] end game time. Panel is back. We havent discussed the debate. Kathleen, jeb bushs big moment there taking on trump. That was a good line. You know, every time trump baits jeb bush, jeb bush responds. And it never works that well for him. I dont know why, but he just cant pull it off. And every time trump opens his mouth, i think, okay, hes really trying to get fired this time. This is the time hes going to do it. You know, its all about style. You can say the iraq war was a mistake, but you could also say in South Carolina particularly where you have a High Percentage of military people and veterans, with Great Respect to the brave men and women who fought in iraq, i have to just say it was a mistake. And i think a lot of people agree. And let me just say this and then go on. But he attacks the family, he attacks the mother. Jeb is desperate. He brought in laura yesterday. If any other candidate literally in politics in america performed the way that donald trump did in that debate last night, i would have written and concluded this person is gone off the rails. He looked angry, to kathleens point though but we know better than that now. You spent 36 billion and thing about New Hampshire and ads and thing dont care about, but any seasons that begins this is going to doom donald trump because has been proven wrong so many times. Whats the point . Its not so much about trump, its about the people supporting him who are so angry with the establishment. Why do we assume that theyre going to defend the establishment . Theyre going to defend a bush . It was interesting to watch marco rubio who found a way to wait, to let the fight between trump and cruz and bush play out and he said this is what i believe and he did it in the fluid nonrepeative way. In that respect he did himself a favor. It was mutually destruction last night and good night for kasi kasich. I think we have trump, cruz, one, two and we dont know which order one, two is going to be. Third place matters. Thats why i thought jeb was actually as good as he has been. And i thought but rubio doing well didnt help. Rubio needed to do another last saturday debate because rubios bplus and better than jebs a in debate terms. And i think rubio was better, did more good for himself. I thought to gwens point, how does marco rubio wind up being the big figure defending the Bush Administration in a fight with jeb bush on the stage . I think overall dont you think people just felt like, okay, kids, can you just stop fighting . To your point about john kasich. Hes clearly said theres only one place for me to go. I cant get into that fight. Im not going to get in it. Im going to be mr. Positivity and we saw it again this morning. I love it. My mom will be happy about that. Thats all for today. Well be back next week because if its sunday its meet the press. Sponsored in part by barracuda, City National bank, provided to help Northern California businesses grow. Do you know who this man is . Dennis is a lot like joe nameth if he were in the video game business. Is your team more important than your product . Venture capitalist marc siegel thinks so. And an author shows us how Human Evolution is speeding up. Our reporters of the mercury news and jacob ward this week on press here