Wrong. I bought the minority was health care and bought the students. Wow, great work there, mitt. Youre at it again with your double barrels. One, claims that arent true, and, two, that old dog whistle of yours, fact. People in the income bracket you mentioned have to kick in to get health care. Fact, students still have to play interest on their college loan. Nobody is getting anything for free. And the sick thing is your need, mitt, they claim they did. To say the president didnt quite win the election was one big bribery case. Question, why is mitt still doing this . The election is over and lost. All thats left to save is his reputation. Why is he throwing that way away . Willie brown is here along with Ashley Parker of the New York Times. Mayor, you were a pro, it seems that romney is not a pro. He had a good concussion speech. The president through him a big offer, a hoover commission. He whips back with this accusation the president bought the election. Total and complete bitterness. This man obviously is wrong for the game. He has lost and he lost badly. Hes embarrassed, and hes trying his best to minimize the victory. Hes trying his best in some fashion to say to people it was taken from me unfairly, that i should have won, and that if there had been only my kind of people voting, i would have won. However there was some other people voting, and theyre the people that you and i dont like. Thats what hes saying to his people, and thats wrong. Lets take a look at the audio from the conference just like that 47 it was recorded. Lets hear romney talking to his donors in which he says in this tape the president s victory was basically the result bribes to members of his base. Portions were posted online. Msnbc is uncertain exactly when the call took place but lets listen to it. But the president s campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote. Isnt that cute . In other words, its not democracy, parker. Its not any i mean, ashley, this isnt democracy, this isnt saying and doing things people like. Its not like voting democr democratical democratically. What kind of game is he proposing . I think the thing you need to keep in mind about governor romney, a, hes shocked he lost. He really cant quite get over that he lost. He really thought he was going to win. And hes a data driven guy. Hes already doing a postmortem going back data mining. Trying to figure out what went wrong this is one of the things mayor, again, its interesting a money guy, i have always noted the sort of symmetry of politics, people with a little problem with ethics always accuse the others of ethics problems. Bought everything he ever got including his highly paid staff in the campaign. Everybody was happy with using money on that side. He assumes he must have been outbid. Thats exactly what someone who thinks he can buy votes was in fact doing. This guy is a salesman, chris. He doesnt know anything about making decisions based on whether or not its something you believe in. He is of the opinion that money can generate belief, and in this case he doesnt understand how money didnt generate belief, how, in fact, dedication and vision and love dedicated, caused the movement in obamas direction, not money. It couldnt be that people believe in barack obama. Couldnt be many people are devoted to him. Couldnt be that people see him as potentially one of our great president s. It must be a cash and carry siation. Here are comments about the gifts. Karl rove must love this. This is covering karl rove. Its about the takers he calls them. Remember that 47 . Here essex planing how you buy that 47 . They take, you give. Lets listen. There are 47 of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right. There are 47 who are with him, who depend upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that theyre entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. My job is not to worry about those people. I will never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. Actually here he is again in usa today. Romney in an interview. He defends the welfare ads which say obama waived the work requireme requirement. Its designed to shore up his base for the election. Finally paul ryan on the urban vote. Lets listen to paul ryan and his looking at the urban vote he calls it. We were surprised with the outcome. We knew this was going to a close race. We thought we had a good chance of winning it. I think the surprise was some of the turnout. Some of the turnout in especially urban areas which definitely gave president obama the big margin to win this race. You know, ashley, they got to get their accusations straight. Somebody on one of the leaders of the Republican Party out there in wisconsin said all the votes were fraudulent votes, they were all stolen. Now hes out there, the president ial candidate, saying they were all bought. And now this guy is i have to say to paul ryan, he is just surprised they showed up. He hasnt quite figured out the motive yet. I think the Romney Campaign obviously didnt take into account the huge turnout that the president got. That was one of the problems with their polling. Is that why theyre looking for new explanations . I think theyre truly struggling to explain what happened, and they dont really understand how they lost. Thats not what their internal models told them. Thats not what they were expecting. They werent expecting the huge turnout. Lets talk turkey, mr. Mayor. You have worked with donor bases on the democratic side. You have to occasionally call up and say we were close but no cigar this time but stick with us, were on the right side of history. Why would you call the donor base, why get on a Conference Call and come up with this odd explain nation, that this was stolen, we was robbed basically . Why would you do that politically . I think because its over for him. He will not be involved in running for office again. Let me tell you, other republicans who think they have a future must in one fashion or another denounce mitt romney and everything he says post this election cycle. If they dont, the republicans will be consigned to the scrap heap of defeat in 2016 and even beyond. I dont understand how anybody other than bobby jindal would be the only one who would step up to the plate. They all should step up to the plate. Well, wellsaid. Here is bobby jindal, one of the people who has distanced himself from this claim the only reason romney lost the race to president obama is because he was out bought. As you said, here is louisiana governor, jobby jindal. Lets listen. I absolutely reject that notion, that description. I think thats absolutely wrong. I dont think that represents where we are as a party and where were going as a party. And i think thats got to be one of the most fundamental take aways from the election. Thats a good sign that a little republican diversity wont hurt. Scott walker backed up jindals comments saying the gop isnt just for people who are currently not dependent on the people, its for all americans. Andrea mitchell reports republican senator kelly ayotte distanced herself also from the gifts comment. So the youre not comfortable with what you heard him say . I dont know the full context of them but i dont agree with the comments, and my view is the campaign is over. Okay. As of only not only her, former mississippi Governor Haley barbour who i think is smart when hes briefing on politics, described what the gop needs to do right now. Lets listen to Haley Barbour. Weve got to give our political organizational activity, you know, a very serious proctology exam. I think thats the only we need to look everywhere is my point. You know, hes deep south and conservative, mayor, but i always listen to him for the truth, especially when hes with some other republicans trying to teach them politics. You know, theres the only guy to come out ahead of katrina because he knew how to get the job done. What do you think of that . When parties get their butts kicked like democrats did in 72, republicans did in 64, when they thought they had well, those races didnt look good to begin with, but right now what do you do when youre in a Party Leadership position . If they dont adhere to what bobby jindal is talking about, the senator from new hampshire. If they dont understand Haley Barbour, i can assure you democrats are really going to get that message and, believe me, if democrats organized the red state like they did in ohio this time around or like they did in florida this time around or like they did in one or two other states this time around, those red states would send the numbers that nancy pelosi needs to become speaker again. And thats going to happen if the republicans keep thinking like mitt romney. You know, thats the question, ashley, and that is as you see the demographic changes, Younger Voters tend to be more liberal. A lot of hispanic people moving into the country having a lot of kids and voting and being citizens, becoming a part of a political process more than ever and you have africanamerican voters, an africanamerican president but there are other factors that have led hem to the Democratic Party potentially. You see a lot of potential for the Democratic Party to grow. Then the other party says youre all bought, it seems to me that would just sort of fortify the democratic tendencies of the people weve been talking about here. Well, its unclear what wing of the Republican Party mitt romney, you know, is going to be representing going forward, and i think thats one of the reasons the mayor says hes out of business. Im not sure he has a future. Thats why its easy for the republicans to come out and criticize him because theyre not alienating a tea party you said people like jindal and ayotte and people like that and Haley Barbour can say the guy is wrong. I think they did say that. I think they said they didnt agree with those comments so let me go back to this you know, i want to talk about the president for a second. I thought mitt romney gave a wonderful concussion speech. He said i called the president , it was 11 20 or so. He came out and basically said, you know, he came out alone, didnt bring the family with him, didnt cry on anybodys shoulder, took it like a person of some kind of nobility. He also said i just talked to the president. I congratulated him, im praying for him, im here to help him if he wants help. The president came back and side maybe he did a good job with the olympics. Make maybe he can do a good job in getting government more efficient, thats his specialty. Then he does this thing. Where do you think that relationship stands . Is the blood so bad nothing good will come out of this . Let me tell you, when you offend barack obama, youve got to know that youre in real trouble. This is a guy who appears to forgive, but he never forgets. Romney can forget any additional invitations coming from this president. I think no matter how you put it, he now knows where romney really stands. Its around affirmation of everything that occurred in the campaign, all the bad things that were said about barack obama are still obviously within the dna of mitt romney, and i guarantee you barack obama is not going to give at all on this issue. Hes going to move on. Whoa. Look out. Look out, mitt. Thank you, mayor. Always an incisive commentary from you. If this is the case, youre right, he better move on. Thai, mayor brown of california san francisco. Ashley, thanks for coming on. Its not business, its personal. That public dispute between john mccain and president obama over susan rice. Could it be mccain hasnt gotten over the 2008 election. Were sort of stacking up revenge here on the other side. I got nothing more to say about that. Plus spy fall, what were learning about the affair that brought down the cia chief and perhaps derailed the promoths of the top general. Besides complaining about how president obama won reelection by giving away gifts to minorities and young voters, wonder what mitt romney has been doing since the election . David letterman has an idea. Today mitt romney drew a picture of the house of Representatives Chamber and gave a state of the Union Address in front of it. And the fourth new entitlement, obama care, wed repeal that one. We have a few more of those sugar plums in the sideshow. Plet me finish with a book about when we had a hero for a president. This is hardball, the place for politics. Time to bust another 2012 lest myth. The idea took hold that africanamericans would not be as fired up to vote as they were four years ago. But here is what the nbc news political desk found in looking at the exit polls. In the states with significant black populations the black vote increased in five states, michigan, mississippi, missouri, ohio, and new jersey. It held firm in pennsylvania, virginia, north carolina, and florida. And it decreased in two states, new york and alabama. Neither case was it even close. So much for flagging enthusiasm. Well be right back. [ male announcer ] some day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make it worth watching. The new 2013 lexus ls. An entirely new pursuit. Welcome back to hardball. John mccain and his allies have been trying to turn the benghazi attacks into a political scandal for the president since september. Yesterday his criticism of susan rice, the ambassador to the u. N. , went too far for the president. He hit back during his press conference. Lets listen. If senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. But for them to go after the u. N. Ambassador who had nothing to do with benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received . And to besmirch her reputation is outrageous. Thats the slow burn for the president id say. This morning mccain had some strong words for his former opponent, the president. Lets listen to mccain. I know people dont come to spontaneous demonstrations with rockets and mortars, and for the president of the United States for two weeks afterwards to deny that that was the case is either a coverup or it is incompetence. One of mccains main allies, Lindsay Graham of south carolina, also responded to the president. He said, quote, mr. President , dont think for one minute im going to hold you ultimately responsible for benghazi. I think you failed as commander in chief before, during, and after the attack. Whats behind all this anger . Jonathan alter is a columnist for Bloomberg View and ron reagan is an msnbc political analyst. Gentlemen, i want you to start with this. Its so unusual to see the president respond at the human level of im really mad and you have gone after a friend of mine. You have gone after my person at the u. N. , and this is you coming at me and youre going at my character. Im not missing the point. I heard from the white house yesterday that he had heard just before the press conference that mccain was talking about filibustering and he got if she were put up for secretary of state. And he got really angry at that, that his choice for secretary of state, which shes not yet, but that perspectively his choice would be filibustered. Why is he so ticked, the president . Because shes completely innocent in this matter. Not by the likes of the right. There are actual facts here, and the facts are that she was saying what the cia told her. But that wasnt a fact. But that wasnt a fact. Mccains issue is with petraeus, but petraeus is in the club, despite the sex thats he doesnt want to go after petraeus. Shes not a spook. She doesnt go out there and dig up information. Shes the u. N. Ambassador to new york. She selects information. She gets the best intel she can get. Probably clears it through the television. I thought made a strong statement to David Gregory that weekend and i thought she was very impressive. I thought she was doing what the white house wanted done. Whatever she was doing, she was doing what the probable cause thought was the truth. Why would you lie because two or three days later it would be clear you were lying, right . It wasnt he keeps saying it was lying. We have time lines. That was the 16th of september. It wasnt until the 22 nd of september according to the cia that they told rice and the white house that this was, you know, some kind of a terrorist attack. The information wasnt available at the beginning. The whole thing is totally trumped up, chris. Its not just political, its also personal. Okay. Before we get back to history like condi rice, i want to go to ron reagan on this. You know, theres something deeply personal here. Theres something personal on both sides. This guy, john mccain, does not forgive when he loses to somebody. I dont think he ever liked romney. Thats why he picked sarah palin. He doesnt like the president. And the way to get to him is to make sure that everybody thinks hes a bad guy. Not stupid, not wrong, not too liberal, hes evil. Hes bad. Hes the kind of guy that would serve up a good serving American Ambassador like Chris Stevens in order for a pr stunt or some other unclear motive, but he wants to make the guy look like a bad guy. What do you think is going on here . Thats what i think. Yeah. I think youre right basically. Republicans seem to be really bad losers. Mitt romney is apparently a bad loser. John mccain as you said earlier, i dont think hes ever gotten over 2008. So hes looking for any opportunity he has to stick a thumb in Barack Obamas eye. But jonathan is completely right. He picked the wrong person here. Susan rice had nothing to do with benghazi. But, look, the republicans are facing an electoral wipeout in the last election. They still want to oppose barack obama any way they can, but whats their excuse . Because the American People have now chosen barack obama over the republican guy. So what do they do . They have to gin up a conspiracy, a scandal of some sort, something they can attach the word gate to. Now its benghazigate. Ron, you got it. This is the big alternative universal view of their world view in which you dont know what color the sky is over there. But they believe that this is as big as watergate and although nixon got reelected in 72, he will come down by 74 even though this guy won in 12, he will come down by 14 because of this big gate ron mentioned. They have it in their head this is big time. In 1997 after bill clinton got reelected but before lewinsky, the republicans tried to do the same thing on chinese fundraising. Remember that . They spent the better part of a year trying to turn this into a huge scandal. There is a little more to that one than there is to this. This is just exploiting a tragedy for political purposes. And here is the great irony. John mccain, who seems like hes the big whistleblower, going after susan rice yesterday. Compare what he said about susan rice yesterday with what he said about another Foreign Policy expert, in this case Condoleezza Rice, back in 2005. Here is mccain on susan rice. Take a listen. Susan rice should have known better, and if she didnt know better, shes not qualified. She should have known better. I will do everything in my power to block her from being the United States secretary of state. Okay. Mortal sin, deal breaker, end of her career because john mccain said she had gotten the wrong brief and delivered the wrong brief. However, mccain had a very different reaction back in 2005 when Condoleezza Rice was nominated for secretary of state despite her direct involvement in the countrys iraq policy, mccain trucked up opposition to her nomination to bitter innocence over losing an election. Interesting. Lets watch. I wonder why were starting this new congress with a protracted debate about a foregone conclusion. I can only conclude were doing this for no other reason than because of lingering bitterness at the outcome of the elections. Talk about a selfindictment. Mccain was asked about the contradiction this morning on the today show. Lets listen to him now today. You said opponents of Condoleezza Rice were expressing sour grapes after an election loss. Why is this different . Because every Intelligence Agency in the world, including the british, believe that iraq had weapons of mass destruction. That was an entire different situation. Four americans died that didnt have to die. Okay. Two points, never let that go past what he just said there. First of all, thousands of people were killed in iraq because of a war that was never justified. Thousands. And he said four as if Nothing Happened in iraq. All thots dead iraqis, all those dead americans. Hell went loose over there because of that bad policy. What was the other thing . Oh, yeah, wmd, what a clever phrase that was, wmd. It covers all platter of things, biological, chemical. Condoleezza rice said nuclear. She said that country had a nuclear weapon, a nuclear weapon. Thats why we went to war. Dont wait for what is it . Dont wait for the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. It was her. Why does he keep getting who does he talk to . An echo chamber . He gives away the mouthwash they sold us into the war with, wmd, not nuclear. All the intelligence even our own Intelligence Agency never believed we had they had nuclear weapons. Why why does washington treat him as this great sage on National Security policy . Hes been the most frequent guest on sunday shows, the sabbath gas bags on sunday. Hes the most frequent guest because everybody assumes hes such a knowledgeable man full of such integrity on Foreign Policy and National Security. Yes, he was endured great hardship he had a longer period of greatness. He stood up against those people in the wmpld campaign in south carolina. But in the last three years hes turned into a cranky and unreliable analyst of american Foreign Policy. I have a more explanation which is hes just going over to hard right where all the safety valves are in the Republican Party. Ron, your last thought. Why has john mccain become this john mccain. Hes like the joker in batman. Life has been good to me. I think its personal peak. I think he never got over 2008. Hes got a double standard going on between the two rices and its apples and oranges. Susan rice had nothing to do with benghazi. Condoleezza rice had a lot to do with the war in iraq. The comparison is specious on any level. Why doesnt he ever talk about all the republicans who voted against 300 million that Hillary Clinton wanted to beef up embassy and consulate security . There are some questions, there are republicans who opposed that need to answer. Thats one of the reasons those people lost their lives. Its sad. Thank you, ron reagan and jonathan alter. Coming up, there are dog whistles and then there are bull horns and another republican official is blowing his next. And that is hardball, the place for politics. Into their work, their name on the door, and their heart into their community. Small business saturday is a day to show our support. A day to shop at stores owned by our friends and neighbors. And do our part for the businesses that do so much for us. On november 24th, lets get out and shop small. Impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u. S. . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 75 of our mutual funds beat their 10year lipper average. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. Its the cleanest, clearest water. We find the best, sweetest crab for red lobster that we can find. [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobsters crabfest the only time of year you can savor 5 succulent crab entrees, all under 20 dollars. Like a halfpound of tender snow crab paired with savory grilled shrimp, just 12. 99. Or our hearty crab and roasted garlic seafood bake. [ forsythe ] if i wouldnt put it on my table at home, i wouldnt bring it in. My names jon forsythe, and i sea food differently. Back to hardball. Now to the sideshow. How is mitt romney dealing with his election loss . David letterman has been compiling some coping mechanisms all involving a socalled pretend president romney. Today mitt romney bought the building at 1602 pennsylvania avenue, demolished it, and built an even bigger white house. Today mitt romney september his goons to rough up a guy who kind of looks like mahmoud ahmadinejad. How is it going . Today mitt romney paid a phone sex operator 500 to call him president romney. I bring down the tax rates. Yes, president romney, lower tax rates. Today mitt romney drew a picture of the house of Representatives Chamber and gave a state of the Union Address in front of it. And the fourth new entitlement, obama care, wed repeal that one and finally get our Balance Sheet right. A message from pretend president romney. I love that guys voice. The real romney has gotten back into the problem area you could say with his postelection comments that the president won the election or reelection because of gifts he gave minority people and Younger Voters. Also, mystery voters head to maine. It appears theres company up there for alberta darling, that wisconsin state senator who said lack of voter i. D. Cards or laws were largely to blame for mitt romneys loss of wisconsin. Here is charlie webster, the republican chairman in maine, on the issue of voter fraud in his state. For example, in some parts of rural maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted election day. Everybody has the right to vote, but nobody in town knows anybody who is black. How did it happen . I dont know. Were going to find out. Anyway, two questions for mr. Webster there. One, if all these africanamericans were voting where they werent registered, why didnt anyone stop them . Election officials in maine say theyre unaware of any cheating. Two, if democrats were trying to steal a state, why would they go to one with just four electoral votes that hasnt voted republican since back in 88 . Anyway, webster will not be returning for another term as chairman of that party up there. Next, john boehner was reelected yesterday for a second term as speaker of the house but georgia congressman louis go mert, a charter member of the birther crowd had a different candidate in mind. Who do you think he nominated . Newt gingrich for speaker right now. You dont technically actually have to be a house member to be speaker of the house, but its been the rule historically. By the way, boehners word to go mert after the word, louie, i love you, too. After the election, we heard certain ceos were threatening to fire employees if president obama wob the election. Some are going through with it. Bobt murray, ceo of the coal company laid off 156 employees the day after the election. John schneider ceo the papa johns pizza says he will be cutting employee hours to avoid costs associated with obama care. Finally, john met, ceo of several dennys franchises says he will add a 5 surcharge to customers bills to offset the cost of obama care. You dont want to pay extra, he said tip the server less to offset the cost. What a sweetheart. Up next, new information on the affair that brought down cia director david petraeus. Youre watching hardball, the place for politics. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop . Campbells has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. From jammin jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. See whats new from campbells. Its amazing what soup can do. Im Hampton Pearson with your cnbc market wrap. Stocks move lower amid continued worries about the fiscal cliff. The dow falls 28 points, the s p loses 2, the nasdaq lower by 10 points. Walmart shares lost more than 3 . Its earnings Beat Estimates but revenue fell short. Apple shares continue to slide. Theyre off another 2 today hitting a sixmonth low. And weekly jobless claims jumped by 78,000 to 439,000, an 18month high, due to hurricane sandy. Thats it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. Now back to hardball. Back to hardball. We now know the identity of that fbi agent that tampa socialite jill kely reached out to. Fredrick humphrey is the guys name and you can see him there on the screen. Hes a counterterrorism agent who worked in the case of the bomb plot at l. A. X. Airport back in 99. The man at the center of the scandal, david petraeus, is set to testify tomorrow morning before closed hearings before the house and Senate Intelligence committees regarding the attack on benghazi. This comes as the cia Inspector General has begun investigating whether any Government Resources were improperly used in the affair between petraeus and broadwell. The Washington Post sari horwitz is reporting on this as well as bart gelman. This is a huge story. I want sari to give us a sense of the Public Impact of this thing. I mean, its getting more like, i guess, the kardashian story, life among these people with mrs. Kelley here who, you know, has become the interest of general allen and, of course, shes somehow disturbing the world view of broadwell who seems to be having an affair with general petraeus. All this sort of back and forth intrigue. Its what you build a soap opera out of because it never stops growing. Whats it matter right now . Where are we at in the Matter Department . Hi, chris. Hi, bart. Its a soap opera. Theres been jokes its not a love triangle, its a love pentagon. Here is whats important on the Public Interest level. Attorney general eric holder at a press Conference Today in new orleans to announce the biggest criminal settlement, the biggest criminal fines and resolution ever in American History against bp is asked about this soap opera in tampa regarding petraeus. And what he said is, look, there are a lot of things going on right now but the important thing is there was no breach of National Security. If there had been a breach of National Security, we would have taken this to the fbi the fbi would have taken this to the white house. They would have taken it to capitol hill. Since there was none, we didnt feel like we had to share a criminal investigation. Thats an important development. Its the first time hes spoken out on this. So theres nothing really there in terms of impact on the countrys security. Let me go to bart on the same question, the relationship between general petraeus and the reporter broadwell. You know, often times, and i guess in movies or in mellow drama youre used to the fact a report is use agroman tick relationship to get information out of a source. Was this woman, broadwell, getting anything of intelligence or Security Matters or classified away from the general . Well, everyone denies it, and im aware of no evidence otherwise. By the way, nobody ever asks me to exchange sex for information so although if someone did ask me that on twitter today. The serious point about eric holders point and saris point i think is that the Justice Department and fbi made the judgment that the fact that the cia director had a secret that could expose him to blackmail was not in itself inherently a risk to National Security. They found out something or took some steps that persuaded them that it was okay. I think a strong case could be made that thats a decision that should be left to the president , that the president has to decide whether hes comfortable having a cia director with that kind of potential vuler in 5ebvulnerabi. Im not sure the president will want the attorney general to substitute his judgment on that. Well said, but what about the president who is told about such a relationship. The first officer on the deck if you will of this countrys security, you find out a guy or woman who is head of the cia has been having an affair with a reporter and you lit them stay in office. How do you defend that to the public when the public finds out you knew about it and you o kated basically . How do you deal with that politically . Politically i cant say. Substantively blackmail vulnerability depends usually on whether youre afraid of the secret leaking to your family or to your boss. If youve told both, for example, but havent announced it to the whole world, a president might decide that that is adequate protection against blackmail but thats a judgment call the commander in chief should make. Also would give the president unusual hold over an employee besides being able to fire him, he could out him. I guess theres that. Im serious. Im thinking of all the political impacts. Lets get back to this story as youre looking at it. If youre a first class reporter like you, youre looking at this story as to where its heading. Where is this going to be a week from now . Petraeus will testify about benghazi which i think is going to be a bigger story as it develops if there is a story, im not sure there is. Obviously they will hit him hard tomorrow. This question of whether this hankypanky is going to lead anywhere, if you will. Well, you know, its interesting. Yesterday when obama was asked about the fbi, which has now come under scrutiny, he said, look, i generally have confidence in the fbi. Not a ringing endorsement. He said i generally have confidence but let me get all the facts about what happened. The fbi under robert muller, who has so much integrity and is highly respected, argues they were doing the right thing. The fbi agent interestingly, this is what we found out today, the fbi agent who brought this originally to congress and to eric cantor who called muller, says he never meant to be a whistleblower. He was not trying to make a big deal about this case. He just wanted to quietly get it moving and he told a friend who went to a congressman from Washington State where Fredrick Humphries is from who went to eric cantor and thats how it got to muller. Okay, okay. Hes being incorrectly called a whistleblower. Sari, he goes to a congress person, going outside of his agency, about a person who is being accuse somebody who is making accusations of being harassed by email. Is that important enough hearing from some other woman jealous of her, that thats worthy of congressional attention . I think the fbi agent heard general petraeus was involved in this and there had possibly been a breach of his computer. He didnt have all the facts. He wasnt the agent on the case. He just knew bits and pieces. Because it had to do with petraeus and because he heard the words National Security, he was concerned and didnt want the agency to slow walk chris is humphrey a republican or democrat . Is he pro or against the president . I really dont know what political stance the agent is, no. Can i just cut in. What sari just said may be the only Security Breach in this case that we know happened for a fact. This agent who brought the case to the tampa field us a was not part of the case, had been told repeatedly as we understand it not to get involved in the case, and if theyve picked up in the course of it the fact that Paula Broadwell is involved with the cia director, how does he know that . Hes not supposed to know that. Bart is exactly right. Obviously hes getting information from the investigators or miss kelley, but hes not part of the case. Exactly right, bart. I have been hearing from the liberal or progressive blogs, theyre very suspicious about why he did what he did, why he went to the congress with this, to the Republican Congress people and going to cantor ultimately makes people wonder what was his political angle . Its interesting, chris, chris, its interesting, he sent a photo to miss kelley of him and Jesse Jackson at a political fundraiser. Thats why i say its unclear what his political affiliations are. That does mushg it up a bit. Thank you bart and sari. Thanks for ruining my theory. President obama toured some of the hardest hit parts of the new york area as recover continues after hurricane sandy. Theres Chuck Schumer right behind him. This is hardball, the place for politics. Two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. Bp has paid over twentythree billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. 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That was president obama this afternoon in staten island, new york, after touring damage from sandy. In addition to meeting with affected families and relief workers, he also announced hud secretary Shawn Donovan to lead the Disaster Recovery board to oversee rebuilding efforts in the region, and they are going to be a lot of work up there. Senator chuck schum wrer in new york was there. We saw him in the picture. Senator schumer, the more you read about it, the New York Times has been very good at covering this and the other papers up there. The sense that this isnt just a bad week or two or a bad month. Oh, no. This destruction of homes without any home left. The homes have been destroyed, the Electrical Systems destroyed. Talk about it if you can. The publics watching. The whole country. Yeah. This is how bad is it . Its like katrina. It is awful. Its close to katrina. You know, the first day after the stormy flew in a helicopter with the governor and mayor and i saw how widespread it was, and in the last two weeks ive been going in all the communities. You see how deep it is. And its a combination. There are probably more than 100,000 people who 100,000 homes that have been destroyed. Thats 300,000 people without homes. Thats the size you know, thats a middlesized american city. We have lots of Office Buildings downtown that cant work. Nyu hospital, one of the leading hospitals in the country, all their machines were on the first floor in the basement. Hundreds of millions of dollars of mris and amts and axial tomography. The damage is so varied in so many different ways and so deep. I was up on the 16th i didnt climb up that high. The 18th floor of a housing project. Three elderly women had been there for two weeks. They couldnt get down. No electricity. No elevators. And there they are. They dont have water. They dont have light. They dont have heat. They dont have plumbing. Volunteers were bringing them food and clothing. Its just awful. Its just awful. Tell us about this. Ive been trying to bring attention to some of the groups ive gotten to know in the last couple of weeks. But tell me about the federal government. If you lose a house, if you have your electrical system destroyed, if everything around the house basically has to be rebuilt, can you get the money from the federal government or is this going to have to be private insurance . This is one of the problems. The most private insurance doesnt have is not flood insurance. Some people have flood insurance, and some people dont. And then fema will pay a maximum of 31,400. Well, you can have a bungalow, a little tiny home in new york, and 31,400 isnt going to bring that back. This is something we have to look at. They did after katrina figure out a way to use cdbg money for this and its something were going to have to do. There are so many Different Things that have to be covered here. The storm was so great. 14 feet higher than weve ever seen it. The brooklyn battery tunnel had 100 million gallons of water from one end to the other. Totally full. It had to be pumped out. But in addition to that, we have we have so many places where all the barriers, the natural barriers are gone. And there are literally hundreds of thousands of people who live close to the water. Tell me about this what are we going to get . Youre a powerful senator. Youve been good at it. After 9 11 i remember you went up to w, president w, and i think i overheard you say we need 20 billion. Thats true. And he did it. And by the way, he stuck by it. I asked him privately in the room with senator clinton and the two virginia senators. He said yes. Then we went outside. He spoke. He didnt announce it. So i was next to speak. And i said, and the president s been extremely generous. Hes promised 20 billion for new york to rebuild. How are you going to get it this time for the people of the boroughs especially . But i cant believe the damage done in manhattan itself. The guy that died in his car in the basement. He was a garage attendant. Thats a horrible story. Its everywhere. Its so widespread because were such a large area and it hit over such a large area. And im just seeing in new york, new jersey has similar type damage. How are we going to do it . Its going to be harder because obviously theres a Republican House that has not been as friendly to disaster relief. The disaster money for irene was actually held up because these folks said for every dollar you spend on disaster youve got to find a place to cut. Thats the way to make sure we dont help in disaster. Senator, i want to make a promise to you. You have a place here to make noise about this. Keep coming back to us about this. I will. Thanks, chris. Senator Chuck Schumer. By the way, i told you yesterday about st. Francis the sales church of bell harbor in rockaway in queens. Theyve set up a relief center. Its doing a huge service, helping people get access to generators and get back on their feet. If you want to help this local relief effort you can send a contribution to Saint Francis de sales parish, 12916ricaway beach boulevard, belle harbor, new york. And write on the check relief effort. Youre watching hardball right now, the place for politics. This family used capital one venture miles to come home for the holidays. Thats double miles you can actually use. Sadly, their brothers White Christmas just got blacked out. [ brother ] but its the family party really jingles your bells, doesnt it . My gift to you the capital one venture card for any flight, any time thats double miles you can actually use how illuminating. Whats in your wallet . Let me guess, am i on the naughty list again . Ho ho ho let me finish tonight with this. I spent a good deal of time pulling together the powerful unknown story of the late president john f. Kennedy. I wrote the book in an unusual way for a historic figure. I based it on people who knew him personally. Very personally. Guys who worked with him in politics. Pals from the navy. Prep school chums. People who served, as i said, as fellow politicians. Well, the book attempts to answer that question that jack kennedy himself said was really the reason people read biography or even history in the first place, to find out whats he like. And searching for jack kennedy i found a fascinating man, a man of deeply Hidden Health problems, an inveterate reader himself, especially of history, a true war hero. I found a fighting prince never free from pain, never far from trouble, never accepting the world he found, never wanting to be his fathers son