Transcripts For MSNBC Meet The Press 20130923

Policy with iran. Weekly standard bill kris tol, tavis smiley, robert gibbs, call spreet journals kim stras he will. Im david gregory. All that ahead for meet the press, sunday, september 22nd. Good morning. Well get to the Government Shutdown in a moment. The breaking news were tracking in nairobi, kenya. One of the deadliest acts of terror in east africa since the u. S. Embassies were attacked in 199. Ron allen is on the phone where the hostages are still being held. Hes got late breaking details for us. Ron, good morning. Good morning, david. The death toll is now up to 59 and 175 people wounded and those numbers could easily rise because this is still a very tense and uncertain situation. We believe there are perhaps as many as 10 to 15 gunmen. Theyre holding as much as 30 or more hostages. Its unclear if theres a full grasp of whats going on. Were talking about a huge urban mall, dozens of shops, restaurants, a food court. There was a matinee movie under way. There was a childrens event on the roof and the food court dozens of children entertaining themselves. A very chaotic situation. The hospitals here are overwhelmed with wounded. We understand that there are a few americans who are involved in this. None of the fatalities are americans. Although there are foreign nationals who were killed. At this point, the authorities are taking it slow. Trying to get a grasp of whats going on in every nook and cranny of the mall. It remains to see how patient they will be. The militant Group Al Shabaab was linked and claimed responsibility. Its a long running battle theyve been having about kenyans involvement in somalia. Its uncertain the situation now. Its more than 24 hours old. Ron allen on the ground in nairobi there. Thank you very much. The future of the American Economy is at stake as Congress Fights toward yet another fiscal deadline and crisis. On friday, the gop controlled house passed a bill to fund the government for the rest of the year. But that very bill denies funding for obama care. There is no support for that in the senate at this point, which is controlled by the republicans. If theres no agreement by the senate and the house by the end of the month, the federal government could shut down. In the meantime, the battle lines are drawn. The American People dont want the government shut down and they dont want obama care. Theyre not focused on you. Theyre focused on politics. Theyre focused on trying to mess with me. Yoing me now from utah, republican senator mike lee. From minnesota democratic senator Amy Klobuchar and in studio, congresswoman democrat barbara lee and marcia blackburn. Welcome to all of you. There is a filibuster in the senate. Thankfully not on meet the press. Were going to keep the debate moving. I want to start with a question for all of you. Its a yes or no question. Senator lee, is the government going to shut down . No. We all know that the government is going to be funded. The question is if its with or without obama care. Senator klobuchar, do you think there will be a shutdown . No. I believe the people of goodwill will come together and do the right thing and stop this political brinksmanship. Barbara lee, what you do you any . No. We wont allow the defunding of the Affordable Care act. As much as the president wants a shutdown, hes not going to get it. Who wants it, who is going to get it. We all want it avoided. Senator lee, if i may, the one of the fire brands in the senate, conservatives who are fighting to defund obama care, you have gotten what you wanted, you wanted this fight. Theyve had it in the house. Its coming your way in the senate. Republicans are arguing with each other about whether its the right thing. You have members of congress who think you have overpromised the debates. Your own colleagues i have spoken to believe that. Karl rove wrote this on thursday. The desire to strike at obama care is praise worthy. But any strike thategy to repea delay must have a credible chance of succeed or affecting broad Public Opinion strongly. The defunding strategy couldnt doesnt. It would strengthen the president and alienating its an illconceived tactic and republicans should reject it. What do you say to that, senator lee . Ever since we started talking about the defund obama care effort back in july, people within the washington establishment and both Political Parties have been attacking it. Right off the top, they said it cant be done. Some even said legally, it is not physically or legally possible to pass a bill funding government but defunds obama care. Meanwhile, weve seen that all of those things are untrue. Weve seen that the American People are rallying around this idea. They had seen the president acting to protect big business, big unions and other special interests and they want to be protected too. Senator, you Public Opinion is running against obama care. Thats a facts. You dont have support in the senate to defund obama care, do you . Well, look, heres the issue. We have to ask the question. How many more people have to lose their jobs or have wages cut or Lose Health Care benefits before congress does something to protect the person people. How many more states have to announce that premiums are going up . We saw home depot announcing that 20,000 employees will lose their health care benefits. I commend Speaker Boehner for his leadership. But i asked a direct question. Do you have support in the senate to defund obama care . We have support in the senate. All 45 republicans in the senate in march voted to defund obama care. Well keep those and add a 46th from new jersey. I hope that a few senate democrats, particularly those from red states who were up for reelection will consider joining us. This is what the American People asked us to do. Heres my question for the group. Ill come to you congresswoman blackburn first. You remember the shutdown in 95. The view is it hurt republicans. 1. 4 billion in the cost of the government. The images of closed parks and furloughed workers and parts of the Government Shutdown was seen as a negative for republicans. Why would you want to go through that again . Were not trying to go through it. We know the president wants it because he wants cloel control of the checkbook for discreti discretionary spending. Republicans are trying to solve the problem of spending in in washington, d. C. Look at what happened with spending since this president took office. Look at what is happening with jobs, with the economy. Look at whats happening with obama care. And the impact that that, 2. 6 trillion of additional expense is going to have on federal spending. We want to solve the problem. Wed like to have the president meet with us instead of meeting with clinton. Senator klobuchar, your thoughts . First of all, david, i think our economy is on the cusp of great opportunity here. The Unemployment Rate in my state is down to 5. 1 . The Real Estate Market is turning around and youre seeing improvements across the country. But were not where were supposed to be. The last thing that the American People want right now is people playing political games, putting in poison pills and threatening to shut the government down and default on our debt. Thats what i think we should be doing, is moving forward on the immigration bill reducing our debt by 160 billion in ten years. If you want to talk about dead reduction, theres a good one. Moving forward on the farm bill and looking at opportunities to help americans get jobs. This brinksmanship and going to the end every single time like in 2011 when the dow cascaded down 20 points is not the way to go. Barbara lee, congresswoman, do you agree with your colleague . Do you think the president wants to win back the house and get more of his agenda through after the midterm . The president does not want a Government Shutdown. First of all, when the president took office, we were losing 800,000 jobs per month. The president has turned the economy around. Yes, we have a long way to go. But we are creating jobs. This administration is doing that. With regard to the Affordable Care act, for the life of me, i cant understand why the act would be held hostage o our government shutting down. Millions of people have benefited from this. We have children who now receive health care who could not receive health care prior to this because of a preexisting condition. We have millions of young people still on their Parents Health Insurance Plan who would not be on those plans. We have over 100 Million People now who would not be jammed out of their insurance because of the fact that they exhaust their benefits. So people right now are benefiting from the Affordable Care act. I dont believe the people theyre not being hurt by this. Yes, they are. Look at the millions of individuals, 7 million more individuals will lose employer provided insurance. Thats according to the cbo. Because of obama care. Look at the thousands. We got over 300 companies that have altered, changed or reduced Health Benefits because of obama care. That is thousands of hundreds of thousands of uninsured lives. We have 21. 3 million americans who are either on or underemployed. Health care costs are going down. Theyre going down. No, theyre not. Theyre escalating. Let me interject a point of fact here. Fls a lot of confusion. Weve done checking on this. Even on the ifsh u of premium, they have gone up in some states and down in some states. If youre a governor of florida, youre going to make it more difficult. The feds have to come in and do it. New york, theyre having an easier time of it. It matters where you are. But there is confusion senator lee to your point and your opposition. Here are the headlines this week. A couple pro, a couple con here. Reuters, Cleveland Clinic announces job cuts to prepare for obama care. Bloomberg, ge, ibm ending retyree health plans in a historic shift. Usa today, health care for 100 bucks a month . Yes, that is possible. Sun sentinel. Obama care cuts costs. There is vulnerability because its unpopular. Theres not a fact pattern that you can say is a singular fact pattern in terms of the impact of obama care. Well, that may well be the case. But the fact is, this is creating enormous uncertainty that has americans on edge and understanding that they could lose their jobs, have their wages or hours cut and they could lose their health care benefits. Thats happening to a lot of people. We have to remember, the body that is active to prevent a shutdown to Fund Government is the house of representatives. The house of representatives has said lets Fund Government and not obama care. Thats what the American People want. 1. 6 Million People have gone to dont fund it. Com to register their concern about this law. The American People are calling for this. The house acted, the senate needs to do its job and follow suit. Senator lee, you havent answered. Youre campaigning for this, which i understand. Its your prerogative. You dont really have the support and what im wondering is why focus on this issue to the exclusion of, kay, tax reform. As a group, why focus so narrowly on obama care which your own colleagues are saying publicly and privately is not going to be dismantled. Even rand paul, while he supports defunding says its not going to be repealed in the end. Look, thats shifting, too. As recently as a week or two ago, people were saying the house of representatives would not be pass something that funded government while defunding obama care. That turned out not to be true. Weeks before that, people were saying it wasnt legally possible to defund it through a continuing resolution. Now the house of representatives passed something that does that. Senator klobuchar . Well, what i can tell you is 58 of independents have said that they dont want to defund obama care if it means shutting down the government. That is a poll from karl rove. The people the 5,000 people there to march to cure alzheimers, you want to tell them their loved one who is have alzheimers are getting a delay in treatment because the government is going to shut down . It makes no sense. I come from a high quality, low cost health care. We want to see like at the mayo clinic across the country. We dont want to relitigate the matter. The president signed it into law. The court upheld it. Will there be changes in the future, yes. But the answer is not to defund it on a bill shutting the government down. As you both know, to now get to the deadline. What were talking about now is funding the government, if you dont do it by the end of the month, possible shutdown. Thats a separate matter from raising the debt limit which you have to do to pay the bills for the appropriations the congress has made. The house, im told, wants to pass a bill delaying obama care by a year and make it part of an agreement to raise the debt limit. Congresswoman, the president isnt going to negotiate about this. Do you think in the end he has to. Theres no support for raising the debt limit now, is there . First of all, we must pay our bills. Were not a deadbeat nation. This should not be held as a bargaining chip or held hostage. Weve raised the debt limit over 40 times now. You have the votes to raise it right now. Without doing something. The president has not said he would not do something with regard to the budget. He is not going to negotiate on something that should not have to be negotiated about. Thats raising the debt ceiling. Weve got to pay our bills. In the past and heres the list of all the times that congress has worked with the commander in chief to raise the debt limit and institute some serious budget reforms. But that was not held as a bargaining chip. It would delay it for one year. One of the things we want to make certain we do is prohibit all the taxes. Senator klobuchars state with all of the medical devices, thats a 2. 3 cut. They were not held hostage. It was not a bargaining chip. Had nothing to do with raising the debt ceiling. Making certain that we get the the disagreement continues. One last question. Senator klobuchar, bottom line. Will there be an agreement on raising the debt limit despite the fact that the president would not like to negotiate about it . I believe that there will be an agreement and i think we can do it without any of these extraneous partisan poison pills. Because the American People remember what happened back in 2011. We had our Credit Rating reduced and it cost us 1. 3 billion in extra borrowing cost. This is money taxpayers have to pay. This is affecting families and real people. Thats why i think if n. The end, this games manship has to end and we have to get on the real business of the American People. Thats why i think in the end we will move on and negotiate a real longterm budget thats balanced. All right. This debate is just getting started. Youre getting a sense of that this morning. Senator owe thanks for being here. This time in congresss own backyard. Will it change anything about the gun debate. Response this morning from a gun control activist whose daughter was a victim in the Movie Theater shooting in aurora, colorado. Bill kristol, robert gibbs and kim stras he will will evaluate the president s leadership in the fight for obama care and Foreign Affairs as well. Well be right back after this. [ male announcer ] pepcid® presents the burns family bbq. Guys, you took tums® a couple hours ago. Why keep taking it if you know your heartburn keeps coming back . Thats how it works. You take some tums®. If heartburn comes back, you take some more. That doesnt make any sense. It makes plenty of sense if you dont think about it really, honey, why cant you just deal with it like everybody else . Because i took a pepcid®. Fine. Debbie, youre my new favorite. [ male announcer ] break with tradition, take pepcid® complete. It works fast and lasts. Get relief from your heartburn relief with pepcid® complete. As long as there are those who fight to make it as easy as possible for dangerous people to get their hands on guns, then we have to work as hard as possible for the sake of our children. We have to be the ones to do more work to make it harder. We are back. That was the president last night at a dinner here in washington for the congressional black caucus. Joining me now, the executive Vice President of the National Rifle association, Wayne Lapierre. Mr. Lapierre, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you, david. Is this the new normal . A commissioner described it that way. The president talked about almost a routine the country goes through after these horrific acts. Is that what were forced to live with at this point . Lets talk about this week. David, this is a tragedy that should not have happened, a Memorial Service that should not be taking place and victims that should not be victims. In a post9 11 world, a naval base within miles from congress, the white house, seven miles from here, largely left unprotected, a terrorist target, a high valued terrorist target completely unprotected. That cant stand. Nra is calling today for layers of security around our military bases. And the other thing we need to take a look at is all these brave men and women that are trained in firearms that signed up to serve in the military, theyre largely disarmed on our military bases. We need to look at letting the men and women that know firearms and are trained in them do what they do best, which is protect and survive. This is similar. After newtown, you were out spoken and saying that more security was the answer. This is what you said after that massacre. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. This was the navy yard. There were armed guards there, mr. Lapierre. Does that not undermine your argument . No. The whole country, david, knows the problem is there wasnt enough good guys with guns. When the good guys with guns got there, it stopped. What really happened here . The Mental Health situation in the country is in complete breakdown. I want to get to that, but lets focus on the security aspect. Can it be the sliding scale where you do have armed guards there but now theres not enough armed guards, and when it comes to schools, if only we had an armed guard and we had teachers who had weapons, then we could stop it . Where does it stop . How could anybody look at what happened this week and say there was enough security there . There was one guy, a private security firm, god bless him, he ran toward the fire. There were six others there that were guarding the gates. The capitol hill swat team was told to stand down. Where is the outrage about that . The radios didnt work. We need to turn seven minutes response, we need to turn 30 minutes before they bring down the shooter into 7 seconds and 30 seconds. Thats when we need to be doing and thats what im talking about with armed response. There is not a homeowner in Northern Virginia that if somebody is breaking in their door would be satisfied with 30 minutes. You just heard the president basically saying we have to keep the fight up for gun restrictions. Is the gun control debate over . David, you know, all the outrage this week the first two days of the media and the politicians trying to stir this toward firearms, the outrage ought to be placed on an unprotected naval base, on a criminal Justice System in chicago that doesnt even enforce the federal gun laws when we could dramatically cut violence on a Mental Health system that is completely broken, on a check system that is a complete joke in terms of stopping the bad guys and a criminal Justice System in this country, just this past week, because of budget collapse, theyre releasing 23,000 people back to the streets in los angeles, a lot of them violent and a lot of them sex offenders. Thats where the outrage of the American Public is. Can i ask you about Mental Health . Because it seems so very difficult, and its someone who represents a group keenly interested in protecting core rights. There are also the rights of individuals when it comes to involuntarily committing them to a Mental Institution because of Mental Illness. Look at the timeline for the shooter here, aaron alexis, where hes just under the radar. In may of 2004, hes arrested for shooting tires out in seattle. September 2010, hes arrested after he fired a bullet through his ceiling in ft. Worth, then police were called because he was hearing voices at work. They call his mother at work but they dont actually call the navy. Should someone who shows Mental Illness like that be able to purchase a gun . They should be committed, and if they should be committed, they shouldnt be at the naval yard. Ive been in the system for 20 years. I said the system has been broken for 20 years and nobody listens. The nra supported the gun check because we thought the mental records would be in the support, we thought criminals would be in the system and we thought people would be prosecuted. Were in a situation now where the criminal records arent in the system. The medical records, even those adjudicated dangerous are not in the system and nobody is prosecuted. I take your point but heres what happens. So the aurora shooter in colorado gets checked and is cleared. The tucson shooter is checked and gets cleared. Aaron alexis goes to the federal and state check and gets cleared because the Mental Health system makes this person completely unrecognizable. But im asking what the nra would support. Like in florida, for instance, if you were voluntarily voluntarily committed to a Mental Health institution that you would support barring gun purchases. Do i have that right . I think if they adjudicate you like virginia has done now, where if youre involuntarily committed or if the Mental Health people say kwur dangeryo dangerous, you need to be in the system. Could there be a lower threshold you could support where there is some Mental Illness that says, lets do whatever we can to stop the carnage and limit sales . Ill tell you whats going to happen. Were going to have the discussion today. Its on other channels. When the cameras go off, nobody is going to do anything. If we leave these homicidal maniacs on the street, they dont obey the law, they could care less about it, theyre going to kill. The only way you can stop them is they send up the red flags. Its like a plane going down the beach with a sign behind it saying, im dangerous, and we leave them on the street. I want to show you a piece of tape in just a second. Let me set it up here. We asked people on facebook, what would you like to ask Wayne Lapierre. There are so many people who oppose you and the nra because they say, look, a vast majority of americans support gun legislation, people in colorado support additional restrictions. Here was a victim at Virginia Tech who was on with my colleague Andrea Mitchell this weekend and he asked this question. Im going to give you an opportunity to respond. I would ask wayne, look, lets talk about what it means to be a responsible gun owner . Doour do you think as a responsible human being, if you sell a gun to someone you dont know, you should require a background check before they can own it . A hunter to a hunter in another state, a farmer to a farmer. No, i dont believe you ought to be under the thumb of the federal government. But thats whats wrong with this town, david. Here we have a military base completely unprotected, we have a mental system completely broken down. Theyre trafficking 13yearold girls down the street. Theres all kinds of drugs, all kinds of guns and the priority of this town is, hey, do you think a hunter that sells a gun to a hunter in kansas ought to have to be under the thumb of the federal government . No, i tell you what the nra is for. In kacarcerating violent crimin, get them off the street. Get mentally ill people in treatment. If there is a gun on the street that shouldnt have it, get them prosecuted. Lets get our fiscal life in order so we can put guns back on the street. Thank you for being here, mr. Lapierre. Thank you, david. Coming up, were going to get a response from a woman who knows the pain of this firsthand. Her daughter was killed in the Aurora Shooting last year. Chuck todd, our political director with his first read sunday. We are back. You just heard from Wayne Lapierre of the nra. I want to turn to sandy phillips. She has become an activist for gun control when her daughter, just 21 years old, was shot when james holmes shot her and other members of the public. S this week, one week after the navy yard shooting, she was in washington for more lobbies on gun restriction. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. When you were here and heard what happened at the navy yard, can you describe your reaction to it . David, any time youve been a victim of gun violence like we have, when you hear news like that, it takes you back to what happened when you heard your news. We got our news in the middle of the night from a young man who was with our daughter who called me 20 minutes after the theater shooting. He told me with screaming going on in the background that our daughter was dead. We found out she was shot six times and her brains were blown out. Jesse lying on that cold theater floor is the vision i wake up with every morning and go to bed with every night. And now theyre 12 more victims families that go through the same thing. I wish i could tell them it gets easier, but it doesnt. And now you and your husband are trying to get gun restrictions to prevent these kinds of massacres. You heard Wayne Lapierre. The nra has been successful in blocking many of those efforts. I asked him, is the gun debate over . Do you feel all were left to do is sort of wait for the next one to happen now . It took six votes over seven years to get the initial brady law passed, and sara and jim brady didnt give up. Those of us who are involved, and unfortunately, our numbers are growing, were not giving up. It will happen. We need to expand those background checks so this kind of thing doesnt continue to happen. We need to give our Law Enforcement the tools that they need to get that job done. But do you agree with any element of what he said . Is more security the answer on bases, for example, or in other Public Places . More guns, thats certainly not the answer. More guns, more people that may be triggered by violence, predispositioned to it, anyway, just muddies the issue. What is the most respect active response to a series of massacres where Mental Health seems to be the centerpiece . Whats the means to stop them when we know violence is everywhere . The worst part of this, in my opinion, is with expanded background checks, were going to close a lot of those gaps in our system, especially onlane sales and the gun show loopholes that still exist. If you can do that, then it doesnt matter if someone is not as, shall i say if theyre predisposed to violence, if you can stop that and have that put into the system, the system can only work as well as whats put into the system. So, yes, we have to look at the entire comprehensive approach. But with the background checks, thats the first step. And 90 of americans want them and over 70 of lapierres members want them. So its not a hard fix. Just a couple seconds left. Your advice to those who are going through the grief you went through after this shooting . My heart breaks for them. Again, id like to say its something that eases in time. Their lives are never going to be the same. I hope that they choose to get involved with us, but that takes time. Hopefully there wont be a whole lot more people joining us on this path. Sandy phillips, thank you swre very much for being here. Im sorry for your loss that unfortunately you have to relive during times like this, but i appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much. Were going to be back. Our political round table. Well get back sthothe showdownr obamacare, and yes, the aftermath of the navy yard shooting. Joining me, bill meet the press continues with our political roundtable. Joining us this morning, bill kristol, kim strassel, robin gibbs and tavis smiley. Now heres david gregory. Were back. I want to talk about our shutdown of politics. Here we go again. Who is up, who is down, and does this get a verdict, bill . I think it gets a verdict at least for now. I think House Republicans are up suddenly after a few weeks of disarray. They actually passed a bill to keep the government going and take down obamacare. People can say, the House Republicans are in disarray, but only one body actually voted to keep the obamacare open. The senate has done nothing. No continued resolution and no appropriations bills. I think the wall street journal summed this upper effectually this week, and that is Kamikaze Missions are rarely successful, least of all from the pilotsme. T if you think about this from the white house perspective, about to lose a vote on syria, here the enemies throw you a rope and want to get in the quicksand instead of you. You can see from your interview with the republicans, they have a strategy on how to do one bill and they have no real clue as to what the next step is in that strategy. I dont know if thats exactly the case. Look, the art of winning a political battle is exerting le leverage on the other side. You get them to do what you want them to do. The problem with defunding obamacare so far is theyre holding Government Shutdown as their leverage. Given that could hurt them if that actually happens, theyre saying, give us what we want or were going to shoot ourselves in the foot. Coming forward, if senator reid ends up sending back a clean cr to the house, the question for republicans is, are there not in fact better means of exerting pressure on democrats and forcing them, testing the outer boundaries of their support for the law . There are ways you can do that. You can look at delaying the original mandate, something that dozens of house members have done. There is this talk about the congressional exemption the white house gave to members of congress and whether or not you could put that in there and put some pressure on democrats to make some changes in the law. Its about what comes next. Ive never seen a party so hell bent on self destruction, and i quite frankly dont get it. As imperfect as obamacare is, this political posturing and point scoring about defunding it is not the answer. The case has already been made that its been passed, its been upheld by congress, and again, this doesnt make much sense to the American People. The real problem here is, and i clearly am not a republican, but the point is i think our country works best when there is a strong twoparty system, and i think the republicans are doing themselves, and quite frankly, the country a disservice if this is how they want to selfdestruct. We need a strong twoparty system in this country, and if youre going to wipe yourself out, shoot yourself in the foot, shoot yourself in the head, then youre hurting this country. Tavis, there is this thing called the congressional ballot. Has not changed at all in a few months. Im not making a political point, im just saying as of now for all this talk about, oh, my god, those republicans look terrible. The republicans dont like obamacare. If they can move beyond the defunding to delaying particular parts of obamacare, especially the unpopular parts like individual mandates, i have support of that. There is not one poll that shows this is a smart strategy. And look, general custer, if you want to go, i wont hold you back. Bill is absolutely right. There isnt one poll that Shows Americans approve a majority of this health care law. But theres not one poll that says we should hold government, the running of government hostage from the defunding of obamacare. They just did. They just authorized funding for the government. This is the problem, whenever we have these sunday morning chats. Its all about putting our finger up to the wind. Sometimes the right thing is the difficult thing. I think you always have to lead by a certain amount of pric principles. Civil rights wasnt the right thing to do for this country, it wasnt passing a poll bill, yet it was the right thing to do. Republicans believe obama is horrible. Its about one thing, obstruct obama. Nancy pelosi or other republicans would have voted against pelosicare or kerrycare. Its not personal to obama. One of the reasons the senate has not acted in any way to Fund Government is because right now there is no democratic vote for a clean cr. You cant keep saying cr. A clean funding of government bill in that they think the sequester levels are too low, so theyre willing to shut down the government for the right to be able to spend more money. Id like to clarify some points here, too, for the audience beyond cr. The fact that were talking about the Government Shutdown is separate from a debt limit. Given what the white house went through in 2011, it hurt the white house, it hurt republicans and it hurt americans not flirting with the debt limit. The president said, look, im not going to negotiate on this. The problem is where are the votes . He cant get votes in congress for the debt limit without congress, can he . Its going to be a big test. I do think the specter of how this might tinker with the economy is certainly one thats out there, but look, i think the results of this are unknown and we have seen, you know, these sort of messy fights are very d disconsonant with people in real america because they dont see why people cant sit down at a table and come up with a real resolution for these problems. You were concerned like others about the vote on food stamps this week. This is about size, scope, the direction of government. In a republican party, this is going to become a big campaign issue. Its going to be in 2014 but its also for those who want to run for president in 2016. The question will be, where were you on obamacare . I think this country is facing a moment where we have to make a decision about what kind of nation and what kind of people were going to be. The president recently, much to my chagrin, spoke about this notion of american exceptionalism, and clearly he isnt the only one in town that likes to push that notion that we as americans are exceptional. The actions in america this week alone gives us the reason to push back that claim. When americans want to shut down a government of political posturing, when you can kill innocent children at sandy hook and theres no real gun control debate, those who are supposed to protect our babies, and now you fire on those who are supposed to protect us, and nobody at this table believes a real gun control debate is going to come out because all this other stuff will push it to the side. Its not just Mental Illness, thats a real issue, but youve got this black guy running toward the police asking for help and they shoot and kill him. Congress has a 60 Approval Rating and the answer is to shut it down . What kind of people are we going to be . If we dont correct this soon, were going to lose our democracy. Its that serious. I want to come back and pick up whether there is a future on the gun control debate. This is a big week in president ial leadership on some crises overseas in iran and syria. And yes, Hillary Clinton is out there, too, talking about [ jen garner ] what skincare brand is so effective. So trusted. So clinically proven dermatologists recommend it twice as much as any other brand . Neutrogena®. Recommended by dermatologists 2 times more than any other brand. Now thats beautiful. Neutrogena®. Still running in the morning . Yeah. Getting your vegetables every day . When i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] couldve had a v8. Two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. Sidebyside, so you get the same coverage, often for less. Thats one smart board what else does it do, reverse gravity . [ laughs ] split atoms . [ flo chuckles ] [ whirring ] hey, hows that atomsplitting thing going . Oh a smarter way to shop around now thats progressive. Call or click today. Were back with our group. Syria, now iran. Is there a breakthrough here . Bill kristol doesnt think so. He wrote this in the weekly standards. Syria is merely act i. Next week act ii opens at the united nations. There well see a charmo fence sieve worthy of richard iii by the new iranian president and veteran. The Obama Administration will move on from punting in syria to appeasing iran. The diplomatic dance in iran will be long in complex, but who doubts that the people will end up where iran, the leading partner, wants to go . Bill, the counterpoint to that is maybe these openings are happening because obama threatened a military strike and hes actually tough, and thats what the russians and iranians and syrians think. I dont think the iranians and syrians are at all impressed with obama. He threatened to do it, he didnt do it, and now syria is paying for the use of chemical weapons. I think the Obama Administration thinks thats a template for how to go down a diplomatic path, kick the can down the road, not have to make any tough decisions and maybe he can kick the can further down the road that the next administration will maybe have to deal with a civil war, and iran is maybe closer to or even has Nuclear Weapons capability. Economic sanctions imposed over the course of many years have had a big impact on the iranian economy, and that puts big pressure on leaders to do something. I think, look, we will get an opportunity to see this week, and everyone should press the iranians on just how serious they might be. Weve seen them before say they might want to have conversations but never move to the next step, and i think its certainly worth, as we hold strong economic sanctions in the threat of military force, see if theyre willing. I want to talk about Hillary Clinton. If were talking about president ial leadership, were still taking her measure. She has an interview with new York Magazine that came out this morning, and heres what she said. Im not in any hurry, i think it a serious decision, not to be made lightly, but also one that doesnt have to be made soon. And one that has to be made in the public eye as often as i can. Hillary clinton, ever since she lost back in 2008, has been positioning herself to do can t exactly this move. Going off to be secretary of state, putting her in the public eye. Were going to be hearing a lot from Hillary Clinton other than what her decision is, but shes going to make sure shes out there with interviews like this just to keep herself in the public eye. She has time to make that decision. I dont know how you can have this many people pulling for you to run whether you can not run. Does she stay close to president obama, or does she need separation from president obama to be effective . I think the answer is yes and no. It depends on the issue youre talking about. Timing is everything. She should be in no rush to make this decision. She is far ahead, much farther ahead now, a much better political position than she was in 07 and 08. If you get in the fray at this point, your Approval Ratings and credibility will come down. If i were her, i would take some time, think about the ideas she wants to move forward. Not Barack Obamas ideas, not president clintons ideas, they have to be hers. She doesnt have to position herself because there isnt a very big democratic field. Do you think these vulnerable from the republican side . I think shes more as a ruvue than anyone thinks. I think shes a good candidate for republicans to run against. Let her defend the Foreign Policy that she presided over as secretary of state for four years, and i think her governing with contrast would be a good thing. Im going to leave it th apple and blackberry, a tale of two companies with very different stories this week. Apple, as you know, launched two new iphones while blackberry announced its planning to cut 40 of its work force. It looks Like Congress is echoing that trend. In total we found the members of congress use iphones twice as much as blackberry, 58 to 23 . We posted more about our survey exclusively on zbox. If you havent already, download the zbox app on your mobile device so you can join the conversation. We dont have the numbers for here now, some of this weeks images to remember. I personally asked chuck todd for that picture to be in there. But we should also congratulate the red sox. They were last last year, and now theyre in the division. Our first read sunday, youre looking at a big week in the united nations. Iran and the United States we talked about in the round table. What will we see here . There will be the Obama Administration for rouhanis tone change. The question is, is it a hand shake in the hall, or is it Something Else . There is some work and still some wariness there and theyre not going to go too much in with rouhani. In virginia, theyll be moderating a debate between cucinelli and mccall. This is a tough race. Cucinelli trying to attack mcculloughs character. Running gets cucinellis idealogy. Its not just the president raising money to sell obamacare and the republicans are doing it, too. You can argue that the nominee is likely from this group that will be at this fundrai fundraiser. Look at this list. Chris christie is woody johnsons favorite from this six, but bringing in both sides of the party, its interesting to see who gets the most juice among these big donors. Just a couple seconds. There is no momentum, is there, for gun control . Do you see it there . Not at all. Maybe youll see a tightening of Mental Health bills. Frankly youll see Congress Mess around more with the contractor laws. Chuck todd, big week ahead. Thank you so much for being here. Much more from you on line at nbcnews. 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