meanwhile, at a meeting called the uninvited were those judged too far right even for this week's cpac convention. ted cruz joined steve king who says illegal immigrants have calves as big as cantaloupes and louie gohmert who says the president is one of them. but hold on, if you think you have reached the full crazy, meet the truly far-out right. folks like frank gaffney who believe that antitax pitchman grover norquist is an undercover agent of the muslim brotherhood. justice thomas' wife who believes the government may be secretly backing terrorists. or the panelist who says john boehner is covering up benghazi, boehner is. in right to the far right to the far-out, it's a daisy chain pulling rightward, where even establishment figures like mitch mcconnell and lindsey graham trying to join the crazy. with ted cruz pushing his way through the right wing crowd, calling people like bob dole and john mccain names all the way, anything to get to the hard right frontier where to lead the country he intends to plant his flag. dana milbank is a columnist for "the washington post." and jonathan capehart is an opinion writer, also with "the washington post" and an msnbc contributor. gentlemen, this was something. this week went really far right. >> it's always a bit of a circus at cpac when they come to town. and of course everybody is under pressure on the right to provide all the red meat. but this did go further. this is the time when you had ted cruz not just speaking to cpac, but speaking to the uninvited. >> further right. >> people who were too far right to be invited this. you had the spectacle of cpac not inviting the leading republican in the land, the speaker of the house, not eligible there. you had republican candidates in turn snubbing cpac -- >> is this the republican party of 2014? people working here, i've been talking with people today, they say you could argue this is the republican party. it's not long the fringe of the fringest. >> right. paul ryan was saying it's not necessarily a civil war within the republican party, and he is right, because there is not really an establishment versus the tea party. it's really a free-for-all. >> it's a jamboree. >> it absolutely. and the in a way, the establishment has been taken over by the tea party. it's infused the whole thing. >> to make your -- are you agreeing tonight that what we saw was this little sort cotillion of the crazy right? when you have elections, pretty much half the country sometimes? >> look, remember, you've got senators lindsey graham, john mccain, john cornyn, people who have been in congress, in the senate before 2010 when the tea party came in. they are now saying and doing things that we would think were unimaginable ten years ago, and that's why the tea party has come in and has yanked the party to the right, made them all fearful ever since bob bennett lost his senate seat during the primary. >> so they're not stupider than they were five, ten years ago. >> no. >> lindsey graham is just as smart as he has ever been. >> absolutely. >> and yet he is scared to death. >> he is up for reelection. and because they have seen one too many of their colleagues go down to defeat -- >> how about the number to make your point -- i'm sorry to jump on you. to make your point, this week in texas, john cornyn, who had no real opponents had 41% of the primary voters vote against him. that's pretty scary. >> yeah, it's pretty scary. that's why you see, that's why i agree with dana. i think we're all here in agreement that the republican party, it's not that the republican party has coopted the tea party movement. the tea party movement has coopted. it is the republican party now. >> they must think of the future, i suppose. a terrible phrase. as which mentioned, cpac wasn't ted cruz's only stop yesterday. a group even further to the right, if you can believe that place exists, set up their own shadow conference dubbed the uninvited. well, look at the list of attendees at the uninvited. steve king, he is the cantaloupe guy of iowa. he says all immigrant people coming across the boarder from the south have calves has big as cantaloupes because they're carrying i guess 150 pounds of marijuana, which i would think is big as a room. and louie gohmert of texas. both are recognizable members of the clown car, often there is mo brooks of alabama who once said this on the topic of undocumented immigrants, "i will do anything short of shooting them." well, that's kind. and then trent franks of arizona. franks once referred to president obama as an enemy of humanity. and jim bridenstine of oklahoma who made headlines when he refused to challenge a town hall attendee who told him that president obama should be, quote, executed as an enemy combatant. as i said, the far right is now the far out. and then there is this group of full mooners at the event. here is some more color from conference as reported by mother jones. a nonprofit called empact america schooled attendees about the threat of a terrorist attack by way of an electromagnetic pulse. former reagan defense department official frank gaffney articulated his view that american conservative union grover norquist is an undercover agent for the muslim brotherhood. got that one? ginni thomas, i don't know her, but a daily caller contributor and wife of clarence thomas, she alleged president barack obama may be guilty of providing material support, material support, like guns and ammo i suppose for terrorism. and at least one panelist at cpac suggests that john boehner was part of the benghazi cover-up. >> yeah. >> this reminds me, you know, of what was it called? the john birch society when they accused the eisenhower brothers of being commies. >> right. >> when you start calling boehner part of this, the benghazi cover-up. grover norquist of the hard right some sort of secret brotherhood guy, you're a full mooner. >> i think they left out the obvious situation going on here, that president obama is controlling the country with flower ride in our water. >> what is the latest variant of that? >> i don't know. maybe it's from using our cell phone taos much. you see what is going on here, as we were saying, the establishment has been coopted by the tea party. so what do the guys who were the tea party, the ted cruzes, the louie gohmerts, what do they do? well, you have to stay one step ahead of this parade now and i think that's what is causing that. saying cpac isn't conservative enough. we've got to go further. we've got to go in the direction of the magnetic pulse. >> you guys take sides a little bit. what ask this thing with the dynamic out there? because they're not going towards winning a presidential election. they're going towards winning something. i think cruz wants to get to the farthest right rail, because he believes in the race that is coming the next two years that will be the best post position to be in. i think that's pure politics. why does that whole crowd seem to be going right? >> i'm mystified by what is happening. i can't quite tell you exactly what their -- what their number one goal is, because it certainly isn't winning the white house, that's for sure. but here is the thing -- >> hillary must love this. >> the reason we're talking about how we went from having cpac, which was the far right, and you couldn't get any farther right than that to this uninvited conference is that there is no one in the republican party now who can tell the full mooners, who can tell the crazies what you're saying is wrong, what you're saying is factually incorrect, what you're saying is disrespectful, what you're saying is unamerican, what you're saying is bad for the party there is no one within the republican party who can say that. and so that's how you have this. >> i will be contentious on this. do you mean to tell me, gentlemen, that the republican party chair of say ohio, a middle of the road state, or pennsylvania or virginia even now middle of the road, the republican party chairs, men and women of those states are happy with this zoo they're watching on television? that they think this is good advertising? >> i don't think they necessarily. look, they're not necessarily worried about 2014 because this is going to be a good year for republicans. cyclically it always is. cpac has a presidential ballot. they always do. 26 people on it this year. how do you differentiate yourself in that field of 26? well you got to be one step further to the right than all the other guys. >> does the furthest right guy always win? >> not necessarily in the primary, but you get the attention, at least early on. >> no does the furthest right candidate at cpac win at cpac? >> this is sort of a ron paul-rand paul crap. >> thank you. have a nice weekend. coming up, things go better when you attack koch. at least that's harry reid's thoughts on the assault on the koch brothers who are spending 10s of millions of dollars on tv ads against the democrats. the koch brothers, they get two for the price of one. plus, not enough whites for republicans to win the white house. how is that for math? and not enough minority voters in enough places for the democrats to win back the congress. why this could be the new normal. also, as every day goes by, vladimir putin looms as a major challenge to president obama. and last night david letterman and jon stewart had lots of fun at his expense. finally, let me finish tonight with jimmy carter's success. yes, the subject of the new play camp david opening here at arena stage in washington on march 21st. and this is "hardball" the place for politics. work to clean and tighten pores so they can look half their size. pores...shrink 'em down to size! [ female announcer ] pore refining cleanser. neutrogena®. [ female announcer ] pore refining cleanser. [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. she tossed and turned and couldn't turn off her mind. it was hard for her to sleep, even one little ounce. then she discovered tide, downy, and bounce. soothing scents for your sheets, your pj's, too. the sweet dreams collection -- it's a breakthrough! the moral of this tale shouldn't be controversial. buy the sweet dreams collection, because this is a commercial. shh! no! shh! ♪ [ click ] welcome back to "hardball." well, democrats find themselves facing an uphill battle to hold on to the u.s. senate in this year's midterm elections. there are as many as 13 democratic seats in play, in other words vulnerable versus just two republican seat that are vulnerable. if republicans pick up a net of six out of all that, it's game over for democrats, because they only have a five-seat advantage now. well, democrats have one mission right now, take down the far right's money men. we're talking about the billionaire koch brothers, of course, who have made it their mission to create pure tea party chaos for democrats on the ballot by bankrolling an onslaught of attack ads. over the past ten days, harry reid, of course the senate's top democrat has waged an unrelenting assault on charles and david koch personally. here is how it started late last month. >> this is the truth. what is going on with these two brothers who made billions of dollars last year in an attempt to buy our democracy is dishonest, deceptive, false, and unfair. just because you have huge amounts of money, you should not be able to run these false, misleading ads by the hundreds of millions of dollars. >> well, earlier this week, reid doubled down. >> what is unamerican is when shadowy billionaires pour unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system to benefit themselves and the wealthiest 1%. senate republicans, madam president, are addicted to koch. >> addicted to koch. and yesterday he told reporters he would not let up, saying, quote, i've been told by lots of people don't pick a fight. they're wealthy. they're very vengeful. but without sounding too melodramatic, if not me, who? i am after the koch brothers. they are two people who are trying to buy america. they have the money to do it. rick tyler, a republican strategist and steve mcmahon is a democratic strategist. is anybody making money off of these guys? they spend billions of dollars. are the consultants or ad copywriters making money? they're paying the checks to somebody. tv stations, i guess. >> on himself. but harry reid doesn't like -- well, the unions also gave him money. >> let's get to the point here. why is harry reid going after the koch brothers? why is he making it personal and admitting it's personal. he doesn't like these guys. >> well, he doesn't like them. but he also wants to make it much more difficult for them as business people to be successful in business if they continue down this road. so he wants them to be shunned at cocktail parties. he wants their business associates to question their motives and what they're doing. he wants to make their lives difficult in their communities. and i think he -- >> here is what i know about the koch brothers. they don't like being talked about. they like spending lots of money. they like to be able to dive-bomb into a campaign. jump into somewhere like north carolina, splurge a ton of money when they find a vulnerable democrat and then come out anonymously. but the democrats i think would be stupid to let them be anonymous. aren't the democrats smart to jump the guys and say these are the boogiemen. they're the bad guys. >> i think he and elijah cummings went to the same faux outraged acting school. >> that was real. >> this is about changing the subject because harry reid doesn't want to talk about people who have lost their health care. he is talking about a stagnant economy. >> presumably, rick -- >> sure, whatever. >> say benghazi. >> why do you want me to say benghazi? >> because it's on the list. >> is it a game? >> it is a game. it's called change the subject from the koch brothers. should a couple of brothers who have made a lot of money in oil and gas decide who wins the senate race in north carolina for united states senate? >> of course not. everybody is free to give as much money as they want. >> but nobody has the kind of money they have to throw around. who else can write a check for a couple of million. >> it's okay for c-5s is that what you're saying? from 1989, c-5s put in over half of expenditures. >> there is some democracy there. >> it's okay for the unions when they agree with harry reid. >> okay. the goose and the gander kind of thing here. george soros. don't the democrats have some money men who just go around spending money where they want? >> yeah that. >> do. >> so how is it wrong for these guy as? >> that's why so many democrats and some republicans like john mccain think we immediate campaign finance reform. because nobody should be able to slip into a state under the cover of darkness, spend several hundred million, not in just one state, but several, and pick the united states senate that is going to work for their business. that's not the way democracy is supposed to work. and frankly, i'm surprised that the stations are so anxious to take this money. they used to have standards and they used to make people prove things. one of the things that is true about these koch 46 funded ads is many of them have turned out to be drownright false. they continue to run them. so they have a first amendment right to do this. but they're not above the law with respect to slander and other things. >> let's take a look at this. i want to get to the interest of these groups. sorrows is the man on the left. maybe generalized left. but what do the koch brothers' economic interests? i get the feeling they should write off all these expenses. i think every dollar they spend on the republican party is good for their business. tax write-offs, oil and gas industry, the whole deal. this is economic investment for these guys, isn't it? >> i don't think so. >> they're not doing it for ideological reasons, are they? >> i don't know them individually. i think they're actually patriotic. i think they actually believe in america. i think they actually believe in free enterprise. i think they believe in freedom. those are the things that harry reid doesn't seem to believe in. that's why he is upset. >> i think harry reid is a guy who pulled them up by his bootstraps and he believes in this country implicitly. anyway, here is harry reid taking on the koch brothers. according to "the new york times," by the way, since september, americans for prosperity, a group financed in part by the billionaire koch brothers has spent an estimated $20 million on television advertising, since september. look at this. groups backed by the koch brothers are airing ads literally thousands of times against vulnerable democrat incumbents. look at these numbers. they pay for over 3,000 ad spots attacking senator kay hagan, a democrat in north carolina who is a senator there. they financed more than one thousand ad spots against marry landrieu in louisiana. nearly 700 against senator mark begich. this saturation campaign adding, do you think that's good for democracy? over and over again blasting people. >> the only thing that is different is citizens united where now corporations can run ads. most of them are mom and pop shops. >> do you think this is a good? it's a good call? >> i think you should allow candidates to raise all the money they want individually because it's their name on the ballot and put them on it. they're limited. >> but you don't like the outside. >> that would be better than what we have now. it's funny because it's sort of what you see depends on where you sit. i can remember back this 2012 when mitt romney's little mysterious funders were taking newt gingrich to task and taking him out of the primaries there was loot of outrage from rick and some of the folks in the newt gingrich camp. and it sort of depends on where you sit. these guys come in, they come under cover of darkness and they do what they do because they want to pick a senate that is going to be more reflective of their business interests. >> what i don't like is the tag line, you're getting at it here. if it says at the end of the ad paid for by the americans for prosperity, nobody knows what that means. it sounds sort of vaguely good. it doesn't say paid for by a couple of guys who made billions of dollars in the oil industry that would be useful information, that tag line. on the other point, to your side do, you think democratic working people, middle class democrats give a rat's butt will some rich guy is paying for ads? does it work as a negative attack line to say that there is koch brothers? >> no. here is the thing. it works as a fundraising line. you remember back in day when i worked for ted kennedy. ted kennedy was used repeatedly to raise money for republican causes. so symbols do work in politics. but this symbol isn't well enough known to enough people to have an impact broadly. but they're well enough known in their communities so that when harry reid is talking about them, they're getting asked about it at cocktail parties and business meetings and board meetings. thank you. all of the sudden vladimir putin invades the ukraine. nobody knows what is going on. so we put together an informative segment for you tonight called understanding the ukraine crisis. take a look at this. >> the current crisis can be traced back to -- >> there is nothing to understand. here is all you need to know. mind your own business. ptoo. >> i think we've been hacked. >> time for the sideshow. that was, of course, david letterman's not so subtle commentary about vladimir putin's control of the media. it's not so far from the truth, actually. yesterday putin blocked two ukrainian tv channels from being broadcasting into the russian-occupied crimean peninsula. as the old proverb goes, truth is the first casualty of war. putin of course sees it differently. he held a press conference yesterday to show off how open he is being with the media and to explain his side of what is going on. and surprise, surprise, putin blames america. quote, this is putin, they sit across there, across the pond as in a lab, running all kinds of experiments on the rats. why would they do it? no one can explain it. well, here was jon stewart's reaction to that putin press conference on "the daily show" just last night. >> this is what i'd like to suggest. let's have a conversation rather than an interview. >> you know what? i did not see that coming. a conversation, a rap session. i never saw putin as the cool dad. well, let's get to the conversation. >> i would ask you to begin by stating all your questions. i will jot them down and try to answer them. fine. i will begin. don't interrupt me. >> i forgot it was an interesting fact. in russia, the word for conversation is the same word as the word for shut the [ bleep ] up. >> well, "the post" and anna applebaum may have summed up that well. here she did it. putin's press conference reveals that we may have reached the weird moment when the dictator believes his own propaganda. >> that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. a debate on whether failure helps your small business. and this oscar weekend we look at the owners of the independent movie theaters battling the big change. that and more coming up next on "your business." small businesses are revitalizing the economy and american express open is here to help. that's why we are proud to present "your business" on