0 filter going on. she wasn't playing any political games for the team. >> i agree with that. >> finish up. i'm sorry, michael. >> just to take that point, chris, more broadly, there was every reason to think this might have been a spontaneous demonstration, and susan's instincts may have been in that direction. you think what happened the same day in egypt, it apparently was still spontaneous, and that's what our best intelligence says. if you think to the demonstrations in afghanistan over the years when the korans were burned or the prophet was insulted, that was often the span spontaneous. the same thing when the danes published that cartoon with the prophet mohammed, and there were demonstrations throughout the muslim world. it was not an unreasonable initial assumption. i do believe that someone in the administration, not in the campaign, but in the administration probably could have done a better job between wednesday and sunday of getting better talking points. but i don't think it was ambassador rice's fault. i definitely don't think she lied. >> if it came through the white house, then she didn't give a straight story. anyway, joe leeb lieberman, who's fascinating to watch because you never know which way he's going to go. he's usually a faithful ally of mccain and graham, but this afternoon joe lieberman came to a far different conclusion. take a listen. >> i specifically asked her whether at any point prior to going on those sunday morning television shows she was briefed or urged to say certain things by anybody in the white house related to the campaign or political operation. she said no, she was not given messaging points at all by the white house. to me, based on her public record and her public service, barring some evidence to the contrary, i think she's answered the questions that i have about why she said the things she did on those sunday morning talk shows. >> well, there you have joe lieberman. i think he's an honest broker in this case saying everything he john mccain likes to fight. that's what he does. kids in the backseat fight. people fight in the middle east. john mccain fights. it's his normal mode of living. is he wanting to bring this thing for weeks -- does it look like he's in the mood now to keep this going through christmas? >> i don't know. >> he's trying to kill the nomination, it seems, at least you could argue that, nomination of her to the secretary of state f she is the president's pick. something nobody i know knows for a fact, by the way. >> that's a good point. here is the analogy i would use to ask senator mccain to reconsider. eight years ago condoleezza rice at roughly the same age as susan rice is now had a legacy that was not altogether perfect in the first bush term. as national security adviser she had been responsible for trying to coordinate different positions or at least bring them up to a level of decision making where the president could decide between competing views -- >> she said the smoking gun would be a mushroom cloud. i would say that was a problem. she led us to believe if we didn't go to iraq, we would have a nuclear weapon used against us. i would say that was a problem. >> and i like condi rice, and i'm glad the senate confirmed her, but there were more serious mistakes made in the first bush term on intelligence and also on coordinating as condi rice's job required her to do. it wasn't all her fault, therefore the senate gave her a second chance. this is a much smaller issue, and, therefore, i think the senate should also give a second chance even if people think susan rice made a mistake here. >> isn't it interesting they're accusing her of flacking for the administration, which is what condi rice did big time when she made the case for war which was totally overblown. and we all know it now. >> absolutely. the irony -- this is full of ironies. one of the ironies is the security problems that occurred in benghazi was because of the overthrow of the dictator gadhafi. who was one of the main american promoters of that? it was john mccain. and that's one of the ironies that's lost in all this. >> because gadhafi was our help -- >> he was helpful against al qaeda. absolutely. >> this is really black spy, white spy. this is crazy stuff. thank you. michael o'hanlon and jonathan landay. elections have consequences, i say it all the time. and the democrats are feeling emboldened. they want to see taxes go up on the rich. they want to protect programs like medicare and medicaid. will they give president obama room to negotiate some kind of deal that gets through this hell coming january 1st. they say they won, the other side lost, they're going to fight. plus democrats are moving to end the so-called silent filibuster which republicans have used to quietly say if you don't have 60 votes, you ain't going nowhere. this is the big question, if they're successful, it's possible, it's possible the democrats will be able to get some things done. we'll talk about that in a minute. they're going to be just like jimmy stewart finally. they're going to force them to actually filibuster like they did in "mr. smith goes to washington." anytime they really want to shut down the senate. and the democrats considered least likely to win back her senate seat beats the odds, and i think thanks to todd akin, and is back for a second term. our friend, the great claire mccaskill, joins us tonight, the senator from missouri. what's the first sound you hear after a democrat wins a presidential election? a republican crying fraud. tonight, the latest republican fairytale of how president obama -- i'm not going to say it -- took the election by ruse or whatever. they say stole. i hate that word. anyway, this is "hardball," the place for politics. made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. of washington about the future of medicare and social security. anncr: but you deserve straight talk about the options on the... table and what they mean for you and your family. ancr: aarp is cutting through all the political spin. because for our 37 million members, only one word counts. get the facts at earnedasay.org. let's keep medicare... and social security strong for generations to come. a lot of people think president obama was helped when chris christie effusively praised him in the aftermath of hurricane sandy. christie is getting a lot of home state love. look at this. a new quinnipiac poll finds his job approval has soared to 72%. that's nearly 3 in 4. even democrats approve the job the governor is doing. christie yesterday filed paperwork for running for re-election next year. that's 2013. we'll be right back.