They didnt take a dime. How much in fees does your bank take to watch your money . If your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Clear eyes, full tummies, cant lose. President obama sits down for more datante al dente. This is now. Its march 7th. Joining me today Washington Post columnist and msnbc contributor the effortlessly elegant jonathan caphart. Political editor, msnbc contributor, and White House Correspondent you are elegant too at the huffington post, sam stein. Columnist for Bloomberg News doc farrow is here and executive editor at msnbc. Com, our favorite import from the united kingdom, richard wolfe. President obama is hoping that breaking bread with Congressional Republicans will help break political gridlock. Congressman paul ryan is on his way to the white house right at this very moment for a 12 25 p. M. Lunch with the president and congressman chris van holland. Earlier this week the president and the gops budget boy wonder had a long phone conversation regarding the deficit and spending in advance of ryans latest attempt to balance the nations checkbook in ten years with zero revenue. Last night the president took 12 republican senators out to dinner at the jefferson hotel. All accounts indicate a cordal reengagement. I think we had a great, great dinner, great discussion. The president was sincere. It was very candid. It was cordial and substantive. We listened, and then we had a nice dialogue back and forthed. It was constructtive. I am more optimistic from a personal standpoint. Republicans also warned that a single night on the town does not a successful relationship make. The idea wasnt that we were going to negotiate a deal last night. That was never part of the plan. That isnt going to happen over one dinner. Its going to take a while to build the kind of confidence and trust thats needed. I dont think theres any expectation that something over the next month or six weeks is going to occur. The white house will continue the courtship next week when the president will go to capitol hill to meet with republicans and democrats, including, possibly, Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell who was not present at date night last night despite his deal maker status. Winning over gop hearts will be an uphill climb. Referring to the lack of a comprehensive white house Budget Proposal yesterday, paul ryan sounded highly skeptical saying i find it interesting that the president has chosen to blow the deadline again not by a week or two, but for an indefinite period of time. The white house ought to lead. Thats what president s do. Which begs the question, short of standing outside the gop headquarters with a boom box blasting peter gabriel, what must president obama do to win republican hearts and really truly finally bring them to bargain . Sam stein, theres nothing i love more than quoting people to themselves and on live television, and in an article that you wrote for the huffington post, you actually quote a white house official who says, there are a lot of republicans who probably dont know what we have put on the table. I dont know if the white house website isnt loading properly or if theyre not reading the a. P. , but if we need to sit down with these folks over a fancy sea bass to educate them about what we are offering, we are willing to do it. Yeah. I mean, i think thats a really big concern within the administration is the fact that the plans that they put forward, including some reform changes like chain cpi and Social Security, medicare different payments in terms of no one knows about them, and ezra cline had a good post where he talked to an unnamed republican congressman about chain c. P. I. , and the congressman said Something Like if only they would go there, we could get a deal. They went there. You know, its funny in one respect, but its also sort of sad and problematic in another that if you have to actually just start with educating them about whats in the proposal, then the end game, which is the actual deal making is far off, and i guess sea bass will help, but it will take a lot of sea bass. A lot of chilean sea bass. I think everybody has seen that bill oreilly tape where he says youre lying about what the president has on offer, and really there is a sense that no matter what president obama puts on the table, it wont be enough. Even if its precisely the things that republicans are calling for. It wont be enough or wont be believed that he is actually putting this on the table. I mean, thats whats at issue here. If folks in the administration can and journalists can go on a website and see with their own eyes what the administration is proposing and go back to tapes and interviews that the president is saying all of the things that he would put in a daily auto and a lot of them being what republicans say that they want, well, maybe the issue is that the president needs to sit them down facetoface and say, listen, im not playing politics on this. Im not joking around. Lets talk about this. Lets do it. The only way you can get that conversation going is by having facetoface conversations not with staff, but where those members of congress who spend a whole loot of time vilifying the president , talking smack about the president can look him in it and trust their own judgment about how serious he is, and given the tape of what we saw of all those people coming out of dinner, sounds like they liked what they saw. Well, its important also that this sort of happened behind closed doors for both sides, josh. I mean, the thing is the white house probably hasnt done the best job of marketing whats on the table, but they also dont want to talk too much about reforming entitlement programs because democrats on the hill arent totally excited about passing that legislation. Well, its not just that, but republicans have a history of attacking democrats when democrats propose entitlement cuts. The centerpiece of the last two republican congressional campaigns have been attacking democrats for cutting medicare, so i think the white house does want to avoid having their fingerprints all over this too much. I think it makes sense that theyre starting with the senate because i think the senate is a little bit less politicized than the hitormiss. I think theres a little bit more of a negotiating partner available there, and then some of these senators, people like john mccain, kelly ayotte, Lindsey Graham, are people that are bothered by the defense cuts and sequester and might be willing to make concessions. What you hear from republicans in the house is, well, all the president has put on the table is tax increases, and thats not true, but half is tax increases, and republicans are never really going to like that. This is the group that you might convince to cut a deal with. Although Lindsey Graham said, hey, we will put revenue on the table if the president is serious about entitlement reform, and that was not long ago. We just showed some tape, richard, of paul ryan entering the white house. I think thats i mean, look, we talked a lot yesterday about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, whether it will amount to much. I think at the end of the day its a winwin situation for both sides. Republicans look less obstructionist. The white house looks like they are finally heeding the advice that the president needs to engage more, and the country sees the two sides talking, if not actually doing. Right. You want to look like youre at least willing to share lunch or maybe a dinner, right . At least that. I dont know if the sea bass because its not very good for the environment, at least the chilean kind. Its delicious. Im all for people having good food. Its great. I dont want to be a party pooper because everyone suddenly thinks theyre all great. I just want to point out a couple of things. During Health Care Reform, the president put in front of republicans their own policies, their own approach to Health Care Reform in particular to people like Chuck Grassley and said here are the ten things youve always said you wanted to do. Will you vote for them . At that point with that piece of legislation, they said no, not going to do it. Mostly because its you. You know, if there were ten people behind me, Chuck Grassley said, yes, we could do this. Something more than just sea bass has to change, and i think that might be the most significant thing out of this week, which is that Mitch Mcconnell and obviously these are Mitch Mcconnells team have made me realize that you can no longer make president obama a oneterm president , and if you cannot root for his failure, if you cannot spend four years gunning for him to fail, then you are going to have to do Something Else while are you in the senate. Maybe for some of them its just dinner. Maybe for some of them it is, as tom said this morning, there could be under the guise of tax reform some piece of revenue that they could sign up to. And emphasis on do. Before we continue to bat this around, let me bring in the woman with all the answers to our questions, nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly odonnell. If that were only so. Its true. Kelly, lets talk a little bit about the attendees at last nights dinner. Some of those names are a lot more familiar than others. Mitch mcconnell wasnt on that list. Tell us what your read on the invites is. Well, this was a list put together by Lindsey Graham, and it really reflects his view of the senate. Youve got the mccaingrahamayotte kind of we now call them the new three amigos where you can talking about defense interests. You have people like Saxby Chambliss that sht going to seek reelection. Theyve always been considered sort of cooler heads. Then youve got two tea party senators, pat thoomey of pennsylvania and ron johnson of wisconsin who do not have a relationship with the president like the others because they werent in the senate when he was here. It was an interesting mix of bringing people together who represent different parts of the Republican Party of the moment. Its important for them to go without the leadership. Ive heard many times from republicans that this applies to democrats as well. When are you in the leadership, you have almost no running room. Everything you say is, in effect, then policy for your party. When you have these other members, they do have a little more breathing room. Ive talked to some of them. They really described being surprised at the seriousness the president put forward in his willingness to talk about changes to entitlements, those sorts of things. We were talking about sort of the trust barrier earlier. I think there were people who do not know him as well who were surprised by that. Let me they also said that they are talking about revenue, but as you point out, it would be a way to get to revenue, a number of them are, in a context of tax reform, so they are both trying to show some leg in a setting like that to try to, i think, build some trust. We all want them to show a little bit more leg, but, kelly, let me ask you, Mitch Mcconnell is going to face a primary challenge. John cornyn will face a primary challenge. Theres only so much they can do in advance of 2014, so maybe this is a brilliant bit of bipartisan strategy here, which is to say the president gets, you know, rankandfile members on board. He doesnt have to get leadership to sign off on it. They can be protected from challenges at the right ward flank. I mean, that would seem to be part of the idea behind that, right . Absolutely. Although Lindsey Graham is also up for reelection. It is about trying to put a patchwork together. To not keep repeating the same issues. As richard point the out, you cant make him a oneterm president anymore, so put that playbook away. Start where we are now. Positions people held over the last several years, some of its relevant, some it not as much. You sort of have to be in the moment, and there is an urgency about trying to get a longterm deal. I think theyve taken so many swings that the and failed, people are approaching it with a different attitude. At least some of the group that was a part of this last night. Giving them all credit for sitting down, the president did make this happen. They went and attended. We heard from Speaker Boehner today about the ryan lunch saying he is not taking any message from me. The speaker thoroughly appreciates the fact that the president is talking to members, not just going through leadership. You know, we can make this a data point of bipart sfwlanship in what will be a long set of negotiations. We will take as many data points on bipartisanship as we can get. You know, there is talk about blowback from the right whenever, you know, republicans are seen meeting or doing anything in the same frame as the president , but theres also the question of blowback from the left, and matt miller has, i think, a pretty compelling opinion in todays Washington Post. He writes, apart from obama care, whats the president s legacy beyond having avoided a second Great Depression . Republicans just got 82 of the bush tax cuts made permanent. Theyre forcing washington to debate deficits instead of jobs. Their dominance of the debate is impressive. If this is how a Retrograde Party in disarray plays the game, who knows whats in store if republicans get their act together . What a sad legacy to just save the country from the Great Depression. Right. Fair enough. And i think or catch bin laden or save the what else have you done . That predicate may be flawed. The end point that if this is what the party i think its totally legitimate to say that the Republican Party has had a huge affect on the much bigger than the actual size in members in congress. In 2010 when they won back the majority of the house, they turned the discussion very abruptly to deficit reduction. The president decided he had to play that game in order to win back the trust. I think to go back to joshs other points that were getting a very big tell here about how the white house sees legislative strategy going forward. There is no trigger event like the fiscal cliff or sequestration. They cant win back the house that way. They do not have control of the house floor. John boehner does. They cannot bring a bill through the house. Theyve decide thad they have to find five republican senators and hold the majority, get something through the senate, and then shame john boehner into acting. Theyre doing that, i guess i think john boehner is willing to be shamed. He said he would do that with gun control. He said he would do that with gun control. He said if they passed a bill, he would have a vote on the house in that bill. Theyre hoping that they can do that with budget stuff as well. I dont know if thats going to actually be the case, though. The other thing were not talking about, josh, is Social Security taxes are capped at 113,700. If we raise that cap, Social Security would be solvent. Well, i mean, sure. Thats just saying if you did an enormous tax increase, the government would have a lot more revenue sxushgs use it for Social Security. 5. 2 of the country makes more than that. Right, but this is an offset to the income tax, which is highly progressive. You have to look at the tax coated as a system as the hole, and its a progressive tax code once you include the federal income tax. This is a key part of the president s economic legacy. Its not just health care. He has gotten a much more progressive fiscal policy than coming in, in part because he made 28 of the bush tax cuts permanent. You let expire the ones at the top, and then you oppose impose additional tacks as part of obama care that raised another point on earned income and another three points on unearned income. You have rich people paying a lot more taxes in 2014 than they would have in 2008. Theyre also making historically high level theyre bringing in historically high levels of income. But this is a reaction to that, right . Youve had this decades long trend of increasing income inequality, and one of the obvious policy responses to that is higher tax on people with high incomes and lower tack on people with lower incomes. I dont love the president s promise not ever to raise taxes on people making under 250,000 a year. I think its hampered tax reform and caused them to miss the forest through the trees on certain tax reform that is would be progressive, but you could come up with examples of people who made 120,000 a year who paid more. I think that there is something to be said for the idea that in this environment of increasing income inequality, the focus of tax reform should be on higher taxes at the top, and thats exactly where the president s focus has been. We have to leave it there. I want to thank the lovely and wise Nbcs Kelly Odonnell for the latest intel. Thanks for having me. We will surely be coming back with more questions as we continue. After the break, rand pauls antidrone filibuster nearly reached the 13 hour mark, but when you got to go, you got to go. I would go for another 12 hours to try to break Strom Thurmonds records, but i discovered theres some limits to filibustering, and im going to have to go take care of one of those. Real talk. Well discuss pauls marathon and the nasty side effects of filibusters gone wild next on now. Did you know, your eyes can lose vital nutrients as you age . [ male announcer ] thats why theres ocuvite to help replenish key eye nutrients. Ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. Ocuvite. Help protect your eye health. Ocuvite. Exciting and would always come max and pto my rescue. Bookstore but as time passed, i started to notice max just wasnt himself. And i knew hed feel better if he lost a little weight. So i switched to purina cat chow healthy weight formula. I just fed the recommended amount. And they both loved the taste. After a few months maxs special powers returned. And i got my hero back. Purina cat chow healthy weight. Accomplishing even Little Things can become major victories. Im phil mickelson, pro golfer. When i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. Before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether youve been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. You should not start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Tell your doctor if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for Heart Failure, or if you have symptoms such as persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. Since enbrel helped relieve my joint pain, its the Little Things that mean the most. Ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. Is going to give ammunition to those critics who say that the rules of the senate are being abused. I hope that my colleague on this side of the aisle will take that into consideration. To my republican colleagues i dont remember any of you coming down here suggesting that president bush was going to kill anybody with a drone. You know, i dont even remember the harshest critics of president bush on the democratic side. They had a Drone Program back then. That was john mccain and Lindsey Graham taking senator rand paul to the task for his filibuster of the nomination of cia director john brennan. Yesterday the kentucky senator excoriated the administrations Drone Program. When i say this is not a partisan battle im true to my word. President bush started this. President obama is expanding this. The real irony, though, is president obama ran as the antibush candidate. In the end he is taking president ial power to a new level beyond what president bush could have ever imaged. Paul was joined by a dozen member, including ron white, a fierce critic of the administrations drone policy, and marco rubio who helped stall for time by quoting jayzee. That takes me back to another modern day poi et by the name of jayzee. He wrote its sudden when days can change. It was all good just a week ago. I dont know if sean Carter Approves of that. A highly partisan filibuster fight was playing out behind the scenes. Prior to pauls speech, Senate Republicans silently filibustered one of the president s picks for the second highest post in the land. First nominated to the d. C. Your yut court in 2011, and graduate of princeton and georgetown law has been waiting for an up or down vote for 720 days. Every republican senator, except for one, Lisa Murkowski voted to block her nomination. President obama made his displeasure known. Quote, i am deeply disappointed that despite support from a majority of the u. S. Senate, minority of senators continues to block the nomination of katilyn halligan. Todays vote continues. The white house also released statistics showing the difference in average wait times between president obamas District Court nominees and those of his predecessor. The obstruction pushed democrats, including dick durbin to rethink the decision to not overhaul the filibuster process at the start of this term zoosh i feel sorry for her. I hate to suggest this, but if this is an indication of where were headed, we need to revisit the reforms. Im sorry to say it because i was hopeful that a bipart sflan approach to dealing with these issues would work. Um, richard, who is going to get their paperwork handled first . The 11 million undocumented workers in this or political nominees. 28 of president obamas 219 judicial nominees have been confirmed. Thats a success rate of 12. 7 . Why did they think this would work . I dont know. How naive do they have to be . Charlie brown and the football every time. Do we need to go out for dinner and figure it out. Sea bass. Theres a bigger discussion you raised about pairty, right . Well, you did it for bush, and, actual actually. Nobody cared about anything. Standards were low. Yes, there was obstruction, but this is a different time when you have a 13hour filibuster. When republicans didnt mind going to war when it was a question of it was a threat or not, but maybe the sea bass is a different quality. Whatever it is the system isnt working. Change the system. I dont understand, jonathan, when harry reid had the chance, he had that very, very, very small window, and kind of came up, i believe, his version of reform was cutting down the postcloture debate time from 30 hours too. Thats good. At the end of date you look at that. These are judicial nominations. This is the Second Highest Court in the land. There are four vacation answeries on this d. C. Circuit court. Four of the Nine Supreme Court justices served on it. To say that it is an important bench is an understatement. Right. Republicans have no problem having no one there. What happened to that agreement that was made in the senate . What was it called . The gang of 14. The gang of 14 that, you know, to forestall the Nuclear Option of what actually just happened, i guess it just blowed up. I mean, i dont know. You know, instead of sea bass and going to the jefferson, maybe what they should do is go to blue duck tavern and have the braised beef rib and talk about and talk about how to solve the judicial crisis here. I mean, the notion, sam, of the filibuster is and why it exists is a gentile parliamentary rules, and there was a sense of a bipartisan sense. The senate does things a certain way, and also each party can at one time be in the minority, but you look at how its being used. I think we have a bar chart. There were 137 cloture motions filed in 2009. Looks like a contagion. Its filibuster contablingon. There was always a gentlemans agreement. We would give you a 60 vote provided that the Minority Party didnt abuse, it and for a while that agreement held. Clearly its not holding anymore, and, you know, when that happens, usually there has to be some sort of response to it, and whats happened twice now is that the majority leader reid has decided against doing something that was that would be more bold than these minor changes that he has made. I understand the argument that both sides do. I remember when president obama partook in the filibuster of john roberts, but lets be honest and clear about it. There was a gentlemans agreement back then, and it was that john roberts would ultimately probably get through, and obama was running for presidency, and i continue sounds lame and superficial that he participated in a filibuster, but it was always under the premise that at some point john roberts would get through. Thats not happening. There are no gentlemans agreements. This is used as obstructionism. I want to return to the actual rand paul blow back because i do think its really interesting that you have mccain and graham out there excoriating paul for excoriating the administration. Its that, hey, lets pile on if its aernt white house. Well take part. Is that is that what is that . Where is that coming from . Is that because mccain is hawkish and sort of blooefdz e believes in an aggressive counterterrorism strategy, or is that the john mccain of yore standing up for principle . Oh, well, it is principle, but the principle is about the hawkishness. Its not about senate rules. He is not bothered about obstruction. I think the rand paul filibuster is the exception that proves the rule. I think this was a productive exercise. I think it moved the debate on the drone issue where i tend to lean toward the white houses drone policy, but i am uncomfortable with the way that theyre trying to do it in private and avoid public scrutiny of it, and i think this is leading to a useful public discussion. It was actually talking filibuster, which you dont see a lot of, and i think one of the reforms they talked about was forcing people to actually hold the floor if they wanted to filibuster, which i think would have been good in two ways. One is there wouldnt have been as many filibusters, and then people would have had to talk about the thing that was being filibusters. There would be have been news. Today the conversation has been dominated by the Drone Program. If it became a routine, maybe it wouldnt be that big a deal. I dont think it would become routine. Who wants to talk for 13 hours . Jonathan, theres another point here, and this gets frequently ignored in terms of were talking about a judicial nominee, and what the president is actually trying to do on the ports. I think this is really interesting. The Washington Post on sunday had an analysis. They write in florida president obama has nominated the first openly gay black man to sit on a federal District Court. In new york he has nominated the first asianamerican lesbian, and his pick for the u. S. Court of appeals for the d. C. Court . The first south asian. What . The new wave of nominations is part of an effort by obama to cement a legacy that long outlives his pregnancy and makes the court system more closely resemble the changing society it governs. I think that is thats powerful. Gives me a little shiver to think. We talk about our president s legacy. His legacy on the courts may end up being his most longlasting legacy. Right. Because these are people who serve on the court long after he is gone. The people that are mentioned, remember, theres already he already nominated an openly gay federal judge. Happens to be a friend of mine. A couple of years ago. Judge etkin. This is something where, you know, a lot of people spend a lot of time focussing on these marquee issues, whether its samesex marriage or immigration, and if the president doesnt move fast enough, he is against us. He is not leading. He is not doing anything. If you just scratch below the surface just for a minute, you will find a slew of things the president is doing out of the public glare that will have enormous impact on the country and on American Society and on the way society views itself, and this is this is a prime example. People dont understand the judiciary. They just think these are folks who are in robes and who render judgments, but if you have a judiciary that looks like america and there are people on the bench who look like you it changes our Justice System. It changes the way americans view their Justice System i think for the better. Judge caphart. Thats what America Needs next. Willing to serve. All right. Coming up, its been more than 40 years since the Supreme Court made roe v. Wade the law of the land, but you would not necessarily continue in arkansas. We will examine what is now the nations most restrictive ban on reproductive rights just ahead. At a Hertz Expressrent kiosk, you can rent a car without a reservation. And without a line. Now thats a fast car. Its just another way youll be traveling at the speed of hertz. Prego . but ive been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices ive made . [ club scene music ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. Choose prego. We create easy to use, powerful Trading Tools for all. Look at these streaming charts theyre totally customizable and they let you visualize what might happen next. Thats genius strategies, chains, positions. We put em all on one screen could we make placing a trade any easier . Mmmm. Could we . Open an account today and get a free 13month e ibd™ subscription when you call 18882800157 now. Optionsxpress by charles schwab. If your a man with low testosterone, you should know that axiron is here. The only underarm treatment for low t. Thats right, the one you apply to the underarm. Axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18. Axiron can transfer to others through direct contact. Women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. Report these signs and symptoms to your doctor if they occur. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. Do not use if you have prostate or breast cancer. Serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet, or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. Common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. See your doctor, and for a 30day free trial, go to axiron. Com. In south dakota there is a mandatory threeday waiting period for women seeking an abortion, but if you want to buy a gun, the wait is a mere 48 hours. Well discuss the irony on this and other attacks on womens reproductive freedoms next. Im a conservative investor. But that doesnt mean i dont want to make money. I love making money. I try to be smart with my investments. I also try to keep my costs down. Whats your plan . Ishares. Low cost and tax efficient. Find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. Ishares by blackrock. Call 1800ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Read and consider it carefully before investing. Risk includes possible loss of principal. You know who you are. You can part a crowd, without saying a word. If you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. You stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts. Well muddlers, muddle no more. Try zyrtec®. It gives you powerful allergy relief. And zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour one on the first day you take it. Claritin® doesnt start working until hour three. Zyrtec®. Love the air. Yesterday a month after the 40th anniversary of roe v. Wade, the state of arkansas passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. The law known as the human heart beat protection act bans most abortions at 12 weeks of pregnancy, the point at which a fetal heart beak can be detected by an ultrasound. To say that arkansas is on a campaign to restrict freedoms, would be an understatement. There is only one clinic that provides surgery wal abortions in the whole state. It stands in brazen contradiction to current law that grants women the constitutional right to abortion svgss until the fetus is viable outside the womb. Normally 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Earlier this week arkansas democratic governor mike bebe vetoed the 12week ban saying it blatantly contradicts the United States constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. Yesterday the republicancontrolled statehouse and senate were able to override the governors veto, the bill sponsor state senator is a man who has equated abortions with the holocaust and the ruwandan genocide. 2011 and 2012 were recordbreaking years for curbing a womans right to choose. A slew of medically unnecessary procedures have spread throughout the states. Eight states currently ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Ultrasounds prior to abortion are now required in eight other states. 17 states require preabortion counseling, and 26 states now require a mandatory waiting period. Happy belated anniversary, roe v. Wade. Joining us now is Nancy Northrop, president and ceo of the center for reproductive rights. Im so outraged by this, nancy, that i am losing my voice one second while i get some water. Enlisting that wrath of unnecessary legislation, what strikes me is that this all seems to be part of a larger effort to shame women, which is to say the ultrasounds, the counseling, the waiting period. Its all designed to make what is already an incredibly difficult decision that much harder. You can say its a whole host of laws that say we dont trust women to make a very important personal decision about their lives, and one of the things that the Supreme Court recognized in roe and again 20 years ago in the casey case was women need to be able to make these decisions, and its part of their constitutional right to do so. We know that there are only four states that have one surgical Abortion Clinic left. I think that is for a lot of women or men and women in this country who understand that roe v. Wade is low of the land, the fact that there are only that you would be in north dakota, south dakota, arkansas, and mississippi and there is only one place to go, it is not as if the need has died down, that there is not still, you know there are economic, personal, and Health Reasons why women a woman has to make a dig difficult decision like this. My question to you is, and i was asking you this during the break, what is the constituency for these kind of very, very strict i would almost say draconian laws around reproductive freedoms. There are one states and just one clinic and thats because theres an assault on the rights for going on 40 years. Unfortunately, there is a minority in this country that are very intent on overturning roe versus wade and blocking womens ability to have Abortion Services sxshgt reality is abortion is a service that one in three women in the United States makes the decision to have in her lifetime. Its Necessary Health care, and this is an assault to try to block her from being able to do that. Its worth noting that the president is signing the violence against women act today, and the reason that passed in a bipart sdmran fashion is i think to some degree republicans understood that they could not be on the wrong side of legislation and history and demographics on this one. We saw with Richard Murdock and todd akin, there are certain areas where it seems increasingly certain areas are increasingly political kryptonite, and, yet, there is still a hunger on the state level to go forward with this legislation. You have to wonder at what point does the National Party leadership, if it even exists anymore, step at what point do they step in and say enough . Enough with this . It is not working for us or good for us . It is not good for the party. Well, on a rationale measure, based on election results, you would say now, but, actually, this isnt a theres a parallel with the gun debate. Not because you threw that up at the top here, but where you have a National Advocacy group, in this case its about choice, but it could be the nra, which is very effective at the state level, and pushes people on through primaries, the National Leadership is not willing to take them off. No matter what the polls say, no matter what the demographics. Even where its relatively easy on immigration where the organization that is antiimmigration reform is perhaps less organized, less effective, although they obviously also have a big platform, even their leadership is having a problem. This isnt about the calculation of whats popular, whats morally justified. It is its payingsat thing that they have to know the base is fired up about, so i you know, what is striking is that you cant dismiss any one of these points anymore. You know, this is a longterm project that has been executed vigorously in a sustained way and is having a real impact on the ground, and i think thats what the last election cycle really displayed for everyone. There were random comments from todd akin or some other candidate. This was part of a Concerted Campaign that led that language to appear in their heads even if they mangled it when they came out. Resulted in legislation too. I think to your point. Mcdonnell is effective and has been for a while now. It was not a politically popular thing to do, and it suffered. In mississippi theres a case where the expectation was, oh, its mississippi. Well pass this thing, and it got beat back fairly easily. There were National Figures who were asked about it and were very litmus test. I know mitt romney had his whole problem answering it. By and large, he tried his best to distance himself from it. I do think there are occasions where the national Republican Party recognizes it its sending a divisive message. I think that will continue to be the case. Let me just say i think part of the problem also, nancy, is that there are no women in these state legislations. In arkansas there are 100 house members, 16 are women. Of the 35 state senators, only six are women. I mean, you look at the you compare the guns piece. There is the in south dakota it has one of the longest mandatory waiting times in the country. If you want to have an abortion. There is no waiting period for a handgun. In the balancing act here, it seems wildly off, and perhaps one of the reasons theres not one of the reasons theres not more outcry, not more pushback is because the representation is overwhelmingly decidedly male. Well, i think thats obviously part of the problem. When you have women in office, it makes a difference. It also really you dont your comparison with the guns is important to look at because what were seeing is just not trusting women, and i think thats what we saw in the last election that got women and men who support them, you know, outraged, right . Because they could see whether it was virginias ultrasound case or others that womens Decision Making is not being trusted, and i think were starting to turn a corner on the public saying, you know, enough. We want to draw the line about this. Lets give the responsibility back to women. They dont need to be babysat by male dominated legislatures. Oh, nancy. Its an uphill climb sometimes, it seems, but not reason to give up the fight by any stretch of the imagination. Thank you to Nancy Northrop from the center for reproductive rights. Great to have you. Thank you. Coming up, rare is the trekky who prefers captain john luke baccard to captain kirk. So too with the republicans and the lineup at cpac. We will look at the conferences socalled next generation just ahead. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. Protect your family. And launch your dreams. At legalzoom. Com we put the law on your side. And launch your dreams. music throughout why turbo . Trust us. Its just better to be in front. The sonata turbo. From hyundai. Bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his Small Business. Take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorns Small Business earns double miles on every purchase every day. Produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less . Ahh, oh [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. Heres your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark Business Card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. Choose double miles or 2 cash back on every purchase every day. Whats in your wallet . [ crows ] now wheres the Snooze Button . [ crows ] living with moderate to semeans living with pain. Is it could also mean living with joint damage. Humira, adalimumab, can help treat more than just the pain. For many adults, humira is clinically proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Ask your rheumatologist about humira, to help relieve your pain and stop further joint damage. Only hertz gives you a carfirmation. Hey, this is challenger. Ill be waiting for you in stall 5. It confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. Its just another way youll be traveling at the speed of hertz. Pack of elephants or clown car motorcade. Either way, this years cpac is a cirqueus ring masters dream. Well, look at the gops high wire act and its trap ease swing towards irrelevancy, and many other bad puns next on now. Im the worlds worst cleaning lady. Im here in your home, having a pretty spectacular tuesday. But i dont notice the loose rug at the top of your stairs. And thats about to become an issue for me. And if you got the wrong Home Insurance coverage, my medical bills could get expensive. So get allstate. [ dennis ] good hands. Good home. Make sure you have the right home protection. Talk to an allstate agent. Ah. 4g, huh . Verizon 4g lte. 700 megahertz spectrum, endtoend, pure lte build. The most consistent speeds indoors or out. And, obviously, astonishing throughput. Obviously. You know how fast our home wifi is . Yeah. This is basically just as fast. Oh. And verizons got more fast lte coverage than all other networks combined. So its better. Yes. Oh, why didnt you just say that . Huh what is he doing . But lately shes been coming in with less gray than usual. Whats she up to . The new root touchup by nicen easy has the most shade choices, designed to match even salon color in just 10 minutes. With the new root touchup, all they see is you. I dont know what the purpose of cpac is anymore. Cpac at one time was the email tant wing of the conservative movement. It was the place where Ronald Reagan gave his famous speech about gold colors, not pale pastels. I dont know what cpac is today. He doesnt know what the point is so, naturally, he will definitely be there. The 2013 motto is americas future, the next generation of conservatives. Who fits the bill more than thought leader and visionary, donald trump, who is slated to address the confab next week. He will join next generationers sarah palin, mitt romney, and Newt Gingrich as the group attempting to rally the best of the best in conservative thought. Meanwhile, the list of cpac snubs grows longer. Virginia governor bob mcdonald has joined Chris Christie and gay conservative groop go crowd in the just too futuristic just too soon discard pile. Then again, the dis may not be a bad thing. Slate jokeses getting snubbed by cpac is the new getting invited to cpac. Jonathan, how as a booker looking towards the next generation do you have a pile of papers and say yes, sarah palin, yes donald trump, no Chris Christie, no bob mcdonald . Yes, mitt romney, who they didnt even like last go round. I just wrote down some names of people who i thought for sure would be invited to cpac. Governor Susannah Metro nez of new mexico. Mia love, Governor Scott walker, wisconsin, paul ryan, the Vice President ial nominee. That to me is next generation. Not retreads who have been in one way or another embarrassed the party, embarrassed national discourse, and quite frankly, embarrassed themselves. Its not, you know forget the headliners for a second because you can invite whoever you want as speaker. I think the real problem here is not inviting pro gay rights conservative groups that is a message of bigotry, lack of inclusion, that dont think serbs the party very well, and i know is deeply offensive to a lot of people in the conservative movement and shouldnt be taken lightly. Josh, it would almost seem independent of not sag taking the party two steps forward, it would seem to be almost taking the party two steps back when you have not only the gay rights issue, but you have someone like mitt romney who the party is desperately trying to get itself away from the shadow of the 47 comments and here he comes. Well, i think the forces behind cpac are trying to draw certain lines you have social conservatives organized in the conference who dont want gay marriage to become one of these issues where conservatives say, well, we need people on both sides. Were effectively going to say its less important than the fiscal policy issues. For some people thats not why theyre involved in the conservative movement. They dont want to voernd the gay marriage issue. Similarly, the Common Thread you see with martinez and mcdonnell and Chris Christie, these are all governors that have taken the medicare expansion. They view that as betrayal. This has been kousht productive. I think cpac is taking some of the most popular elected officials at the state level case itch, the governor of ohio, is also not invited. These are people that are popular in their states. Doing the hard work of governing. Taking the Medicaid Expansion is part of that. Thats good policy. The federal government is offering you money that you can take or leave to benefit the people of your state. Unless your primary priorities youre going to take the money. Those people will have a future for the party, but its not what a lot of the hard right people involved with cpac want. We overstate the importance of cpac. I have been on a panel at cpac. Who is at cpac is College Students and old retirees. The speeches get covered on sometimes people that want to run for president can make a splash on that, but really this is not the organizing function of the Republican Party, so i think cpac is a basket case. A lot of conservatives now think its a basket case, but its a zoo. I have been there. Thats my point. Forget the headliners. Its the message sent about inclusion that i think matters. Theyre inviting donald trump. They are inviting donald trump. When you mention trump and sarah palin. They are rabblerousers rather than a spiritual place where deep thought can happen, and thats fine. Theyll get the headlines, and theyll sell a few tickets, but whats worrying for anyone with serious National Aspirations of the Republican Party is that this is alarmingly close to the mainstream. Thats the problem. Well, there are sure to be big tweets if not big thoughts of donald trump. Are you going to be there . Im not going to be there. I think theyve built a wall to prevent me from being there. I will see you tomorrow at noon eastern when im joined by former Obama Deputy Campaign manager stephanie cut ar, chris hayes, Melissa Harris perry, and kim, and buzz feeds ben smith. Until then, you can find us at facebook. Com now with alex. Andrea mitchell reports is next. This is 100,000. We asked total strangers to watch it for us. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Ill be right back. They didnt take a dime. How much in fees does your bank take to watch your money . If your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Love your passat um. Listen, gary. I bought the last one. Nice try. Says right here you can get one for 199 a month. You cant believe the lamestream media, gary. Theyre all gone. Maybe ill get one. [ male announcer ] now everyones going to want one. You cant have the same car as me, gary im gettin one. Nope [ male announcer ] volkswagen springtoberfest is here and theres no better time to get a passat. Thats the power of german engineering. Right now lease one of