Transcripts For MSNBCW Weekends With Alex Witt 20130127

Its not for colds. Its not for pain. Its just for sleep. Because sleep is a beautiful thing™. Zzzquil™. The nonhabit forming sleepaid from the makers of nyquil®. Hello, everybody. At the top of the hour we begin with a breaking story and tragedy this our out of. This is coming from brazil. Hundreds are dead in an overnightline club fire. Welcome to weekends with alex witt. She is off and im in for her. This is in the city of santa maria on the top southern tip. Police searched the club and recovered 245 bodies. They are working to try to identify all of these victims. There was an estimated 900 people inside the nightclub at the time. Officials say the club had only one working exit. Most of the victims, they say, were trampled as they attempted to get out. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. This again is a developing story we have been following the past several hours. A breaking story we will keep our eyes on and certain we will give you updates as it warrants. Now to plix and a new day. New today we are getting as well, former republican Vice President able nominee paul ryan unleashing criticism of president obama as he is starting his second term. Listen to this. I decided to not comment between the election and inauguration because i wanted to see what kind of president we are looking at here. What kind of path he was putting his administration on, and all of the statements and comments lead me to my he is thinking more of a political conquest than political compromise. We will have more on that in just a moment. Also, a big week ahead in washington. Hillary clinton set to step down as secretary of state this week and the gnat will hold a hearing on kerry to replace her. Meantime in a new interview with the new republic president obama says gun control advocates need to listen to their opponents and understand and respect the tradition of hunting. He added that he enjoys skeet shooting at camp david. President weighed in on the dangers of football. They have been making headlines lately. He said if he had son he is not sure he would let his son play football. Head over to the white house right now. Peter alexander, some interesting stuff in that interview the president gave the new pacific republic, not just football and skeet shooting. Thats right. The president is getting a small breathinger from the battles as he goes to see his daughter sasha play basketball. Not much time before he has to hit the grund running again in his second term. The debt ceiling fight has been delayed and they are looming on the issue of the budget more specifically the sequester that comes up at the beginning of march. Those are spending cuts in military and domestic agencies and the continuing resolution. Basically it calls for how they will pay for the government going forward. After march 27th the budget issues are high on the priority list. There are challenges as he faces the Republican House. He heard from paul ryan and dick durbin and their opinions on what the president needs to do going forward. The green line is historic tax rates, how much we raise in taxes and the blue is how many increases president obama is calling for. The red is where spending is going. Spending is the problem, revenues are not the problem. If you keep chasing them they will hurt economic growth, shut down the economy and wont get the budget balanced. What i heard the president say was programs like Social Security and medicare and med aid critically important for our future and we need to have a bipartisan commitment to make them work. Bob and i have been in a lot of meetings talking about deficit reduction. We need reform in the programs that mean they will live on to serve future generations. Thats the message i took from the president. Referring to bob corker to the left of the screen. The president has a full plate. Not just the budget but the issue of guns, and this week he heads to las vegas for a speech about overhauling immigration. So the second term is already kicking off with plenty on his plate. All right. Peter alexander, white house correspondent, thank you so much. We want to turn now to our discussion this morning. Bring in a reporter for politico, anna and perry bacon, jr. Perry, you heard paul ryan this morning saying if president clinton was in the white house right now they wouldnt have a budget, a debt crisis. He was assailing the president on his leadership qualities. This sounds like the same old talking points, the same Republican Leadership and the same old fight. This isnt, this isnt that new this new mantra they wanted to take up republicans we are okay, we are going to turn over a new leaf and have a different image. Sound any different to you . Didnt sound any different. In washington the debates against president obama, paul ryan sounds similar to last january and february. The fights are the same. The republicans view the president s inaugural address as being too partisan. And the fights in washington sound familiar. A lot of debates over the debt ceiling. The republicans, you heard bobby jindal saying we have to stop being the stupid party. I think they are trying to figure out how do we avoid talking about the 47 . Republicans are looking to change their tone for elections in 2014 and 2016. In terms of the politics on the fiscal stuff and the politics, the fight is the same. Republicans dont want to raid taxes. The president wants to cut spending less severely. Same fight we have seen. You see it the same way, same old, same old. It is a fight that will dont happen. They are starting to position themselves and republicans are looking to 2016 to say we are going to change what has happened and jindal signalled that in his speech earlier this week. Perry, another topic, gun violence, no doubt we have been since newtown. There are going to be hearings on capitol hill this week. Patrick leahy, he has five witnesses. The list has come out who he is going to have talking about gun violence and someone that a lot of people are familiar with is wayne la pierre of the nra will be testifying before congress. What was he thinking in putting, i think he has more pro gun folks than antigun folks, if you will, on that panel. What is he hoping to get out of the hearings . You saw what the president said today. The democrats need to show respect for people who own guns the call chur around owning guns and the argument is they show respect for the gun owner unless the first place to help convince them to accept background checks, an assault weapons ban. You are trying to appeal and make sure gun owners are part of the conversation. Wayne la pierre is an important voice for gun owners in the country. He may say controversial things. We saw him say some extremely controversial things. But having him at the table lending credibility and thats what they are thinking when they invite him to a session like this. It is an idea of you just let them speak. If you let in some instances, some of the ideas doesnt sound reasonable. Do you think that maybe part of the plan to give him a huge platform with some folks like la pierre, like the press conference he had a couple of weeks ago. People are scratching their heads. This is where the head of the nra did not take questions an he will have to face senators who are opposed to what he stands for in terms of gun control. It is important to understand this is the first hearing. Mark kelly whos the husband of a victim of gun violence, hes going to be there. Hes obviously been somebody whos been outspoken in terms of what they would like to do in terms of future things. The other thing, republicans were able to put two of the panelists on there. Its the first conversation that will spark many other hearing at the judiciary committee. I want to close by talking about two articles from you all. Some of your latest piece pieces. First one perry, on the agree owe, on debt ceiling obama forces republicans to blink. Their policy they call it the boehner rule. For every dollar increase in this debt ceiling we have to have a dollar in cuts to match that. The president said earlier this month, im not doing that anymore. We are not going to keep negotiating over the debt ceiling. This is our obligation over. The republicans have conceded the president had won the argument and are now this week they ebb extended the debt ceiling with no accompanied spending cuts. The republicans will cede that issue to him. Your latest article, mitt romney im not going away. Tell me. Certainly was a little different. He came in to toub this weekend for the alfalfa dinner. We hadnt seen a lot from mitt romney since he lost in november. He to told donors that it was purposeful. He is not going anywhere. He will be active in 2013 and 2014s and in terms of 2016. Although some sources said his personal ambition for Public Office are over. Good to see you both today. Thank you so much. Thank you, t. J. To the weather, the midwest is facing an ice threat. Winter storm is dropping snow and freezing rain expected to bring icy conditions. Power outages and travel delays. Weather channel meteorologist mike seidel is in iowa. How bad is this going to be . Reporter its going to be problem on the highways mostly, t. J. Speaking of the airports, a couple of airports impacted, at chicago ohare they cancelled 175 smooil flights thats before the precip gets in to chicago. It will be rolling in the next few hours as freezing rain and sleet. We have warmer air coming in. In the quad cities, we expect the freezing rain we have right now to change to rain by mid to Late Afternoon and thats the case in chicago during the evening hours. Tomorrow in the 40s. Chicago will get up to near 60 by tuesday. Look at the radar. Theres the shield of green is rain and pink, the other color is either sleet or freezing rain. Its heading north and east. Later tonight and tomorrow morning, we will have some ice in to harrisburg, maybe the suburbs of d. C. And in to the northeast. So t. J. , more of a nuisance on the highways, some travel delays but not the kind of icing that will knock out power to thousands tonight, today and tomorrow. Back to you. Mike seidel in davenport. Thank you so much. 12 minutes past the hour. The american deaths in benzodiazepine is a lack of funding for security at least partly to blame . We will ask a republican congressman. And saturday night live take on beyonce and the first ladys bangs. [ dog barking ] [ female announcer ] life is full of little tests, but your basic paper towel can handle them. Especially if that towel is bounty basic. The towel thats durable, and scrubbable. 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Some headlines making news on the west coast. The olympian in Washington State has the story. 787 battery fires could take a lock time to fix. It could take weeks before the Company Knows what went wrong with boeings newest airliner and could be months before it is resolved. The daily sentinel in grand junction, colorado has the story, air trap. How people with lung problems are told to stay inside because of a pollution problem in the city caused by vehicle exhaust and woodburning stoves. The pollution there is worse than any other city in colorado. The reno sunday gaz set journal has an article of dick cheney speaking on gun rights at the safari club. He said he mostly liked the film but didnt agree with cia harsh interrogations. Hillary clinton stepping down as secretary of state after days of contentious appearance on capitol hill. She testified on them bbenghazi attack. What answers were you hoping to get from secretary clinton or did she answer everything . There are many more Unanswered Questions than there should have been. The take away was the refusal to take responsibility on the part of the secretary of state for what happened prior to the actual storming of our benghazi consulate. She didnt read the cables and had no idea there was an unbelievable emergency, conveyed by the mission there and by our ambassador about the inability to defend benghazi should it come under attack. I have read those cables. The fact the secretary of state didnt suggests a cole loss sal failure of Diplomatic Security. A couple of things. A lot of people will say she did, in fact, saying the buck stops with me. Im the secretary of state. You have to look at what she said. I read her testimony carefully. Okay. She said from the day it was happening, from the hour it was happening onward but nothing before. She refused to take responsibility for everything that led up to it. She is walking point. Shes the captain of the ship so to speak. For the secretary of state not to be on the job focused like a laser beam on embassy security, i wrote the law in 99 after we got hit in nairobi. We put huge amounts of diplomate security enhancements and important including personnel. We were getting unbelievably frightening statements from our embassy, from the ambassador about this worsening situation. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton didnt even read the cables. Thats the take away. On that point she did talk about how many cables they received and she talked about 1. 5 million. They might come in and she didnt read every single one. That was her defense. Thats her answer. I think that was flawed, t. J. Let lets both and let the viewers listen to shg she eluded to and pointed to as part of the problem with security that has to do with funding. Lets listen. Since march 2011, congressional holds have been placed on programs for many months for aid to libya. We have had frequent congressional complaints. Why are we doing anything for libya. Its a wealthy country. It has oil, disagreement from some sources that we should have never been part of any u. N. Mission in libya. Currently, the house has holds on bilateral security assistance, on other kinds of support for antiterrorism assistance. What she mentions there, and its accurate. We can look at the record and go back there are times when the administration would request a certain amount of money for security around the world and the Republican House wanted to slash some of that money. Now, how can you go about arent we all arent you all i should say, responsible if you have the state department requesting a certain amount of money and then you are taking you are slashing the money they want for the security and then you want to come out and criticize her for lack of funding or lack of security. T. J. , this the art of misdirection on the part of the secretary. She was talking about a lack of funding in the aggregate. We provided significant enhancements to security funding over the many years. I wrote the law that started it in 99 that gave us a major push forward. This was a matter of lack of leadership. Even the Administration Officials have said, very clearly, that it wasnt that we didnt have ten or 15 or 20 more Diplomatic Security personnel or the availability of our military to step in, should things go awry, as they did, it was a matter of not deploying them properly, not having advance notice which is as plain as the nose on my face through those cables that we had an everworsening deteriorating situation. And bilateral security. We are talking about giving money to the government. I and others asked specific questions over the last several months including to administration personnel, who vetted the host country assets, security assets, the people guarding our own people . There has to be i think a much gritter focus and this is about leadership, not resources. The money was there to take care of libya and benghazi itself, but we didnt deploy it properly. The last thing here and i think i heard your answer there, you said the money was there. It was there we can do a better job and always do a better job providing additional resources. We have been doing that. The number of Diplomatic Security personnel and i started with my legislation, my law went from 1,000 to over 3,100. They were just not deployed properly. Thats a failure of leadership. All right. Congress smith from new jersey. Appreciate your time. Thank you. This is an important one for us all to get to the bottom of. Appreciate you sharing your views today. Thank you. And t. J. , can i add quickly. Yes, sir. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton was not interviewed by the accountability review board. Theres nothing in the 1986 statute that says she should havent have been because she should have been. She is the captain of the trip. They were hoping the board would be something independent and not are you criticizing them or her . Im saying they should have asked her the tough questions. Congressman, again, thank you so much. Thank you, t. J. 23 minutes past the hour. I want to show you something now. Look at that tweet. You know who sent that tweet out . Last night a wellknown politician. What exactly does that mean . We will get in to that in a second. Number four on the first five web stories, on last nights snl the ghost of Martin Luther king, jr. Appeared in the white house to congratulation president obama on inauguration day. He begged him for his thoughts on politics but the only thing dr. King wanted to talk about was beyonce and the first lady. That girl beyonce, did you see her out there . Because i was like what . Dr. King, can we discuss more important issues . There are very real changes facing this nation. Speaking of change, whats up with michelles bangs . Im sorry . Her bangs what is she, guest starring on a new girl . When she finally gets those bangs cut, shes going to be like i can see at last. Thank god almighty, i can see at last. Dr. King, dr. King. Relax, im jokin around. Come on. Were lucky, its not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Tax time can ofbe. Well. Taxing. So right now well give you. 10 off any turbo tax deluxe Level Software or higher find thousands of big deals now. At officemax. [ breathes deeply, wind blows ] [ male announcer ] halls. Let the cool in. Former massachusetts senator scott brown learned two lessons the hard way do not engage trolls on twitter, and do not delete your tweets. You see, brown usually ignores nasty tweets that are thrown his way. Late friday night he must have had enough of his detractors and responded. He had enough. Tweeted several people with the response, whatever. As the night wore on, whatever became this. This would be the word whatever spelled with a b and a q. The earlymorning messages were deleted. It set off a series of jokes. One person even registered it as a domain name. The recent tweet from brown since this happened is he went for a run and went to the gym. Destined to take them over. The sirius Xm Satellite Radio in the 2013 ram 1500. Engineered to move heaven and earth. Guts. Glory. Ram. The new ram 1500. Motor trends 2013 truck of the year. We all work remotely so this is a big deal, our first full Team Gathering i wanted to call on a few people. Ashley, ashley marshall. Here. Since were often all on the move, ashley suggested we use fedex office to hold packages for us. Great job. [ applause ] thank you. And on a protocol note, id like to talk to tim hill about his tendency to use all caps in emails. [ shouting ] oh im sorry guys. Ah sometimes the caps lock gets stuck on my keyboard. Hey do you wanna get a drink later . [ male announcer ] hold packages at any fedex office location. Were at the bottom of the hour. Welcome back to weekends with alex witt. Im t. J. Holmes in for alex today. The death toll changing from a deadly nightclub inferno in brazil. Police earlier said 232 people were killed. Many died trying to escape the only exit. Nearly 900 people were inside at the time. Only in arizona, sheriffs deputies rescued 50 hikers stranded in a canyon. It began when heavy rain washed away the hiking trails. The 911 first alerted authorities who dispatched a helicopter to rescue the hikers. Others were pulled to save across a rushing river. Everyone managed to escape safely. Police departments across the country held gun buy backs. They received an ak47 and sawed off shotgun a boy found outside of his elementary school. In seattle, police ended it early because they ran out of money. However, some private buyers arrived to purchase the remaining weapons. New today, a rather harsh assessment of president obama and what to expect in the next four years. It comes from one of the House Republican leaders. As the president implements his agenda, the results will fall short of the rhetoric and they wont be pretty. We will have tepid growth in deficits, Health Care Price controls in rationing. This is coming as some republicans are calling for a reassessment of the party message. Joining me is former pennsylvania governor etd rendell and ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell who is a senior fellow. Start with you, mr. Blarks what does this sound like to you, a good start to doing this reassessment some of the things we are hearing from paul ryan. We ought to understand that we dont have one foot in the grave as a party. We had 30 governors out of 50. We have republican control of both houses of the legislature in 25 states. We are a party in full blossom at the state level. The issue for us is how do we start to collect a message at the National Level that is attractive to blocks of voters we are using in too great of a number in national elections. Yes, we have to start with the old jack kemp assumption. People dont care how much you know until they know about how much you care. If we can take our message of growth and opportunity and individual freedom, we can, in fact, pin a National Message that relates to more and more people. Let me bring in governor rendell. Let me let you respond to his what is in his estimation a full blossom, if i wrote that down correctly. Full blos of the Republican Party in the state. He is right. The republicans control a significant amount of the states as well. Do i think they need radical change . Not necessarily. I think it is more than message. If you listen, t. J. , to all of the speakers who have spoken at the republican convention, they have to change their principles. The Ohio Legislature puts in a personhood amendment, rejected by the voters of mississippi they are not listening and hearing what americans are saying at every level. When a progressive guy like Chris Christie refuses to put attack on millionaires in new jersey to help them with their budget they are not listening. They are not listening. The American People want fairness. They want freedom. They want everyone to be allowed to do what they want to do with their personal lives and its not the message it is the substantive principles that need examination. Let me let you answer that quickly. That brings up a good point. You hear republicans say we need to change the packaging, how we put the message out there. Are you with that, mr. Blackwell, you need change how you are reaching out to people or what you stand for as a party in a major way . Look, we need to understand what Thomas Jefferson said when he said a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything that you have. We are the party of limited government and optimum individual freedom. We should not depart from those principles. We dont need Democratic Party full blossom and Democratic Party light. We need an alternative party, an alternative world view and we need to market it in a way in a way that is attractive to freedomloving people who want to do for themselves. They want jobs and growth as paul rye yn indicated so they can support and depend on their families not the government. Governor rendell, lets listen to what paul ryan had to say about budget on meet the press this morning. My concern is the president may be more focused on political ends in 2014 versus moving to the middle. When you saw his speech at the inauguration, it leads us to conclude hes not looking to moderate, not to move to the middle but go to the left and he wants to fight us every step of the way politically. What do you think of that claim . He even said if we had a different president. If we had president clinton we wouldnt have a debt and budget crisis because bill clinton liked to govern a different way. He is saying we have a combative president in president obama and thats why we cant get something sglong i thought the speech was a good embodiment of the hopes and dreams of the American People. But president obama has reached out to the republicans. He said he would consider changing cpi. But the republicans didnt want to go down that road, at least in the senate. He said he would consider raising the age on medicare, a gradual increase in the age. Nobody jumped atta chance. The republicans didnt come out and embrace it. He was going to do a 5 trillion deal with speaker boehner, but they couldnt control their caucus. Put aside the rhetoric and i will agree that sometimes the president s rhetoric isnt conciliatory. It is visionary and i think he wanted to strike a visionary speech in his inaugural. Look at what the president has put on the table. Thats the real proof in the pudding. Look at the way the republicans responded. They chickened out. Mr. Blackwell. Or wussed out. Let me bring in another republican voice. Im curious to know what you think of the voice, sarah palin is who i am talking about. She said we cant just preach to the choir. I encourage others to step out in faith, jump out of the comfort zone and broaden our reach as beliefers in the american not an assessment of sarah palin, but her as a voice on a National Level. Do you want to see and hear her out there and how does that help if the mission you are talking about as having a different message. Let me put it in a popular context. What the Republican Party needs is the temptations, not al green. We need a blend of lead voices, not folks singing a solo. Within the context of the temptations, sarah palin would be just fine. She is not the al green of the Republican Party where she is singing a solo. I think she represents a broad area of americans and we need her in the tent. T. J. , can i be bold enough to say in the music genre and suggest the republicans need to listen to the Rolling Stones you cant always get what you want sglts i should have stopped when i heard sarah palin and the temptations in the same sentence. Good to see you both. Have a great weekend. Good to be with you. Office politics with Chris Matthews on washingtons odd couple of the 80s. Your soups ae so awesomely delicious my husband and i cant stop eating em whats. That. On your head . Can curlers tomato basil, potato with bacon. Weve got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. So i used my Citi Thankyou card to pick up some accessories. A new belt. Some nylons. And what girl wouldnt need new shoes . And with all the points ive been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. Things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your Citi Thankyou points to travel whenever you want. Visit citi. Com thankyoucards to apply. When the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week. Im like. Yeah, ok. Little did i know that one week later i wasnt smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. It reduces the urge to smoke. Some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. If you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of depression or other Mental Health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. Dont take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. If you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be lifethreatening. If you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. Get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. Common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. It helps to have people around you. They say, youre much bigger than this. And you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. We will look at the week on wall street. History could be made for some major indices on wall street. The dow and s p are in closing at an alltime high. More money is pouring in to the stock market and more companies are reporting their earnings. New numbers on auto sales and find out if they were as strong as the beginning as at the end of 2012 and a big moment in the smartphone market. The blackberry ten comes out this week. The success could determine whether the maker stays in business. In todays office politics, alex has a conversation with the host of hardball msnbcs Chris Matthews. They talk about his new book, legacy of Ronald Reagan and tip oneill and why congress could take a lesson about the way they did business together. And how long he has to get anything done. If he could agree to get background checks for gun sale shows, thats what he has to go for. Im fully aware of the countrys cowboy culture. Its going to be difficult to imagine harry reid as the democratic leader in the senate, majority leader to bring up a bill calling for some kind of banning of semiautomatic rifles at a time where he has no belief that the House Republicans will do the same. Why would he want to do that . Why would he want to expose his soldiers to a charge of antigun. He will have to wait to for the house to do something f. The house doesnt do anything, nothing will get done. But background checks might work but restriction on guns yo that obama can get it through. Regardless of what happens in the next four years, do you think this president , given his reelection is a force in American History . I would say he wants to be more than a maintenance president a caretaker. Clearly he sees himself as Ronald Reagan. Reagan coming in and making conservativism main stream. He wants to make his progressive attitudes main stream and change the way we look at government and he probably feels that people would fwhut to him. Im in the sure they have. I think they are on a narrow margin center left, but very narrow margin. It is fragile. You think he can do it. As reagan did . Reagan had a good first term. His second term was all compromise. I think he will have to get compromise on immigration, on tax reform and guns. So i think the second term will be about compromise and trying to find peace abroad. How much time does he have to get it done. Four years because i think the republicans want it. The same way the republicans wanted to get rid of Social Security. They lose on immigration. Four years. What about the rest . I think he might be able to win that argument at anytime. This gun thing he better hit it hard in the next, no later than the spring. Your jack kennedy book is awesome. Thank you. Rose to the top of the new york times, and amazon best seller. What about the new one coming, which might be my favorite. If i get it right, im beginning to work with it full time pretty much. Its due in june. This is a book that maybe everybody on capitol hill could pick up and read. It is not a story about two old irish guys drinking and passing bills. But two guys who both recognize that elections matter, that their offices matter that we have to keep the government going and keep making compromise because its the only way to keep it going. There are all kinds of issues and they found a way to keep it going. Theres a Social Security, tax reform, immigration, the ending of the cold air. A lot of wonderful moments in which they avoided trouble because they both wanted the system to work. Which is why the system has to work. It has to be capable of working with strangers. Were not going to have cope settic guys and women. You have to have a system regardless of who is appointed or elected that works. I think there were real fights and real tough hostility there at times, especially from tip toward reagan. I mean, they disagreed. Reagan thought Less Government was better. And tip thought government was necessary for a lot of people. Real philosophical role. I have to tell the truth. Theres a lot to tell. It went on six years and i was there. Alex will be her most memorable moments from office politics. Texas looming large on the list of the nations Fastest Growing cities because a lot of their cities are at the top of the list based on economic and population growth, austin, houston and dallas, raleigh, North Carolina and salt lake city, utah. Now to the battle of the bulk. The best cities for losing weight. San francisco tops the trulia. Com list that looks at such things such as number of health club and stores and the worst city on the list las vegas. You do other things well, though. Ellen rose from second to first in the survey slipping to runner up is actor mark harmen from ncis and jon stewart are the number ones on this weekend with alex whit. Wit. T im still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesnt unstuff your nose. What . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. Thanks. Thats the cold truth and youll dump your old duster. But dont worry, hell find someone else. Whos that lady . Whos that lady . Sexy lady, whos that lady . [ female announcer ] swiffer 360 dusters extender cleans high and low, with thick all around fibers that attract and lock up to two times more dust than a feather duster. Swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. And now swiffer dusters refills are available with the fresh scent of gain. Shes free and she is equal not just in the eyes of god, but also in our own. That is president obama addressing the issue of poverty in his inauguration address. Income inequality has been on the rise for decades. The gap between the haves and havenots at the widest point since 1967 and the president said change is necessary. For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. Let me bring in rick benjamin, fellow. How excited were you to hear the topic of poverty being talked about since it wasnt talked about at all during the president ial campaign. On that stage at the inauguration, how excited were you to hear it in some manner . Very excited. I was there in person. When obama laid down that daunt let i was very excited. Do we understand how deep the issue of inequality is in this country . Is this one we try to understand . People understand it for personal and work reasons. I have been traveling a lot. When you see poverty from suburbs to Washington State people get it. We is see poverty in the suburbs. The confusion comes in when the solutions are talked about. You dont have to tell anyone about poverty. It is no longer them, those people in the ghetto. It is our cousins, aunts, uncles. I think people get it. You say it comes in when the solutions are talked about. What do you mean . Right. A lot of conservatives running around saying the reason we are poor is the government spends too much on unworthy people, we have a growing debt that is going to crush us and confuse the idea of a personal Household Debt with a federal debt. I dont think we have to lecture anyone in the country that poverty exists. How offensive is it when you hear that no matter where you are from, where you were born all you have to do is work hard and you will be out of poverty. It is almost as if it is your fault if you are poor because you didnt work good enough. You can bust a hump and work a fulltime job at walmart or retail and qualify for public assistance. We have an economy where Stanley Oneill can run Merrill Lynch in to the ground. And still walk away with tens of millions of dollars. The point being that i simply wish there was a correlation between productivity and hard work and how you are rewarded and there isnt. We have the poverty rate now. We can show folks. It is at 15 . However, for africanamericans it is around 27, i believe i may have that right. What can we do about that Racial Disparity . Thats a huge gap. It is unacceptable and the gap between children and adults is unacceptable. I think it is the policy. I think we need Long Term Solutions to this poverty. No more bandaids and thats what made me excited. Obama was hinting in his inauguration address he was willing to tackle these things. This is such a problem problem and so multifacetted but where do you start to tackle the president bush . We were talking before we came on the air to talk about it on a National Level and the National Stage is first and foremost. Where with the policies and the solutions . Where do you start . I think in the tax rise on upperincome americans is a good start. Its not the the only thing. We need to protect the spending as budget battles are sure to come up with programs that help people in need, food nutrition, head start, education and the like. Thats a good start. We have to reach in to the political system so when people accumulate wealth that lets them accumulate political influence which lets them determine policy in a way that allows them to accumulate more wealth and influence. It is a vicious circle in a snowball effect. What you are saying is poor people dont have a voice. Yeah, it is. Citizens united is the example of how to do things correctly but it is a thing where poor people can help shape public policy. Thats a longterm solution. Now we have earned income tax credits, the tax hike on the wealthiest americans to simply preclinton or clinton levels and spending holding the line on those. It was a good start and you said you were giddy to hear the president talking about poverty and the poor in country. Maybe we will see what happens the next couple of years. Love to talk to you down the road. Thank you. Close to the top of the hour and a new wideranging interview with president obama. What he thinks of all things skeet shooting an the dangers of football. You want to hear the details. Stay with us. announcer at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. With scottrades online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login. To easily move my money when i need to. Plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. Because i dont trade like everybody. I trade like me. Im with scottrade. announcer scottrade. Awarded fivestars from smartmoney magazine. And they wont be beginners for long. Give a couple beginners a great idea, theyll go to where they can get the skills, the savings, and the supplies they need to go from beginning. To doing. To beautifully done. More saving. More doing. Thats the power of the home depot. Right now this shaker Vanity Cabinet is a special buy at just one hundred, ninetynine dollars. Call star star thd to shop now. Hello. Welcome to weekends with alex witt. We are glad you are right here. Begin with new insight from president obama on key political issues of the day that come in a wideranging interview just published in the new republic. Peter alexander has the highlights. What are we learning from the president . A couple of details maybe people dont know about him here. He reveals new information in the course of the conversation under the headline president obama is not pleased. He speaks about the issue of guns and tries to express his understanding of the Cultural Divide over the issue of guns. Calling it the reality of rural versus urban divide on the issue. He says if you grew up and your dad gave you a hunting rifle when you were 10 and you spent the day with him and your uncles and ta became part of the Family Tradition you can see why you would be protective of that. He says advocates of gun control have to listen more. He also speaks about the fact that he has been skeet shooting all the time at camp david daying he does that with guests. I think that is new information for a lot of people. The question is have you ever fired a gun before . Thats not where he finishes off. He fires off on other topics, as well, expressing his impatience with political enemies of sorts some republicans who he he thinks are unwilling to compromise and with the media that too often goes to the sides and never looks for the middle ground a it addresses them, as well. And he weighs in on the issue of football. He said if he had a son he would have had to look long and hard whether to allow that child toll play the game of football. And said a lot of americans who love the sport like he does will have to be more comfortable with that sport as it pushes toward a safer environment with less violence. We will witness what it look like a week from now. It is one topic the president was comfortable weighing in on. A couple of new insights from the president there. White house correspondent peter alexander, thank you so much. New today, renewed fights over how to deal with the federal budget. Dick durbin is defending what president obama said in his inauguration speech. What i heard the president say was programs like Social Security, medicare and medicaid, critically important for our future and we need to have a bipartisan commitment to make them work. Bob and i have been in a lot of meetings talks about deficit reductions. I think we need reform in these programs that means they will live on to serve future generations. Thats the message i took from the president. Former republican Vice President ial nominee paul ryan said the gop needs to recommend at this times approach with voters looking forward. We have to expand our appeal. We had to expan our appeal to more people and show how we will take the countrys founding principles and apply them to the problems of the day to offer solutions to fix our problems. We have to show our ideas are better at fighting poverty and solving health care, how our ideas are better at solving the problems people are experiencing in their daily live and thats a challenge we have to rise to and i think we are up to it. Joining me is a Staff Reporter for mother jones and rachel smolkin. Andy, we listen learned a Little Something from the president. What your take away . The kind of material, the kind of ideas the put in his inauguration speech and hes been saying since reelected. One thing i would control, we have heard it before but it is important that the president stressed he cannot play the inside game in washington in his second term whether on immigration, gun control or climate change. He really believes he needs to do a better job communicating with americans. He cites lincoln saying if you have the Public Opinion on your side anything is possible. If you dont, nothing is possible. That is one takeaway. The president speaking more to the people and less toward grand bargains and closed door negotiations here in d. C. Rachel, what did you make of the interview . Peter alexander hit on less important things like football, important in keeping the men safe but what was your takeaway from the interview . The takeaway was the president likes skeet shooting. That was the most memorable nugget that he goes skeet shooting all the time at camp david. That is a surprise to us. I dont recall that being mentioned an interesting take away from the interview. The idea of messaging. The president has got much more assertive and comfortable in terms of his public messaging on these issues. We saw this on the fis clal cliff fight, on his unveiling of gun legislation. We are seeing a more confident president obama than we saw after he was elect the first time around. Let me move you seem to get a kick out of that skeet shooting nugget from that interview and it was interesting. He was asked have you ever fired a gun and that was the answer we got out of it. Andy, lets talk about this the interview we will see tonight. President obama sitting down to outgoing secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Isnt it amazing how far we have come, they have come . How up likely was this pairing, if you will, given the primary fight we saw fourplus years ago to see these two and have this almost like you said it is a thank you to her almost to sit down and do this interview. I remember covering 2008 campaign and remembering senator obama saying you are likable enough, hillary and Hillary Clinton saying shame on you, obama. And to see this thank you from the president to one of his biggest political figures in america was incredible. Whether it is burying the hatchet or one last sit down with political ally who used to be a political enemy. Either way, its pretty incredible. It gives me a little whiplash. It gives Hillary Clinton just the kind of exit she wants from leaving the state department, especially if she is considering a run for the white house in 2016. I forgot that moment where he said you are likable enough. It did get nasty. No matter what Hillary Clinton does day in and out now, everyone will think it has something to do with 2016 and a lot of people think it does. Do you take it that way. Is that the president saying let me kick off 2016 . It is hard to talk about Hillary Clinton without talking about 201 6. Their relationship has been fascinating the last four years and will continue to be fascinating closer to 2016 and a way to leave Hillary Clinton with nice, Television Images this comes after shes had that rocky period with her health and then a tough week last week testifying twice about benghazi and the administrations handling of that affair. So rather than closing out with those images, it gives a nice book end with the sitdown interview with the president. The first joint sit down hes done with anyone other than first Lady Michelle obama. If you can both do this for me quickly. We saw paul ryan this morning on meet the press. Some republicans have been out there. Some saying they are trying to change messaging but not principles. What are you all seeing and hear something does it sound like the same old gop that doesnt get it as some are suggesting, not just how you package and message your principles. You need to change how you think of the core principles. Andy, you first. The Republican Party cannot ignore the demographic changes in this country the voter turnout stats we saw in the 2012 elections. I think some of this talk we are hearing, whether from paul ryan, bobby jindal, the governor of louisiana who said republicans cant be the stupid party anymore, have stupid ideas. They realize they have a problem. Whether they can convince the whole of the Republican Party, conservatives and whatever moderates are left that there needs to be change that remains to be seen. Maybe we will see that in the legislative fights this year but it is talk at this point. Rachel, quickly. A lot more emphasis on delivery of the message than the message itself. My colleague james holman who attended the retreat said one talking point is the republicans need to smile more, look more pleasant and less like sour pusss. There was a quote to that affect. We will see how this plays out. We will see it quickly because the immigration fight is coming up and will be interesting to watch. Thank you for being here. Important conversation. Look forward to see you all down the road. Thank you. And at ten minutes past the hour, we have a Program Reminder here for you now. You can see meet the press meet the press is coming your way. Its coming your way at the top of the hour. 2 00 eastern time. You can catch it here. Meet the press representative paul ryan. Two new, alarming stories with Nuclear Weapons implications. First, a warning today from north Korean Leader kim jongun. He is vowing a highprofile retaliation for ongoing u. S. Led sanctions by the united nations. This comes just days after recent Satellite Photos show north korea is preparing a possible Nuclear Weapons test. And Outgoing Israeli Defense minister ehud barak has hinted in to a new interview that the pentagon may have plans for a Surgical Strike on Irans Nuclear facilities. The president of a foundation that focuses on Nuclear Weapons policy, joe thank you so much for being here. We have two issues to take up. Lets begin with iran. What do you think of this . It only makes sense but to hear it from ehud barak, a lot of people are paying attention that u. S. Has plans for a Surgical Strike on their facilities. What do you make of that. Most experts interpreted that as israel sort of backing away from a threat of launching a fullscale military attack itself. He was saying, theres a lot of other possibilities here. We dont have to go in with a sledge hammer. This is a word he used. You can go in with a scalpel. The u. S. Has military scalpels its prepared. This sosk true. Options that would perhaps take out a single facility or a critical node in the infrastructure. This is a good sign for us that the israelis are willing to give diplomacy more of a chance. You heard senator kerry in his testimony just this week to be secretary of state asserting that he wants to give diplomacy a chance. This is the preferred option of the United States. Israel hen and the United States are perfectly aligned on this issue. The kind of Surgical Strike he was speaking of, how much could that set iran and its Nuclear Program back. Even a fullscale attack couldnt actually stop the iranian program. You have secretary of state gates and then secretary of state secretary of defense panetta say even a fullscale attack would only delay the program one or two years. Thats the trouble with the military option. It doesnt solve the problem. It might accelerate the program as iran went pedal to the metal, ignited the population against a u. S. Attack and sprinted to a nuclear weapon. Where would that take us in terms of another war . If there was a Surgical Strike, what does this mean . And nobody wants to get bogged down in another war. One countrys Surgical Strike is anothers pearl harbor. This is the danger. No matter how small you intend the nuclear option, no matter what your belief, the military option that you could contain this in some way the other country acts as if it had been attacked and you launch a fullscale war. It would make iraq and afghanistan look like warm up acts. It would be a major confrontation and with major impact for the u. S. And global economies. Where is north korea . Lets turn to north korea now. Where are they on their ability. There is consensus they have what they need to make the weapon itself but not necessarily deliver it. Exactly. North korea is way ahead of iran in nuclear capability. Iran doesnt have the material to make a weapon, doesnt have a longrange missile that could hit the United States. However, korea does. It has tested two Nuclear Devices in 2006 and 2009. But they are just devices, not weapons yet. They have a series of tests to prove it is sturdy and small enough to fit on a missile or plane for example. That is why there is some pressure for them to test. They have enough material for somewhere between six and 16 Nuclear Weapons. The goal of u. S. Policy is to contain the north Korean Program which it has done the last few year and prevent this from spreading to other countries or dwopg technologies further. Last thing on north korea, we have seen this posturing before. We are seeing it now from the son whos the leader there now. Is there anything, as someone who follows this, is there anything new to this type of language and stance taken by north korea . When they are making these threats anything new alarming to you as someone who follows is or is in the same old north korea . They have used more provocative language. I dont determine that as they will strike the u. S. Or u. S. Interest. What they mean is if they do a nuclear test and many experts expect it to happen it will be aimed, at the purpose of standing up to the United States. This of course would serve domestic political purposes for the new leader, strengthen his leadership of the nation. The positive note is that china has reacted to this statement very strongly and they are bringing more pressure than they have in the past to stop them from provoking the situation, from creating instability on chinas borders. Good to have you and your insight, your expertise this morning. Thank you, sir. My pleasure, t. J. Up next, the four star general today said women on the front lines could risk the success of many missions. Two vets respond next. Produced. 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I vote for your florida beaches, dawn. Bill, this louisiana seafood is delicious. Were having such a great year on the gulf, weve decided to put aside our rivalry. Now is the perfect time to visit anyone of our states. The beaches and waters couldnt be more beautiful. Take a boat ride, go fishing or just lay in the sun. Weve got coastline to explore and wildlife to photograph. And theres world class dining with our world famous seafood. So for a great vacation this year, come to the gulf. Its all fabulous but i give florida the edge. Right after mississippi. You mean alabama. Say louisiana or theres no dessert. This invitation is brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. 1 9 minute past the hour. The nature of warfare is changing. The pentagon is working out the specifics of a historic new rule announced this week. Women will be allowed to serve in combat roles alongside men. Former cia director and four star general Michael Hayden explains what it means for the requirements for special operations forces. Listen to this. There are two kinds of standards. One set have to do with personal health. Just raw physical fitness for members of the armed forces, how much pushups, sit ups, how fast you run a mile. Those standards are different because men and women are different. These kinds of standards cannot be different. They have to do with accomplishing the job. Therefore if the standard is here and only a small percentage of women can match that standard for reasons that are biological, the standard has to stay there, otherwise you are risking mission success. All right. Joining me now two american vets, former marine and msnbc contributor Goldie Taylor and retired army captain wes moore. Goldie, let me start with you and i want your reaction to what you heard hayden say. Whats your reaction to that . I think he is right. We have to be ready to move at a moments notice and i dont believe the standards ought to be relaxed. When i came out of boot camp, just after i came out of boot camp they instituted 54 weeks of 54 hours of continuous mental and physical challenge. To survive that you have to be in excellent physical shape. But in order to qualify for frontline infantry roles, that calls for something else. And i just dont believe there ought to be a difference in the standard. If a woman can meet those standards she ought to be able to serve, be recognized and paid for it. Simple as that. If she can meet the standards shes good to go. I agree. What the policy is asking for is not set asides or any type of quotas. It is simply saying we should open and allow opportunities for women who choose to go in to this that they can have the opportunities to do so. It goes back to the longest tradition of the United States military. One of the reasons im proud of my service and proud of the organization that i served is the military has been ahead of the curve on society on a collection of issues. The military we had desegregation in the military in 1948. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 196. Equal pay for men and women in decades. Something the Society Still cant claim to have. This is not about set asides or quotas but saying we will open the field for those who are capable of filling it in. In no way does it endanger National Security if you have people who are qualified to serve in those roles. Do you think there were opportunities you missed out on because of a policy like this and other women, the opportunities missed out on whether propotion motions or advancement . Give us an idea how much women have been missing out on. A young woman came through boot camp with me and she signed up literally to fight. She was assigned to be a baker in the mess hall. She cried her eyes out for days because she wasnt going to serve on the front lines. I met every physical, emotional and mental challenge to serve on the front line but im 411 and i need an ammo box to shoot out of the fox hole. I dont belong on the front line. But the women who do meet those standards, it ought to be open to them. This is about work place equality at the end of the day. Just as we have in our civilian life with equal opportunity laws, were having it now reflect itself in the military. I think it is a good thing. Wes, let me read something from a former infantry squad leader. He said it would be distracting and potentially traumatizing to be forced to be maked in front of the opposite sex. He described situations where he and fellow soldiers were in tight quarter and had to urinate in a bottle next to, or in a cramped situation next to some of his comrades. And to have to be put in a position like that with a member of the opposite sex wouldnt be good for the man or woman. He said when you try to violate societial norms you are asking for trouble. In your experience, and i will bring you in this as well, goldie. Wes, in your experience, was that being thrown in to a situation like that would that cause an issue or is there a way to keep those things from happening . It is a battle sgleeld with all due respect top ryans comments there are a couple of things to remember. People made the same arguments during the desegregation of the armed forces where people said it would be difficult to interact with people that you dont have interaction with and executive leadership said we understand your point of view but this is the way it will be. Another thing to remember is we have Police Departments that go through the same thing where you have men and women who serve as partners in ed pds and special operations units in the civilian force. Going back to goldies point that is important. When we look at the general corps, the flag officer corps, 4 or 5 of flag officers in the United States army are women. 4 in the marines are women. Despite the fact they make up 18 of the forces. This is not simply just about equitable Playing Field and opening opportunities for everybody but an employment situation. You will hardly ever find a three and four star general in the marines, army or navy unless they are a combat officer. Unless they are a combat arms officer. You have a situation where women are essentially held out because of their gender and thats not fair. What mr. Smith in his oped he was trying to bring up the realities of the situation on the ground. He didnt address equal opportunities like wes was talking about as far as advancement but the realities on the ground of war sometimes kg can be ugly. Im going to tell you and i mean this in the nicest way. If im out there serving on missions, i have not a problem in the world dropping trowel and doing what i have to do. It is one of those things, its a work force and equality issue and ought to be treated as such. Women have been serving on the front lines for decades and decades. In our case, a woman joined the marine corps in 1918 and served with honor and distinction. We have to look back and see where women have served. There are women serving in kweisi combat roles today who are not formally recognized for it. There are helicopter pilots shot down in fight and they need to be recognized for it. Im more concerned she can shoot straight. Thats my concern. If they can do that im fine. Wes, goldie, good to see you both. It is an important topic and like you said it is important to point out the military has been the head of society on a lot of things. Maybe this is one more. The military is leading the way. Good to see you both. Thank you, t. J. We are getting close to the bottom of the hour. When we talk about bats and sports first thing you think of is baseball. We are talking basketball, though, folks and a bat that made some grown men just look silly. But kate still looks like. Kate. Nicen easy with Colorblend Technology gives expert highlights and lowlights. For color thats true to you. I dont know how she does it. With nicen easy, all they see is you. Yeah. Its his thing. I dont even participate. Boom here it comes bring it back bring it home [ male announcer ] when you combine creamy velveeta with zesty Rotel Tomatoes and green chilies, you get a bowl of queso that makes even this gettogether better. How did i know . Well, i didnt really. See, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive. But when i started losing energy and became moody. Thats when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. We discussed all the symptoms. Then he gave me some blood tests. Showed it was low t. Thats it. 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Tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. So. What do men do when a numbers too low . Turn it up [ male announcer ] in a clinical study, over 80 of treated men had their t levels restored to normal. Talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. Get the blood tests. Change your number. Turn it up. Androgel 1. 62 . A game had to stop because of a bat. A bat out of somewhere just appeared. It invaded the home of the gonld eagles of marquette. You see it there. It swooped down to the court. Scared some of the players. Wish we could see the young fella fall out from this bat. The players, coaches and referees had a scare. They had to stop the game temporarily and they turned the lights off in the arena. The idea is just although i trust the assistant is the do that you turn the lights off and the bat will be attracted to light elsewhere, im told, of getting rid of the bachlt they turned the lights off. There he is. The bat went away and the game resumed. Nobody was seriously injured. Just embarrassed. Esource we need to compete on the global stage. What we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. By 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough College Graduates to fill them. Thats why at devry university, were teaming up with Companies Like cisco to help make sure everyone is ready with the knowhow we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure americas ready. Make sure youre ready. At devry. Edu knowhow. Email marketing from Constant Contact reaches people in a place theyre checking every day their inbox. And it gives you the tools to create custom emails that drive business. Its just one of the ways Constant Contact can help you grow your Small Business. Sign up for your free trial today at constantcontact. Com try. Olaf gets great rewards for his Small Business pizza [ garth ] olafs Small Business earns 2 cash back on every purchase, every day helium delivery. Put it on my spark card [ pop ] [ garth ] why settle for less . Great businesses deserve great rewards awesome [ male announcer ] the spark Business Card from capital one. Choose unlimited rewards with 2 cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day whats in your wallet . Welcome back to weekends with alex witt. Im t. J. Holmes in for alex today. As the senate prepares to pass a temporary debt limit this week, paul ryan is putting the blame for the budget impasse squarely on president obama. I dont think the president thinks we have a fiscal crisis. Hes been reportedly saying to our leaders we dont have a spending problem. We have a health care problem. That leads me to think we ought to have more Government Health care and rationing. Joining me is omni berra. Thank you for being here. What do you think of what congressman, chairman ryan said there, the president doesnt believe we have a fiscal crisis. Do you . Well, t. J. , first off, thank you for having me on. Absolutely we have a debt crisis and a financial crisis. I disagree with congressman ryan, my dolph league. The president recognizes we have to move forward in a balanced approach here. Where we are both looking at balanced revenue and at our spending we have to do it in a balanced way. I think no one would disagree with what you are saying. It is two approaches to how to do it. We just had inauguration, just got past election, some would say kick the can down the road with it, and now facing budget cuts. We have deadlines coming up once again. Are we under real threat in your opinion now of a Government Shutdown . Yeah, i hope not. I hope the whole point of passing the no budget no pay legislation and giving us three months to work and put together a real budget was to do that. Lets put together a real budget. That brings the best ideas from both parties to the table, does it in a balanced way and allows us to raise revenue and do some specific spending cuts but lets do this in a way that issent breaking the promises we made to our parents and grandparents but strengthening it to the next generation gets to enjoy these programs. Let me ask you something about that will make a lot of viewers a big of fan of yours you championed the no budget, no pay act. If members of congress do not pass a budget they do not get a paycheck. The senate hasnt passed a budget in several years, if they cant meet their budget deadline by, in april, than their pay would stop. Now, sir, do you think this will have an impact on negotiations this time . Well, look, we ran on no budget, no pay. Our score job in congress is to pass a budget. That lays out where our priorities are, how we are going to use the taxpayers resources and thats what we are supposed to be doing. I think its an idea that resonates with the public. The organization were part of, no labels, is doing this in a bipartisan way. It is Holding Us Accountable to what we should be doing. Lets do this and get the senate to pass a budget. Sounds like majority leader harry reid said they will vote on this next week and then lets take the two budgets, have a conference committee. Find Common Ground and move forward. You set off a constitutional debate, the 27th amendment which has been getting attention lately. It says that congress cannot vary is the word that the 27th amendment uses you cant vary the pay of senators and members of the white house while they are in session. Do you think this passes constitutional muster . I dont know if we will get to that point. Maybe a budget mr. Bush passed but if will pass muster. The way it is written it doesnt take pay away. It sets it in an es skroe account so you dont get paid until you pass the budget. Does that count . They are going to get their money eventually. You are not taking the pay away. Still getting paid but paid later. The prior week, we actually passed i was a cospahn or of the original no budget no pay legislation which takes it away. It is stronger legislation and uncouples it from the debt ceiling and focuses on the issue that our core job is to pass a budget. Interesting idea. If most of us didnt do our core job we wouldnt get paid for it. We will see if a budget gets passed and talk to you down the road. Congressman bera, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me on. A Senior Adviser to Hillary Clintons 2008 run our next guest. Now we have to talk 2016. He may be the best person to ask about 2016 except for hillary maybe. Ns for you. Im up next, but now im singing the heartburn blues. Hold on, prilosec isnt for fast relief. Cue up alkaseltzer. It stops heartburn fast. Oh what a relief it is who emailed it to emily, who sent it to cindy, who wondered why her soup wasnt quite the same. The recipes not the recipe. Ohhh. [ female announcer ]. Without swanson. The broth cooks trust most when making soup. Mmmm [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson. Mmmm . Tax time can ofbe. Well. Taxing. So right now well give you. 10 off any turbo tax deluxe Level Software or higher find thousands of big deals now. At officemax. Time for the big three and the topics, same old fight 2016 and this weeks must reads. Lets bring in my big three panel. Contributing editor and doug hataway and former Senior Adviser to this Hillary Clinton president ial campaign and msnbc contributor and bush cheney Senior Adviser here in the studio, robert trainer. Hello to you all. Lets start with something from the president. I will let you see part of it. The new republic interview. A couple of nuggets from the president out of this interview and said one of the biggest factors is how the media shapes debates. If a republican member of congress is not punished by Rush Limbaugh for working with a democrat on the bill for Public Interest you will see more of them doing it. I think boehner wanted to get a deal done but hard to do because he is vulnerable to attack for compromising republican principals. Is that right and will it continue to be a problem . Pretty good assessment. The Republican Party is divide without clear leadership and a lot of the members take their cues from Rush Limbaugh and fox news. If you run afoul of those media power houses you risk being primariried in the election election. You can see gop, i would hardly call them moderates, but chambliss from georgia saying they are not going to run because they are looking at the writing on the wall and think they will be challenged next year by the right. I think the president is right in viewing the major media on the right as a significant obstacles. Primaried as you say. Lets listen to paul ryan. He was on meet the press. I decided to not comment between the election and the inauguration because i wanted to see what kind of president s we are looking at here, what kind of path and trajectory he was putting his administration on and all of the statements an comments lead me to think he is thinking more of a political conquest than political compromise. Some already are trying to call this sore losers, same old type of whining. What did you make of everything you heard from congressman ryan . It is a combination of two things them president won reelection decisively but the republicans won here, too. The question is where to compromise in the middle in some way, shape or form. Congressman ryan is right, he was elected and needs to lead and frame the debate in the conversation. With respect to what was said before this is like gentleman view all over again. Moderate democrats and some progressive democrats were chastised by other networks that we should not name when they tried to work with president bush. The question is how to move to the center so both sides have some type of compromise and can go back to their constituencies and say we did compromise. It was the right thing for the country. I will bring you in and listen to one more thing from congressman ryan on meet the press. My concern is the president may be more focused on political ends in 2014, versus moving to the middle. When you saw his speech at the inauguration, it leads us to conclude hes not looking to moderate or move to the middle. He is looking to go farther to the left and wants to fight every step of the way politically. Is that what you get from it, as well . Is that what you got from the nag ratiinauguration. I think it is laughable to hear the obstructionist republicans that run the house of representatives lecture anyone about being moderate and moving to the middle. On issue after issue the president started in the middle, bent over backwards to accommodate republicans in congress. And they honest observer of the process of what is going on if washington knows it is the republicans in the house, their extreme iedologist, their unwillingness to cooperate for the good of the country is what is keeping anything from getting done. I think people are proud of the president for laying out clear, strong principles about the direction he wants to move the country and i think it is ridiculous to hear lectures from paul ryan about coming to the middle and trying to compromise. I will stay with you because you were a Senior Adviser on Hillary Clintons campaign in 2008. Her president ial campaign. Have you cleared your schedule for 2016 to make sure you are free . I would love to. I have heard plenty of calls from people who want secretary clinton to run for president. I think for her shes looking to take a very welldeserved break after all of the hard work shes done over the last four years and then some. Hopefully write a book, tell us what she learned and observed and i think take time and think of how she can make the best impact on the many issues that she cares about. Theres a lot of ways to do that. You have gotten calls from people who want her to run. Anyone from the old camp . Any infrastructure in place or not to say things arent are things, you know, you are behind the scenes and you know what you have in place and you can start a campaign overnight if you want to. Are things in place for that to happen. It is way too early for that. People that worked for her worked very hard and needs a break. What do you make of the interview and the two sitting down side by side and saying hillary it is all yours. It is great for the president and secretary to sit down with each other to break bread. It is an open secret, i think this most likely will be a bush versus clinton all over again. This is probably bushs race to lose, meaning jeb bush at a primary and Hillary Clinton if she decides to run and i think she will. Vice President Biden will step aside and i think it will be bush versus clinton all over. I think biden is keeping showing the voters that he knows how to make government work. He can look very good in four years depending on how obamas second term goes and how much credit joe biden gets. If Hillary Clinton decides she can win this without going through a bitter primary then i think joe biden will probably step aside. The party wants hillary. As soon as she says she is running that clears the field. I think that is the case although it is a tough decisions for some of the young governors who want to get in this thing. Hillary has proven herself on the battlefield. Nobody wants to mess with her. I think if hillary, secretary clinton decided to run it is her turn. We will have the must read sunday with the big three. New prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. Now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. Now why make a flavored heartburn pill . Because this is america. And we dont just make things you want, we make things you didnt even know you wanted. Like a spoon fork. Spray cheese. And jeans made out of sweatpants. So grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. Behind the silver of philadelphia cream cheese. It always begins with fresh, local milk, blended with real wholesome cream. Going fresh from the farm, to our fridge, in just six days. Because we believe in fresh taste. Thats the way we set the standard for intensely rich, luscious flavor. So our story of fresh taste always ends. Deliciously. When it comes to taste, philadelphia sets the standard. Were back with the big 3. And this weeks mustreads. Lets start with you, elnor. What is your mustread . I chose ezra kleins piece which explains why the democrats are likely to cave first. He points out that the top democratic priorities, Social Security, medicaid, pelgrants are all protected and that 50 across the board cut, a big chunk of it would come out of defense spending. It puts republicans in the position of loving tax cuts more than defense. Why should the democrats blink . They have been wanting to cut defense spending for a long time. I think this is explained in a clear way. What is your must read . Mine is the interview with president obama. There are a few topics. I was focused on the president s comment that gun Safety Advocates should listen more to the concerns of responsible gun owners if they are going to get anything done. It is totally doable. Most gun owners support common sense regulations to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldnt have them. This would be a smart way to move forward and get something done. Such a common sense thing that we can take it up on so many topics and we sat down and listened and respected the person on the other side of the argument. President talked a little bit about skeet shooting. Interesting read. You tell me. Back in 2004 president bush won reelection and it was how brilliant the campaign was and how the democrats said never again will we be defeated. We must emulate president bushs campaign. There was a story about how republicans are saying we need to do better. We need to do a better job of being very much involved from the technology standpoint. Campaigns have elections, consquences and thus the process. Good to see you all. The big three for this weekend. Thank you so much for being here with us. And then to the audience as well thank you for being with us. That wraps up this sunday edition of weekends with alex witt. Straight ahead meet the press. And then at 3 00 eastern time you can catch the afternoon. Alex will be with you next weekend. Im t. J. Homes. Thank you so much. I have low testosterone. There, i said it. How did i know . Well, i didnt really. See, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive. But when i started losing energy and became moody. Thats when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. We discussed all the symptoms. Then he gave me some blood tests. Showed it was low t. Thats it. It was a number not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1. 62 testosterone gel . The 1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy, increases testosterone when used daily. Women and children should avoid contact with application sites. 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