Transcripts For WCAU Meet The Press 20141130

Lawmakers have on the countriment. Im chuck todd and with me to provide analysis are Eugene Robinson of the washington post, and my colleague Andrea Mitchell and rich lauer editor of the national review. With welcome to meet the press. This is meet the press with chuck todd. One huge story has dominated the this week, a it is the aftermath of that grand jury decision in ferguson, missouri. We learned that Darren Wilson resigned from the Ferguson Police force. He submitted a Resignation Letter that said he wanted to stay on, but the safety of other Police Officers and the community are of paramount importance to me, and there is a lot of healing that needs to be done. And almost three quarters of the way through president Barack Obamas historic presidency, there is a lot of healing that needs to be done. We will be joined by governor patrick patrick, Deval Patrick and a panel to discuss the issue. There is not a Latino America or black america, there is a United States of america. Reporter the president who cast the vision of hope saw it splinter this week by a splint screen reality. We are a nation built on the rule of law, and so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jurys to make. On one side the images of tear gas and protests, and on the other, the cautious commander in chief who is running out of time in office. The president es resonance aft the verdict of the grand jury in the kill iing of mike brown he d this to say if i had a son, he would have lo looked like Trayvon Martin and if u u with were younger i could have been Trayvon Martin and there are very few africanamerican men who have not had the experience of being followed while slopping, ahoppi that includes me. Reporter six years ago, then candidate obama gave what was a risky speech about his experience as a black man in america, and his hand force ed by the controversy of jeremiah wright. I cannot disown him as i can my white grandmother, and a woman who loves more than anything, and a woman who confesses her fear of black men who passes her by on the speech. Reporter and after that, controversy after he criticized the Police Officer who a arre arrested henry gates in harvard. The Police Officer acted stupidly, and there is a long history of africanamericans and latinos being stopped by Law Enforcement disproportionately, and that is a fact. Reporter Police Union Officials in cambridge called for the apology, and the president backed away from the criticism, and defused the controversy with a photoop a beer summit. And now, some criticized how some viewed his presidency. There is a dark veined intolerance. Colin powell incited the party last year. And hesitant to criticize, the president said that though there is problems, there is enormous progress in race are relations, but some disagree. Fegson signifies the end of obama, and it is a sad end. The Household Income for africanamericans is 35,000 a year, and that is 20,000 less for whites and no bet ter when the president took office, and white unemployment was 4. 8 last month, and black unemployment was 10. 9 , and black men are six times more likely as white men to be incarcerated and black men between the 15 and 19 are 21 more times as likely to be killed bay Police Officer. Im joined by the outgoing governor of massachusetts Deval Patrick, and welcome back. Thank you, chuck, for having me. Before you made it into e elective politics, you worked in the Clinton Justice department, and in fact nsh, in the civil rs division, and the grand jurys decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson, and walk us through the process of what they are investigating and what they would be looking at . Well, it is a higher bar as we we were talking about off camera that the d. O. J. Has to consider, whether there is a consideration of violation of civil or Constitutional Rights which is different than what a grand jury in a state prosecution has to consider. And it is going to be a tough case to prove, and i say that without or that is to bring, and i say that without knowing all of the puts and takes of the case and what the the facts are, and it is very difficult. It is very important that doj is investigating it, and i know that attorney general holder is urging that investigation, and he will drive it through to conclusion. Did you want to see the indictment . Look, without knowing all of the facts, of course, i wanted to see the indictment, mostly, because the trial and the transparency of the trial would be good for the community, and look, because so many of us have the supposition that Police Officers are not going to be held accountable, and not going to have to answer for the shooting of unarmed young black teenagers, but the facts and the process as the the president sa does have to be respected which is separate and apart of the anxieties that young blacks have with encounters of Law Enforcement, and the anxieties that young Law Enforcement have about the anxieties of encounters with young black people, and the the stark contrast of the two. And you were asked how you would have handled the situation if you were in president obamas shoes, and you simply said, i am glad that dont have to. Yes. And what would you want president obama to do . Anything more on ferguson . Do you think that he should go . I think that he wants to go, by the way, and i think that it is not that because i know that, but i sense that knowing the man, because i think that he would like to be there to comfort the family of Michael Brown who are having to relive this tragedy all over again, and to e re reassure the community at large. And why isnt he going . Well, my sense is, and you asked me what i would do, and the reason it is a quandary is because the federal government is investigating right now sh, you dont want to appear to influence the investigation. Well, eric holder went . Well, you dont want to appear to influence the investigation, and also, i think that the president is in a really, really the tough place, trying to be and having been elected to serve as president of the whole country, and being, and having Higher Expectations on issues related to the race. I have experienced that at home. I was going to say, how did you deal with issues like that the and did you feel that you were worried about looking like you were playing favorites . Yes, i did. I remember a relatively early experience and it all feels early almost eight years in, when we had a terrible loss of a teenaged boy, a black boy in the roxbury neighborhood of boston. It was, it appeared to have been a gangrelated killing of a marvelous kid from a marvelous family, and the mother in her anguish called out, called me out in the media and said, where is the governor . And now, the the governors are not normally expected to come to the street crime scene cans. She had not called out the mayor, and we had run a very Grass Roots Campaign and we had engaged a lot of people, and the expectations of me by virtue of being a black official were different, and i had to learn, that and ultimately i did go out. I want to shift gears to the future of the Democratic Party, and i want to play for you a bite from senator Chuck Schumer who indicts the president s first year in office by saying that health care is a mistake. The democrats blew the opportunity a that the American People gave them. And we we took their mandate and put all of the focus on the wrong problem, health care reform. But it wasnt the change that we with were with hired to make. Americans with were crying out for the end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs, and not changes in health care. You agree with him . Well, i are respect senator schumer, but, no, i dont agree with that. Americans understand the interconnectedness with the whole host that the government should help solve, and americans should help themselves, but if you ask someone who is trying to be insured while sick and if they are buried in debt while sick, they will tell you that it does make a difference. And is this soul searching time for the party . Well, it ought to be, because election day was a great day for the republicans and Citizens United and a bad day for the democrats who dont stand for anything. And when the democrats do stand for something or as i have said in the past, grow a backbone and stand up for what we believe, we win. Because what we believe is what the American People are wanting. And you think that the democrats ran away from running a w away are from the president obama . Yes, a huge mistake. This is the president who has are presided over explosive stock market growth, and coming back strong over the worst economic economy collapse in a generation or two, and the universal health care, and bin ladens removal, and the ended of two wars and on and on and on and one problem that the president has is that he does not tell that story very well or very regularly, and the the importance of the repetition is something that i had to lerp, and had to learn, and not that we have reached the promised land, but it is certainly that we are better off. And hillary clinton, and you have praised her and admired her from afar, but you are concerned about the air of inevitability, and it is hard for the party. Well, secretary clinton has been an extraordinary public servant, and would be a terrific candidate for president , but i think that the narrative that it is inevitable is offputting to regular voters. And you mean, as far as challengers in the democratic p party . Well, not a critic of hers, but they read it as entitlement, a and the American People want, and they ought to want the candidates to sweat for the job, and make a case por wfor why the the right person for the right ti time. And you ended up winning the Democratic Party and you might be a 1 or 2 person if you made a run, and would you think about running it . I have thought about it, but i cant be ready for 2016. This is the running for governor, twoterm running for nationally education, and health care, and veteran efficiency and i did not run for this job to get another job but to do this job. Why didnt another democrat replace or just a republican, and did you feel that it was a rejection of your two years . I was not on the ballot, and i ran against the governor elect four years ago and we had a different outcome, and we had a good candidate who got better as she came closer to election day. And of course, she was outspent 9 or 10 to 1. And you dont feel responsibility for that . Looshgsk, im sorry, but the outcome of the elections depend on the candidate and not the folks on the sideline. Thank you, outgoing governor of massachusetts Deval Patrick. I want to go back to ferguson and the handling of it by president obama, and governor patrick said that he felt the pressure put on president obama and the white house feels it. I feel that as you said in the set hup piece, he is handling this differently than the Trayvon Martin case. And he is identifying with the Michael Brown family, but because it is a case involving Law Enforcement, the white house is a little bit more restrained in their ability to step ointo the the middle of this, even though there is a lot of outreach, and Valerie Jarrett reach i reaching out to talk to people in the community, the presence of the president of the United States in a situation that volatile involving the Law Enforcement community are where facts are, as they say disputed, would be potentially a very, very difficult plolitically. And eugene, too red saz reso . Well, he is the most difficult situation, and he is the most difficult black man in america, because if he loses, he will lose part of the white constituency, so he is damned if he goes, and damned if he stays and damned if he says anything substantive and damned if he is pontificates. And you have been critical of the whole Michael Brown story this in general, and im curious what you think of the president s public statements, and what you think of them . Well, i would have tweaked some things that he said last week, and basically, he was right on and i felt that the sincere of the random and the pointless destruction in ferguson, and i appreciated it, and he made a good point that poor communities need policing because the drug dealing, and the gangs, and the other people can buy their way out, and poor people cant, and they need the police to help them to be protected. And hl lean, watching what the doj does, is that going to be opening up more wounds or raising too much expectations in the africanamerican community, and what is going to be the end result of the justice department, particularly, if they decide that there is not enough . I mean, you heard governor patrick say it is a high bar. I think that the doj investigation has the potential to make it worse. It would be nice to move on are from this, but the fundamental issue is still there, and what, at the same time that you see what is at issue, and you say fundamental issue, and what is it . It ist not Michael Brown, but it is that it is keep happening to black men, and the whole issue of the driving while black, and my friend gary fields wrote a fantastic article of what is it like to be 250 black guy under suspicion for walking down the street for absolutely nothing, and as long as black people continue the feel that you cannot walk down the street without coming under suspicion, this anger is going to be continuing. And it is a story we have heard for one thing, and poor commu communities want policing and they need the policing, and you will find the most law oriented people that you will find in low income communities with a crime problem, because they want the policing done with the community, and to the community, and that is one of the issues. And they want the policing not with the majority white police force on the majority black community, rich. And rich, what is interesting when you look at the whites, whites that live in the urban communities are much more believe that we have a still race problem in the country, and the whites living in the rural or the whiter communities they dont see the race issue, do you believe that is part of the divide that maybe rural whites dont see this issue the way that folks that live in urban america . Perhaps. But you look at ferg sop specifically, and this is an area where the governmental structures have not caught up to the demographic change in the last decade, and that is what you do to take care of by organize ing organizing in the voting, and what i object to is that you can discuss all of the problems, but dont pretend that this particular incident was something that it wasnt. If you look at the most credible evidence, the lessons are are basic, dont rob a Convenient Store and dont try to take a policemans gun and when he yells at you stop, just stop, an none of this would have happened. Well, well, well no, no, no. And in is a relitigation no, no, conflicting testimony. And Michael Brown is not Trayvon Martin. No, he is not Trayvon Martin and neither is Darren Wilson George Zimmerman and so there are clear differences, and you know, we are not in the relitigation business so we wont go into the whole thing, but will is conflicting evidence and witnesses who were not believed who said otherwise and those who were believed who said that is what happened. And the evidence backed up officer wilsons version, and that is why the grand jury dismissed it. And cities in baltimore are doing things like diversity of Police Forces which has nothing to do with the elected and white officials can diversify the Police Forces. We will pause for a moment, and the summit of Race Relations in america will go more in depth a after this break. Meet the press sigh [ male announcer ] we know theyre out there. You cant always see them. But its our job to find them. The answers. The solutions. The innovations. All waiting to help us build Something Better. Something more amazing. A safer, cleaner, brighter future. At boeing, thats what building Something Better is all about. Aour hearty allnatural turkeyg somechili is back in season. T. Slowcooked with turkey raised without antibiotics, tart tomatillos, chilies, carrots, edamame and more. The savory spice of the chili pairs perfectly with the black bean hummus and the fresh crunch of napa cabbage blend in our southwestern chicken flatbread. And it all comes together in a you pick two made just for you. Only at panera bread. Transit fares as in the 37 billion transit fares we help collect each year. No . Oh, right. Youre thinking of the 1. 6 million daily Customer Care interactions xerox handles. Or the 900 Million Health insurance claims we process. So, its no surprise to you that companies depend on todays xerox for services that simplify how work gets done. Which is. Pretty much what weve always stood for. With xerox, youre ready for real business. Welcome back. Let me show you the cover of this weeks new yorker. It shows the broken state of Race Relations in st. Louis which is the metro area that encompasses ferguson. The grand jurys decision not to indict Darren Wilson provoked unrest. In ferguson, the cleanup effort is in progress after a number of businesses were wrecked and looted. Protests were on the weekend and a boycott. Black friday in campaign to response to the decision, malls in st. Louis were forced to close their doors. Protesters in seattle chained doors of a Shopping Center and successfully closed that. In oakland, a rail station was temporarily closed after activists chained themselves to trains. Im joined by the president of the naacp Legal Defense and education fund, david brook, ben carson from Johns Hopkins and from boston, charles ogletree. Welcome to all of you. Thank you for doing this. Professor, i want to get your reaction to this. Last poll that studied this, the situation of black people is better now than it was five years ago, its a double digit drop from 2009 and the euphoria of the election of the first black president. Are we no better off today . Is the africanamerican public right about this, were no better off today in Race Relations than we were six years ago . I think were right, chuck. I hate to say this, but i think about what my father and grandfather told me about Race Relations way back when i was a young kid, how they were devastated with the idea of separation based on race. It is worse now. We think of people who dont have jobs who cant go to school, people who cant get healthcare. We are in a situation right now that will create fergusons over and over and over again. Its not just ferguson, missouri. Its around country. We see this racial divide despite the fact that its a black president , who i love dearly, theres a racial divide in america thats not going to went Trayvon Martin being killed, with Michael Brown being killed, with the 12yearold being killed by police. Its not going to end at all. Ben, do you agree . I agree that things have definitely deteriorated. We look at a situation like ferguson and people say, thats causing more Racial Division. The fact of the matter is, ferguson is a manifestation of the Racial Division as we see it right now. Obviously, there are a lot of people around this nation who feel things are unfair for them, who feel disinfranchised. It makes them ripe for a tinder box situation like this. It seems to be almost universal agreement on this. I have to disagree on this. We are looking at mike brown. But the issue of Law Enforcement and the killing of unarmed africanamericans and the assault of unarmed africanamericans has been going on for decades and has nothing to do with obama. My first exposure was when i was 10yearold. This is in the early 1970s. The difference now is that we have these photos, we have these cell phone pictures. This is something, an issue that civil rights organizations have been working on forever and we havent been listened to. People havent believed us. Do you think social media, if we had it 30 years ago, would have expedited this conversation, expedited this uncomfortable moment that were having . It is an uncomfortable conversation. One of the reasons we dont make progress is its so uncomfortable. Every time we bring up the issue, we Start Talking about violence in the black community or what some people call black on black crime, which is an important conversation to have and we should have a show about it, but it doesnt have to do with the power of the state of Law Enforcement to follow you, to shoot you in Public Housing in a stairway, to kill a 12yearold boy, to kill a man in walmart for carrying a toy gun, to kill people unarmed, to tase someone in front of their children. Were talking about the way Law Enforcement engaging the africanamerican community. A charactlets play a clip. What about the poor black child that is killed by another black child . Those people go to jail. I protest it. They go to jail. Talk about the way in which white policemen undercut the ability of americans to live. Why dont you cut it down so so many white Police Officers dont have to be in black areas . That was speaking of Uncomfortable Conversations to witness, that was an uncomfortable conversation. In many ways it exposed the p z prism that White America and black american see this. Whites have to acknowledge racist and see how differently we see this. Whites cant say, does this look right, but does this look trustworthy to people in the africanAmerican People . We have to understand that were no longer in the civil rights era. This is not a question of good versus evil, right versus wrong. Racial inequality has become entangled in disappearing jobs, family structure. This is mostly a question of good intentioned people trying to do the best they can with very naughty social problems which overlap with social problems. Pharrell williams said something interesting. He said he was talking about Michael Brown. He said this are we focusing on the wrong part of this conversation . Were talking about Law Enforcement and the relationship between the black community and the Law Enforcement community when we obviously had a breakdown somewhere in Michael Browns life. We have to talk on both of them. Talk about Michael Brown and the police. Theres no question about that. I think that hearing this, i like the song happy. Its on my phone at home. You want to listen to it. It makes a lot of difference. The reality is that Michael Brown did not have a gun. He put his hands up. Michael brown was trying to avoid confrontation. I think that we need to understand why we have these data its clear that black boys are being killed by white Police Officers around the country from north to south, from east to west. It doesnt end. I think we have to make sure that were responding to that, making the people like Michael Brown understand it and deal with it. But make sure we dont have these things happen again. We heard dwb, that black men experience this, driving while black. Yes, i drive in a white neighborhood and if im not doing the speed limit, im going to get pulled over like that. That does happen. Ever happen to you . Yes. The attorney general of missouri last year had a report that came out that said in the ferguson area blacks were serve season times more likely to be stop and twice as more likely to be arrested. Whose fault is that . Well, the real question is, what do we do about this kind of situation . You know, everybody is going to be off in their corner. People are a product of their life experiences. Can we actually solve this problem . There are a lot of things that we can probably talk about. For instance, police being equipped with cameras. As you probably know, in situations theres a movement of having cameras. 85 of these things would be stopped. What do you think . California equipped their officers with camera, the crime rate and abuse dropped. Real training of Police Officers. If you look at some of the encounters we see, look at the 12yearold boy who was killed, its within seconds. You are watching these encounters in which the Police Arrive on the scene and they are unable to deescalate, to assess the situation, to see when we are dealing with a child. Police officers need real training. They need training in implicit bias. Its well intentioned people, but there are biases in this country. We do have images in our head that are racial. If you heard Darren Wilsons testimony when he talked about mike brown, almost as an animal he was bulking up. We have these images in our head. The only way we can deal with those images is to slow things down, is to give Police Officers the training that they need to be able to manage their own biases so they can properly assess the situation. How does this continue next week . We say we will have this hard conversation and guess what, next week we wont. I really dont believe in a conversation about race. If were going to be friends, we dont sit around saying were such great friends. We dont need a conversation. We need a project. Its outward looking. The project is about Early Childhood education, all things that failed Michael Brown. If we have a common project about schools, then we will have something to do together and that will unite us. Sounds like broken windows. Thank you for this conversation. Are you running for president . I should quickly tell you, maybe. Fair enough. We will be watching that. By the way, to end this discussion on a more optimistic note, lets look at this very powerful image in a rally in oregon. Its 12yearold devonte heart and a Police Sergeant hugging it out. He attended the rally eager to convey a message of peace. He held up a sign offering free hugs. The officer was more than happy to oblige. Twhat do i do . You need to catch the 4 10 huh . The Equipment Tracking system will get you to the loading dock. There should be a truck leaving now. I got it. 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Its a veteranowned company that not only employs many veterans but they give 1 of their profits to charity as well, which is not always an easy task for a startup company. Its posted right now on our website. We will be right back here with the place where the immigration debate may ultimately be decided, and ive been called a control freak. I like to think of myself as more of a control. Enthusiast. Mmm, a perfect 177degrees. And thats why this road warrior rents from national. I can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. And i dont have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. And i dont. And national lets me choose any car in the aisle. Control. Its so, whats the word . Sexy. Go national. Go like a pro. Will thank you. , sir . Ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. I order b14. I get b14. No surprises. Buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster White Knuckle thrill ride. Youre promised one speed. But do you consistently get it . 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With xerox, youre ready for real business. Hows that for an encore . You wont take our future. Aids affects us all. Even babies. Chevron is working to stop mothertochild transmission. Our employees and their families are part of the fight. And were winning. At chevron nigeria, we havent had a reported case in 14 years. Aids is strong. But we are stronger. And aids. Aids is going to lose. Time for our meet the press nerd screen. Since we made a graphic, nerd screen is official. President obamas executive action on immigration set off a fight. We know where in the country that fight might get settled, with real implications for 2016. First lets look at the numbers from our latest nbc news wall street journal poll taken before the president s announcement. Overall, 38 approved of the idea of him taking executive action, 48 disapproved. Our friends took a closer look at the numbers to see how different communities responded to the same question. First a quick reminder, this is how they see the country. This map breaks the u. S. Down into 15 different types of counties. All of which have their own unique view of american politics. People in the big cities, the pink parts, are supportive of the president s move. 48 approved of the action before he took it, 31 disapproved. People who live between suburban and rural america, the yellow part of the map, they are strongly opposed. 56 disapproved, 36 approved. The president is not likely to win these folks over. That brings us to the suburbs, dark orange on our map. Thats where attitudes are split down the middle. 41 approved of the idea of the president doing unilateral moves on immigration, 44 disapproved. Why is this divide important . Because its here in the urban suburbs, where democrats have the most to lose if people turn against the president. The democrats need these places to win national elections. 67 Million People live in these areas. President obama won them by a whopping 16 points in 2012. If these communities turn against the executive action that the president took, its possible democratic president ial conditions will be faced with a hard choice, support the president and risk turning off the potential swing runners or run against the executive action and possibly turn off hispanic voters. Thats an important part of the Democratic Base vote. That Decision Point isnt two years away. It may be a few months away. The sub rushz already a swing vote that has to be acknowledged. These are the questions potential candidates have to consider now because of the issue of immigration not going away any time soon. Speaking of immigration, House Republicans have to figure out how they will react to the president s decision. So does the new Senate Republican majority. Tom cotton is one of both, a House Republican and abou daughter do you and mom still have money with that broker . Dad yeah, 20 something years now. Thinking about what you want to do with your money . Daughter looking at options. What do you guys pay in fees . Dad i dont know exactly. Daughter if youre not happy do they have to pay you back . Dad it doesnt really work that way. Daughter you sure . Vo are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . Wealth management at charles schwab. Alkaseltzer plus presents the cold truth. I have a cold, with terrible chest congestion. Better take something. Ill catch up later. Awww. Truth is, theraflu severe cold doesnt treat chest congestion. Really . New alkaseltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. Oh, what a relief it is. Here we go woooo woooo and now, alkaseltzer plus has a complete line of powders to treat your worst cold symptoms. Were celebrating the season with our chicken tortellini alfredo, made with five cheeses, and topped with smoked chicken, add a crisp, classic caesar salad for a pairing that brings comfort and joy to your dinner table. Only at panera bread. Revolutionary by every standard. And that became our passion. To always build Something Better, airplanes that fly cleaner and farther on less fuel. That redefine comfort and connect the world like never before. After all, you cant turn dreams into airplanes unless your passion for innovation is nonstop. Welcome back. We all think change doesnt come fast to the senate. Here is a statistic that surprised us. Threequarters of the nations senators will have started their career after 9 11. There has been a lot of turnover in the worlds most dlib are aive body. They are getting younger. The average age is 50, ten years younger than the average age of the senate. One reason the average age is going down is thanks to our next guest, tom cotton. At 37, he is the youngest member of the senate. His victory over mark pryor helped give republicans their new majority. I think i may have brought that average down by six years. There you go. Lets start with immigration. You are a sitting member of the house. Theres been speculation that House Republicans this week are going to decide on how to retaliate against the president on his decision. Whats the decision going to be . We will come back from the thanksgiving holiday and make a decision the best way to proceed. Congress has to stand up to protect our prerogative, which is stand up for the American People. The president just lost an election in no small measure because wages for working families are declining and unemployment is still too high. The first big action he took was to make it easier for Illegal Immigrants to get jobs, not for working families to get jobs. One of the ideas thats been floating out there is to pass all of the spending bills through september of next year and just isolate anything that has do with immigration. Do you agree with that idea . Thats one possible solution. That would stop our spending on other things. We might pass a shortterm spending mesh spend ing measure to you are against the idea that i will consult with my colleagues in the senate and the house to decide on an immediate path forward. Im reluctant to see the spending power that the congress has under the constitution for threeeighths of the remainder of the presidency. Would republicans be on Higher Ground if the house passed an immigration bill . I think we should pass a bill that why didnt you . There werent the votes in the house Going Forward to focus on the real problems that the people of arkansas shared with me during the campaign, a bill that focused on building a border fence or enforcing laws and getting a handle on legal immigration. But the new congress will focus on those. You said immigration you thought was the number one issue, the reason why you and so many republicans won. Certainly. A central issue. But too many are worried about the impact that immigration is having on their community, jobs for working families. Thats why they want us to address the problems. You brought up one other issue during the campaign. I want to ask about you it. Let me play audio about the immigration issue. You didnt bring up terrorism with me. Did you in a Campaign Phone call. Is that Just Campaign rhetoric . No. Whats the evidence . Hezbollah has tried to launch terrorist attacks. They are under federal indictment collaborating with locals in mexico to attack us. As long as our border is off, its a National Security issue. We know the drug cartels are focused on power and profit. They will branch out into any active if it brings them money and helps them consolidate control. Thats why we need control of our border. Do you worry rhetoric makes it that much harder to get some sort of agreeable immigration bill . That mraplaced a fear. The Islamic State is cutting the head off of americans here. Thats something we should be fearful of and we should take a stance against whether in iraq and syria or securing our southern border. One thing you did as a congressman, you were alone in voting against the farm bill. Some people thought that was a problem for you. It turned out to be. Explain to me what your job as a senator is how much do you represent arkansas versus representing the interests outside of arkansas. I voted against that bill because i thought it wasnt in the interest of arkansas you were in the minority. Everyone has disagreements. But i didnt think it was a good idea to spend a trillion dollars at a time when we are almost 18 trillions in debt, when arkansas would get a small benefit. No one will agree with every word i speak or every vote i cast. I hope everyone will know im looking out for their interests. Do you think too many senators are parochial . That was something, im looking in my view whats in the best national interest, maybe it wasnt in the best financial interest in our national interest. If you look at farm counties i won across arkansas, you will see farmers agrees and said so at the time. Tom cotton, you have some cleanup work here in the house. We will watch to see what happens on immigration. Thanks for coming on meet the press. In 45 seconds, we will hear from janay rice, what she has to say about Roger Goodell. As parents we hold our kids hands when crossing the street so think of the internet as the worlds busiest street. Teach your kids to surf and post responsibly. Theyll be safer with a dedicated crossing guard. The more you know. Welcome back. The panel is here. Helene cooper, when i brought you i wanted you on the show. Your big scoop had to do with an outgoing defense secretary, chuck hagel, he was fired by the president. Number one, why do we think he was fired . Do we really think he was fired . Who do you think the president will replace him with . Wow. You dont ask anything hard. Not at all. You are the one who broke the story. You own the story now, cooper. I own it. I think he was the phrase we are using is resigned under pressure. I think president obama was very fine with seeing him leave because its sort of in many ways, chuck hagel was exactly the defense secretary that president obama wanted. He wanted to take the temperature down a notch after a smaller personality in. He didnt want a rock star military general. He didnt want the constant fighting with the pentagon over troop numbers in iraq and afghanistan. Hagel gave him everything he wanted. At the end of the day, chuck hagel was viewed by the white house as almost too passive. I think the real reason why he was let go is because the white house, after the mid terms, felt luke they needed to show they were doing with they were shaking up the National Security team. The reality is he didnt want to shake up his National Security team. He went for the lowest hanging fruit. It was interesting to see the republicans who voted against chuck hagel in confer rags sudd suddenly embrace him. I agree firing is too harsh. This is conscious decoupling. Wow. Pharrell williams and Gwyneth Paltrow on the same show. I thought hagel was brought on to be a nonfactor and was performing in that role. I was surprised by this. You now have three former defense secretaries that say the white house is too insular and is micromanaging on foreign policy. You have a policy making process that is troubled. And a substantive policy that i believe is a disaster. The question is where does the substantive policy go . Specifically, Islamic State. And to me the war seems to be in the sort of untenable middle ground where its kind of a war but not really. Which way does it go from here . The fact is that he was hired to get out of afghanistan and iraq. And now we are in both. We signed an agreement. We are training and we are on the ground in iraq. They criticized him for being too passive. They wanted someone passive. I want to shift a little bit. Matt lauer got an exclusive with ray rices wife during the Domestic Violence incident that took place in atlantic city. Here is what has been interesting is the focus now seems to be on the nfl commissioner Roger Goodell, what did he know, when did he know it. Here is what janay rice said he knew. When the commissioner of the nfl Roger Goodell says ray was ambiguous and the nfl says it was a starkly different sequence of events, is the commissioner lying . I cant say hes telling the truth. I know for a fact that he told that ray told the honest truth, that he has been telling from february. And you think the league and the commissioner covered their butts . I think they did what they had to do for themselves. Rich, i know you are an nfl fan. Phil simmons got fired for speculating he was a liar. She said Roger Goodell lied. The notes seem to back her up. This seemed bizarre that you would punish him twice for the same offense. The first time too lightly, the second time too severely. The process has been a mess its a big threat to the future of Roger Goodell. In the longterm, i believe the biggest threat to the nfl is the concussion issue. It would be goodells job would be on line if he werent hired by the owners who are still backing him as of now. I think it may still be on the line. He makes so much money for the owners. Somebody else can do the same thing. The other thing from that interview though that really jumped out at me is that she remembers nothing of what happened in the elevator because he hit her so hard. Talk about concussions. It was just it was a pauling. Its an amazing thing to have seen. So i do think this is a big issue for the nfl. I understand why the nfl is trying to get out front and not be behind this curve, what did goodell know and when did he know it, i suspect we will learn more about this. Lets go lighter here. Its officially here. Cyber monday is tomorrow. Many of you braved all the black friday crowds on tuesday of last year. I happen to know andrea rushed out. Shes a big play station 4 gal. For those of you who havent gotten ahead on your holiday gift shopping, we have our top five gifts for the political junky in your life. For the justice and hip hop loving person in your life, its the notorious r. B. G. Tshirt in Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg was released from the hospital this week. A stent put in and is expected to hear arguments tomorrow. Good for her. Number four, you want to dress like a president. Done. George h. W. Bush socks complete with the elephant. I know what im getting helene. Back at the court. Look how cool this is or shall we say hot. This has Supreme Court cases. Add hot coffee and the losers vanish. I know what im getting pete williams. Theres the ted cruz coloring. A Missouri Company has that line and what they call special event coloring books. This stars the texas junior senator 2016 hopeful ted cruz. Finally, what im getting you your dog or cat, they dont stop talking about hillary clinton. Now they can show they are ready for hillary, too. The lucky cat collar or dog leash. The price for both is 20. 16. There it is. Thats what you want, right . Shopping is done. Thank you. That was great. A tshirt for you. Appreciate it. This is what we do here. On a more a little heavier note here at the end, 2016 we talk about ted cruz, ben carson. What do we make of ben carson . He is incredible popular. He is going to be a real s k factor in iowa. That part of the field will be crowded. They are both the teavangelicals. Ted cruz and ben carson is cool. They have two different temperament temperaments. Ted cruz has won election in texas. Carson has not. He has no political background at all. I was watching. That could be an asset. I was watching him on maryland pbs last night. He taped it about a year ago. His lecture on the brain, fascinating stuff. A live audience. The rest of us are watching football. Andrea is watching a pbs special. I saw he was on the tube. She wasnt watching the iron bowl. That is not what was happening. You were terrific. I should do the nerd thing. Before we go. Quick note, this week if its tuesday, it will be the tenyear anniversary, ready for that tenyear anniversary of Brian Williams ang s anchoring nbc n news. A decade, nice work. Hope to match you. If its thursday, Allison Williams live peter pan. Because if its sunday, next week, it will be meet the press. Hnhz z z fighting, barking and misbehaving. Today we discuss how to tape a difficult dog and well give you tips on how to keep your precious pooch from emptying your wallet and why they are falling behind parents when it comes to money and we discuss the Science Behind why it works at reducing stress. Good morning. Im keith jones for nbc 10 issue. We begin with a situation that mean people in our area struggle with. How to deal with a difficult dog especially a pet. One family tells us they didnt know they had a problem until it was too late