Transcripts For WRC Meet The Press 20150223

House press secretary to president obama, robert gibbs. The cook political reports walker. Former chief speech writer for george w. Bush and columnist, michael gerson. Welcome to sunday its meet the press. This is meet the press with chuck todd. Its been a battle that has raged since isis shocked the world with its cult of violence and death. What should president obama call this enemy . Hes refused to use the terms islamist or radical islam. Insisting that were not at war with islam. But with some perversion of a great religion. Conservatives argue that in doing so mr. Obama is failing to recognize the true face of the enemy. So we wondered in this debate about semantics and security is there precedent for the president s position . We went back to the videotape and heres what we found. The terrorists do not speak for over a billion muslims who reject their hateful ideology. All is not the true face of islam. We are not at war with islam. We are at war with people who have perverted islam. This is by i think all of us recognize that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified. The face of terror is not the true faith of islam. Thats not what islam is all about. Islam is peace. So in fact president obama doesnt sound very different from president bush or Vice President cheney. Now into this controversy jumps former new york city mayor Rudy Giuliani who insisted again and again this week that he believes mr. Obama doesnt love his country. Should giulianis opinion even matter though. Is it relevant or constructive . Those questions werent dealt with. Instead we got the media feeding frenzy who was wholly unsatisfactory and likely met with more than a few eye rolls. Breaking tonight. New outrage and backlash. Is Rudy Giuliani adding insult to injury . I cant believe it came out of his mouth. Its cable catnip and front page catnip too. Exhibit a of what happens when a former official desperate to stay relevant is given a megaphone. Television turns up the volume and politicians, afraid of their own base refuse to take it away. Rudy giuliani. This weeks race to the bottom led by former new york city mayor Rudy Giuliani is proving why americans are learning to hate politics and the media. On wednesday, giuliani told a group of donors at a fundraiser for scott walker i do not believe and i know this is a horrible thing to say, but i do not believe that the president loves america. He wasnt brought up the way you were brought up and i was brought up through love of this country. Over the next 48 hours, giuliani attempted to explain himself and either doubled down or dug deeper depending on your point of view. Mr. Mayor, do you want to apologize . Not at all. I want to repeat it. The reality from all i can see of this president , all ive heard of him, he apologizes for america, criticizes america. Giuliani defended his comments to the New York Times saying some people thought it was racist. I thought that was a joke since he was brought up by a white mother a white grandfather, went to white schools and most of this he learned from white people. This isnt racism. This is socialism on or possibly anticolonialism. He used a racial dog whistle of another era, communism. Frank Marshall Davis was a communist. Democrats seemed to enjoy watching the spectacle unfold. The white house introduced the obama loves america on thursday. Its sad to see when somebody who attained a certain level of public stature and even admiration tarnishes that legacy. Florida senator marco rubio demonstrated that it is possible to criticize the president but stay rational. Democrats arent asked to answer every time joe biden says something embarrassing. I shouldnt answer every time a republican does. Suffice it i think his ideas are bad. Given the opportunity to take the high road other republicans whiffed. I think the president and the mayor can speak for themselves. I know america theres people from republican to democrat who certainly do. Thats something the mayor and the president have to talk about. Bobby jindal put out a statement saying if youre looking for something to condemn the mayor, look elsewhere. Im joined by Haley Barbour, the former chairman of the Republican National committee. So hes had to give advice or two every now and then. Governor barbour welcome back. Thank you, chuck. I want to start with your afterward in your book. I advocated that we we manage our party, coalition, 60 of voters feel welcome in the party or consider voting for the gop nominee. You also write, be polite to the 40 but make sure the 60 super majority is welcome and feels welcome. If Rudy Giuliani prove that he wasnt being polite to the 40 . Well we got 60 of those twice in my lifetime and we can still get 60 of the vote. I wouldnt characterize my views of president obama the way mayor giuliani did. I think the problem with barack obama is his policies. Bad policy produced bad results. Thats what we all want to talk about. The democrats are loving not having to talk about it. They want to talk about Rudy Giuliani until the cows come home. Should we care what giuliani thinks . Hes not in office not running for anything . Should it even matter . Hes like me. His political future is behind him. To make this such a big deal is partially being fed by people that want to change the subject. I thought a couple of republican candidates for president made the point. You had marco rubio on the screen a minute ago. He said this is about policy. Jeb bush says we ought to talk about policy. Criticizeing on the policies and the bad results from the policies. I agree with that. Thats how you run your party so that 60 of the people will be willing to consider voting for a republican. I know a lot of republicans ask you advice how to handle this day and age. It seems that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is learning what its like to be considered a frontrunner. He was asked over the weekend, has been in town for the nags governors conference and he was asked about the president s religion. We can debate whether that was an appropriate question or now. Ive actually never talked about or read about that. Ive never asked him that. Youve asked me to make statements about people i havent had a conversation with about. How can i say if i know either of you are a christian referring to the reporters in the washington post. Whats your advice. He left it open. It was sort of call it a gotcha question but he left it open and thats what he did. Is that a mistake . Scott walker had a great record as governor of wisconsin. Hes won three times in four years in a tough state. He shares with Chris Christie the fact thattist won in the state thats hard for republicans to win. I dont think its a glaring problem. I think the post is trying to make more out of it. Theres a lot less than meets the eye. Did respond. I should full disclosure here. After this story appeared and there was dustup last night. His office put out a response that said this. Of course the governor thinks the president is a christian. He thinks that these kinds of gotcha questions distract from what hes doing as governor of wisconsin and making life better for the people in the state. You got to be nimble if youre running for president of the United States. Very unpopular among the people voting in the republican primary. If someone were asking me about that question if i wanted to be political, i would take the question. I think scott walker was probably just being truthful. He is the son of a preacher he is a christian and he may have taken that question the way i did the first time i heard about it. Do you believe its really a christian or professes to be a christian . I dont know the answer to that either. What does that mean . A lot of people say im a christian. Deep down inside theyre not. Thats what i thought the question was. Do you think he really is. I understand that. This is how it comes across. This is how it comes across to some folks. When suddenly theres a debate about this. Why is it barack obama the first africanamerican president has had questions about his religion pop up in the political conversation and it didnt happen to bill clinton or george w. Bush. Thats a lot of his supporters share that and think this has racial overtones. What do you say to that . I dont know how race has anything to do with it. I would bet a higher percentage of africanamericans in the United States are christians than of whites. I mean of course i come from a place where im very familiar with that. Very religious leaders, very powerful leaders in the black community in my state. Theyre good christians. I dont get the race question about christianity. I understand. Im telling you how other people hear it. How does a Republican Party deal with that larger issue here. How the vast middle this 20 extra of the 6 0e that you want to get. What do they hear when they hear republican candidates questioning things like this. President s patriotism or his religion. Well its not where we want to be talking. We want to be talking about policy we want to be talking about results. Thats our strength, thats obamas weakness. His bad policies have produced bad results at the governors conference yesterday. Democratic governors. Were talking about the weakest recovery since world war ii. Were talking about lack of confidence in the country. That wasnt the case ten years ago. But its the case now. Those are democrat governors talking about that. Thats where we ought to be focused not on personal characteristics. You mentioned i was chairman of Republican National committee when bill clinton was president. Our rule was we never talked about clinton personally. We never talked about anything except clintons policies and this should be the rule . Thats exactly what the rule should be. Thats our strength. Do you wish Rudy Giuliani would apologize . Hes been a great mayor and a hero and a terrifically hard time on september 11th. I admire what he did. So thats up to him. All right. Governor barbour, thanks for coming on meet the press. Appreciate it. Let me go to the panel. So amy, what have we learned from this mess . When i say ts a mess, i tell you ive hated this story in so many ways. I think it brings out the worst in the press, i think its bringing out the worst in politicians and its a race to the bottom and why everybody is cynical about the present politics. Also, welcome to the nfl. Right . When you get asked these questions, which you will get from the press and by the way, wait until voters start asking you questions, because theyre going to be even more i am politic than these. You have to have a better answer than answering the question the way that scott walker does. Marco rubio did a good job, jeb bush and rand paul did a good job. Hillary clinton will get some of the same questions too. Well be back around on this. Michael, what did you learn from this . What should scott walker learn from this . I think republicans have a specific problem with a dangerous feedback loop between partisan media and populous candidates. All of a sudden for some it feeds the worst discourse. All of a sudden, talk radio is the voice inside your head. You cant address the country that way. Its too inward looking. Effective communicator would view the stereotype of the party that theyre involved in some holy war as an opportunity to distinguish yourself to say im different here. I think rubio took that opportunity. I think that walker proved that he wasnt there yet. There was something written yesterday that i thought was interesting. Ask any parent. Our culture is civility is eroding. The internet this goes to your point michael. The internet easily reinforces hateful language. Nobody wants to live in a country where the single measure of patriotism is that you agree with me. Giuliani isnt a deplorable man. His words were. I dont think this has anything to do with social media or the culture. I think culture was coarse and uncivil in the 1950s and 1960s. I think as far as we should focus on what Rudy Giuliani is saying. In so many ways its a flashback to 2007. We all covered that campaign. In hearing Haley Barbour talk just now, him bringing up Jeremiah Wright and saying lets focus on policy and Rudy Giuliani of course essentially saying that the president was raised as a communist, that he somehow is different although i cant figure out why. Thats his argument. Its despicable. It has really no place in politics. Its unfortunate the president came out or his press people came out and said this is a sad fall for Rudy Giuliani. I think in some ways, its indicateive of the Rudy Giuliani knew in new york pre9 11. Im going to i do think the internet is encouraging mainstream people to get into the base where a progressive is more likely to call a republican a fascist. A conservative is more likely to call a democrat a communist. We get into the name calling and mainstream people are engaging in it. No doubt that this is coarse ening our discourse. It makes the political debate that our country was founded on impossible to have. It increases polarization. It makes it more difficult for somebody to sit down at a table and come to a series of compromises. Lets be clear, chuck, had scott walker been asked if he thought the president was a christian and he said yes, there wouldnt be a story in the washington post. Thats the part that i dont get. That seemed like an easy answer. There are trap doors every day running for president. If you want to run and talk about policy then you have to answer the very easy questions easily. If not, chuck, i will say this. If we had a pack of dogs on the set, they would be going crazy from all the dog whistles in this. They were maybe even worse this morning. But if you answer the easy questions, do you think barack obama loves his country. Right. But i think his policies are bad. There isnt a story. Do i think hes a christian . Yes. Its a terrible task for scott walker. But i havent asked him. Chuck, ive known you for 20 years, i havent asked you if you loved your country. You host a political show with a lot of flags. I do. By the way, i love both major parties. I love all political parties. Come on along. Anyway when we come back well have another debate thats taking. Another war of words. Terror threat against the u. S. Thats also out there. Ill ask the real question that needs to be asked is what is it that we can do that is impactful . What the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. It used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. Whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, thats what id like to do. 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. Welcome back. This morning a new Terror Threat that is targeting malls in the u. S. Canada and great britain. In a moment ill ask jeh johnson how serious u. S. Officials are taking this threat from an al qaeda offshoot from somalia. First this weeks brutal mass beheadings of egyptian Coptic Christians shows the threat has expanded beyond syria and iraq. Richard engel has been looking at how this has become such a menace to the world. Reporter the hostages werent famous, just egyptian christians who had been looking for migrant work in libya. Theyre famous now, butchered as part of the isis plan to enslave, convert or exterminate opposing faiths. And today were on the south of rome on the land of islam libya, sending another message. Reporter and Something Else was murdered 21 times on that terrible day on the beach. The hopes and dreams of the arab spring and with them, the u. S. Administrations middle east policy. Some experts are now calling libya the somalia of the mediterranean, a lawless land across from europes shores. Libya was the obama administrations first war of choice. What george w. Bush did to iraq is the same thing that president barack obama did to took a state that was ally in the war on terror, and went in with the military intervention and destroyed the state. Reporter although there was no identifiable threat or benefit to the United States, the administration sent in the jets to defend libyan rebels on moral grounds. Colonel Moammar Gadhafi had repeatedly said he was about to flatten with no mercy the city of benghazi, where a rebel uprising live tweeted and full of hope was brewing. We have intervened to stop a massacre. Reporter and administration that couldnt wait to get out of iraq sent american troops into libya, and kept them overhead until gadhafi was well and truly gone. We came, we saw, he died. Reporter then the u. S. Left libya to the mad max militia men who had taken it over. The best rebels turned out to be radical islamists. Reporter the war in libya would have far broader implications than that. It raised expectations in the wider arab world. In syria, people took to the streets, confident that they too would get american help. The administration at first encouraged the syrian rebels, but never sent them any meaningful assistance or heavy weapons. And like a wound in the body, the growing chaos in syria spread isis advanced and brought down iraq next door which was barely on its feet after ten years of war. It was there, in the iraqi city of mosul, that isis leader Abu Al Baghdadi declared himself the kalive of the Islamic State founding a terrorist state across syria and iraq armed with american weapons. His man took from the iraqi army, which all but collapsed in fear. Now, the u. S. Is being dragged back into war in the middle east. It hopes to stand the iraqi army back up and send it into battle to take back mosul with the help of kurdish fighters from northern iraq. The u. S. Military says some american Ground Troops may be needed to lead the charge. Taking mosul will not be easy. Especially since isis has had months to prepare for the battle. The real question is what is the wider strategy for stability in iraq and syria and now libya . Stability that would truly deny isis a home. This remains the hard question, and this administration has yet to offer a convincing answer. And, chuck several u. S. Military officials who ive been speaking with have privately expressed a great amount of frustration at what they see as a lack of clarity about the u. S. Strategy against isis. When i ask our nbc military analyst, colonel jack jacobs about the strategy, he paraphrased louis carols alice in wonderland if you dont know where youre going any road will take you there. Chuck . Richard, thank you. Now to discuss the Terror Threat at home as well as the political fight over immigration joined by Homeland Security secretary jeh johnson. Second johnson, welcome back to meet the press. Thanks for having me chuck. Let me start with this Terror Threat by al shabab an al qaeda offshoot from somalia, targeting we talked about it earlier targeting malls. In particular mall of america in minneapolis, the twin cities, large somali population there so obviously i assume a concern that you could have lone wolves. In an earlier interview this morning, you said the following if anyone is planning to go to the mall of America Today they have got to be particularly careful. Sounds like youre taking you believe this threat is that serious you would basically tell people, almost telling them i hear that i would not go to the mall. Not saying that. Im saying that the public needs to be particularly vigilant. Chuck, were in a new phase in the global terrorist threat now, which involves core al qaeda but now other groups, the isil group being the most prominent example of that. With very effective use of video publications, social media and the internet, that have the ability to reach into communities, reach into homelands, and inspire independent actors to commit acts of violence, which is why we need a military approach and we have got one were through an international coalition, and embarking on skrikzair strikes militarily, but also a Law Enforcement approach, which includes countering violent extremism engagements and initiatives here in the homeland. That was one of the things that the summit this week at the white house was all about. Ill get to the summit. I go back to so give me an assessment of this threat. Are you is this something that is one of those things that youve got we have got a whole bunch of security, extra security at the mall today this is something we got to worry about all week, is this something can you give us more detail . We have seen this a number of times now where a group will call for an attack on a country on a specific location, and so we got to be vigilant. So we ramp up security. There was a call for an attack on locations in canada and europe and so in response to that i ramped up the presence of the federal protective service at federal buildings a couple of months ago. Im sure that security at this particular mall will be enhanced in ways visible and not visible. But it also involves public vigilance and public awareness. If you see something, say something, has to be more than a slogan. At this point, youre not telling people not to go to the mall . Im not telling people to not go to the mall. I think that there needs to be an awareness there needs to be vigilance and, you know, just be careful, obviously. It is a new phase. Were in a new phase right now. And that involves Public Participation in our efforts. The whole point of the extremist summit was about there is concern, you have communities, the twin cities, the Somali Community large muslim population, other communities in the u. S. , is it harder for you to get cooperation in these communities. Do you believe it is harder for you to get cooperation if the president were out there calling it radical islam referring to isis and having islamist extremists, using that phraseology. Does it make it harder for you to do your job or not . Good question. Ive done a number of these engagements myself and when i meet with Muslim Community leaders, they all pretty much tell me the same thing, which is that isil is attempting to hijack my religion. Islam is about peace. And isil is attempting to hijack our religion, and what were about. And so to me, to call it islamic extremism dignifies isil and gives them space in the islamic religion that they dont deserve and i dont believe Muslim Leaders think they deserve. It is a dangerous terrorist organization that represents a serious potential threat to our homeland. We have to respond militarily. We have to respond through Law Enforcement. Frankly, im more concerned about how we respond in our counterterrorism efforts than which two wordsve to immigration. Your department runs out of funding at the end of the week on the 27th of february. Obviously you want you dont want to just continue resolution, apologies for washington speak. You want your full budget. If you dont get it, on thursday, what happens . What departments shut down and what departments dont shut down . First of all, it is bizarre and absurd were even having this discussion in these challenging times, given the global terrorist threat we have been talking about, given the harsh winter were in the midst of and all the other things i need to do. Were talking about possibility of shutting down Homeland Security, because congress cant agree. If we go into Government Shutdown some 30,000 employees of my department will be furloughed, including a lot of headquarters personnel who i count on daily to stay one step ahead of Ground Troops like isil. A large part of the workforce will be required to come to work, but theyll come to work without pay. So the working men and women of my department will be required to work on the front lines without a paycheck, which has serious consequences for waking men and women and their families. Our grantmaking to state and local Law Enforcement grinds to a halt. We cannot pay for the added Border Security that we put on the southern border. Last summer to deal with the spike in migration there. Thankfully the numbers are down month to month theyre the lowest they have been in years. But we need to protect that and we need to keep Border Security in place. I could go on and on. So we need congress to fund the department of Homeland Security. We have got four working days in congress, and im talking every member of congress who will listen to me about the importance of doing this. Well be covering this. We know immigration lawsuit, a lot of moving parts to this debate. Secretary johnson, it is a busy morning for you. Thanks for coming on meet the press. I want to turn to the republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee bob corker of tennessee. He just got back from the middle east. Senator corker, welcome back to meet the press. Good to be with you, chuck. Let me ask you about this debate about words. Do you think it matters whether we call isis radical islam or just radical extremists . Well, you know what matters is what i call them. And theyre islamic extremists. I just spent a week there as you know. And look, these they are islamic. No question. They are extreme in what theyre doing. And they are a threat to our country. And we need to deal with that appropriately. It looks as if we have some pieces that are coming together appropriately in iraq. I think there is still a lot of questions, chuck, as to how we deal with isis and syria and as you talked about earlier in your program, theyre a threat now in libya and other places. So this is something that we as a nation are going to be dealing with for a long time. I think you know were going to be debating an authorization for the use of military force here soon. This is an important issue, important to our Homeland Security. Important to the world. And i hope as a nation well take it on in a sober and important way over next several weeks. For Many Americans isis has been brought home by the brutal killings of american citizens that were held hostage. My colleague Savannah Guthrie just finished an interview with Kayla Muellers parents who are taking specific issue with u. S. Policy on hostages. I want to play a clip of it for you and get your response on the other side. We understand the policy about not paying ransom but on the other hand any parents out there would understand that you would want anything and everything done to bring your child home. And we tried. We asked. But they put policy in front of american citizens lives. Senator corker, put policy in front of american citizens lives. That is a grieving father. What do you say to him, what do you say to other americans . Look, chuck, i cant imagine a greater pain for a parent than knowing that your child is eded and youre doing everything you can to cause them to be free and be back home and be with your family. At the same time, what you do when you begin to pay ransom which is how these groups support themselves, what you do is encourage them to take even other american citizens, other people. And so you encourage them to continue to do what theyre doing, even more. So this has been a longstanding u. S. Policy. It is a policy that i support. At the same time i understand the extreme pain that a family would go through knowing that this is our u. S. Policy and knowing that their daughter their daughter lost her life. One of the other radical things that isis does is they are enslaving people, theyre enslaving women in iraq. We have been hearing this. You got a you were dealing with this in the middle east, how bad of a problem is this . Well first of all, chuck, yes, they are enslaving people and in mosul, thats exactly what has happened. Thats why as we go into mosul, we have got to understand there are a number of people there. This is going to be urban warfare. And we have got to get it right. And whether we do it in april or later, it has got to be done right. Yes, we are taking on modern slavery. It wasnt intended to deal with it in this fashion. But there are 27 Million People today, chuck around the world that are engaved earning in rugmaking facilities, brick killen en kilns, all kinds of sex trafficking we have seen this all around the world and these are crimes of opportunity, average Business People are making money by enslaving people. So, yes, this week i hope well launch a bill, im certain were going to launch a bill to end slavery by building off Public Private partnerships around the world. Using best practices. This is something that takes u. S. Leadership. It is not applicable to the situation you just described. It has been going on for years. And my guess is that we will begin taking this on in a real way, to really end this plague around the world that so many people arent even aware of but in many countries, this is the culture. People who are poor and impoverished dont have access to the criminal justice system. Were going to build on the best practices. Were going to do something substantially about it. I look forward to this coming out of committee this week. Senator, very quickly, this week, can you imagine a scenario where you shut down the department of Homeland Security . You know chuck i dont. I was gratified by the judges ruling. The president , 22 times had said he couldnt do this. He didnt have the authority. I was very gratified by what the judge ruled. At the same time, i do believe in this time where we have the kind of threats we have from all over the world we certainly need to make sure that Homeland Security is fully funded. My guess is well figure out a way to make sure that happens this week. All right senator corker republican from tennessee, thanks for coming on meet the press. All the new voter i. D. Laws, are they about preventing fraud or more about preventing some people from voting. The Voting Rights act is 50 years old. Are they 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. I make a lot of purchases for my business. And i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. Like 60,000 bonus points when i spent 5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. And i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at Office Supply stores. With ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. Travel, gift cards even cash back. And my rewards points wont expire. So you can make owning a business even more rewarding. Ink from chase. So you can. It was 1965 and people across the country watched as men and women were beaten in the streets of alabama as they tried to march for Voting Rights. Later that year, Voting Rights act was passed. Two years ago the sprekupreme court found part of the act unconstitutional. And there has been no act in congress to amend the law, even though the chief justice ordered congress to rewrite the law. Welcome to you both. Let me start with you. What the biggest part of the Voting Rights act that was thrown out was this idea of the preclearance portion. Certain states mostly in the south that couldnt change their laws on voting without approval by the justice department. They said you cant single out states. So how do you Want Congress to row rewrite this law . Currently there is a bill, a bill that was of course, supported by representative john louis the civil rights icon and hero and Voting Rights legend, that would respond to what the Supreme Court said congress had to do. It essentially creates a formula that would require jurisdictions who had violations of the Voting Rights act over the last 15 years to be subjected to a similar preclearance provision of the kind that existed before. For states it would be five violations. For local jurisdictions, it would be three violations. It is a rolling formula so it resolves the problem as the Supreme Court said was the problem with the former provision that it went back too far. And yet we had no movement on it, no hearing, no real effort to really try and move this bill as the court asked congress to do two years ago. Congressman dent, youre on here because youre one of the few republicans, you and congressman sensenbrenner a republican want to rewrite this bill. But as she says, youre kind of alone here it seems in congress. Only three or four of you on the republican side of the aisle intent on rewriting this. I think Many Republicans recognize the Voting Rights act was the single most important civil rights legislation ever passed in american history. We also take seriously the fact we need to amend the Voting Rights act givend courts ruling. I believe there is more republican support for the bill than there are cosponsors. I think there is going to be considerable support for this bill if it gets considered. This formula that she outlined know it is in this there say similar formula in this bill. Is this a workable formula, you think . Absolutely. I believe this formula strikes the right balance betweenates rights and voter vigts. It is difficult because were trying to by the way under this formula, the sensenbrenner bill, i believe four states would be in preclearance as opposed to this case before, about nine states. It is i think it does strike the right balance. A lot of groups out there on the outside, naacp and others, are generally supportive of the bill. I think many certainly john louis an icon is supportive. And Many Republican members. I think we have got the right balance here. Good start. If there is a Sticking Point, i understand it has to do with the idea of voter i. D. Laws. It was a Sticking Point for you to support this bill. You wanted the ability, congressman dent that states could have voter i. D. Laws this is the part of the bill you dont like. Could you accept some form of allowing voter i. D. Or allowing states to have voter i. D. Laws if you get this preclearance . Voter i. D. Is a problem. We just had this case in texas last year in which a federal judge found that texas voter i. D. Law was passed for the purpose of discriminating against minority voters. This doesnt allow students to use their i. D. , but you can use your concealed gun carry permit. It is a problem. I think we focus too much on the actual provisions. At the end of the day, we need a hearing on this bill. We need to figure out what is missing from our side. We need to figure out what is problematic from the other side. We need to work on that bill. We havent been able to get a hearing on it. We need in two weeks, thousands of people are going to converge on selma alabama to celebrate the president of the United States is going to be there. Lots of congress people, including Many Republicans who go every year. But it cant be just about laying a wreath and marching across the bridge. It has to be about honoring what those people sacrificed for. And thats why we need movement on the bill. Whatever the problems are, bring them to the table lets have a hearing, lets talk about it. Any way this bill passes without a voter i. D. Provision . Well i support voter i. D. I think republicans will insift on voter i. D. Being protected. Im from pennsylvania. I witnessed voter fraud. We had a sitting state senator thrown out because of absentee ballot fraud in the 1990s. I lived through that. It was awful. It was a stone election. We have seen it. We had had a candidate for Congress Many maryland not so long ago in 2012 who voted in both 2006 and 2008 in florida and maryland. She had to drop out. There is real fraud out there. I think we can be both for we can be against discrimination and against fraud. Those two ideas are compatible. Is there a way to support voter i. D. And say Senior Citizens and would get an exemption in 20 years. It is interesting. There is voter i. D. And voter i. D. The question is what voter i. D. Rite . It is not that our groups are are against voter i. D. It is were against the specific kinds of voter i. D. That unfairly restrict the ability of minorities to participate in the political process. What youre talking about, absent ooee voting, you saw that by expanding early voting. People have more opportunities to vote and they dont need to vote absentee. I think thats why you guys need a hearing. Youre getting close. Anyway, congressman dent, chairman ifill, thank you for showing there is stuff you attempt to get done. Thank you, both. Coming up a fun little nerd screen. Dont miss it. It so what about that stock . Sure thing, right . Actually, knowing the kind of risk that youre comfortable with id steer clear. Really . Really. Straight talk. Now based on your strategy i do have some other thoughts. Multiplied by 13,000 Financial Advisors its a big deal. And its how edward jones makes sense of investing. Since it is oscar night, we wanted to take a look at how the world of politics and the Academy Awards intersect. Believe it or not, they do. Using facebook data the wall street journal found that the films up for the big awards being discussed across the u. S. Actually are following a red blue political divide this year in the country. Look at this. Of the 100 counties that talked most about american sniper, according to facebook, 94 of those 100 voted for mitt in 2012. Conversely, 78 of the 100 counties that talked the most about the fm birdman voted for obama in 2012. Just 22 voted for romney. So there you go. Head to our website, by the way for more about this and our nerd screen and how the key influential bubbles 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. Meet the worlds newest Energy Superpower. Surprised . In fact, america is now the worlds number one natural gas producer. And we could soon become number one in oil. Because Hydraulic Fracturing Technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. Supporting millions of new jobs. Billions in tax revenue. And a new century of American Energy security. The new Energy Superpower . Its red, white and blue. Log on to learn more. I make a lot of purchases for my business. And i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. Like 60,000 bonus points when i spent 5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. And i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at Office Supply stores. With ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. Travel, gift cards even cash back. And my rewards points wont expire. So you can make owning a business even more rewarding. Ink from chase. So you can. Welcome back. Even Rudy Giuliani wouldnt call president obama a calculating, murdering psychopath. Thats the description that would fit another american president , but thankfully hes fictional. Kevin spaceys Frank Underwood begins the new season of house of cards on netflix, having moved into the white house, believe it or not. Nbcs Cynthia Mcfadden was granted exclusive behind the scenes access. Take a look. Anyone can commit suicide. Or spout their mouth in front of a camera. You want to know what takes real courage . Keeping your mouth shut no matter what you might be feeling. Thats always been his philosophy. Frank underwood now president , is still the politician we love to hate. Because i lack scruples and some would say compassion. Frank underwood made it to the white house, star and producer kevin spacey gave me a tour of the new set. This is the White House Press room. This is great. A life long democrat, spacey says he like Many Americans is frustrated with washington. I think that what is truly unfortunate is when an entire party makes a decision that theyre going to block every single thing that a president wants to accomplish. It is very hard it is hard to get anything done. Even Frank Underwood would have trouble with that . I would just kill everybody. Kill them all. The show captured the weird alchemy of the outlandish, and realistic. I think were getting to the essence of what it means to contend with that much power in your hands. One reason the scripts are able to skate on such a fine edge, the shows creator and executive producer, bo willman. Were always pushing the boundary of plausibility, that everything that happens in the show is possible. You actually worked in politics yourself. I did. Very low on the totem pole. Did you come out of it a cynic about politics or absolutely not. No. Francis underwood is an optimist optimist. Hold it. You mean hes an opportunist, hes a lot of things, but an optimist . An optimist. He the ways he goes about it may be distasteful to you. But what do people relish in a Frank Underwood, a guy who gets things done. They see that in his journey that they dont see in the real washington right now. A guy who gets things done by any means possible. Lets hope fiction doesnt inspire the real politicians. For meet the press, im Cynthia Mcfadden, maryland. When we come back, kevin Kline Harrison ford, martin sheen, who is your favorite fictional president . We know it is really not Frank Underwood. That, some cool things to pass onto your kids your super heroes. Your fashion sense. Your love of reading. Your uncanny ability to find parking spots. Your fear of people who are different . Not so much, the more you know. Lets go to the nonfiction race for the presidency. Welcome back here to the panel. Michael, before i want to start with you, we had this whole language debate about extremism. And the fact of the matter is the president seems to be getting attacked from conservative republicans on an issue that he seems to be am i right to characterize same sort of stance that president bush took as well. You are right. There is a remarkable consistency between the Previous Administration and this one, and for a war of religion. They want a war of civilization. Thats what the frame that they want and that you need to resist. Any future president will do this, i promise. You have muslim allies on the war on terror. You cant alienate them, the jordanians or the turks or others. These are important allies and your language matters. I want to go to the race for the presidency a little bit. Bill kristol wrote something interesting, upset about the way the campaign started. Are we the only ones, referring to the Weekly Standard that are struck that they seem to be planning stale and tired campaigns. He goes on to say hillary will run a stale campaign, he believes with tired themes but polls suggest she would prevail in a conventional matchup of boring campaigns. Is he on to something or do you think hes overpanicking . I thought there was a little bit of overpanicking here. We have 600 plus days before the election gets into we have 300 days until 350 days until iowa. 350 days, come on. Ill give you that. We have a long time for the candidates to actually grow as candidates and Start Talking about issues. We spent a whole lot of time and done it today talking about lots of things that really dont matter in a conventional sense of politics and policy. But i think you have people that are running this year on the republican side, who have a lot to bring to the table, the question is whether they do it or not. I think you have marco rubio and a lot of governors people who have put stuff forward, implemented things as executives, and they have stuff to say, jeb bush has a lot to say they havent been saying it yet. This, by the way, has been a busy week. There was a topic that i think we would have gotten more to the clinton campaign, wall street journal on the Clinton Foundation and all of its foreign donors back raising money and foreign governments. Let me put up a list. You see a whos who in the middle east, oman, qatar, saudi arabia, they say this is all do gooder stuff theyre doing, having to do with health and food and things like this. But the perception of this saudi arabia, there are lobbyists. They lobby america for i think there is no doubt that the appearances are awkward at best. I think theyre going to have to do something in the very short term to deal with this in a way that puts it off the table. Look, i think there are a lot of people that have watched the sort of slow roll of the Hillary Clinton campaign really dating back to last year with a book tour that some wondered why she was doing speeches that some wondered why she was doing and, you know, i think i think it is from the democratic perspective things will get better when there is a formal campaign. But there is a there has been a slow roll of concerning headlines for a long time. The making of hillary 5. 0. Right. You to need to read the piece. Not a good piece. Hillary 5. 0, which version will she be this go round. Lets have some fun here. Oscar time. I ask yoded you guys to give me your favorite fictional president s. Michael, ill start with you. Your favorite fictional president was mine was president arnold schwarzenegger. Wasnt arnold. They called him a different name. Not sure. But in the simpsons movie, he wanted a strong vepa. Your pick was selena myer who has been president now for one episode on veep. The happiest person to be a fictional president and also the most terrified as well. And amy, you went the animated route. I go simpsons but when lisa simpson was president and she did push for legalizing pot, thanks to bart simpson. And robert . Robert, you went with the democratic partys dream president. I went with president bartlett. I will say i am struck speaks to our current politics that two of you picked president s from the simpsons. Mine is Harrison Ford in air force one. Get off my plane. And at this point, were going to get off the show. Thats all for this sunday. You can see a lot more well have next thanks for starting your day with early today. Coming up lights cameras, big winners, memorable moments. Fashion hits and misses plus the host with the most. Hollywoods biggest night of the year. Then to serious matters and possible terrorist threats made against a nations malls. This on the heels of a showdown on capitol hill over funding our Homeland Security. A big finish at daytona and much more on a busy monday february 23rd. Early today starts right now. Well good monday morning. Thanks so much for joining us. Im betty nguyen. It was a night of glitter and gold at the 86th Academy Awards. Funny and poignant moments from a mother and daughter dustup to stars getting serious. They performed the lego movie