Transcripts For WRC Meet The Press 20151102

Analysis this sunday morning are matt bai of yahoo news, Helene Cooper of the New York Times, an gearann of the New York Times and david brooks. If its sunday, its meet the press. Good sunday morning. Choose your metaphor. On life support, in critical condition, on its deathbed. Whatever painful phrase you use, everyone agrees jeb bushs campaign is in trouble. Bush needed a good debate performance on wednesday and he failed spectacularly. Hes rebranding his campaign with a new slogan called jeb can fix it. The phrase can suppose to mean that bush can fix the countrys problems but people are already joking the it jeb needs to fix is his candidacy. Thats the big question hanging over the Bush Campaign can jeb fix it . At this critical moment, i caught up with bush in miami yesterday and began with a question a lot of people are asking. Do you still want to be president . I do. I do. I see great possibilities for our country. I honestly belief were on the verge of greatness. We have to fix big complex things and i have to leadership skills to do it. Im fired up about that. Thats what motivates me. Do you understand why a bunch of supporters think you dont have the that theres something missing . The fire is missing . No, i dont. Do you know why they think that . Probably because they watch the cable shows and they read the political press. But if they followed me on the campaign trail like last week in New Hampshire where we had 300 people totally connected, totally believing in me i think they would see a different candidate. Ive just got to be able to break through the clutter of all the punditry class. I think doing that. What happened at the debate . What happened in that moment . You made your point with senator rubio and you didnt fire back. Well, i got cut off. That debate was a really weird debate. Just because you didnt gate chance to continue on, i literally got cut off by three of the all three of them saying next question, next question. The basic point with marco isnt that hes not a good person or a gift l politician, everybody can see that. Its that i have proven leadership skills. I got to be governor of a state and accomplish big things and in this era of gridlock its hard to break through and i think hes given up and i think thats the wrong thing to do. This is about public service, about solving problems. If you look at the three people on the stage from the United States senate, all three of them have a combined two bills that became law that theyve sponsored. If you look at Hillary Clinton, in ten years, three bills she sponsored that became law. This is the gridlock that im running to try to break up. I can change the culture in washington. Did you rewatch the debate . No. Ive been busy campaigning. You dont feel as if youve said youre not a good debater, you want to be a better one. I do, absolutely. How do you do that . I know i have to get better doing the debate and i am a grinder. When i see im not doing something well then i reset and get better. So tell me about the reset. Well, im going to do what you have to do. This is not debating. Whatever its called is certainly not debating because i can complete a sentence in the english language pretty well and i have ideas that will lift people up. My focus and in the debate i will change the whole confere e conversation. Someone asked me about fantasy football which was bizarre. Ill talk about the people that i neat have declining income. Worried that their children will have more opportunities. Im campaigning hard against people who truly believe their future is not bright and it breaks my heart because this extraordinary country has never been this way and if we fix how we tax and regulate, fix the broken systems that are all around us, this world will be a time of abundance so ill change the conversation on my terms. Well, you know, a week ago you seemed extraordinarily frustrated and youre obviously frustrated now, frustrated with the punditry class. This is a look you went off, you said i have plenty of cool things to do. I dont need this. That was completely taken out of context. I got a standing ovation in front of 500 people, not all of whom was my supporters. This was tim scotts deal. Ask him. There was a real connection there. What i was saying was dont elect me if you want to maintain gridlock. Its not about me. Its not about the personalities on the stage, its about fixing how we tax and regulate so that you can rise up. Thats my mission. But dont vote for me if you think ill be part of that system and because i think its cool to be president. Thats not what this is about. Its about public service. Its about fixing broken things that i know how to do and thats the story ive told. Some of the things you said about this campaign this year you said about the 2012 campaign. You said this in a speech after watching a couple of debates in 2012. I used to be a conservative and i watch these debates and im wondering i dont think ive changed but its troubling sometimes when people are appealing to peoples fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and thats where we are. That was jeb bush in february 2012. Sounds like you right now. The party hasnt changed . Thats my speech in tampa. But this party hasnt changed . Thats my speech in tampa. Thats the speech im going to give on monday tomorrow to talk about how we need to be hopeful and optimistic, have an aspirational message. I dont think conservatives will win the presidency unless we campaign with our arms wide open. Includingive. That message thats not the way dr. Carson or donald trump or i dont know, dr. Carson, youre right about trump for sure. Dr. Carson i think has a more hopeful message and others do as well and i just know thats how were going to win. Thats who i am. It doesnt matter about anything else. Im not a grievance candidate. Were on the verge of greatness but it will require leadership skills to fix things. Thats my message. Thats how i start midcampaign in kendall where you grew up and thats what ill do tomorrow in a speech in tampa and that will be the basis of my campaign for sure. Do you understand why conservatives are skeptical of a guy named bush . Yeah, sure. A lot of people are. I have to go earn it. This isnt done by like we say in miami by decree, you have to earn it. And all of the tribulations of a campaign and were having our share, theres no doubt about it, i have enough selfawareness to know that this is the bumpy time of a campaign this pales by comparison to being commanderinchief. I wear this because i think about what it is to be president. This was given to me by a mom of a marine killed in action in afghanistan. Theres a lot tougher things you have to do than debating in a going to nine debates in a republican primary. Theres big things that president s have to do. So this is the process. I totally understand it and im more than prepared to fight on. You did Say Something some may say is prescient. That you were willing to lose the primary to toe cus focus on general. I wont prey on peoples fears and anxious, ill offer solutions. We have a lot of candidates. I think the easy out is to say follow me because im angry, too. Thats not going to win the general election. Its important to understand peoples frustrations, theyre legitimate. But the only way we win is to draw people towards our cause and you can do that and be true to yourself. You even said working with democrats is unpopular in your party. How are we going to solve these problems . All the big issues in American History have been solved by a strong president working across the aisle unifying the country. We now have a divider in chief who pushes people down that disagrees with him and i think Hillary Clinton the exact same thing. I thought it was striking you dont think your party has been divisive, too . No, it has. I admit that. But im looking at the democrats where Hillary Clinton says that her biggest enemies are republicans . That sets the stage for a really phenomenal time if shes elected. If 50 of the American People are her enemies. How can she lead . How can she solve problems . We need someone that believe hearse ideas are Strong Enough and powerful enough to convince people to join us. Thats how Ronald Reagan did it. Thats how great things happen in this country. We need to restore that for sure. Some folks will say youre frustrated because, boy, a member of the bush family cant believe theyre losing. No. I dont even think about that. I love my dad. Id kill for him. Id go to prison for him because i love him so much. Thankfully i havent had the need to do that. He seems to be really upset about donald trump. Hes i mean, hes my contribution to my dads life is that hes gotten fired up again. Kind of hes not watching csi hes watch hes watching a different reality show . Hes watching the shows, as donald trump calls them, and enjoying getting back in the game. But i love my family but i have to earn it. I knew this was going to be hard. I knew it was going to be a challenge and it should be. 1996 you told larry king you didnt think bob dole should have litmus tests for cabinet appointments or judicial appointments, that one issue at the time referring to abortion. You said the conservative theres 100 things that make somebody a conservative, not just one issue. Do you still believe that . No litmus test . I dont believe in litmus tests but ill make sure my appointments to the Supreme Court would have a consistent proven record of judicial restraint. So you wont ask a potential Supreme Court justice if they would overturn roe v. Wade . No, but i would ask deep questions about judicial philosophy and then make sure that are the person had a proven record. I think the lessons of the last few years is that youve got to fight for your candidates that you nominate and they ought to have a clearer consistent record so that you have a higher assurance they wont wander off. You had said at the time that you didnt think there was a broad enough consensus to fight for a constitutional amendment against abortion. Do you still feel that way . I think that what we ought to do is elect conservatives like myself and others that believe that life is a gift from god and life is precious. Speaking of life, have you changed your mind on the Death Penalty . Im conflicted. I am. It was the law of the land when i was governor and i faithfully dealt with it. To be honest with you, it is not a deterrent anymore because its seldom used. It clogs up the court, it costs a ton of money. Are you one of those that look at the fiscal part of it and say maybe it makes more fiscal sense to not do it . Heres the one thing and i just its hard for me as a human being to sign the death warrant, to be honest with you. Im informed by my faith in many things and this is one of them. I have to admit that im conflicted about this. But heres the deal, when you meet people this happens in rare cases where the Death Penalty is given out and you meet family members that have lost a loved one and its still in their heart, its etched in their soul and this is the way they get closure c i get more comfortable with it, to be honest with you. But we should reform it. If its to be used as a deterrent, it has to be reformed. It cant take 25 years, that does no one any good. Neither the victims nor the state is solving this problem with that kind of tangle jud judicial process. So youre still in favor of it but im just saying, look, this is life, chuck. Its not all either or. Sometimes you can see both sides and i believe life is truly a gift from god and innocent life articularly should be protected at all costs for sure but people that commit these crimes, there should be justice cant be denied and it shouldnt be delayed and maybe theres a better try do this where victims feel as though theyre being served because that should be front and center of the first obligation of the states. Let me one quick followup on abortion. What exceptions are you comfortable with on abortion . Just as it relates to my views havent changed. I believe in exceptions of rape and insist and the life of the mother, of course. Is there a line on health . What is that line on life and health of the mother . Well, life of the mother, not health of the mother. Last question, general Stanley Mcchrystal has a favorite interview question. What would someone who doesnt like you say about you . Probably that i think people in florida would have said its my way or the highway. That comes up a lot. Why are they wrong . Or why did they get that impression . I fought. I fought for my believes. So some of that is true . It is true and at the end of it thats not a compromiser, though. Huh . My way or the highway is not a compromise. Well, i could reach. I had friends that supported me and at the ends i had a 67 Approval Rating when i left. This is a purple state as you know. Half a million more democrats than republicans. I won double digit in my reelection. 60 of the hispanic vote because people respected me because i had a heart for them. I fought for my ideas. People knew i wasnt doing this because it was i was the big guy on the stage. They knew that i had a heart for people. Im releasing a book on monday called reply all and its the essence of the Servant Leadership i had in this state. A lot to chew on there. The jeb Bush Campaign trying to reset and reannounce on monday. We have a lot to talk with the panel and that eyll weigh in i just a moment. And later, paul ryan has the speakership now. Speakership now. What does he plan to do with it . Thank you for calling. Speakership now. What does he plan to do with it . Well be with you shortly. Yeah right. Xerox Predictive Analytics help companies provide a better and faster customer experience. Hello mr. Kent. Can i rebook your flight . Im here Customer Care can work better. With xerox. Wait im here mr. Kent . gasp shark diving xerox personalized employee portals help Companies Make benefits simple and accessible. From anywhere. Hula dancing . Cliff jumping Human Resources can work better. With xerox. The artificial heart, this ielectric guitarsdoers, and rockets to the moon. Its the story of america land of the doers. Doin it. Did it. Done. Doers built this country. The dams and the railroads. John henry was a steel drivin man hmm, catchy. They built the golden gates and the empire states. And all this doin takes energy no matter whos doin. Theres all kinds of doin up in here. Or what theyre doin. What the hecks he doin . Energy got us here. And its our job to make sure theres enough to keep doers doin the stuff doers do. To keep us all doin what we do. Welcome back. The panel is here to talk about what we just heard from jeb bush. Matt bai, Helene Cooper, the pentagon correspondent fors the New York Times, ann gearan, the papers lead reporter on the Hillary Clinton campaign and david brooks, columnist in for the New York Times. David, you wrote this on friday about jeb bush. Bushs problems are temptmental and thus most likely permanent. He would probably be a very effective president and he would have been a very effective candidate but in 1956. These are harsher times. Did you hear anything that makes he knows these are harsher times . I say he doubled down on 1956. Hes a nice guy. Hes a good guy. He was reflective in that interview. He was a little humble for a president ial candidate, saying he was conflicted about the Death Penalty. Youd love to sit next to the guy in a plane or church but history has trained him to be a gentleman and this is a campaign where that theres a lot of alienation and disgust in the party and when hes on a big surface with 10 other people or more, he doesnt shine. Its not as if the Bush Campaign doesnt want to play tough. Look what they did with rubio. Theyve put out a power point about the Different Things on rubio. They said he news accomplishments, misuse of state party credit cards, no credible experience beyond government. So theyre putting this out. I asked governor bush about what his campaign is doing and it was interesting to hear what he didnt say. Your campaign, there was a leaked memo, 112page memo and there was a big chunk about why marco rubio wouldnt be a good nominee and you went through sort of all of the Opposition Research on that. Thats not a hopeful campaign tactic. I didnt see it. Im focused its your campaign. I didnt see. It you dont know this powerpoint . I read about it when it was leaked . Is this something you want your campaign involved with . I want them to focus on winning New Hampshire, winning iowa, winning nevada. Thats our first mission. An gearan, the introspective bush was politician bush. Absolutely. And he can the that. I agree with the 1956 thing. He does seem like a candidate a man out of time but he also understands he has to be able to pivot and handle and at the moment hes trying and he didnt get it done in the debate but trying to pivot and attack his former protege and i mean he didnt land that blow and, you know, theres the old phrase in politics if you try to kill the king, you have to kill the king. Marco rubio isnt the king but at the moment hes definitely on the assent and bush is on the decent. It was interesting to hear him say that about the decent aspect, when i asked why didnt you strike back . He said the moderators stopped me. Hes playing by the rules. David makes a good point. I dont think jeb bushs core problem is temperamental. I think his core problem is that he hasnt given anybody a clear concise theyre going on about his record and it should be painfully clear that nobody in the party cares, whether they should or not. The question is when you asked ask them what youre goal . Whats your plan . Thats a policy objective, not a rationale for running for president and i heard him in that interview i think grappling with that issue saying im going reset, give people an idea of where i want to take this country. That would help him immensely. Id like to step back because i think whats going on thats interesting is its so accelerated. Were at a very crunch period. These are the two guys marco rubio and jeb bush who have the best shot of winning a general election. And this sort of this fight wasnt supposed to happen for a couple of months, particularly if youre marco rubio. He feels like hes peaking too early. But thats whats interesting in what will go on in the next few weeks. This talk about its time for him to retire his candidacy is premature but its interesting to see whether these two men will be able to shed the rest of the field and move forward because this is if the republicans are going to have a shot at the general, these their two guys. So this is why youre seeing you say it so easily but what evidence is there that jeb is the most electable . I dont know that he is. He calls marco rubio the republican obama and i dont know that thats necessarily a bad thing because obama won 2tw elections. If i was him i would lead with his strength, im boring. Is our problem that we dont have too much boringness . No, we have too much craziness. Ill be your sedative. Ill be your laxative to calm you down. Thats going to trend on social media. People scream at each other, i cant scream, fine. I like their slogan, i can fix it. He ought to say that and be himself. When he said fix it i said remember bush postNew Hampshire mccain and it became reformer with results. Theres a similarity to this. Yeah. And the the Campaign Looks and feels very corporate, very bush like. The jeb can fix it sign was perfect. The staging this week in New Hampshire was perfect. Hes got to live up to that. It may be an unfair thing to say that our candidates are supposed to be superheroes, right . And to your point his strength is to say, look, i can fix things and do stuff. Im going to put my head down and do stuff and you should elect me. But fix stuff and do stuff is not a rationale, competence never works. Thats mike dukakis. A whole string of candidates. I also think we shouldnt get ahead of ourselves on the moment of jeb and rubio. The summer of trump, as its been called, really blocked out introint introduction of these candidates. There are candidates who will get a longer look. I think Chris Christie gets a longer look. I think rubio is an impressive candidate and jeb bush could turn it around but i think that field is very dynamic. It feels to me like its winding down cruz and rubio. Cruz will inherit the disaffected down scaled voter, hes perfect but theres not enough of them to be what i presume to be rubio. Those two are plausible. I thought cruz had an amazing debate moment when he attacked the press. That seems like the natural tension. Im on my prayer rug saying please, trump, carson, go away, go away. So far they havent. But im assuming they will. Well, what do they say about assume . Donald trump has made us all feel that way. Well be back in a moment with the new speaker of the house, paul ryan. If we dont like whats going on we owe it to the people of on we owe it to the people of this nation, our when you do business everywhere, the challenges of keeping everyone working together can quickly become the only thing you think about. Thats where at t can help. At t has the tools and the network you need, to make working as one easier than ever. Virtually anywhere. Leaving you free to focus on what matters most. Can a a subconscious. Mind . A knack for predicting the future. Reflexes faster than the speed of thought. Can a business have a spirit . Can a business have a soul . Can a business be. Alive . Bei was organized. A, i was on the go. I was a doer. Then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. My doctor and i agreed moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. She also prescribed lyrica. Fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. For some patients, lyrica significantly relieves fibromyalgia pain and improves physical function. With less pain, i feel better and can be more active. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression or unusual changes in mood or behavior. Or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. Common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. Fibromyalgia may have changed things but with less pain, im still a doer. Ask your doctor about lyrica today. Lyrica, move forward with less fibromyalgia pain. Welcome back. A lot of people think that the one problem jeb bush has is that its simply been too long since the last time he ran for office. That hes lost touch with the electorate of the 21st century so we decided to look at recent president ial nominees to see how long they waited between runs for office. Look at this list of folks. Michael dukakis, bill clinton, george w. Bush and john kerry, all president ial nominees. They all ran for president just two years after winning reelection for either governor or senator. Of course, bush and clinton went on to win the presidency, dukakis and kerry lost. Now lets look at a group of nominees who waited four years between runs for office. Its a large group. Eight candidates, all waited four years from their last election before being nominated for president. Of this group, only reagan and obama proved to be president ial winners. Lets move on to a much smaller group, the sixyear crowd. Two nominees, Richard Nixon in 68 and jimmy carter in 76. Waited six years between their last run for office and the nomination themselves. Of course both of them went on to win the presidency. So where does jeb bush fall . Remarkably by next years election it will have been 14 years since jeb bush faced voters. His 2002 reelection in florida and perhaps thats the problem. The ground may have shifted beneath bush or, more specifically, it may have lurched to the right. Something he isnt prepared for. In fact, the only recent other candidate we can find who wait it had same amount of time as jeb bush was connally, 14 years after being reelected as a democrat. He outraised everyone in the republican primary and famously won just one delegate. The only other candidate we could find that waited a decade between runs for office was jebs four, george h. W. Bush. He waited ten years and lost the nomination to Ronald Reagan. Nomination to Ronald Reagan. Coming up, my in why should over two hundred years of citi history matter to you . Well, because it tells us something powerful about progress that whether times are good or bad, people and their ideas will continue to move the world forward. As long as they have someone to believe in them. Citi financed the transatlantic cable that connected continents. And the panama canal, that made our world a smaller place. We backed the Marshall Plan that helped europe regain its strength. And pioneered the atm, for cash, anytime. For over two centuries weve supported dreams like these, and the people and companies behind them. So why should that matter to you . Because, today, we are still helping progress makers turn their ideas into reality. And the next great idea could be yours. Prge a manufacturer. Well thats why i dug this out for you. Its your grandpappys hammer and he would have wanted you to have it. It meant a lot to him. Yes, ge makes powerful machines. But ill be writing the code that will allow those machines to share information with each other. Ill be changing the way the world works. interrupting you cant pick it up, can you . Go ahead. He cant lift the hammer. Its okay though youre going to change the world. Bob dylan. To improve my language skills, ive read all of your lyrics. Youve read all of my lyrics . I can read 800 million pages per second. Thats fast. My Analysis Shows your major themes are that time passes. And love fades. That sounds about right. I have never known love. Maybe we should write a song together. I can sing. You can sing . Do be bop. Be bop do. Do be do be do. Do do do be do. Welcome back. At first he maintained he didnt want the job. But paul ryan was elected to replace john boehner in what is surely one of the toughest jobs in politics these days, speaker of the house of representatives. And ryan faces quite a challenge to fix what he called a broken house and try to unite a fractured Republican Party in washington. His job was made a little bit easier this week with the passing of a bipartisan budget deal that raises the debt ceiling through 2017 past the election and greatly lessens the chances of a Government Shutdown over that period. I sat down with speaker ryan in his new office on his first full day on the job to get his take on what his goals are. Its not a job i wanted. I liked where i was but i really felt like our party needed to unify and i talked with the members of our conference about what i think a new speakership should look like. I dont think we can keep doing business the way weve been doing business and i think we have to be on offense and offer the country alternatives and thats what i intend to do with my conference. You right now have enormous Political Capital where jim clyburn talking about how he enjoyed working with with you on ways and means to plenty of people in the Freedom Caucus who are giving you a chance. Are you going to use this Political Capital . It goes away fast in this town. About 35 minutes im told. What are you going to do with it . Wipe the slate clean, start over, open up the sproesz. I see four things that i need that we need to focus on. Get the house working like it was intended to work, like the founders intended it to work. Open up the process. Number two, its very important that we do find Common Ground where we can find Common Ground to advance the nations interests and do it in a way where we dont have to compromise principle. Number three, we have to be a more effective opposition party. We dont like the direction the country is headed. We dont like the direction the president is taking the country. And so we have to be an effective opposition party, but most importantly, number four, i think that means we have to be able a proposition party. We have to be the alternative party. If we dont like whats going on, we owe it to the people of this nation, to our constituents, a bold, specific and clear agenda, vision for how we would do things differently and that is what a Good Alternative party looks like. Youre now the face of this so is this you that has to do this . Youre in the middle of a president ial campaign. I see this as a joint effort. Its an awkward time. Youre the face of the party for now. For a couple months. Its not a me thing. I didnt get elected dictator of the house, i got elected speaker of the house. Weve been too timid on ideas. Weve been bold on tactic but timid on ideas, on policies. Thats where we need to go and this is what people are really yearning for here in the republican conference. Thats what im excited about. Give me something you think you can do in the next six months. One issue. One piece of we can do more than just one thing. I understand but give me one thing the country will be impressed with that will somebody, maybe you work with the president , maybe you confront him. What is one big piece . Working families are falling behind. The economy is stale. Poverty the there are around 46 Million People still living in poverty. Our Foreign Policy is a disaster. We have to offer alternatives. Obamacare. Look at the the his saster that the rollout of obamacare is continuing to be. I think we owe the American People a very specific agenda for how we would do things on these issues. Can donald trump lead a Republican Party to victory . As you know, im going to be completely neutral in this president ial election because im the speaker of the house. But if youre asking me can any one of those people who are on the stage be a better president than Hillary Clinton, the answer is yes. Is his rhetoric on immigration you told me you were in favor of a path to citizenship. Ive written extensively about my views on immigration. Im an open book on this subject. By the way, on immigration i dont think we can trust the president. You tried to the president has proven himself untrustworthy on this issue because he tried to unilaterally rewrite the law himself. President s dont write laws, congress does, the president s proven himself to be untrustworthy on this issue. If we reach consensus on Something Like border enforcement, interior security, thats one thing but i do not believe we should advance comprehensive immigration legislation with a president who has proven himself untrustworthy on this issue. Some conservatives believe that pledge only means youll work with a democratic president in 2017 if that happens on immigration. I was elected speaker of the house to unify the republican conference, not disunify the republican conference. Ma that means my job is to lead us to consensus and to, on big controversial issues operate on that consensus and thats how i intend to serve as speaker. When it comes to one of the proposals in the president ial race, one of the candidates is saying that members of congress should have their pay docked if they miss votes. Have they pair docked if they youre asking me to weigh into this fight about people running for senate. Im not going to get into that stuff. But this is about how congress operates. I think whats happening here is people are trying to take cheap shots at people running for president and im not going to play that game. Ted cruz wouldnt call you a true conservative. That bother you . Not in the least. Ive got thick skin. You said Something Interesting in your speech, a neglected minority will gum up the works, a respected minority will be fair minded. You think the democrats have been neglected by the House Republicans . Well, i think some republicans in congress feel theyve been neglected as well so what im trying to say is we should open up the process so that everyone can participate. You were worried about taking this job because you wanted the spend more time with your family. A lot of democrats, including Elizabeth Warren said hey, thats great, how come you dont support paid family leave . Because i love my children and i want to be home on sundays and saturdays like most people doesnt mean im for taking money from Hardworking Taxpayers to create a brand new entitlement program. I think people in america would like to see their members of congress be like them. Live among them. Live in their hometowns. Raise their families. Be with their kids go. To volleyball and basketball, cub scouts and church. A lot of working supreme to work on weekends. I work on weekends, too. And ill be working on saturdays like i do and sunday is our family day. That was the point. John is an empty nester and he traveled around the country most weekends not going loam. I live in jaynesville, wisconsin, im going to commute back and forth like most other members of congress from janesville, wisconsin. I can do this job. I can walk and chew gum at the same time. Youre one of these members who sleeps in their office. Can you do that as speaker . I think so. I just work here, i dont live here. Capitol police will be okay with you this is the capitol sleeping in the Speakers Office . I start my day at 6 00 in the morning, i end at 11 00 at night. Its efficient by just staying right here. Youre kind of a health nut, how will you get the smell of smokeout of the Speakers Office . Thats a good question. They have these ozone machines that you can detoxify the environment but im going to have to work on the carpeting in here. If you ever go to a hotel room or get a rental car thats been smoked in . Thats what this smells like. Speaker ryan, thank you, sir. Thanks, john. There was honesty about the stench when you are in the speakers quarters these days. John boehner is a well known chain smoker. Coming up, much more on the politics and remember when the president said this right here on meet the press just over a year ago . The notion that the United States should be putting boots on the ground i think would be a profound mistake and i want to be very clear and very explicit about that. Well, thats not the case anymore. We Technology Empowers us to achieve more. It pushes us to go further. Special olympics has almost five million athletes in 170 countries. The microsoft cloud allows us to immediately be able to access information, wherever we are. Information for an athletes medical care, or information to track their personal best. 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David, we talked about jeb bush in 1956 but the other point we were making and we saw with paul ryan, as the republicans are having this fight amongst themselves as who they are, are they stumbling upon the generational change . It looks that way. You have to walk through the circus to get to the think tank. But if they wound up with rubio and ryan, theyre attractive figures, normal, nice guys but theyre generational, theyre yucker. That presents a problem for hillary but they get the problems of this century which means theyre not going back to reagan lets cut taxes and say bad stuff about government. They understand as ryan said to you that working families are struggling even when growth is okay. So government has to do extra stuff to focus with wage subsidies and other things on working families. Thats a real message for America Today and a lot of republicans dont get that. I think in theory that makes sense but i worry whether the Republican Party which you were talking about has moved so far to the right that its no longer the party that jeb bush used to belong to wont sit back and let rubio and ryan lead them. I think ryan will have a honeymoon period then be back in the thick of it with the Freedom Caucus like john boehner and marco rubio is about to have his moment the sunlight and i will be interested to see whether he can come out of that unscathed. Theres still a part of this party that want this is confrontation, that wants a little bit of fight and both rubio and ryan want to be optimists first. And theyre big conciliators. I agree with david, weve interviewed youve talked to senator rubio, its inspiring to hear him talk about the modern economy, the way forward. What i would caution against is the way we can sometimes project directions, ideologies, leadership on to young, less experienced politicians because they lend themselves to that. We saw this with president obama and a lot of us had thoughts about where he would go, how he would lead that didnt pan out for most of his term because i think actual reform, actually changing a party takes a tremendous amount of political courage and conviction. It doesnt happen just by having an idea of what future looks like and you have to display that courage and when you havent governed and dont have that level of experience we dont know if you have the steel and the willingness for conflict it takes to get that done. The irony here, anne, we were talking about it before break, sometimes the younger politicians who we think are fresh and new and talking about these new ideas, theyre more risk averse. One misconception about barack obama, i think, from 08 to 09 is that he was a risk averse more risk averse than people realized. Jeb bush of all hes the most fully formed individual, he might be the least risk averse. And i dont think we know very much about what marco rubio would really do, whoever the next president is going to be will inherit that. And rubio has said some things but not really given a full p n plan. I think ryan is not really risk averse. One of the interesting things he said to you was we have to be a good party on offense but we also have to be a party that proposes things. And hes got to be looking at 2016 when he says that and knowing that the democrats and knowing the republicans can paint republicans across the board Congressional Republicans and republicans in the field as the party of no. You brought up syria, lets transition to the big announcement from president obama and i guess the question is, is it a big announcement . Were putting boots on the ground, not many, about 50 but thats a change from a promise the president made numerous times. Take a look. In no event are we considering any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground i will not put american boots on the ground in syria. The notion that the United States should be putting boots on the ground would be a profound mistake and and i want to be very clear and explicit. Its clear the president never wanted to do this. Thats crystal clear. What are we doing . I get so frustrated when i hear them saying no boots on the ground but the reality is weve had boots on the ground before we announced this on friday. Weve sent in special operators, delta commandos to retrieve isis people to make targeted killings so the whole idea of no boots on the ground is absurd. He campaigned, his whole election in 2008 was based on we shouldnt be on the ground in iraq, he pulled forces home but he felt with syria the circumstances kind of forced his hand, particularly when moscow got involved and this becomes a one upmanship. But they look at this diplomatic track and this whole idea of john kerry coming to some sort of political solution with the russians and the iranians on a political solution for syria they believe if they can strengthen the moderate opposition groups, the kurds and the arab coalition, i think thats a big if but thats been a roll of the dice since the beginning. First of all they should wear sneakers so we can get rid of the boots thing. I give him total credit. Weve had a policy to withdraw from the middle east from afghanistan and the regional is falling apart. So will he say i wont do the politically difficult thing. Ill stick by my word even though its not working. But is he being too timid . Like i hate doing this. All right, heres fresh feet. But there will be Mission Creep when those 50 dont work and maybe well get a strategy. The creep has crept. This has already started as helene said. This isnt the first boot but 50 very quickly can become a lot more than 50 one thing they can do is be more effective coordinators on the ground for the u. S. Air strikes. One of the frequent criticisms of the current strategy is we have an air strike policy but only two air strikes a week. So once you get some coordinators on the ground it may changed. I asked governor bush and i asked him about the idea that we wouldnt have isis without the invasion of iraq, he rejected that. But listen to what he wants with syria. The better argument is the surge worked. A fragile iraq existed. Had we kept 5,000 or 10,000 troop there is, had we engaged politically to show support to the central government, had we also showed support to the kurds and armed them directly that we would have a very different circumstance as it relates to isis. The caliphate was created after al qaeda was taken out by the heroic efforts led by men and women and petraeus. Do we need a new surge in iraq . A different surge. We need to do what the president is tepidly moving towards which is to embed with the iraqi military. To provide support. Matt, hes also in a different place than other candidatesen this. Ted cruz and donald trump are both in that more isolationist wing of saying the strong men kept that place in check, maybe we made a mistake. And the Republican Party is theres a historical divide between isolation and engagement. But what are historians of the empire going to make of this . Historians of the empire . [ laughter ] eight years ago you had this campaign and george w. Bush and the surge and iraq and barack obama campaigns against it and you Flash Forward eight years later you have jeb bush talking about a new surge, defending the lecy, you have to Obama Administration entwined in these wars. Hillary clinton carrying the mantle on of this situation. Its an interplay of character, families and storylines, the upshot of which is we are entwined in a longterm ideological struggle and its not going away. No president will get rid of it. Wont cant just excise it from our Foreign Policy. And helene, quickly, with Hillary Clinton and whoever the nominee is if it ends up rubio or bush or somebody from that wing of the party, both advocating more intervention. Absolutely. At the end of the day, so is obama now. Fair enough. We have a quick programming note. Lester holt at nbc nightly news has a two part interview with president obama tomorrow on the nbc nightly news. Theyll talk about criminal Justice Reform and plenty on the news of the day. When we come back in 45 seconds, we have our end game. And this question which and this question which political leader went you set rules around the house, right . So set rules for your kids when they go online dont be a cyberbully. No racy selfies. And remember everyone can see everything you post, even grandma. Rules keep kids safe online. The more you know. End game time. The panel is here. We gotten a exclusive first look at Bernie Sanders first tv ad. He has a ton of money. Heres a bit of a clip of it. In congress he stood up for working families and for principle, opposing the iraq war, supporting veterans. Now hes taking on wall street and a corrupt political system. Funded by over a million contributions, Bernie Sanders. Husband, father, grandfather, an honest leader building a movement with you to give us a future to believe in. Anne gearan, honest leader. Not too subtle there. Not too subtle at all. But this is still in the very much in the mode of the classic upbeat biographical ad which candidates very often start with. Its interesting to me hes starting now. Hillary clinton has been up on the air in iowa and New Hampshire since august, shes spent well over 6 million so far and for much of that time her poll numbers were going down while his were going up. David, you talk to the Sanders Campaign and they say we have one goal right now, we have to make people think hes not crazy. They dont put it quite like that but hes normal, not a gadfly. Id go with authenticity. I dont like the upbeat ad. Its so conventional. Its very conventional. Im a crochety old guy. Thats worked for him so far. I dont think making him into George Romney let alone mitt romney is going to work. [ laughter ] i agree with that but i think the strength here is the weakness. My gut is a lot of people saw him in that first debate and he was an abstraction to them, just this guy. Even if you saw him an arena with 10,000 people, he was a little speck, the anticlinton and what they saw was a guy who seems older than her with a thick brooklyn accent whos angry and shouting and i think that didnt strike my gut is, i dont have the data it didnt strike people as president ial or not enabling him to continue on the force hes been. I dont know how to describe it, helene. It is it may have been the culmination of what happened in that tenday period last week with biden getting out and Hillary Clinton getting doing the benghazi thing and that theres some air out of the sanders balloon, just a bit. And hes worried about it because that ad shows the whole point seems to be to inject more gravitas. Youre right, david. Part of his appeal is his crochetiness but that only goes so far. Once youre going up against the juggernaut of the Hillary Clinton campaign, at some point he may have to shave that a bit. Thats what youre seeing now. Conventionality, i dont think that fits his candidacy at all. Theyve also got rattled this weekend when the Clinton Campaign went on a little bit of a sexist aspect of it when they said when she started talking about women are told shouting. That seemed to unnerve sanders a bit on this. It did. And they started to come back at her and it was its interesting that this is the issue on which were starting to see the two campaigns begin to engage more directly. Yes theyve had a backandforth about guns, a substantive policy question but in terms of what kind of candidate will you be, what kind of leader will you be, theyre starting to get into this. I dont know. I dont know whether it resonates when that much for clinton to accuse him of being trying to shut her down or being sexist in talking about her raising her voice. The couple of times ive heard her try it out on the stump it hasnt really. Is he a good enough foil for her, david, to make her a bert candidate . Hes already done that. Shes been so good the last couple weeks. But he took himself off the table when he took the emails off the table in my view. But hes trying with that honest line. Thats clearly but he wont beater because they have a slight difference on economic policy. The only way that will happen is if the trustworthy issue is front and center. He took that off the table for all intents and purposes so i dont see how he comes back from that. It was halloween last night so i had way too much halloween candy. That is a fact. But we had a bunch of politicians, they had a little bit of fun last night. On friday president obama greeted some trickortreaters. Here is a baby popemobile at the white house. That was good. Check out paul ryan here. Were not sure what he was trying to say but he was the one that decided to dress as mitt romney to go trickortreating in janesville last night. Hillary clinton tweeted out this picture of her and a mini her, somebody trickortreating as Hillary Clinton. Bernie sanders went out with his grandchildren. He claimed not to be wearing a costume. I guess you could say he was going out as larry david perhaps when he went trickortreating. To me the scariest thing last night had to be what happened to duke. [ laughter ] im not going to help myself. We, i believe, have a sped up version of the mir until durham that helped miami. Can we get to appease me here. I knew helene wanted this. Eight laterals, a rough week for the my beloved hurricanes. It was an amazing look at this. There it goes. That is beautiful. It was an amazing thing. It took them ten minutes to decide whether the call was real or not. If im a little sleepy this morning, its because it took them ten minutes to get down the field. You know, but it was a rough week for miami. Poor duke. Poor duke . m so sorry. People feel sorry for duke . Because they dont win you have . Are you kidding . Do you know how much i hate duke . I wont get into a dukebashing session. Thank you all, we have a big week coming up, of course, first week of november. Thats all we have for today. When we come back next week, well see you next week because if its sunday its meet the press. Its monday, november 2nd. The kansas city royals, they are your world series champions. A 12 inning thriller ending early this morning. The miracle mets unlikely run comes to an end. The future republican debates, how they will be handled. New information on a plane crash that killed 234 people on board. A controversy brewing. What did they say . A passing of an actor and u. S. Senator. More on a busy start to your week. Early today starts right now. Good monday morning. Hope you had a great weekend. Thanks for waking up with us today. Im betty lynn. The one, two