political advisers to president obama. but i think it could turn into a big problem because this plays into people s fears about washington, d.c., and about how government works. they think that an administration might go after its political enemies in this way, and so i have no doubt that the gop is going to use this. this is just tailor made for a series of hearings and i think we ll see that starting next week. well, in fact, along the lines of what you just said, perry, mitch mcconnell has released a statement calling for the obama administration to conduct a review of these, quote, got to get this right, these thuggish practices. so the irs has apologized. is that enough? they re not hiding. but in washington if there s a problem somebody usually gets fired. i don t think any irs employees have been actually fired publicly, and i think that step probably will happen. that s my guess because of how washington works. benghazi resulted in some state department people losing their
about the cairo demonstration as the spark that set off the attack. what does this dough to t to th administration s credibility. there s no question the white house flubbed the explanation a little bit but the real danger is it keeps the story alive. we will see another round of gop attacks resip tated by the e-mails and i think it s dangerous for the white house because they re probably sick of talking about this. okay. perry, to you. the big question for many, especially looking at 2016, is whether benghazi will affect hillary clinton should she decide to run for the presidency. republican senator rand paul was talking last night in iowa. he s also being mentioned as a possible 2016 candidate. he spoke at the annual lincoln dinner, and he questioned the initial response to the attacks. listen to what he said last night. when your people on the ground, military people and state department people, are asking for more help, they re
eyeing a possible presidential bid in 2016. it strikes me that she had a political problem with benghazi before these e-mails, which is it happened on her watch. reporter: and the white house argues that republicans and other critics are trying to politicize this issue, alex. the white house insists that it was national security staff members only involved in those discussions about the talking points, not political advisers to the president. okay, peter. i want to thank you very much. would you have teed us up perfectly for what happens next. joining me now, staff writer for the hill. he will let s and political editor for the grio, perry bacon jr. as jay carney said in november, that there was a single adjustment made to the talking points, changing the word consulate to diplomatic facility. now we re seeing there were in fact 12 separate drafts with significant changes, including eliminating references to terrorism, but keeping the point
gun debate with manchin-toomey. it s time for the monday gaggle. perry bacon jr., susan page and dan balls is back. you look good. thank you. did you well. you know, everybody should try it once. absolutely. well, dan, let me start with you. when you left did you think that you d be coming back and in the same week we d have immigration and guns being the primary two topics and the budget is off to the side. watching this gun debate unfold, where does this head? in the senate we re going to have a very interesting moment, which is we ve had this effort to try to reach some kind of a compromise and now it you know, the rubber hits the road, as the cliche goes. we ll see this week whether there really is support for some of these compromises. this bill, as everybody knows, is up and down and up and down. late last week there was optimism because of the manchin-toomey compromise. we ll see this week whether they can actually get over the finish
opinion. kristen dahlgren, nbc news, los angeles. let s bring in the brain trust on this sunday. dana milbank, a washington post columnist, perry bacon jr., a political editor at the grio, also an msnbc contributor, and our friend, amy holmes is a writer at the blaze. happy year s to all of you. happy easter. dana, we ll start with you, since you re not wearing a tie. is it pop culture or personal experience that s shifting attitudes on same-sex marriage? well, that s yes and yes. it s a combination of all of these things and it s also thought, opinion leaders, saying things, people get on board behind that. this is sort of how these societal trends develop all the time. this is just happening extraordinarily rapidly and it seems that every day, or at least every week, somebody else is coming out on capitol hill,