Good evening, im michael shure. Tonight, its with equal parts pride and humility that i take over for governor Jennifer Granholm as host of the war room. She bros a position to politics and it is there where we are cut from the same clots. Its enraging, fascinating and really fun. I hope to continue to bring out all those emotions on this show. With that, welcome inside the war room. [ theme ] it shocked the world. I dont think im exaggerating when i say that Pope Benedict shocked the world announcing his resign that is. The last was pope gregory the 12th before the cubs won their last world series. He said he no longer that the mental and physical strength to carry out his responsibilities approximately many believe there is more to the story. This pope has been incredibly difficult vicive, many say complicit in covering up the churchs sexual abuse scandal. He opposed homosexuality doesnt believe women should ever become priests and is against modern medicine, including stem cell research. Many moidores were angered when the vatican attacked american nuns. John fugelsang host of viewpoints father was a franciscan monk before marrying a nun. The pope has been a part of your life im guessing since you were a small boy. You had to be surprised today. I was completely shocked. I was up very early doing an appearance on bill presss show here and his producer told me about it. I never would have seen this coming. He has been pope for a long time. Many consider him to have been the pope the last several years of Pope John Pauls papacy. The poor man was so wracked with illness and kept on coming out in an ever more frail state. He hasnt canceled any engagements. Were hearing rumors that he decided no more transatlantaic travel after trips to south america. The word were hearing is fatigue. Were going to hear conspiracy theories ranging from everything to the vatican bank to the horrible sexual scandals. Pope gregory in the 1400s was forced out. It wasnt volunteer. It was like a much more pleasant version of what happened to an curry. The last time this happened was back in the 1200s so almost 700 years since this has been done voluntarily. Its really, really a shock. This had guy has always been renowned for his command of power within the vatican walls. Listening to everything youre saying and the history there, theres got to be more behind this. Its just not a job people and you can away from, and as history has shown us, i know there are conspiracies and all. What do you think is the reason he is leaving now . I wouldnt want to speculate. Well hear a lot more in the weeks to come. I would advice everyone to google the story about the vaticans butler who lived with his wife inside the walls. He went to jail for leaking the popes emails last year. Many tell the he was a fall guy the pontiff visited him in prison. Hes been invited to come back and live in the vatican once his term has ended raising eyebrows as to what that is about. I do want toage the good positive progressive things this pope oh has done. Were going to be talking about his deplorable record on women gay folks, this pope is the most famous live to have been against the iraq war from the beginning a leading voice to embrace Climate Change science. There is not a more famous Death Penalty advocate in the world. He says every nation on earth has an obligation to provide health care to its poorest residents. Hes been left of our left and right of our right making him a confounding figure. Thats not breaking with the Catholic Church. They are against the Death Penalty. He is still the pope. Absolutely. He hasnt set himself apart. Do you see this church, the catholic population in this country shrinking, do you see this, you know, this group of i guess whats it called, the synod coming together and picking a more progressive pope or do you think theyre like the Republican Party stuck in the past . Id like to see them give it to sister campbell. I dont see it happening. Many say the church is on a slope to being a third world religion and its looking to many like the next pontiff will come from latin america or africa. Id like to see a progressive american become pope and usher this church into the 20th 20th century or maybe the 18th or 19th centuries. If you travel this country and visit churches, as i do, youll see older congregations and a priest who is not from america more often than not. Something that to be done if they want to save this church. I could talk all night about the fact that the c. Jennifer celibacy rule is antiquated. Its the man made hang ups of an unauthorized fan club getting in the way of a lot of people. The facebook one religious group in our people are people raised religious and feel spiritual but let down by american religion. 24 identify with religion today that they were raised in. I want to ask you about money and the church. Im going to get skeptical on you. How big a driving force is the ability for a european pope or to a degree an american pope to raise money for the church, where they would avoid latin america, avoid africa, where the fundraising would be a lot more challenging. I agree. If you travel the country i went to college at n. Y. U. And at the Catholic Center gay couples were openly welcome. They send the liberal priests to the liberal areas and conservative priests to the conservative areas. A big part of the priest is to get people to open their pocketbooks and put money in the baskets. It is the business sense that has caused it to marginalize itself. I think if they could open themselves up to a whole new array of parishioners that want to give money to the church, getting baaing to the message of jesus and get over the hang ups about the dirty parts. I dont see that happening anymore than you having a pocketbook john. Im sure youll have more on viewpoint tonight. Thanks so much, john. Thank you epic politics man great to see you there. All right. Coming up here on the war room, the state of the union the sport, the spectacle and the policy and performance. Michael tomasky of newsweek daily beast will give us a taste of what we can expect from tomorrow nights big speech. We can be fairly certain that guns will be part of the conversation. Were going to introduce you to the congressman trying to make sure that thats the case regardless of what the president says. Later texas Representative Steve Stockman is doing his part to reestablish credibility in the Republican Party. By doing his part, i mean doing something crazy. Just ahead, in the war room. The chill of peppermint. The rich dark chocolate. York peppermint pattie get the sensation. Irene, drop the itch. We dropped the itch, you can too. Maximum strength scalpicin® is not a shampoo so you can stop intense itch fast, wherever you are. I dropped the itch. Drop the itch with scalpicin®. vo later tonight current tv is the place for compelling true stories. Jack, how old are you . Nine. This is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. vo with Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. vo from the underworld, to the world of privilege. Everyone in Michael Jacksons life was out to use him. vo no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. Tomorrow, president obama will deliver his state of the Union Address where hes expected to layout an ambitious second term agenda. We might get an indication of whether or not he can pass that when the senate votes tomorrow on his defense secretary nominee, chuck headachele, the first nomination fight of the president s second term. While hes one of them, he sided with the democrats on the iraq war, leading to a major falling out with his one time friend, senator john mccain. For then senator hagel to see hell let history be the judge he was there and involved. He knows hes wrong on the basis of what happens. You saw the hearing know his record, are you going to support him for defense secretary . I will see the rest of the answers to his questions, but certainly i have very grave concerns. Its not just john mccain, senator Lindsey Graham probably wont vote for him. She tried to link him to the attacks on oh the u. S. Personnel in benghazi, now threatening to hold up the confirmation unless the administration answers more questions on that attack. No confirmation without information. This is complete system failure and im going to get to the bottom of it. Now that might have been the craziest turn in the story but former Vice President dick cheney criticized the president s choice of Foreign Policy leaders. He told a group of wyoming republicans cheney should know from sect rate people, because dick cheney is now criticizing someone elses Foreign Policy team. I give you the least self aware political figure in modern history. While reports last week that he might withdraw his nomination, his brother said today joining me now is another man who keeps fighting, michael tomasky, coming to us from washington d. C. Thanks for being here in the war room. My great pleasure. Hi. Hi, by the way, you are now the official answer to who is the first get since the trivia question is going to be asked many times the first guest that i had on the war room. Fugelsang doesnt count huh . He doesnt count hes in the family. He doesnt count unfortunately. Dont tell him that. All right. Michael, lets get to the business of business here. Today, jim. Jennifer nhoff is going to hold the nomination. Whether or not hell follow through on that, im not sure. He has the power to do it. Chuck hagel is in a precarious position. He did a bad job in that confirmation hearing. He came unprepared and left a lot of questions in a lot of peoples minds. Hes sort of open game for the republicans a little bit at this point. Whether they really really, really really do this and mount a filibuster, which has never been done, the democrats, you know the people point to john tower back in 1989, but the democrats didnt filibuster john tower, they voted against him and defeated him. Whether the republicans in the minority actually filibuster a president ial nomination for defense secretary that would be unprecedented and quite surprising and very controversial. I personally dont think its going to happen. His performance was not good, but i dont think it had anything to do with that. I think there were minds made up before they got there. I think this is what, you know, is part of republican dog in a now. I think its really the big problem that they have is that their minds are made up before they get there. They think theyre going to vote a certain way and just do it. Youre right. I was merely making the point that he made the accuse to do it. Lindsey graham is up for reelection and afraid of a tea party primary. Hes going to be as right wing as he can possibly be from now until then. There is no place on the right for anybody to challenge him. Mccain has other concerns, maybe still mad that he lost in 2008, he was very close a hagel at one point, they had a fall out over these questions. There are all these other motivations going on, its true. What i found so interesting in this whole conversation about the president s appointees is, you know, john kerry gets a free ride, seems like brennan is going to get through. When it comes to the republican that was put up there, thats the one the republicans go after the hardest. It used to be you were giving an olive branch by even naming a republican. I can think of cohen ray lahood. Is this so unusual . Its really mind boggling to me. Its very surprising. Not only is the fact that hagel is a republican, but the fact that, you know, if theyre upset about benghazi and the question of diplomatic security, wasnt the person to block the secretary of state because its the state department that actually has jurisdiction over that question . So why didnt they mess with john kerry who to ability was a democratic . You know, i dont know. I dont understand it, theres personal stuff going on here. Thats true. I mean, were seeing that. Were seeing this dirty laundry being aired right in front of us. They know how to go after john kerry. They proved that. They could have done so if they wanted to. Im going to put you on the spot chuck hagel confirmed or not confirmed . I think confirmed. Still, i dont think theyll filibuster him at the end of the day, i think fairly narrowly confirmed, but i dont think it matters whether youre rowley confirmed for 99nothing. Clarence tames was confirmed. His opinions still matter as if hed been confirmed 990. Thats true, i dont think anybody remembers those votes. Lets shift gears alleges built. I want to get out of you what you think were going to hear from the president tomorrow. Hes giving this big speech. How different do you think its going to be prom the inaugural speech, how much will he get into details . The other question similar to that, this executive action he wants to take, do you think hes going to speak about that, thats going to be a big part of what he says tomorrow to the congress . I dont think that will be a big part. Hell mention that and gesture toward that. I think if he exif a sizes executive orders too much, hell get congresss back up more than its already up. Hell mention that to make democrats happy but not so much that it will make republicans too, too upset. Now, as for the Bigger Picture it will be very different from the inaugural address. I think, you know, a lot of journalists always complain that state of the Union Addresses are too wonky too long, too detailed. The fact of the matter is, americans watch them. Bill clip to know go ahead go on for an hour and a half. Journalists would say people must have been flipping the channels like crazy. No, people watched. This is an important moment for obama. Hes got a lot on his plate. Theres gun control. He has to make a very important case for his gun control proposals. Immigration is in trouble, i believe in this town. Hes got to make a very forceful case for immigration. Hes got to most of all perhaps make a very strong occasion for his position on the upcoming sequestration site and budget cuts. The republicans are positioning so that theyre going to try to blame obama if sequestration takes effect and those cuts take effect and obamas going to have to say no, heres my position and heres why you, american voters, should support it. Hes got to talk about jobs and the middle class and growth for the american country. Theres a lot. He does have a big list. Thanks for going through that with us. When we see the president tomorrow were going to see all of what you just mentioned. I think the things that are sexiest to america right now are guns and sequestration. The guns are sexiest to washington. We really appreciate your in sights, again. Michael tomasky newsweek and the daily beast. Up next, a group of democratic congressman will bring victims of gun violence to the state of the Union Address. Well speak with the representative who put that idea in motion, right after the break. Annual state of the Union Address. Hell address gun control, immigration reform, and the economy. We however, promise to bring you a current perspective. Only on current tv. What we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. By 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough College Graduates to fill them. Thats why at Devry University were teaming up with Companies Like cisco to help make sure everyones ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure americas ready. Make sure youre ready. At devry. Edu. People with sore throats have something new to say. Ahh mmm ahh finally, theres cepacol sensations. Serious sore throat medicine seriously great taste. Plus the medicine lasts long after the lozenge is gone. Ahh mmm cepacol sensations. And so is head shoulders deep clean. [ male announcer ] with 7 benefits it goes deep to remove grease, gunk and flakes. Deep. Like me. [ male announcer ] head shoulders deep clean for men. We have a problem where we shop where we pray, where our children go to school. And that problem is, of course, gun violence. The voice in that new ad is gun violence survivor former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of arizona. It was put out by american for responsible solutions founded by giffords and her husband mark kelly. It will run in d. C. , san francisco, cincinnati, louisville and las vegas which just happen to be the cities represented by congressional leaders nancy pelosi, john boehner. Perhaps the most visible symbol of the damage caused by firearms is jim langevin. He had a gun accident as a Police Station where he was serving as a junior cadet. Hes urged his colleagues on capitol hill to invite victims of gun violence to be their guests at the state of the union tomorrow. Thirty democrats are planning to do so, with over 190 shooting on an average day in america, they should have no problem finding people whos lives have been scarred by guns. Joining me tonight, it is my pressure to welcome from washington, d. C. Jim langevin. Welcome to the war room, thank you for being with us, head of this speech and head of your big idea. Good evening. Thanks for having me on the program. Of course. Tell me, what do you hope to achieve by bringing victims of gun violence to the state of the union . Well, were all touched and our hearts broken when we heard the news of what transpired in newtown connecticut. No one wants to see that happen again. We need to keep the focus on meaningful gun control to the congress. I really applaud president obama for taking on this issue so early on in his new administration. He spoke about it, alluded to it in his inaugural address traveled the country talking about the need for gun safety legislation to be passed. I want president obama to know along with the American People that we are united in this effort to try to make sure that members of Congress Hear us loud and clear that we want meaningful Gun Legislation passed through the congress that is going to require universal background checks, that is going to work hard to make sure we eliminate assault