Back in the political fray. He put himself squarely in the middle of an issue that is causing Division Within his party and that is immigration. We can up hold traditions of assimilating immigrants and honoring our heritage of rule of law. But we have a problem. The laws governing the immigration system arent working. The system is broken. Were now in an important debate reforming those laws. Michael still hard not to smile. That position puts him at odds with the republican leadership. House Speaker John Boehner said he will not even look at the immigration ball. Paul ryan and eric cantor are right there with him. Both said they have not read the bill. And Tim Huelskamp said, i havent read it yet. They decided to table the issue until next session when they think theyll have a bigger majority. So much for reaching out to latinos. They are motto is clinging to their demographic majority, which is white men and keep the demographics as small as humanly possible. Stove king of iowa said this, it would hurt republicans. And two of the three new citizen was be democrats. As boehner sweeps the issue of immigration under the rug he returns to the republicans over favorite issue of lost cause the obamacare. Boehner and House Republicans seize the opportunity to attack the president after his administration announced the delay of a piece of it, that is the employer mandate. This is the train wreck. Michael the g. O. P. Dont seem to do a whole lot of reading. But even as republicans try to distract with stumps like this one, there are real issues not being addressed. That is gun violence. Over the fourth of july weekend 70 people were shot and 12 people died in chicago alone. Governor pat quinn tried to veto a bill, but legislature tried to overrode that. They now expect 300,000 concealed permit applications within the year. Joining us now with the analysis of all that is jim warren, the Washington Bureau chief to the new york daily news. From chicago he comes to us from d. C. Tonight. Thanks as always for being in the war room, jim. Thanks, i come to you from the white house, i was at the ceremony where president obama gave out 24 medals in the humanities and the arts. There was curiosity with the likes of joan didian, george lucas, and sportswriters and dancers and singers there. And juxtaposes with this world just a mile or so away where they dont even want to read the legislation that theyre pass passing. This is a wonderful inspiration to our kids. Michael and jim, theyre so proud of it. We didnt read it. Theyre so happy about not having read it. I love that. Hes giving out awards on the arts and letters across the way. It just speaks to much. Its so symbolic. Listen over the past couple of years i want to turn your back to chicago for a second to something that is a little more sobering. Chicago your city has seen a spike in homicides. What needs to happen in d. C. For chicago to have less gun violence. I dont think a whole lot needs to happen in d. C. I think the problem there is really less law abiding folks will be carrying guns. What we do in chicago with the folks who are not so law abiding who are carrying guns. I think if you look closely at the situation in chicago you see in part, i mean a whole bunch of elements. It is complex, and it has to do with the high dropout rates and huge concentration of poverty that you cant kind in los angeles, new york, but the culture there that just treats guns differently. I would argue far more passively than they do in in a place like new york. We knew a couple of years ago a new york giants Football Player got caught with a gun in a nightclub, and he did time. You can no more imagine that happening to a chicago bear in chicago than my doing a triathlon as soon as i leave the studio tonight. Michael the two of us. Part of it has to do with incredible concentrations of poverty and hopelessness. And its not a matter of the folks in the Police Department not being diligent enough. The number of guns confiscated every year. Last year it was 7,000 guns confiscated. And by any ratio apples to apples comparison, lets say with new york, that is a far far greater per capita. Five times per capita of guns being taken off the street, and still you have more people being killed. Michael what do you make of the conceal carry. Will that make it more prevalent, and now what does pat quinn, the governor of illinois do. He has fought it. Illinois, the 50th state. Theyre under a mandate of a federal Appeals Court in chicago to get this done by this week. They really had no choice. Quinn, i think partly out of sort of idealism, part out of precampaign election year, politics decided to do with they call a mandatory detail which means he can start rewriting passages of the bill. That was a loser. This was a fight he was not going to win and its pretty remarkable. For those who think that there is this wave out there of gun control mania just be reminded that illinois is distinctly Democratic State democratic governor democratic legislature, and by overwhelming margin they went with this concealcarry law on monday. Michael thats what is shocking about it, even more so. Standing where im standing, it is, in fact, when you think of illinois this is the type of place where you think there is no place theyre going to go ahead with this. There is no way they can override a democratic governor. Its something to keep our eyes on. It goes right up against what we think, i thought there was a mania similar to what you just spoke of. Jim, i have to steer you back to the capitol, sorry to do that. I would love to ignore the immigration, the republicans like theyre ignoring the immigration. Do you think thats smart to do that until after the election, or could their strategy backfire. I wouldnt so much call it a strategy. Its a basic primal, self preservation given the realities of redistricts across the country. Many republicans dont have to worry about this. The more they can sound antiimmigration the better it tends to play better in their districts. There are so few contesteds races that were going to see around the country next week. That is the real tragedy of the system whereby its not necessarily that we pick our elected representatives. Its the other way around. They pick who is going to vote for them. Thats let us into this situation. So i any its going to be probably for the republican i would guess an i am peeric impiric victory. Then come 2016 whoever their president ial candidate is, that man or that woman is going to have to face the Collateral Damage of this, and probably get absolutely crunched on this issue. Michael i would imagine in the house of representatives you know, its so different than running nationally, and it will really hamper what any National Candidate is going to do. Being so addicted to this fence. Are they trying to keep out latinos or democrats. If you were a pool player its a bank shot. You knock both into two different pockets. In their minds i think there is a small group that verges on the zenophobic, i think there is a group of 50, 60 republicans. After that it becomes a bit more complicated, and i suspect the guy like boehner would likeif it was left to him alone he could cut a deal tomorrow. But hes got this fractious caucus, and theyve backed him into a corner or hes backed himself in a corner by invoking a rule from the state of the illinois dennis hastarb. And its not going to lab is it possible that the republicans come up with something mediocre where they can say o we toughen Border Security even more, and were not going to really have, any quote amnesty, and then let this thing go to the socalled conference where the two bills and the two sides all meet in one room . Its possible that they pass a few things. But right now itsit verges sort of on the on on the annilistic. Michael yes, george w. Bush has been quite past couple of years. Why is he coming out now . Is he trying to get in the mist of this infighting . No, i dont think there is that much guile, premeditation. There is an issue which he has always felt very very strongly about. Its crystal clear. If he was in charge these days you can imagine him bringing a lot more republicans certainly into the oval office than barack obama has and try to twist their arms. But i mean, it is unusual in that hes made a personal pact not to get involved with this personal stuff. He has been flying below the radar screen. This is not bill clinton mouthing off on anything and everything under the sun. This is a rarity appearance in tanzania. In dallas theyre doing sufficient that is pretty good, this womens conference. This is interesting. Clearly he is frustrated about something that is a primal importance to him. Michael of course, before i let go, and very quickly i want to bring up Virginia Governor bob transvaginal probe mcdonnell. Its a tough nickname but hes got it. An fbi investigation shows that he failed to disclose gifts from wealthy donors, is he oh done . As far as being a big National Candidate yeah, i would think that he would be toast in the short run. Can he come back from this a few years down the road . Well, after what weve seen about the the aforementioned mr. Mr. Spitzer and mr. Weiner, and you didnt even mention the gentleman from south carolina, sanford. We clearly as a culture are increasingly given to pass out Second Chances for the sinners among us. Michael yes, exactly. Go run a triathlon. Jim warren from the new york daily news. Thank you for being on the show. After the break being bad legislaturelegislators is one part of the plan. Well see what life is like after the tip of the sphere. The author of damn few will be here. And its Common Knowledge that fdr used a wheelchair. But while in office few secrets from heavily guarded. If you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. Viewpoint digs deep into the issues of the day. Do you think there is any chance well ever hear the president even say the word carbon tax . With an opened mind. Has the time finally come for real Immigration Reform . And a distinctly satirical point of view. But you mentioned great leadership so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. laughter cutting throught the clutter of todays top stories. This is the savior of the Republican Party . I mean really . With a unique perspective. Teddy rosevelt was a weak asmatic kid who never played sports until he was a grown up. laughter . And lots of fancy buzz words. Family values, speding, liberty, economic freedom, hardworking moms, crushing debt, cute little puppies. If Wayne Lapierre can make up stuff that sounds logical while making no sense. Hey, so can i. Once again friends, this is live tv and sometimes these things happen. Watch the show. Only on current tv. Michael last week the Supreme Court the court threw out the formula that decided which parts of the country had to get approval before changing electoral law. That is called preclearance or section 5. The court left the rest of the Voting Rights intact but without the law there is no place to decide where that law applies. Now theyre turning to a new tactic, the secret weapon of the Voting Rights act. This is section 3. It allows the Justice Department to add new districts to the law if the federal government can prove recent intensional discrimination. Back in 2011 the republicancontrolled district redrew district 10, District Center wendy davis the same wendy davis who became a National Hero with her 11hour filibuster against abortion restrictions. Davis challenged the map and the federal court struck it down. She won reelection under the old map allowing her historic stand. But after the Supreme Court ruling that map is now back in contention. Last week davis lawyers and the texas naacp asked the federal court to put the entire state of texas back under the purview of the Voting Rights act this time under secret weapon, section 3. Are you following me . With me now Michelle Bernard of the bernard center. Welcome back inside the war room. Michelle will the Justice Department now start using Section Three to start to fill the gap left by the Supreme Court ruling . Absolutely. I have no doubt about it. Quite frankly the Justice Department doesnt have any other options but to use Section Three. What you see under Section Three where a state has intentionally engaged in acts of Voter Suppression, voter discrimination the Justice Department can then go and move to have the entire state covered covered. Which is what we have seen under section four. Its the only way we get any enforcement. As we know when the Supreme Court knocked down section four of the Voting Rights act calling it unconstitutional, what they did was took away the normal mechanisms that we would see a court use, for example, to say you are not going to engage intact ticks that will have a discriminatory affect on minorities. Michael does the law still have the teeth without the part that the Supreme Court threw out . Well, heres the problem. I mean, in a sense it has the teeth, but the real problem is how do you prove intent . It is very difficult to say, for example, that when the texas legislationlegislature, ill use them as an example, jerrymanders, that they had the intent of suppressing the vote of minorities and other incillary minorities. They go out and say im going to draw this district in this way because i dont want hispanic voting, and i know theyre going to vote democratic, and i want this district republican. No one is foolish enough this day and age other than joseph arapaio in arizona to make that statement so overtly. Michael building a fence is an overt way of saying that. Absolutely. Michael it doesnt get more overt than that. But i understand what youre saying. There is a little bit of a problem there when you see how these districts are drawn because theyre doing it on the sly as theyre want to do. I want to ask you about president obama. He met for the first time in almost two years with the Congressional Black Caucus yesterday, discussed replacing the section that the Supreme Court threw out and Patrick Leahy had a hearing on this, is there any chance that this congress will get something done at all on this . This congress could not pass a farm bill. It will go down in history as one of the most ineffective Congress Sessions that weve ever seen in u. S. History. I dont think that this congress particularly in the Republican House of representatives has any interest in doing anything about fixing section 3 of the voting right act. If i had my truthers, all 50 states of the nation would be coveredded since bush versus gore whether it is lines that take seven or eight hours that you have to wait to vote, if youre poor, and if you have a 9 00 to 5 00 job, you cant take the whole day off. Those are all things that are having a negative impact particularly on lowincome people and communities of color and something that this particular house of congress have no interest whatsoever to making sure that those people have an ability to vote. Michael when you talk about since bush versus gore and the 50state solution, that to me makes the most sense as well. You dont have to get mired down in the sections of the Voting Rights act. This is the law. And it applies to everybody. Absolutely. Michael you just wrote a book marking the 50th anniversary of the civil rights law. Many people have not heard of this organization. Tell us what it is. It is still around based here in washington, d. C. With and all over the country. 50 years in june, june 21 1963, shortly after medicine medgerevers was assassinated. They called lawyers to the white house and said will you please help me take the battle of silver rights from the streets to the courts. In 1963 this was absolutely a revolutionary radical act. There were lawyers all over the south who refused to represent civil rights workers because they were scared of repercussions or they were segregationists. Governor George Wallace who declared segregation now segregation forever. We saw lawyers from all over the country come together, leave private practice. We saw huge law firms donating lawyers who would move to the south and live there for years to fight the most silver rights battle of our time, and theyve been doing this for the last 50 years. They are involved in every possible issue you can imagine whether it is Voting Rights and how we deal with Voter Suppression with how we deal with immigrant rights, rights for gay and lesbians, theyre all over the map. Theyre in post Hurricane Katrina in the gulf coast they have been critical. It is my belief that the Lawyers Committee is going to be at the forefront of dealing with these Voter Suppression issues weve seen all over the country particularly in light of the Supreme Courts recent