Transcripts For KNTV Meet The Press 20141229

Where satire and reality intersect. Im chuck todd and joining me with luke russert, eugene robinson, amy walter and ken blackwell. Welcome to sunday its meet the press. Good morning. We start with breaking news. A search is under way after an airasia flight carrying 162 people from indonesia to singapore lost contact with air traffic controllers. Its reported that the pilot had requested a deviation from the planned flight path because of bad weather. President obama was briefed on the situation late last night. Katie, i know we dont know a lot. But do you have some new information. What do you know . Reporter its nighttime here in singapore. They called off the search for the each. They will resume it tomorrow morning. This happened around 7 24 local time when the plane suddenly dropped off radar. Pilots asked for a change in course. They wanted to go at 38000 feet because of weather. There was a line of thunderstorms in the area. It was supposed to get to Singapore Airport at 8 30 in the morning, but it never made it. Now theres a search and rescue operation that has been going on all day. It has been called off for the evening. They will resume tomorrow. This is sounding familiar because its the third malaysianbased airline that had an incident in the year. Mh370 which they believe to be in the indian ocean. Then mh17 which was shot down over the ukraine. And now airasia. This is an air bus. 155 parent s passengers. 47 familiar lefthand a friendy and friends are looking for answers. The few did that did come were, as would you imagine, very understandably distraught. Thank you very much for providing information and of course not speculation. Emotional scenes in new york city as they gathered for the funeral of the funeral of rafael ramos who was killed along with wenjian liu last weekend. The relationship is tense between mee nortie minorities and Police Forces. Of course, sadly, this is not something thats new. In 1992, perhaps the lowest point in recent memory, the brutal beating of rodney king while 17 colleagues stood by. They were acquitted, igniteing a storm of anger that tore apart the nation. Timothy thomas was shot and killed. It sparked the worst racial unrest in 30 years. The officer charged with negligent homicide but ultimately acquitted. In 2008, a majority of the country came together to elect the first black man as president and appointed first africanamerican top officer. Hopes of restoring trust has faded. In 2012, the Trayvon Martin case left africanamericans feeling the Justice System wasnt up to the task again. This year more lows. Michael brown in ferguson rice in cleveland, garner in new york city. Unarmed black males killed by white Police Officers. Last week two nypd officers assassinated in their cruiser by a black man who called it revenge. A National Funeral memorializing the fallen men in blue. I believe this great police force and this incredibly diverse city can and will show the nation how to bridge any divide. Youve done it before, and you will do it again. Police officers are called peace officers because thats what they do. They keep the peace. They help make the place that otherwise would be torn with strife a place of peace. As 2014 comes to a close, despite a low crime rate, were again at a low point, recent events highlighting the divide. Im joined by William Bratton, the man that may be at the center of the storm. Commissioner bratton, low crime rate and the best of times for police. This problem with trust with africanamericans and minority communities the worst of times. Is this what kind of level of crisis do you feel Police Forces around the country are having . Ive been at this for 44 years now. I go back to the turbulence of the 70s, the antiwar movement, civil rights movement. What were dealing with now has some similarities to that period of time. We move forward. We need to try to find Common Ground to stand on, to find additional ways to collaborate. I share the Vice President s words of optimism yesterday during his remarks, the idea that new york city, the old adage, we will make it here. But it will be difficult. Its going to require hard work, a lot less rhetoric and more dialogue. You have used the phrase Common Ground a lot in your interviews. What is that Common Ground . What is the foundation that you build . Common ground, there was a wonderful book by peter lucas that talked about the School Desegregation crisis in boston that tore that city apart during my formative stages during a Police Officer in boston. It was how that city ultimately came back together again after that incredibly violent decade. So i have that experience. It helps to inform my experience here in new york, inform the experience in los angeles watching that city heal a lot of its significant racial divide during the period of time i was chief of police there. The Common Ground here is really to, one, as we have been doing in new york, deal with the demonstrations in a way that they dont turn into police riots if you will. To allow some breathing room in the sense of allowing people to demonstrate, to vent. And at the same time showing on the part of the police, remarkable restraint in the face of great provocation. My cops have been doing a phenomenal job dealing with the demonstrations that you really have to be on the front lines with them to understand what they are dealing with in the instances. Theres going to have to be trust between the mayor and rank and file Police Officers the folks that report to you. You are in the middle of this. Yesterday again, a simplyymbol of protest, they turned their back. How bad is this rift . I think its probably a rift that is going to go on for a while longer. However we will be making efforts to sit down and talk with the Union Leaders in particular to deal with their issues. The issues go far beyond Race Relations in this city. They involve labor contracts. They involve a lot of history in the city thats really different from some of whats going on in the country. But recent events here, the death of mr. Garner in staten island, a recent accidental shooting in a Public Housing development, the police have been without a contact for years. But we will be making that effort. We have to make that effort. We have no other recourse. The rhetoric, you have talked about how heated it has become and the rhetoric from pat lynch the head of the Police Benevolent association in new york is certainly at one of the higher decibel levels. I want to read you something. Talking about pat lynch. What do you make of the comments . Do you believe that pat lynch is more divisive or that mayor de blasio is more divisive . I think as he would come together to work out issues comments like you read, it is unfortunate that we have at this time of such Great Success in dealing with the crime in new york city, for example, over the last 21 years, at a time that the city is booming in so many ways that we have these frustrations, these pentup frustrations. This isnt just about policing. This goes to larger issues. We are the tip of the iceberg at the moment. This is about the poverty rate the growing disparity between the wealthy and poor. Its still about unemployment issues. Theres so Many National issues that have to be addressed that it isnt just policing as i think we all well know. Lets go to the crux of what this issue is. I want to play for you something that eric garners widow said to me a couple weeks ago on meet the press. I just dont want him to go outside because now that Everybody Knows who he is you know, that hes eric garners son you know, i fear. And now my other son is in college. And he is in jersey. And i make him call hes like, mom im 20. Call me at least you know, in the morning before you go to class, when you get out of school. Dont go to no parties. Dont do this. You know im so afraid of what could happen to them in the street by the police. Shes afraid for her son from the police. Mayor de blasio spoke about having the talk with his biracial son. Do you acknowledge this issue . Certainly. I interact quite frequently with africanamericans from all classes, from the rich to the poor. Theres not a single one that has not expressed this concern that their perception is the reality that we have to deal with. And it has to be part of the dialogue. It has to be trying to find that xon Common Ground, if you will, so all parties understand the perceptions of the other parties that shape the realities that were trying to deal with. So theres no denying that among the black community there are those concerns. Policing, sometimes its difficult to see those. I made comments yesterday about seeing each other to understand when i say see each other to not look past each other but to really see what is motivating what were experiencing. Its going to be a painful process. It has to be an open process. But the process that has to be engaged in the mayor, myself, we are committed to engaging in it. We will seek to move forward to engaging as we have been doing all along, but to reengage in hopefully more successful ways. Finally some of your comments, you have been critical of the national attention, national leaders, the implication with president obama, what do what role do you want them to play in this . Well this goes to the idea of see people see us, see the please, see why they have the anxiety and perceptions they have. They really do feel under attack, rank and file officers and much of American Police leadership, that they feel they are under attack from the federal government at the highest levels. Thats something we need to understand also the sense of perception that becomes a reality. We have a lot of talking were going to have to do here to understand all sides of this issue. This is not a onesided issue. Thats for sure. Commissioner William Bratton i know it has been a tough week for the men in blue in new york city. You have a busy week. You have to keep millions of people safe. Good luck. Thanks for coming on meet the press. Thank you. Get reaction from the panel. Perception and reality. Here we have best of times worst of times, lowest crime rate in 30 years best of times. Worst of times africanamerican perception of law enforcement. Right. You know my First Impression is number one, bill bratten is enton is a smart guy. Crime rates are at a modern era low basically. This is nothing like the situation that we faced 20 years ago. The second thing i guess i would mention is that this is not particular to every single city. Its true that in every city, i would imagine, cincinnati where ken lives and certainly where i have lived, all of us who have africanamerican sons have had the talk with our sons about how to behave around police. But Community Policing here in washington, for example, the relationship between community and police is different from, i believe, from the relationship of community and police in new york. And that has to do with both sides, i think. But its different. Ken, its interesting. I feel like new york and washington, a little ahead of the curve when it comes to making sure the Police Forces look like the community. Cincinnati got there. And we realized we had to diversify our rank and file police. That was an issue . And in the management team. Look, one of the things that the commissioner underscored for me was, i think, interlocking spheres of influence. Our challenge will be met by voices in the street in the action in the courts action you know, in the legislative bodies across our community. But where the real change has to take place is in the hearts of men and women. And i was reminded of something that Martin Luther king advisers used to say. Abraham heshel said, respect discovers the dignity in others. Martin luther king emphasized that at a speech in Lincoln University where he said we are all heirs to the legacy of worthiness. Thats where we have to start. Amy and luke, where the political rubber meets the road is de blasio. How does he recover from this . Listen i think whats interesting here when we talk about the rift and the divide, a lot is not going to be healed overnight the way blacks and whites see police. The one Common Ground though is the answer to this. When you look at poling and you you ask people, what do you think about Police Officers wearing video cameras, black and white, almost 100 agree. What do we think about taking the prosecutorial piece out of the police department, have something independent . 100 agreement black and white. The solution, thankfully have agreement on both sides. Thats for sure. I would add, commissioner bratton talked about a sense of history. Things are different now because of how these protests came up. They were organic and they were aided by social media. Thats much more different as we move forward is that you have a lot of young people who are organizing through social media see how things are playing out. Its on the police now i think that have to present more factbased nonprejudicial information about what happens in these specific cases that people arent going to take the polices word for it. Its on media to investigate, too. I think its the beginning of this conversation to start in ferguson and will continue moving forward. Lets not leave ourselves out of this. The media has played a role in this. The economy is bouncing back. We will discuss if an economic boom in 2015 will totally reshape politics here in washington and shake up the 2016 race. I believe it will. [ male announcer ] some come here to build something smarter. Some come here to build something stronger. Others come to build something faster. Something safer. Something greener. Something the whole world can share. People come to boeing to do many different things. But its always about the very thing we do best. Get ready for some german engineered holiday excitement. At the volkswagen signthendrive event. Right now, for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a new volkswagen. Like the sporty, advanced new jetta and the precisely engineered passat tdi. Ah, the gift of clean diesel. For the new volkswagen on your list this year just about all you need, is a pen. Festive, isnt it . Hurry in to the sign then drive event and get a fivehundred dollar new years bonus on select new volkswagen models. Offer ends january 2nd. Welcome back. 2014 has been the year that the American Economy may have really truly bounced back. A similar story in 2015 would have a Significant Impact on the dynamics of how washington works and how the 2016 president ial race. Take a look at the end of the year numbers and the latest growth figures showing that the economy grew 5 and in the year before it was nearly 5 4. 6 and make ging it the best stretch since 2003, more than a decade ago. Good news on the unemployment rate, and peaked 2010 and now zipped up to 5. 8 and now gas, and big news for the consumers as they have fallen dramatically dramatically, and in may of 2011 an average of 4 gallon and now it is 2. 31 and in many places, below 2 which is adding up to the Consumer Confidence going through the roof. And look at the Michigan Consumer index from 2009 when president obama entered office it was 58. 8 and now it is shy090 and 90 is an important number because 90 is considered a good index. And over to the panel. Luke russert this is a dynamic that the congress and the president can do. And not the throw a wet blanket on, i am skeptical, because there a lot of growth for the top income earners and not for the middle income earners. And the u. S. Stock market, while it is growing, others are cooling, china and russia and other places in latin america, and so i am skeptical that it is going to be completely changing the political discussion away from the economy but if we do however have a robust growth in the final two years of president obama and wa whathat will Hillary Clinton do to attach herself to that . And now, what about the criticism of president obama and the policies when it comes to job creation. Take a listen to what has been said. Speaker pelosi is pressing ahead to the 1. 3 trillion takeover of health care. We believe that her Health Care Bill will destroy 5. 5 million jobs in the country, according to a methodology developed by the president s senior economic adviser. He had never led before and he had never worked across the aisle before or understood how jobs were created to help the economy. And what if that criticism never the did take hold and meaning that the Health Care Law did not take jobs away, and did that make the republican rhetoric kred canable . Not in credible. And let me tack on to what luke said the Participation Rate is lower than in 40 years. We have a wave of legislative regulations that are ready to have an impact the ep, and the obama care going into full bloom and others that will slow down the Capital Investment and we have 2 trillion sitting on the fence because of the government overreach, but at the same time everyday people 50 Million People are on food stamps and record numbers and while i dontt want to be the grinch that stole the christmas and im a cheerleader for growth, im a realist and we have to look at how sustainable these numbers are and what they reflect and dont reflect. And this is going to impact the 2016 election because if it is it not a domestic election . Well, that is go ging to change the dine mikics because there will be a debate amongst the Republican Party of the new hawks versus the new wave of rand paul and others who have what some would call a more neo isolationist view of Foreign Policy. I would not use that pejorative term, but they would. And that is a split that is interesting in the Republican Party. And you will see it probably no matter what. But it is a change election and the big driving issue in all of this is that 70 070 of americans said they want to go in the different direction of the president , and whether it is Foreign Policy or the economy and americans need to be more optimistic and that is the sense that somebody is going to to be come back to feel better about themselves, and that is a driving force. And this is december 2014, and that is going to be the same change and what if the economy is booming. And anyway coming up the state of is a tire heres a question for you by avoiding rapid acceleration and stopandgo driving, your savings on gas could be equivalent to how much . Up to 50 cents a gallon . 75 cents . 1 . The answer is. Up to 1 a gallon. Sensible driving avoids unnecessary energy loss saving you money and reducing co2 emissions. Take the energy quiz round 2. Energy lives here welcome back. We know the old joke that politics is show business for ugly people. It seems the beautiful and not so Beautiful People in the Entertainment Industry are fascinated by us ugly folk who inhabit washington. In a moment a special discussion on satire and politics that i taped in new york city with a panel of comedians earlier this week, including louis black. Lets look at how the show biz world used this town. There is but one rule hunt or be hunted. Americans may increasingly loath washington, but hollywood cant get enough of the place. Preserve protect and defend the constitution of the united states. Preserve you didnt want to hear how your golden boy was doing it. But he was out there trading top secret information. From political dramas to satire cal news audiences are turning in to a new hero, the washington operator. That is what it i do. There is no one better in the world than i am. As long as politicians have been trying to shape their images on television. Sock it to me . Political comics have been cutting them down to size. I meant all three words. I meant no. I meant no. I meant taxes. Meant them all. The fascination with power, how to get it who is losing it and the odd personal quirks of those who have it is nothing new. I will ask each candidate to sum up in a single world the best argument for his candidacy. Governor bush . Strategerie. Vice president gore . Lockbox. Television has forced politicians to play along with the most ridiculous versions of themselves. I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any Foreign Policy. I can see russia from my house. Since George Carlin became famous for the seven words you cant say on teltelevision. I got my opinion. They have enjoyed making washington and the audiences uncomfortable. Very little is off limits. In america there are no sacred days because we commercialize everything. Only five years away from 9 11 sales. The line between news and entertainment is increasingly blurry. To make obama go from this. Im not the emperor. Emails. You said that. The government keeps a database on everyone. New audiences learn to love to hate the political show, will more americans engage in politics or will rising cynicism mean many tune in to television but drop out of the process . With me now to talk about comedys role in the political dialogue, we put together a round table here. Louis black a regular contributor to the daily show w. Bell and laura graph. Thank you for being here. Im going to throw a conversation starter here. When we put this together about a month ago we started talking to you about this and this week is a takedown of the daily show of sorts. Basically, its built off this idea i have heard it from other corners that the political satire is dumbing down regular politics. You have read the piece. What do you say to the criticism . You could say that were somehow dumbing down something that has been dumbed down during the course of my life that we could even be it would be possible for us to take it further is beyond belief. Because in a sense, the thing that struck me about the last 20 years is that we have moved closer and closer to where we are living on the corner where satire and reality intersect. Why are we there . I agree with you. How did we get to this place . I think in part it was social media. Its in part cable, which exploded everything. Its the fact that we have four or five 24hour news probably six. 24 hours of news on six different channels. You guys do the nightly news, everybody does the nightly news, pbs does you have all of that pounding away on a consistent basis. That really broke things open, too. Because then all of a sudden you watch these people over and over and over again saying the same thing. By the third time initially what . The third time they are doing something, you are laughing at them. Are you a political satirist . Im a social satirist. Can i get in on that . You are talking about ending racism in an hour. Every time. If we stayed in the room, we would in the room, its solved. Then they get back on facebook and, i got opinions. Shame on them. Laura im going to throw something that you said back at you. It was interesting, you were asked what is your media diet . I would hope people would be getting their news from the same places i get my news newspapers, magazines, blogs, television, radio. I hope people only use our shows, referring to the satirical shows, that they are an addendum to the news. We are not a news source. We have a comedy show. I stand by that. I dont when theres a criticism of theyre feeding this misinformation information is out there for everybody to get. Its how you choose to find it. Theres something off of what you were saying with all of the news being so accessible. I think that it has made you had to seek out the news. Get a newspaper and then theres maybe one newscast a night, five nights a week, maybe now its everywhere. Friends of mine are getting more indepth on the issues in the same way that you get the surface because you get the same often time you can go deeper into i feel like politics is becoming more expose exposed to a broader audience. The larger critique is that the rise in popularity of political satire is creating a more cynical public citizen. Right . It feeds cynicism. You have been on twitter, facebook . I feel like the cynicism is there. If anything, the daily show gives you hope. I can love my way through this. I dont know if you have been in a deep comment threat on facebook with a guy you went to high school with and your uncle and a dude you dont know how you became friends with, and you are talking about ferguson. And you say i need the daily show to bring me back down to reality. What should we take away that satire is more popular than what where he doing or is it more trusted . You see john stewart is more trusted than the evening news zs anchors. I think because comedy is truth in comedy. Its the heightened truth. You feel like you trust a comedian more than you would trust somebody who is a member of the media who has been fed information for Different Reasons from different political groups. And you are totally group. Nobody has fed you anything. You have never taken money from a corporation ever. I mean, i get your point there. Im ready to put on whatever logo they want. I agree with the product. I think people when people watch john stewart, they feel like they are getting that persons perspective. I dont think people believe with the news they feel like you are getting a corporations perspective. You are not getting that individual person. Should you be held responsible if people are cynical and think all government is broken . Thats the premise of this article . No no, no no no. That started way before this. I really do think part of the problem is the cynicism is caused by the fact that more in the course of my lifetime and having lived in washington that washington is increasingly in a bubble much the same way that a lot of people who live in hollywood are in a bubble. When i started going on the road 25 years ago and i was told, you are too angry they are not going to get it. They were angrier than i was. Theres a sense of disenfranchisement that is seen in the number of people who went and voted that i have never experienced in my lifetime. You and everybody elsewhere somebody comes on i dont know how you do it. Im barking at them. Sit there you sit there and we sit there because we know the first time we bark, the last time we do the show. Sometimes its the last time all of a sudden, nobody will come on your show. Theres that balance. The thing that comedy you get to do stuff we dont. Ed me comedy gets to bark. Fox news gets to bark. Sometimes the left media is afraid of barking. The comics you see this in a lot they will play a clip of the daily show and go look at this guy barking. Thats what i want you to believe, let me have the reasonable discussion. I want to talk about your role in bringing political medians in theyre still after me. Get to the terminal across town. Are all the green lights you . No. Its called grid iq. The 4 51 is leaving at 4 51. They cut the power. Itll fix itself. Powers back on. Quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. Thrillingly predictable. Were back with our political comedy round table. Laura it was a standup comedian whose youtube went viral going after bill cosby and raising allegations that had been out apparently in the Hollywood Community for years but got resurfaced. We have clips of saturday night live by tina fey. A california lawyer alleged wednesday that 30 years ago bill cosby drugged her and tried to molest her and after she fought back he dropped two 100 bills on a table and fled. He says he cant be held responsible because at the time he was suffering from the brain damage. Thats funny. Keenan is not coming out because of the fat albert and the money and sequels. Great job. I didnt say any of that because Keenan Thompson loves to work. This is the role that political comics or comics in raising uncomfortable issues that we wont. A good thing. Is it a good thing . Well no a good thing thats a way to use the standup routine. Absolutely. I think its funny also that a black man one of the things that prompted the conversation was that bill cosby talks down. Lecturing young black men. Dont wear your pants a certain way. You had a sitcom that did well. You have this despicable background. I have heard allegations for a long time. Is it a good thing . I think thats the goal of comedians. I mean, i think comics are i think its great when comics use their acts to sort of as a battering ram into issues to clarify an issue. I feel weird the fact he didnt upload the video he is the chief new accuser of bill cosby. The worst thing you can do is write it on the newspaper, have people read it without hearing the comedian say it. I feel that way in regular television. Wait a minute, didnt you see my didnt you see what i was talking about . I see hit bit written down over every blog, this is what he said, taken out of context and without a context he didnt provide, i think its opened up a great discussion about bill cosby. Its funny i dont know if it was to empower, but that happened, but it is a social media discussion. But what i didnt understand was, why was that the trigger that blew it up . Not at the women who sued before and not the allegations out there for decades . Maybe because its from a comedian. I just read today somewhere that chris rock said he doesnt want people having cell phone in his audience because a standup should have the freedom to try stuff out. I thick hanible was being free. Theres people being careful. He was being honest. But it was taken without his permission. If that had been a white comedian, would it have gone as viral . Here is the most arguably a Living Legend of africanamerican comedy is being accused by an africanamerican comedian. He is not a political comedian. He is his joke before that was probably about pickle juice and an applesauce joke and in the middle was bill cosby. Because it came from an unlikely source, it gave it more power. If this guy is talking about it its not black. Let me go to something is your career harder in the comedian word . Is there gender bias in comedy . People ask me that a lot. I mean, i will say that theres many times im the only woman in the room. But i dont think about it. I think about what kind of personal jokes. Structure whatever. I guess i think theres also theres more women i think its reassuring, theres more women going into comedy and writing. Selffulfilling. For a while there werent a lot of women going into comedy . I think it was a numbers game. People sort of hiring people who are like them and often times its a white guy hiring a white guy. Lets talk about race and comedy. Norman leer admits when he was writing Ground Breaking comedies based on africanamerican families it was white writers. He said in hindsight he knows that was a mistake. At the time he didnt believe he was he didnt see what was wrong with that. Im glad he admits that now. Yes, theres Corporate America, the hollywood is not different than Corporate America in that theres a predominance of white males who are running things, making decisions. Whenever they bring black people in or minorities in its part of a diversity initiative. Usually it ends on the announcement of the initiative. I had a tv show on. It was important to get more than one woman in the room. Turns out theres out races out there which arent black people, which i learned recently. It was important to get different voices so it will push you out of your comfort zone. Thats why people are hiring people like them and they hire people they want to hang out with, not people who are good comedy writers. Do you think politics use comedy shows to duck real interviews, which is my point of view . Im going to close with that question . I think they do it to try to look human to humanize themselves. What would help is if they really spent time this is something i believed for a long time. Leadership training would be a great thing. For our leaders . Get them to a camp. My brother had to do it when he was in high school. Learn how to build a fire. With a backpack and short shorts and do a trust fall. The thing is that you still want them you want to feel like theyre coming from somewhere you want to know what theyre coming from. Theres this thing that leaders have when they stand in front of you that is a voice that a lot use. That is bull. Fair enough. Bs if thats what you want to say. I will let you do that. Its sunday morning. Its bs. I think that i think its intsing they use comedy venues as a way to make issues more pal atable and understanding. When obama went between two friends to talk about obamacare. That was a great way to reach a new audience that wasnt aware of the parts of obamacare that he wanted them to be aware of. I think thats it seems that thats why they go on it more than to humanize because theyre trying to hide from its not a hide. But it is becoming more of a comfortable place for them to go. Yeah. I think that sometimes john stewart has done more hard hitting interviews with john mccain than journalists. Comedians because were barking. You can get away with something. I hope you had fun. I hope you havent ruined your careers by going mainstream. This was great. Its more than the driver. Its more than the car. For lotus f1 team, the Competitive Edge is the cloud. Powered by microsoft dynamics, azure, and office 365, the team can gain Real Time Insights and instantly share information around the globe. When every millisecond counts, staying competitive begins with the cloud. This is the microsoft cloud. The Holiday Season is here, which means its time for the volkswagen signthendrive event. For practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a germanengineered volkswagen. Like the sporty, advanced new jetta. And the 2015 motor trend car of the year allnew golf. If youre wishing for a new volkswagen this season. Just about all you need is a finely tuned. Pen. Hurry in to the sign then drive event and get a fivehundred dollar new years bonus on select new volkswagen models. Offer ends january 2nd. Hey what are you doing . I was thinking about taking this speed test from comcast business. Oh yeah . If they cant give us faster internet or save us money, theyll give us 150 bucks. Sounds like a win win. Guys faster internet . I have never been on the internet and i am doing pretty well. Does he even work here . Dont listen to the naysayer. Take the comcast business speed test. Get faster speeds or more savings, or well give you 150. Comcast business. Built for business. Welcome back. On the program we have been looking ahead to what 2015 will bring. Its the time to look back and remember those in washington politics and political culture that we lost over the last 12 months. I know firsthand the damage that guns can do. Simply very simply with hope, good morning. Senator Robert Francis kennedy died at 1 44 a. M. Today. It must be remembered that nixon got nixon. Beam me up. I say its time for congress to shove these illegal tactics right up the assets of the irs. The mayor took a second puff. Then fbi agents and police came bursting through an entrance from the room next door. For real peace, we are ready to make compromises. We will be back with sunday today and meet the press. Remembering those who lost this year including an important member of the family here. After the break, we will see how closely the panel was paying attention over the last year. We will close the year with a trivia test from 20 [ male announcer ] we know theyre out there. You cant always see them. But its our job to find them. The answers. The solutions. The innovations. All waiting to help us build Something Better. Something more amazing. A safer, cleaner brighter future. At boeing, thats what building Something Better is all about. 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. Welcome back. It has been a year in politics. Was the panel paying attention . We boiled down 2014 to three numbers and a word. Here they are. 86 1928, 30 and mark. Amy, i will let you start. 86 and 1928 are related. Let me show you here. This is the First Time Since 1928 that democrats have experienced this depression of election. It is true. Lowest number of house seats. Right. This was a drubbing at all levels. The legislative piece is more significant, because this is where the next crop of candidates come from, state house speakers. And when redistricting in 2020 which is what democrats hope is the answer, may not happen when control is all republican. Luke russert, 30 is an important number because 30 is the number of seats democrats need to win back control of the u. S. House in 2016 and 30 is now the number of control that republicans control chambers in 30 states both chambers in 30 states. Luke nobody no democrats talk about winning back the house in 2016. Thats impossible. I think its funny when the poor person who has to lead the dccc who says we are fighting, were keeping them comet did i. Its not going to happen. Redistricting is the best shot. Whats interesting is moving forward how to House Democrats make themselves relevant . Do they stop big deals like they did the last time with nancy pelosi and hold it up . Is that what they do . How does that move forward . Lastly, there is no democratic bench. All over. Look at your home state of ohio. Ohio is a 50 50 state, but you dont know it by the election result. You know it not by the Election Results for president. But ohio is a very red state. All below Democratic Party has filed for absolutely. Thats it does point to an issue. Republicans have to stop acting as if they are a minority party. Theyre not. We pointed out they are a Majority Party on all levels of government. But they play small ball. Thats a problem. The word mark. Three of the up and coming senators. This was remarkable. Mark it down. The other thing they have in common is they were democrats. Very bad year for democrats. Democrats named mark, republicans named scott. But, look, it was a terrible year for the democrats. Republicans on the other hand are going to be vexed by their success in the year to come. Theyre going to have to figure out what to do with this big majority in the house. They have to figure out how to behave as a party in control of both houses of congress. I dont think they know that yet. Who is the face of the Republican Party . Is it mcconnell or boehner . Is it now mitch mcconnell. It has to get through the house. Boehner has to figure out how to keep it from blowing up. He could pass a bill and say, mitch you do it. If he can pass the bill. Right . It is clear from that vote, there are 35 or 40 republicans who will say no anything that leadership wants. Do they become strengthened by the midterm results and say we want to double down on holding the line . Remember what can pass the senate has changed. But not all that much. Right . Because what is the a huge issue. How soon the republican president ial race in some ways is starting. Jeb bush is in. Does that hurt mcconnell and boehner . I dont think so. One of the things you have to remember is that this is probably the closest speaker of the house and majority leader in terms of friendship that existed in a long time. All right. We shall see. That was fun. Thats all we have for today. Have a very happy new year. We will be back next week and next year because if its sunday, its meet the press. Good morning. Breaking news coming up on early today, new details in the search for the missing airasia passenger jet with 162 people on board. And then hundreds of passengers awaitress cue from a heavily fire damaged ferry. So much on this monday december 29th. Early today starts right now. Good morning. Nice to be with you. Im frances rivera. Night is falling in the search area for a missing flight which officials now believe to be at the bottom of the sea. An hour ago, indonesias Vice President said they cannot confirm reports that australian crews found debris in the search area. Indonesia deployed about a dozen planes and ships to conduct land and sea