From an american paper boy to chinese billionaire that investing in the United States government, lending uncle sam money was a dangerous even fool hearted decision. Hows that for bad government . Hows that for a Health Report on the American Republic . A congress and a president who cannot meet the minimal requirement of guarding the country from a bank run. One man looms over this. Passionately urging it on like some dallas cowboy cheerleader. That he sees himself as Americas Team doing battle with the Republican Party he mocks now as defeatists. Hes Americas Team, the Republican Party is defeastists. Tonight the country finds itself between two abysses. A Government Shutdown and default on the National Debt and a congressman ecstatic on the destruction. Listen to what ted cruz told Rush Limbaugh about his fellow republicans just yesterday after his 21hour rant on the senate floor. Lets listen. Single Biggest Surprise at arriving to the senate is the defeatist attitude here. I mean, we dont even talk about how to win a fight. Theres no discussion. We talk about lets get a show boat to tell the constituents were doing something, but it i promise you, rush, if you had to sit through one senate lunch, youd be in therapy for a month. Well, that was a chuckle worthy for old rush. But what do you make of this weird behavior . Im reminded of the movie advise and consent with the bad guy anchorman. Hes behaving like the bad guy in the movie about the u. S. Senate. He doesnt seem to know hes the bad guy. He comes across to me as a holier than thou fraud. Yet everything hes telling us is basically a lie. He has convinced, unfortunately, too many republicans in our base that all we have to do is defund obama care, vote to defund it in the house of representatives and thats going to be the end of the president S Health Care bill. This is nonsense. He knows it, but he keeps propagating it. The more he tells these falsehoods, the more selfrighteous he gets. I dont know which bothers me more. Ted cruz himself or that so many people have allowed him to set the agenda. I mean, to have one person like this who gets in the room of 100 people, 99 would agree ted cruz is like a carnival barker here. But hes the one whos been setting the policy. Hes been setting the terms of the debate. Hes right now bringing us to the edge of the cliff. We have to stand up and say weve had enough of this guy. We have to make government work. You and i may disagree on any number of issues, but we have a sense of reverence for the skill of politics. I do. We get people from different views, different parts of the country, totally different beliefs. You get in a room and work it out. Nobody walks out happy, but you get the deal done. Thats what democracy is about. Taking the conflicting ideas and making them work. No one person saying theyre holier than the other one. Lets talk about the destructive pattern i think the government is on thanks to him largely. What happens the next couple days and weeks . Im looking at this Pincer Movement now. The Government Shutdown possibility, the possibility now of a real loaded up issue coming forward with the debt with a possible default. Weve got all this coming at us, and there doesnt seem to be people in the middle saying weve made the political argument on the right perhaps in this case it could have been in the left, the jobs done, well go to the next election and win on the issues weve raised. They dont seem to know its time enough. Everybody else knows when to stop. They dont know when to stop. Thats my worry here, that this wont stop. Yeah, chris, i can only speak for the hows. One of the problems is not that theres not more people in the middle, but theres few districts in the middle. The way the lines are drawn, theyre either partisan republican or democrat. And theres virtually no northeastern republicans left at all. Just a handful of us. And its hard to find compromise because of that. Im convinced john boehner doesnt want the government to shut down. How he prevents it, i dont know. Its going to be difficult. I know senator reids in a tough spot. Sometimes the president should inject himself into this. It seems he wants to stay out of it. Got to let republicans kill themselves off. That may be a shortterm political plus, but i think its damaging for the system here. I agree with you. If we cant keep the government open, if we cant meet our debt obligations then we look bad as a country. And as far as the president yeah. I want to talk about this because im serious about this. Its not just this guy looks like joe mccarthy, acts like him. My father was a smart republican. He said hes right, he just went too far. Its not about being conservative. Its about how far you go. To the point of terrorism where you dont care if you bring the house down. Thats what this guy reminds me of. Its not that hes wrong we need smaller government. Thats his thought, fair enough. Its his methods. Like mccarthy. And somebodys got to stand up and say its not about philosophy, its about methods. Damn it. And we cant run on a country on selfdestruction or it wont work. If democracy and republican form of government doesnt work, what will we fall back on . Cruz . His point of view . Its the fact hes spreading a lie. When he is trying to tell people he was telling them all summer just vote to defund obama care and itll go. And he knows thats not true. So its his strategy. Hes leading us off the cliff and its wrong. We cant have people like this. Howd he get away with talking for 21 hours like he was fidel castro . Thats the last time a guy gave a speech that long. 21 hours to say hes going to vote against cloture, about stopping debate. And guess what, the next hour he voted with the other 99 senators. None of his out there in the country notice the hypocrisy and dishonesty he just did. Nobody noticed. Dont the people emailing you notice . No, they basically say president obama has something on me, that the republicans have sold out, that ted cruz is the only honest man. And i mentioned this this morning on another msnbc show. You and i have heard a lot of cursing and yelling over the years. The vile language coming in, i have these young women answering the phones and the cursing and screaming that goes on from his people im not holding him responsible for all of that, but he has tapped into a troublesome vein of american society. They are coming out of the woodwork and they believe him. Hes their messiah and leader. Basically hes leading them down a false path. Thats bad enough. How we allowed ourselves as a house and senate to get locked into this situation is beyond me. The one guy in eight months in the senate not telling the truth is able to set the agenda, maybe 50 years from now some Political Science class is going to study this. Thank you so much. Congressman peter king of new york. Sam steins a editor at Huffington Post and msnbc contributor. Thats interesting. Peter king is a moderate republican. Hes conservative, but moderate by standards of behavior. Today, he is. Yes. Whats going on with behavior if people out on the right are happy with a guy who is thunderously out of order, whos willing to say one thing one hour and the next hour go 180 and nobody calls him on it. He voted with the other senators. This guy gave a 21hour speech how he was going to vote differently. But when he saw the numbers and knew he would be the short end of the deal, he jumped. People are now calling him on it. Bob corker took the floor today and pointed that out. You led a 21hour faux filibuster and then voted against what you were filibustering. I think theres a tiredness creeping into the party over whats happening. On the Senate Floor Today bob corker and ted cruz. This has been a rather confusing week, i know. I dont think ever in the history of the senate have we had a 21hour filibuster and then the person carrying out the filibuster voted for the issue they were filibustering. And talking earlier with the senator from texas, its my understanding that the reason you dont want to send a bill over to the house who could possibly put in place some very good policies for us here is that you want the American People and the outside groups that youve been in contact with to be able to watch us tomorrow. I appreciate the senator from tennessees comments supporting the majority leader. And i know the senator from tennessee is learned on procedures. So i know he must have made a misstatement when he moments ago suggested that those of us who participated in the filibuster the other day somehow changed our position in voting for the motion to proceed. I explicitly stated i support the motion to proceed. Whats the halflife of a demagogue . You tell me. You studied politics longer. I think joe mccarthy whos not exactly the same case, but lasted about four and a half years where he was able to scare every republican like peter king was talking. Scare them, get their crazy rights. That worked for awhile. You would think it would have already stopped having seen some of the results into the Senate Elections in which the Party Candidates lost seats that were winnable. You would think that would create a movement to say lets be realistic. Lets run better candidates. It seems like from the 2012 election on, we retreated into a worst pattern. So they dont want the majority. He doesnt want 51 republicans. They could have beaten a lot of people. I think ted cruzs eyes are set above the senate. I think hes looking at the white house. That personality . That appeal . You dont think you think people will vote for that . I dont think theyll vote for that, but i think he thinks theyll vote for him. Thats what this is about. Whos his role model . Joe mccarthy . Huey long . I think he looks at whats happening and say i can be the guy who dies on that hill and republicans and conservatives will applaud for doing so. Thats what this was about. It wasnt about defunding obama care. He knew it wouldnt happen. It wasnt about setting a standard in the senate. It was setting a standard on ted cruz. Ted cruz is delaying the vote because he told his supporters to tune in tomorrow. Hes literally slowing down the senate for his own political purposes. Thats pretty remarkable. Whens Mitch Mcconnell going to call him on this . Hes in a tough spot. He has his own Tea Party Challenger in kentucky. He has to watch his own back as well. I think eventually when it comes down to it at the Eleventh Hour, maybe the Eleventh Hour and 55th minute, Mitch Mcconnell will come in and say we have to cut a deal. Thats the history with mcconnell. So thats what the white house is hoping for. That some sanity will prevail down the road eventually. But were running out of time. This is not the way the American Government has succeeded all these years. It would have been a dysfunction. This running one person i always wonder how the Dallas Cowboys became Americas Team. How does this guy become americas senator . I dont know. But the question about the demagogue, it may be that you need Something Like the debt ceiling to hit for that to end. Demagoguery is a great way to get lights for awhile. Thank you sam stein. Coming up, youre going want to stay tuned now for this. Im about to play hardball with a fresh republican from my state of pends pennsylvania. Im going to ask him how much the republicans are willing to go to take down obama care. Also big news not because of the governors race there. No state votes more like the entire country than virginia does these days. So what happens in virginia may not stay in virginia. That could be good news for democrats. Especially for women. Plus ted cruzs antics have been a gift to late night comedians. 21 hours of listening to ted cruz. How awful is that . Still not as bad as 21 hours of a carnival cruise, but still bad. Finally let me finish tonight with how this time of political theater for our country could end up in a tragedy. This a hardball, the place for politics. Before ted cruz and his 21hour marathon this week, there was texas senator wendy davis. She took to the state senate floor down in austin to protest a draconian bill to regulate abortion clinics down there. Hers was a real filibuster. It delayed action on the bill until time ran out after midnight, the midnight deadline. Now politico and the Associated Press are reporting that davis is telling Top Democrats shes running for governor of texas this is going to be wild against greg abbott. Look for an official announcement from davis herself some time next week. Its going to be great down there. Well be right back. We have no interest in seeing the government shut down. But weve got to address the spending problems that we have in this town. And so there will be options available to us. Theyre not going to be speculation about what well do or not do until the Senate Passes their bill. Welcome back to hardball. Well, the Republican Partys is train off its rails. That was john boehner today telling reporters he will not accept a clean, continuing resolution to keep the American Government from shutting down. Its a stance which all but assures the republicancontrolled house will reject legislation thats expected to pass in the senate. And with time running out before the government shuts off the lights this coming tuesday, its hard to see a scenario where the government stays open. And it gets worse. Today house gop leadership revealed their bill that threatens calamity by tying the nations Borrowing Authority to a dear santa letter of republican pipe dreams. Including the dismantling of the Affordable Care act. If you want proof, just look at what boehner now has to throw into a bill to get the support of his conservative caucus. In addition to a oneyear delay of the health care law, the bill also includes a package of republicanfavored tax cuts. Approval for the keystone pipe line. An overhaul of the regulatory system. More oil drilling off shore and in protected federal lands. Cuts to the epa climate regulations. An overhaul of doddfrank. Its all pro business, pro oil. About the only major piece missing from the bill is a ban of lateterm abortions and some lawmakers who oppose abortion were arguing just that. Into a bidding war we see instead of compromise, their radicalizing. Scott perry is a republican from pennsylvania. Congressman, this is really difficult to figure out, but what do you think the speaker of the house is doing here . He says he doesnt want the government to shut down next tuesday, yet hes playing to people on the hard right of your party whos saying you cant go with just keeping the government open. You have to make a demand like killing a law of the land which is the Affordable Care act. Ive never heard of the congress holding up the government saying they will not continue to exist unless we kill a law of the land. Its never been done that ive ever heard of. What do you think . Come on, chris. Youre a student of history. This has been done on many occasions. Name the first time or last time. Whens it ever happened to kill a law . The debt ceiling has come up since 1962. 1963, to be exact. I know all about that. This has been continuing answer my question. When has it been used to kill a law thats been enacted by the congress, signed by the president , and the president got reelected after doing it. The Republican Congress got elected at the same time. The American Public said we dont like that law. Congressman, i can only ask the question. If you dont want to answer it, just say so. Im happy to answer the question. When has the congress ever said the government of the United States will not continue unless first of all, theyre not saying the government cannot continue. Things are going to be paid for and the president is the one whos revising history. He continues to. Those are words youre speaking words but not an answer. Those are words. Answer the question with words. Heres the question. Thats what the president said when it was his turn. Youve been elected, i respect that. Thank you for coming on the show. I put to you a simple question. Give me the precedent when the United States government has been held hostage so we kill a law those will your words that the government is being held hostage for the last time who will negotiate with syria, with putin, with iran but wont negotiate with 50 of his countrymen. Thats good rhetoric. Thats the same thing you use. No. This isnt a rhetorical question. You said it happens all the time. You said in previous debates and fights over the debt ceiling. Fair enough. Has there been a time the Congress Held up the president of the United States and said kill the law of the land . Say its never happened before and say were done. I dont know if its happened before, but i can tell you this. The 18th amendment to the constitution was prohibition. Which was repealed by the 21st amount. It was the law of the land and it was repealed. Slavery was legal at some point. Do you think that should still be legal today . Is that what youre saying . Well, you know the history, of course, of prohibition was passed after world war i and repealed under the democratic legislation a decade and a half later. Yes, it was repealed after it tried and failed. Certainly. Thats whats happening now. Its failing. Its failing. It goes into effect next tuesday. Well, let me ask you this. When it goes into hows it fail . Hold on a second, chris. Which parts of prohibition were held up or delayed by the administration before it happened . Isnt it 20 places that obama care has been held up by the administration because theyre not ready to go . How many is that . Wheres the precedent for that yet were going to roll on anyway on the American People knowing force it on them . Let me explain it how it works. The congress of the United States voted by a majority in the house of representatives and the senate all one party. Not bipartisan. Lets remind everybody of that. This is the left wing wait a minute. This is the ultra left wing of the Democrat Party having absolutely every bit of their way. This is not bipartisan. This is for 50 of the country were not interested in what you have to offer. 60 votes in the senate was comprised of first of all several republicans, but it wasnt all democrats. Secondly how many in the house, chris . Whats the point . Why are you knocking partisanship here . You seem to be why are you knocking partisanship here but its okay on your end . The United States will cease functioning next tuesday if you have your way. Thats your terminology. And you know its not true. Okay. Whats the terminology . Medicare patients are going to get their checks. People in the army are going to receive their paychecks. But the governments just not going to function. No, the government is going to function. So why are you arguing about this . You deny the governments shutting down next tuesday. Thats your point of view. How about the defaulting on debts . Will it matter . Let me tell you what matters to the American People. Trillion dollar deficits unbridled with no plan to change it. No . And the president is saying just raise the limit on the credit cards. People understand what it is. The reason your body of congress has about 8 Approval Rating right now is because people know every dollar spent by the u. S. Government has been approved by the u. S. House of representatives. And the spending has initiated there. Not it didnt come from the senate or white house, the spending comes from the house of representatives. Which youre a member of. Thats what america understands. The people are smarter than you think they are. They know that you guys spent the money but wont pay the bills. They know that. Do they think that the president had nothing to do with this . Do you know that the exchanges are going to cost an additional 353 million that was never part of this . EverybodyS Health Care cost is going up. Thats a promise the president this is driving the debt and they want something done about it. And they dont want the president to walk away from it. Let me suggest something to you. I want you to have a minute on how youre going to prevent the government from shutting down next tuesday and from defaulting on the debt. What were going to do is bring a plan thats reasonable that the American People are asking for, that they stand behind to control the deficit and control the debt and take it to the senate and take it to the president who has said with a precondition i will not negotiate. Who says that that really truly wants to move America Forward as opposed to being captured by partisan pride. Who says that . If he doesnt want to do something and harry reid doesnt want to do something, its on them. Demands include getting rid of obama care for a year, putting in the keystone its not ready to go, chris. Can i read your list . Do you want to read it . Were trying to help him do something by the way, why is a congressman from gettysburg so interested in offshore Oil Development in the gulf . Because im tired of being tied to foreign and middle east oil. So youre into the oil business situation here. Im into whats good for america. Thats what im into. What about paying our debts . These are demands by the all state congress people. They insist they want the money. And youre going along with it from gettysburg. Why are you doing this . Because its the right thing for america. Its because the american citizens are demanding it. Thats why. I looked at that list of ten things, it looks like its written by the oil industry. Im surprised youre involved with such a paper. Im surprised you read any of it, first of all. Wait a minute. Whats that mean . Wait a minute. Stop . Youre surprised i read it . Absolutely. You know, most democrats, as a matter of fact, im surprised any democrats read the bill. You know what you can do with that . You can be excused. You accused me of not doing my job. Thats a big mistake. Thank you for coming on. I wish you hadnt made that last statement. It was a cheap shot. Dont laugh. It was a cheap shot. I was fair. Youre in bed with the oil industry. Anyway, thank you. This is hardball, the place for politics. [ male announcer ] progressos so passionate about its new tomato florentine soup, it took a little time to get it just right. [ ding ] but finally, it happened. Perfection. At progresso, weve got a passion for quality, because youve got a passion for taste. 21 hours of listening to ted cruz. How awful is that . Still not as bad as 21 hours of a carnival cruise, but still bad. Welcome to the sideshow. Anyway, its no surprise that ted cruzs 21hour faux filibuster has been a popular topic for late night comedians. And as jimmy kimmel reminded everyone last night, if you missed the speech you might be able to catch a rerun on cspan. Take a look at his new promo. Theyre planning to run it again as a special over the weekend again. Tomorrow on cspan, 21 hours of uninterrupted ted. Cruzapalooza. All the nonsensical highlights. Some time ago i tweeted a speech that Ashton Kutcher gave. All the bad impressions. Mike lee, i am your father. And inside info you wont get anywhere else. Im a big fan of eating white castle burgers. Cruzapalooza. Followed by the senates 50 greatest gavel bangs. Only on the c. And then there was jimmy fallon who may have answered the question thats been on everyones mind. Ive been up here now for what . 21 hours . I really have to go to the bathroom. Should i say had. Had to go to the bathroom. All right. Thats my time. In other news, u2s front man bono got a lot of attention for the impression of bill clinton. Bill clinton got attention for his impression on cnn. Im irish, you know. We irish, we can impersonate anybody. Ive been screaming so loud at concerts that im hoarse. So ive got to be careful with my voice. Thats why all my charities only have three lettered names. Well be right back after this. Sometimes i fear theres a creeping resignation that these tragedies are just somehow the way it is. That this is somehow the new normal. We cant accept this. No other advanced nation endures this kind of violence. None. Here in america, the murder rate is three times what it is in other developed nations. The murder rate with guns is ten times what it is in other developed nations. And theres nothing inevitable about it. Welcome back to hardball. Thats president obama speaking sunday at the memorial for those killed in the Navy Yard Shooting rampage. And mere days after that tragedy, there was more gun violence out in chicago where 13 people including a 3yearold boy were shot and injured in a public park apparently caught in the crossfire of gang retaliation. In this video of the 3yearold shows him leaving the hospital with bandages. Hes expected to face years of surgeries. Mitch landrieu and Michael Nutter came to washington to raise attention to the overwhelming number of victims who are africanamerican men. Young africanamerican men are being killed and are killing at alarming numbers. In america. Across america, it is a constant drum beat of death of shootings, of murder day after day after day. In 2012 three out of every four philadelphia homicide victims were africanamerican men. Thats 236 people. If the ku klux klan came if from the suburbs were killed, there would be hell to pay. Yet 236 africanamerican men murdered in one city, not one word. Mayor Michael Nutter here and Mitch Landrieu who created cities united to bring attention to the violence crisis. Mayor nutter, my friend, i know where you stand. Youve been on this from the day you ran for mayor. This gun violence issue. What have you learned . We know that its devastating to the cities, but what both of us have learned and many others is that its actually something you can take action on. You can reduce it. You can prevent it. If were focused, if we coordinate our resources, and if we make it the National Issue that it is with a national response. The United States of america must respond to domestic terrorism which is what i call it, similar in force and fashion to what weve done with international terrorism. Mayor, what do you do . What works . What have you learned that works if you try it . What . First of all, its all in. Its everybody and its everything. Its not just about guns. Its about unemployment, poverty. It really is about something weve created that has produced a culture of violence that allows a young man who knows somebody else to walk up to him with a handgun and shoot him in the head over something that would seem inconsequential. Of the murders, how many are fighting over turf or drug competition . Of the 13,000 murders, half of them are between africanamerican men in the country and almost 80 of them are over what we could consider to be disrespect and small things. A culture of behavior thats developed since 1980 that is unbelievable when you look at the numbers. 626,000 people have been killed on the streets of america since 1980. Thats more People Killed than all the wars. There is a cultural violence, i believe, in the United States of america. It is worthy of study and review and analysis to figure it out. As the president said in a clip you showed, there are things going on in the United States of america that are unheard of in many other countries around the world. So it is at least deserving of understanding. And then as mayor landrieu said, we know there are many components to it. It is about education, about jobs, about literacy, about hunger, about poverty. We have a poverty problem in the United States. Not an excuse, but part of an explanation for things that go on. The problem is its in the cycle then. You dont have the power to put these kids to work. You cant take everybody 18 to 25 in north philly and get them a job. Would be wonderful if you could. That would be great. When were focused on an issue, talking about safety, we changed how people fly and the security measures because we wanted to be safe. We protect world around the country and give aid and food, et cetera. Those are all proper roles for the United States, but also taking care of the homeland. Making sure no child goes to bed hungry at night, that you can get a great education anywhere regardless of what zip code your parents decided to live in. These are realistic things that should be considered part of the National Defense of the United States of america. Wed be a stronger country when we take care of our folks. When we had the hurricane katrina, that left people behind. So much of the culture is about leaving behind people. Thats right. They dont notice it until they drown or shoot you. 40 people will be killed on the street of america today. Like little rain drops that will evaporate before anybody knows. We have to protect our streets, so were taking the atf, dea, fbi identifying the most dangerous criminals and going to get them. Thats suppressing what is here today. What were telling you now is after all of our research, were producing young men who have learned how to resolve differences by shooting somebody in the head. Theres something catastrophic about that. And the number of deaths are mind boggling. Then you find the incidents who get caught in between. London samuels 1yearold in the arms of a babysitter. We had boxing matches on saturday morning where kids from tough neighborhoods would settle their differences with gloves. How do you go back to what now seems like a peaceful time . I think it is about community partnerships. Public and private partnerships have never been more important today. Supporting boys clubs and girls clubs. Making sure they get the care and attention they need. You had a previous segment about the Affordable Care act. Folks do need health care and living in poverty, again, not having the kind of care that they need. And thats physical, thats Mental Health and all of those kinds of services. So there are a lot of problems out here. But were the United States of america. We are the greatest and most powerful nation. But we also need to make sure were bolstering and supporting the homeland right here and investing in our own folks here in the u. S. Congratulations on graduating from one of the minor ivy leagues. Ted cruz would not study with you. Thats okay. Thank you for joining us. Up next, why is it time for republicans to really start worrying about women . Theyre going to lose some elections. This is hardball, the place for politics. As Marriage Equality gains acceptance across the country, some unlikely figures are embracing it. Thats george h. W. Bush. He was a witness at a samesex wedding over the weekend of two long time friends. Do you believe it . Yes. He was there with barbara bush in kennebunkt, maine. Well be right back. We are back. The biggest political contest this year is the race for governor in virginia. And the reason its getting so much National Attention is because Election Results in virginia these days are often an indicator, in fact, a brilliant one of where the country is headed. Virginia is like everywhere now. The race is close but according to the latest marist poll, mccauliffe leads cuccinelli by five points. It could be chocked up a to a significant gender difference in the race. Only 39 of women are behind kuch nelly. More than any other state, virginia votes like america. In 2012, in the president ial election, president obama defeated mitt romney in virginia by a little under 4 Percentage Points nationally. Now look at the vote in virginia. The results are almost identical. In each case, within a tenth of one point. So a growing gender gap in virginia could suggest a growing gender gap nationally. Well see how this election turns out. Political reporter, director chuck todd, moderated last nights debate down in virginia and he joins us now. Lets skip the personality, sort of in all cases, not the issue. In many ways, its about issues here and women voters. What is this about the issue . Is this where cuccinelli, a hardline, truebelieving conservative is just incapable of getting off his position. You say, forget personalities here. I think that thats well see. If its not about personalities, then advantage mcauliffe. Thats what ken cuccinelli. He wants to make this about Terry Mcauliffes character, his inexperience, he wants to make it about character and Terry Mcauliffe wants to make it about ideology. Because the ideology, he thinks, this gender gap is what drives it. The women watching this in new york are probably fascinated about theyre driving this election. Thats what Terry Mcauliffe is trying to do. He advertised heavily on this issue. And it was interesting last night to watch cuccinelli as he was asked about some of these social issues. He really tried to he didnt back off any lets watch that fight right now. He tried to soften National Issues last night, where was the focus of last nights debates, and the kennedys views couldnt be more different than each other. Heres where the two candidates stood last night. I have come out for Marriage Equality. Irish catholic kid growing up. Dorothy and i have spent a lot of time discussing this issue. What has turned it for us was dont ask, dont tell. I do believe the institution of marriage should remain between one man and one woman. Well, there you go. Is this going to be the Republican Partys bugaboo going into 2016 . Theyre still going to be trapped in this, were against gay marriage, against abortion, gay gay rights and all that thing . And cuccinelli kept saying, it may be that things will change down the road, but this is what this is tradition. He was trying it was interesting how he was trying to soften it. I think they realized that it was a Northern Virginia audience. Look, i think that that is thats going to be one of the challenges for the Republican Party nationally. Lets talk about guns. Guns last night. This was this surprises me, when you think about the tradition of virginia democrats. Think mark warner just eight years ago, ran as one type of ran as one type of democrat. Gun toter. Even tim kaine, wile getting an f rating never wanted to go directly in the eyes of the storm. Lets watch, this is ray nervy on his part. Also different on gun control. Look at how this is going to play out in virginia next month. I have called for universal background checks. My opponent doesnt support that. Im a strong supporter of the second amendment. Im a hunter. I own guns. Ive gone through background checks. They take just a couple minutes. We have a gigantic loophole in virginia. You can buy guns through mail order. You can go to these gun show loopholes. There are certain individuals who just should not own a gun. I will support the second amendment. It deserves support, as does our whole constitution. But i will continue to focus on where i believe the main source of this problem is, and that is resolving Mental Health issues. Well, thats not a very strong answer in light of whats been going on in washington recently. Weve had people who, who knows what their mental condition was, but they were loaded. Guns. To me, thats another case about where cuccinelli was thinking about the audience, a suburban audience, this is fairfax county, Northern Virginia, where he was trying to explain it, and at the same time, not back down from his positions. Because the rural areas are with him on that. The rural areas are with him. And the tradition in virginia has been that. But barack obama has been targeted by the nra in virginia. Fast forward, chuck. Does this mean when republicans write their platform for the next president ial election, no matter who it is, christie or rand paul, how are they going to deal with these issues . It depends. If its rand paul and chris christie, rand paul is not exactly somebody who shares the evangelical fervor when it comes to marriage and abortion. Hes more libertarian. Theres a libertarian streak in him. Actually, i think paul and christie i think he plays to the crowd. That may be. And thats going to be it depends on who writes the platform. The whole problem with politics, you have to buy the whole blue plate special. Best reason to stay out of politics. Thank you, chuck todd. Great moderating, i hear. When we return, let me finish with how the type of political theater were watching in washington, could end up not in the comedy its in right now, but in tragedy. Youre watching hardball, the place for politics. let me finish tonight with this. This is a time of political theater for our country, but it could end up in tragedy. It has a comic flare right now, but dont be fooled. The people showing off, ted cruz leading the troop, were remembered, of course, as the cause of this catastrophe, but the horrid self, especially becomes the first to default on the u. S. Debt will dominate everything and everyone else. Its really one of those unknowns, right now, like iran. We know how it will start, but now with all the craziness and cruz and the rest, not how it will end. What if the default lasts a few hours . What if its a few days, a few weeks. How large, how exponential could this calamity climb . Jack lew has called it the day of reckoning, october 17th, is when the u. S. Treasury runs low enough that it cant be assured of its ability to meet demands, it cant be sure. Not even the treasury knows what day it will be when the numbers head into the red. That moment when the United States government, is for the first time in its history, not