0 to stay away from it and not shut it down. they didn't shut it down. and their argument is, you don't mess with the irs. i talked to a top obama person today who said, look, i'm not so stupid that i'm going to mess around with the irs. maybe that's true then. but the moment that lois lerner said on may 10th that we done wrong, the president shouldn't have waited another instant. he should have fired everybody. he could have gotten his hands on. he should have been the -- >> i think he should have been the chief prosecutor in this case. steve schmitt, would you advise the president if you were chief of staff, mr. president, you've got little time. you better get out in front, or else mr. issa is going to get out in front. how about this, mr. president? you be the good guy. you blow the story. >> it's inexplicable why they didn't do it. there's has to be an awareness that barack obama was elected on the presidency on the premise that he was going to restore faith in politics. >> transparency. >> the themes of hope and change. this is so dissident. of course he had to do what howard said. clean house and fire everybody who was tangentially involved in this, knew about it. it's too late now. now, that's ultimately going to happen. but i suspect it's going to happen after there's been a fair amount of political damage done to the administration. >> you know, i like a lot of what obama's trying to do. i hope he gets a big immigration bill that really works. i think the health care thing has got to work. there's a lot of things that are important to this country regardless of what happens here on this story. i got the ask the simple question myself all the time when i sit here at this desk. suppose it was the other way around. suppose w. was still president and they were picking off every progressive group and screwing them around on the tax policy. and the president was saying, i'll get to that. we learned a little more today. we heard a little more. they were dribbling out. i'd say, wait a minute. these guys had something to do with it. i would immediately think guys around w. in the white house had something to do with the irs. most people think like that. >> of course. but let's do what steve did which is hold the president to his own standards. forget about george w. bush. i think steve's right about the brand. about the obama brand. and that's what's at risk right here. >> the transparency. >> yes. that's why he should have been more aggressive a few weeks ago. line, i understand. we all know how this works. i'm sure that there were echoes of this thing rattling around from the irs like -- like noise from a barrel somewhere during the fall campaign. they didn't want this -- somebody didn't want this coming out. even maybe the irs people were smart enough politically to say, let's not put this out now. i'm not blaming the white house for that. okay. things happen during the midst of a campaign in an administration that administrations don't want to have get out. okay? that's happened from the beginning of time. but if you're president, what you do after you've won is you say, i was shocked -- i'm shocked. >> yeah. >> i'm shocked to find that out. i'm going to get rid of -- >> okay. the only thing is, i don't believe -- i'm a little different than you. i don't see, steve, how anybody in the white house would have the brass to call up somebody in the irs in cincinnati and say we want you to put the fix in. >> i'm not saying that. >> if that didn't happen, i don't think it did, why doesn't the president play prosecutor here? my same question. why doesn't is president come in like a prosecutor. start putting people on administrative leave. start promising to do what you can given civil service rights to remove people who made the decisions. be the leader. i go back to reagan. the minute he fired those guys for breaking their oaths not to go on strike, the minute he did that, they heard that all around the world. god, this guy's president. this guy's a leader. what's wrong with being a leader? >> george schultz always said that was the most important foreign policy decision ronald that comes out every day, it hasn't impacted his approval numbers yet. but we're still very, very early in this. this is trending in a bad way. because a lot of these situations, a lot of these scandals are puffed up. they're overblown. it's not a big deal. but the overreach of the justice department with members of the press, the overreach of the irs here with these other groups, it's profoundly disturbing. >> i think your dog thinks you're overreaching right there, by the way, steve. that last line. i'm telling you one thing. this could be a time of shining opportunity for this president. the unemployment rate is coming down. the stock market's going up. the deficit is coming down. this could be a time for him to come into bloom. and to really fight for things important like immigration reform. instead, we're playing defense instead of offense. he should have been on offense. it's so easy, i got to say i wonder. i just wonder. howard fineman, thank you. steve schmidt. great to have your strategic thinks. what happened in the cincinnati irs? we're going into the bowels of that office and talk about what happened to screw that up. who directed those workers to target their enemies? what happened? we've got really good reporters coming up. also experts who ran that lonely irs outpost that has given us so much trouble. also, oklahoma is in great need after being hit by monday's ef-5 tornado. president obama will travel there this sunday to get a firsthand look at the tornado damage. and you may have worried it would come to this. >> look, i made some big mistakes and i know i let a lot of people down. i've also learned some tough lessons. i'm running for mayor because i've been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. i hope i get a second chance to work for you. >> anthony weiner made it official today. is the big apple ready to become weiner's city? let me finish tonight with the unfairness of the left's reaction to 9/11 and the right's reaction to benghazi. the left was fair. the right has been very unfair about benghazi. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. 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[ male announcer ] here's to a life less routine. ♪ and it's un, deux, trois, quatre ♪ ♪ give me some more of that [ male announcer ] the more connected, athletic, seductive lexus rx. ♪ je t'adore, je t'adore, je t'adore ♪ ♪ ♪ s'il vous plait [ male announcer ] this is the pursuit of perfection. so even in the thick of the scandal with the irs what percentage of americans have favorable view of the agency? 34% said they have a very favorable or somewhat favorable of the irs. what about congress? a new fox news poll only 16% approve of the job congress is doing. different questions, different polls. twice as many americans seem to like the irs more than they do the u.s. congress that's investigating them. and we'll be right back. i's sorry honey, but i missed the flight. luckily, i was able to book a room. yeah, if that's what you want to call it...ooooohhh... i mean, yes! yes. definitely. a great booking room at the last booking second. i'll probably just grab a sandwich and go to bed... i love you booking.com booking.yeah! 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