Quarters. One guy has an issue with my point that when it comes to police overreach, enough is enough. Whats the guys point . There should be more overtheline policing . We need to keep cussed. Most of the noise is just that an intemperate response from those who dont want change to occur. We cannot be deterred in the cause of justice. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts now. Bad guys. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. Let me start with the latest danger from are the islamic terrorists. The readiness of thousands born and raised in the west to join their jihadist ranks. These arent young idealists who go to join the peace corps or old souls to bury heartbreak in the foreign legion. Drawn to fighting and killing they are acting out a birt murderous ambition to fight and kill alongside those from the mideast region, syria, iraq and other countries who comprised a great number of isis zealots. One killer from the west is heard in the moment before he cut it is throat of american journalist james foley. We are going to play only a short poergs of the video to hear his british accent. This is james wright foley, an american citizen of your country. Nobody who does that has loyalty to any land or value beyond the islamist for which he has a ready hand in atrocity. The man is thought to be the ring leader, referred to as the beetles who guarded many foreign
hostages. According to the guardian he nicknamed himself john after john lennon. That person said the three british islamists were abusive, frequently beating prisoners. The challenge to the United States, how to deal with the building threat. Do we treat isis as a criminal enterprise and look for individuals like are j. Edgar hoover went looking for communists or do we use secretary kerrys word and crush the motley crew of them. Is this a man hunt or war . Bobby gosh is here from quartz. Thanks for joining us for your views about the people coming from places like london. I assume they are radical islamist people who believe in killing anyone who doesnt share your own look at things. What do you know about people like this fellow this guy who killed our american compatriot. They have something more in common with anders burrwick who slaughtered children in cold blood or adam lanza who went into the school in stony brook and killed children there. They have a sadistic, damaged goods mentality. Add to that the availability of an International Association of sadists which is what isil is. They can go there and sign up for this. It allows them license to play out their worst fantasies, to slaughter people in cold blood and add on top of it a layer of sud religious justification. That last part, the religious
justification, in my view is the sort of cherry on the cake. Underneath that is a sort of psych pa thick tendency you see in societies around the world but in most societies they dont have this outlet. Isil invites people like that from around the world to come join them. That was a rich assessment. I think of the criminal element. Real criminals who kill people. They dont do it for the money. They like to do it. Theyre killers. Back to steve clemons. It is frightening, when you have someone who lived in the west, we like to think we are at least generally a welcoming culture, that you would feel at home in even if you come from a background in the middle east, for example. Its now clear at least in the thousands and of course there is 1. 6 billion islamic people in the world. They want to kill people from the west. Your thoughts . We have 350 Million People in america. As you know we have bad people
here. We do want to be welcoming. But this isnt just welcoming others in. We have people in the United States u. S. Citizens that joined up. These are Trans National turbo charged criminals engaged in horrific acts. What they are able to do is penetrate societies. I think its something we have to step back. We have a lot of discussion about the nsa and tracking people. I have been one of the people thats been concerned about the degree to which we havent had checks and balance this is the system. When you see in british society, american society, france and others, places where are weve got young people going to join up and they could very well come back and basically metastasize this. Not to profile, but they are islamic people in the general pool. There are no christians or jews joining isis, right . Right . Am i right or they are not all islamists. What would be they are murderers. Whats the religious motive . If they are not islamic to begin with . At least muslim to begin with. I want to be clear on this. Are there people who dont share the religious underpinnings, even if its distorted. No. They wouldnt be admitted into the group. The group is selfselecting. If you are anders burrwick you cant join. Adam lanza cant join. It doesnt mean the other people dont exist. This group will only allow you in if you say you are a muslim. You may be joining for the sheer pleasure of killing people. The mentality you see for instance among some of the mexican drug cartels. The subhuman desire to inflict pain and death on people. Its important to note they dont care who they are killing. The vast majority of people, a huge, huge majority are muslims. They are not doing it for islam. They are doing it for the sheer pleasure of killing people. Last plont attorney general eric holder said the threat posed by islamist members, the number he put at 7,000 people was one of the are gravest threat wes faced. Lets listen to attorney general. In some ways it is more frightening than anything i think i have seen as attorney j general. 9 11 came out of the blue. This is a situation we can see developing. The potential i see coming in syria and iraq now are quite concerning. Then secretary of defense chuck hagel called isis a serious Terror Threat as the United States has ever faced. They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether its in iraq or anywhere else. Isil is as sfaophisticated and well funded as any group we have seen. They are bond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology. Sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well funded. This is beyond anything that we have seen. Yesterday, the president spoke in near biblical terms about the Group Responsible for jim foleys death. It was an act of violence that shocks the entire world. No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day. Isil has no ideology of any value to human beings. From government and peoples across the middle east, there has to be an effort to extract the cancer so it doesnt spread. One thing we can green on is isil has no place in the 21st century. John kerry tweeted isil must be detroyed. Will be crushed. Senator john mccain told reuters, first of all, you have to dramatically increase air strikes. They have to be devoted to syria as well. We have to defeat them, not stop them. I want to start with steve on the political angle here. Of course the question where we are headed with this. Are we trying to get are rid of isis and can we do it with pinprick air strikes or do we have to lead a legion of the willing, to use a w. Phrase from the last administration, to enlist the egyptians, saudis, jurordania jordanians. Can we put together an army leading with the air force or will they sit back and watch us
do it again. You said it. Right now we are fighting this alone. Thats an outrage. The way to crush isis is to draw in the sunni nations. Qatar, uae, saudi arabia, kuwait, bahrain and others that were part of their private sheikhs have been part of the funding mechanisms beyond the shakedowns of banks and people its ransoming off. Isis will have a way to get substantial numbers of people in the middle east to acquiesce to it. We think we can take them in a fight. Isis has to be choked to death by sunni leadership in the middle east. We should be putting every element of our influence on getting the sunni partners in the process. Bobby, back in the fist gulf war george bush, sr. , who was smarter than junior put together the arab league to fight the war. He had the japanese and germans
paying for it and the arabs joining us in the field. Why cant we put together the arab league . Why not hold a vote on isis or is it a dead organization. Theres been plenty of criticism. What we havent got here is a focal point. We dont have a are leadership. As you pointed out george bush, sr. , gathered all the nations together. Obama hasnt really tried that yet. He hasnt really shown an interest in doing that. Thats whats necessary. Unfortunately the fact of the matter is someone has to take the lead. Nobody in the arab world is willing to. The United States is only country with the wherewithal to do so. Obama said we wont put too many boots on the ground. It has to ban effort from iraqis and kurds and so on. Okay, fine. Getting all the i arab states together and knocking Heads Together and getting them to participate in the fight against
isis is something that has to come from washington. Its not going to come from riyad, ayman or the arab capitals. The air force now are the good guys but we are not leading. Thank you. What a terrible situation we are in. Thank you. After a quiet night in ferguson, missouri, the governor orders the National Guard to leave town. While there is calm on the streets now, tensions continue over the investigation into Michael Browns death. It will continue obviously. Plus, the corruption trial of former Virginia GovernorBob Mcdonnell on the stand offering what he calls an angerravaged marriage. Sounds like divorce court. To enjoy that, stick around. Its embarrassing but something to watch. And a defiant rick perry in washington, d. C. Today fighting back against his indictment. This weekend hes off to new hampshire, by the way. Could his legal troubles back home in texas which are partisan when it comes to investigation
is helping him politically. Finally, a reminder tonight that we have a tough election coming up this fall. Youve got to get registered, get planning and vote. Nobody watch the show unless you are going to vote. You saw what happened in ferguson when you dont vote. This is hardball , the place for politics. Senator Claire Mchaskill of missouri announced shell lead a Senate Hearing into whats called the militarization of local police departments. The issue has been a hot one after days of clashes, sometimes violent, between protesters and Police Following the death of Michael Brown in ferguson, missouri. Senator mchaskill called the for the de mille trization of the Ferguson Police department and has been a local leader on the ground working to deescalate the situation. Shes on the job. Hardball returns after this. So we gave people the power of the review. And now angies list is revolutionizing local service again. You can easily buy and Schedule Services from toprated providers. Conveniently stay up to date on progress. And effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. Visit angieslist. Com today. Live in the same communities that we serve. People here know that our operations have an impact locally. Were using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. The trucks are reliable, thats good for business. But they also reduce emissions, and thats good for everyone. It makes me feel very good about the future of our company. Could help your business didavoid hours of delaynd test caused by slow internet from the phone company . Thats enough time to record a memo. Idea for sales giveaway. Return a call. Sign a contract. Pick a tie. Take a break with mr. Duck. Practice up for the business trip. Fly to florida. Win an award. Close a deal. Hire an intern. And still have time to spare. Go to comcastbusiness. Com checkyourspeed if we cant offer faster speeds or save you money well give you 150. Comcast business. Built for business. Back to hardball. On a day to day basis now, ferguson, missouri, has seen a dramatic deescalation in violence. Thats for the good. Following eric holders visit there yesterday there was a relative sense of calm on the streets. There were no violent confrontations last night. Only six people were arrested, down from 78 two nights earlier. The National Guard is beginning to pull out of the area. While there is calm on the streets, we are seeing a focus now on the investigation itself into Michael Browns death. Local leaders are ramping up calls for robert mcculloch, a democrat, to step aside from the case. A group of activists said they have a petition with over 75,000 signatures calling for a special are prosecutor to be named. Mcculloch is the top law man since he was elected to the position in 1991. He has deep ties to the police force which is common for prosecutors, of course. Mcculloch calls on Governor Nixon to make a choice. Either remove him or assign him. Saying the declaration of emergency by Governor Nixon grants the governor power to remove me from this matter. Only the governor can answer this question. We have a presentation of evidence to the grand jury and will continue to do so in a fair, full and impartial manner. However, the governor must settle the issue now. To leave it unresolved leave it is possibility of exercising the power at a later date which will cause a significant and unwarranted delay in the resolution of the investigation and resolution of the case. Gentlemen, the simple question is the demand here by mcculloch, the d. A. Whos been in office all these years, elected every four years, that the governor make a decision. Does he have faith in him or not. If he doesnt, take me out of the casement is it or is it not a reasonable demand on the part of mcculloch . I think it is appropriate. In part because the governor knows as much as he needs to know about whether mcculloch can handle the case. He has information about the prosecutors background. Mcculloch is right when he says if you remove me two, three, four weeks from now it will delay everything. Its appropriate for the governor to decide one way or the other whether the prosecutor should stay on the job. Michael, the governor has the authority should he be forced to use it. Act or shut up. Exactly. Thats what the prosecutor is doing here. Hes calling his bluff. He want it is to see exactly are you going to have my back so i can do this trial the right way or are you going to participate in a circus atmosphere and let this thing go on only to cut me later on . I think the prosecutor has got it right. Hes playing the governor hard. Now the governor has to step up and decide whether or not he wants to keep the prosecutor in place, given how the community
distrusts this individual and distrusts this process. As i mentioned, there is a growing cry among local leaders in ferguson to see mcculloch removed from the case, citing ties to the police and personal history and his history in office. Mccullochs father was a Police Officer killed ton job by an africanamerican man in 1964 when mcculloch was a kid. Mccullochs brother, uncle and cousin have served with the st. Louis police department. His mother served as aing ontime clerk with the police. Mcculloch pushed for legislation to require criminals to serve longerer portions of sentences. Let me go back to kendall. We all know the prosecutors, we watch television and know prosecutors work with police. They gather the evidence, put together what they need to make a prosecution. They work hand in glove. Is this extraordinary, this case . Any reason to move him out . Can you see that . It doesnt meet the Legal Standard which requires a personal interest by the part of the prosecutor in the parties,
in the particulars of the case. I dont think we see that. Sure, hes close to the police. Maybe more than most prosecutors. Thats part of the job and thats common. A different question is whether it would be appropriate for the governor to go one step farther beyond the Legal Standard and said, look, i care about the community. I want to make sure the perception is something, whatever it is thats accepted by the community. Thats a different basis. There are plenty of measures taken by governors or prosecutors themselves to step down based on public perception. Thats a separate consideration here. If the governor wants to do it on that basis, i dont think he should be criticized either. Let me start with michael. We have all grown up with special prosecutors. I want to say because evidence support this is when you name a special prosecutor, they prosecute. They come in because thats why they are there whether its ken starr, they follow you like javert. They dont leave, they dont stop the case. Is it fair . Were talking about fairness here. Is it fair to the possible defendant here, officer wilson, if you bring in someone with explicit purpose of prosecuting a case and thats why you brought the person in. Can you get a fair hearing from someone called for this purpose . I dont know. Doesnt seem like you can. I want to hear your thoughts. I think you can. At the end of the day, youre right. A special prosecutor is brought in under the assistance of the governor. Yeah. That seems to conote a different approach to the case. That prosecutor will follow the facts. Hell follow where the evidence takes him. Hes going to prosecute the officer when have you ever heard of a special prosecutor who didnt prosecute . Said theres no case there . I dont are think it would be a situation of a special prosecutor as we know a special prosecutor in washington. I think it would be a matter of putting in place another prosecutor maybe out of the same office. Maybe from a neighboring
jurisdiction to prosecute this case. It will be someone relatively close. I think kendall has the right measure here. You can do the right thing or you can do the legal thing. The legal thing is to just let it unfold. Keep the prosecutor in place. The right thing is to deal with the suspicions of the community. You have already seen the arrests, violence, and the looting and all thats going on. Thats driving this. You can dissipate that by doing the right thing and bringing in a team of prosecutors that the people trust.