Currently are. Thats not just my assessment but the assessment of the military as well. We need clear plans that we are developing them. I will consult with congress. And make sure their voices are heard. There is no point asking until we know what it will take to get the job done. That was a surprise. The big debate is do we go the direction of george bush again back to pursuing grand goals of ideology . The freedom agenda or do we stick to the dovish stance of president obama trying hard the to wind down the military intervention in the islamic world . Here come it is big irony. Could the voters be asked to choose from are a dovish republican in rand paul versus a relatively hawkish Hillary Clinton . Listening to what they are saying its hard to see anything else. In a wall street journal oped today senator paul had strong words for people who pushed for stronger action in syria. He wrote, shooting first and asking questions later has never been a good Foreign Policy. The past year has been a perfect example. Our middle east policies unhinged flailing about to see who to act against next with little thought to the consequences. This is not a Foreign Policy. He pointed out if the hawks got their way and we brought down the government of al assad, it would have been strengthened. The administrations goal has been to degrade assads power, forcing him to negotiate with the rebels, but degrading assads military capacity also degrades his ability to fend off isis. Joining us are Howard Fineman and ron reagan. We were talking before the show. Very much like the way hes been. Dovish. Stay out of this stuff. Its as though he read rand pauls oped piece. My head is spinning. You have rand paul writing an oped piece that could have been written a generation ago by george mcgovern, and the National Committee came out with a statement attacking rand paul from the right. Basically from the hawkish perspective that sounded like something that could have been produced by dick cheney or john mccain or Rudy Giuliani a few years ago. This is who he is. Hell go so far as to say, hey, i dont have a plan. I have no strategy as a way the to buy time, rather than shoot first and ask questions later. Ron reagan, i have been looking at this for weeks nowment i saw it coming. Rand paul is an isolationist, a dove. In many ways he conforms to what i think, probably for different reasons. I think the United States has gone way overboard in involvement in the world. Too many fights, too many enemies looking for trouble. An itchy trigger finger. Hillary clinton seems to want to be at least two notches to the right if not one notch to the right of the president. Much tougher on russia, ukraine, the middle east, china, everywhere. Shes much more ornery and wanting to fight. Whats your thinking . Whats going on with American Foreign policy in the debate . The rand paul brand looks better on a Bumper Sticker than when you flesh it out. Howard fineman is a fine editor. If rand paul were one of his columnists and turned this in as a think piece howard would send it back in no Uncertain Terms saying you need to put thought into it. What was he saying exactly . That we should learn from mistakes in the middle east especially and not repeat them. Well, thank you very much, senator paul. Next column maybe you can do something on the importance of washing your hands after using the restroom. What did this piece say . Nothing. It said lets not be stupid in Foreign Policy. There is no prescription there from paul. The political point that up is down and black is white with hillary. What i remember about eisenhower is he didnt take us to vietnam. That was a good thing he didnt do. When it comes to Foreign Policy i believe some of the best stuff you do is what you dont do. Lyndon johnson did a lot in Foreign Policy, right . Yeah. A lot of Foreign Policy. As howard said rand pauls essay is like Barack Obamas dont do stupid stuff. They are a mirror immanual of one another. Hillary clinton says not doing stupid stuff isnt enough. You have to do other things. What are those . Thats what well see in the depate if she runs. If i had been editing rand pauls piece and ill ask him to submit the next one to me, ron. You should. First of all, he should have said what he would do. Rons right. He didnt say, okay, youre cautious, youre smart. Leave syria alonement stay out of it. Thats true. Whats wrong with saying we dont have to mess in everybodys rhubarb. Why are we building syria, iraq, egypt, the emirates . We are largely leaving syria alone. We have not gone into syria. You want to ask rand paul, what happens when isis beheads other americans . What if they attack oil fields vital to the national interest, an ally we have a defense treaty with. What then . Well, hands off . Its more complicated than rand pauls imagining would have it. Here comes senator paul again. He called out Hillary Clinton by name for her hawkish views on syria. Wrote, to interventionists like former secretary of state Hillary Clinton we would caution that arming the islamic rebels in syria created a haven for the islamic state. We are lucky mrs. Clinton didnt get her way and the Obama Administration didnt bring about regime change in syria. That new regime might have been isis. On meet the press sunday the senator called Hillary Clinton a war hawk. Listen. In a general election, were i to run there will be independent and democrats who say, we are tired of war. We are worried Hillary Clinton will get us involved in a middle eastern war. If you want to see a transformational election in the country let the democrats put forward a war hawk like Hillary Clinton and see a transformation like you have never seen. Amazing stuff that this campaign has begun in 2014. Two years from thousand. To look at history, a generation ago all the fights about intervention, isolation and so on were within the Democratic Party starting with johnson and kennedy, through mcgovern and so forth. Now it looks like, if rand paul is to be taken seriously, that the fight will be within the Republican Party. I would have said, who are the unnamed republicans you are also putting in Hillary Clintons camp . If youre going to get to Hillary Clinton youre doing one of these. Come at me. Where is that from . Pittsburgh . You want to go directly to Hillary Clinton and set up the general election. Who are the republicans you will take on here . Its great. Isnt it good . Yes. Isnt it good we are debating instead of just doing it . We never had a debate about going into iraq, as i recall. A few of us opposed the war. John kerry, biden. Who didnt support the war . Hillary. I dont want to get caught on the wrong side of this baby. I dont want to look weak. I have to look at strong as republicans. That kind of chicken is where the Democratic Party didnt show its finest colors when they said we dont want to be caught off base. I think you are right, howard. The great debate might be in the debates which by the way, the media wont be involved in the debates next year. Were not involved. I think if paul starts the serious argument within the Republican Party it could spread to the democrats as well. Hillary clinton better watch out. Whos going to carry the banner i dont know. For the dovish side. I dont know. Who would be the dove against hillary if she runs . She sounds like it. A couple notches from the president. One would be appropriate. If shes two notches from russia, china, the middle east, somebody will commit against her on the left, i think. Do you agree . Boy, i dont know. I cant see anybody actually challenging her now are from either side from the Democratic Party. Interestingly enough for rand paul hes got the opposite problem hand paul has decided to go into the republican primary running to the left of Hillary Clinton. Thats a novel strategy for a republican. I have to say. I love it. Some of the primaries and caucuses you can register on the day, go in and participate where the action is. I think thats one thing rand paul is looking at is a strategy. Independents and dems to vote for him. If hes the only antiwar, lets be careful, lets get involved, get in other peoples rhubarb to use your are phrase. Thats from batman. I grew up with people like mark hatfield, john sherman cooper. These were the people opposed to the vietnam war, republicans out front. Its not the craziest thing for a republican to be dove issue. Great to see you. Coming up, karl roves group crossroads gps commissioned a record looking at the Republican Party standing with women. The blunt finding of the group, female voters think the Republican Party is intolerant, lacking in compassion, stuck in the past. Thats the republican view of their own party. Also, what do you think when you mix a private donors conference sponsored by the Koch Brothers, an unguarded politician and an audio recording. The latest behind closed doors look at what they really think. This time its Mitch Mcconnell explaining what the republican agenda will be if he gets to be majority leader. Yesterday, we saw the tragic consequence of what happens when a 9yearold girl is allowed to shoot an automatic weapon, an uzi. For some gun people i can call them gun nuts, like the nra people, its the tip of the iceberg. They want virtually no restrictions on guns. Wait until you see laws pushed across the country. They are on a slippery slope on the far right. Finally, people who speak with a forked tongue like Mitch Mcconnell and mitt romney. This is hardball, the place for politics. 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If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30tablet trial. Were less than 70 days from midterm elections now. The senate race in iowa cant get any closer. Lets check the hardball scoreboard. The latest poll has democratic congressman bruce braley and republican jo any ernst even at 40 . We have new numbers for the governors race in the hawkeye state. Terry branstad is up by 12 over jack hatch. Thats 4735. Things are happening in iowa. Well be right back. Welcome back to hardball. When president obama won 55 of the womens vote to romneys 44 republicans could no longer deny they had a problem. It was acknowledged in the 2013 rnc autopsy report. Now a new report commissioned by two major republican organizations including one founded by karl rove. It has bleak news for the grand old party among women. It concludes female voters view the party as intolerant, lacking in compassion, stuck in the past. If Hillary Clinton is their democratic nominee for president in 2016 the Republican Partys un popularity with women voters could grow exponentially. Joining us is kelly ann conway, a great pollster with the republicans generally and michelle bernard, president of the Bernard Center for women, politics and Public Policy who i can never figure out politically. Kelly, you know karl rove and we all know him in different ways. What do you make of the republicans doing their own polling and coming out with words that suggest a real problem . I thought this polling was the opposite of breaking news. Its what we saw when developing the contract with america. It shows the caricature of the republicans takes hold. I can tell you what the party is doing. The party is doing its own polling. I have been involved in focus groups and we find there are certainly some of the stereotypes that persist. There are a number of policies that when explained matter. If you have a happy optimistic message that connects with people, remember the famous Washington Post poll after the 2012 election . Mitt romney beat barack obama and who has a vision, he lost 8118 on which one cares about people like you. Even a majority of republicans agreed. There is no question you have to heres the question. Why are women more susceptible to buying the caricature. Are men buying the caricature of what the party is . Sometimes. Does it work both ways . Sometimes thats true, chris. The genderer gap works both ways. President obama, president clinton, it is difficult for Democratic Candidates to win men much the way it is difficult for republican candidates to win women. In the case of clinton, she may be the democrats mitt romney in 2016. What evidence is it that she connects with all women . I dont know how good a candidate shell be. Its one answer we have to wait for. How good a candidate will Hillary Clinton be . She has the name i. D. , credentials f. Shes great she walks away. If shes okay, its close. Its a terrible summer of unforced errors for her in the book tour. Terrible. Okay. That was a late hit. To this one. 15 yards. 4939 among women. My question is do you know why its important . Heres the answer before kellyanne gets back. There are more women than men so the gender gap on the womens side is lethal. Not only that there are more women than men but women go out and vote. Women go to the poll and vote on the issues that matter. What i like and find interesting. I know what people think about karl rove. Im a fan. We have talked about it before. I think hes a brilliant strategist. I watched him work. I personally witnessed him go out with george bush and work hard for the africanamerican vote. Regardless of people say the increase bush got was negligible a 3 increase in the africanamerican vote is a big deal. I like the poll did you vote for bush . I think he got he once, not twice. First or second . When everyone was worried about the vote for the first or second time. I dont remember. Would you vote for him again . When i was worried about terrorism, i saw the massacre in russia. I saw those children could have been mine. George bush was my man. The hanl out of the poll is that the Republican Party keep s doing autopsies on lots of things. How do we get white women to vote for us. How does the Republican Party get anyone thats not a white man to vote for them. In 2014 we have a poll that shows among women voters, republicans favored to run the congress, 37 want the congress in republican hands and 51 of women, a real majority want the democrats. Explain that. Is that caricature. Not at all. They are probably going to vote for their incumbents. Particularly in the house if they are republicans chances are that individuals connection with that woman and his or her performance on the job will trump party i. D. On the senate side its fascinating. 2014 is incredible. You have females democrat and republicans. I bet you that mary landrieu, kay hagan and michelle nunn, three female democrats in the south are not going to run on the war on women, antiwoman republican meme. How can they do that . Georgia, louisiana and north carolina. Theyre not talking not that its the only issue. They dont talk about abortion rights down south. Right . Right. Let me ask you this profound thing. You are fighting a number. 5137. Thats a huge change. It seems women i look at people like joanie ernst. I bet shell do better among men. Thats odd. People vote ideology not gender. Correct. You have an africanamerican senator from South Carolina whos a republican. Yes. People you have our friend Michael Steele running in maryland. In our state, yes. He got blown away by the africanamericans. They killed him because hes a republican. One of the things we have to look at and kellyanne is my favorite pollster, we have used her. We have to look at the browning of the country. If you look at how voters, the democrats of the republican woman who votes republican. Most are married. Most are white. Most live in upper middle class families. The country is browning. You are seeing fewer white women just like you are anywhere else. And not getting married. They are not getting married. Economic issues, the Democratic Party looks friendlier. I agree. People that go to church a lot, married tend to be republican. Those who arent married, dont go to church a lot tend to be democratic. Kellyanne, please come back. We have so much to talk about. Great conversation. I almost got a word in there. Up next, a word to the wise for rick perry. If you h