The first legislation since voters born after the apartheid will be old enough to vote. Lets go now to morning joe. Hillary clinton gave the keynote address at the National Council for Behavorial Health conference in maryland. She also held a q a session afterwards. I think its surprisingly personal. What is your guilty pleasure . [ laughter ] a hcht h, lets see. [ laughter ] are there that many . Well, im just trying to think of, you know, the grated ones. [ laughter ] well, hello, madam secretary. Good morning. It is wednesday, may 7th. With us on set we have msnbc
contributor Mike Barnicle. Morning joes contributor mark halperin. And al hunt and White House Correspondent for the associated julie tace. And welcome, everyone. Good morning. Inquiring. Okay. I dont want to stay with the contributor title. Is there something jels. Ironically, do you contribute. I know. Why not be called contributor. All right. Lets start with Hillary Clinton. By the way, i have an incredible event last night, raising money for homeless new yorkers and there were protesters outside. But inside, a lot of money was raised to help house the 22,000 children in new york that are homeless right now. 52,000. The highest number since the great impression. I mean, its unspeakable. And this organization ran this, doing everything they can. A little sleepy this morning, but loved every moment. Lets go to politics. Hillary clinton is reining in some of the biggest pieces of domestic policy. Clinton talked that. She told Health Officials she was struck by the latest health care poll. A small majority of americans dont think they like the Affordable Care act. But a large majority of americans dont want to do away with the protections that are in the Affordable Care act. A small majority wants to repeal it. But that is slowly receding as a rising majority says no fixes. Well, thats in the tradition of good, oldfashioned american pragmati pragmatism. Still, recent polls from pew and usa today shows obamacare
as unpopular as ever. Nearly half americans believe the laws here to stay. Clinton also tackled americas gun culture calling the recent licensing of firearms in Public Places way out of balance. I think weve got to rein in what has become a almost article of faith. That anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime. And i dont believe that is in the best of interest of the vast majority of people. So, first of all, mark, she hits on two big issues. A sign of something, perhaps . Well, you know, shes been outdoing these talks and ive been surprised and impressed with how little news shes made and how frequently shes awaded wading in. This is wading in. And if she runs for president , the biggest question of american politics, will she
run . And if he does run, what will stop her because shes the overwhelming favorite . Affordable care act is a big one but i think shes going to embrace it. I thought that was surprisingly tentative in its support. Theres no doubt in my mind that she thinks the law was good. She would work to implement it more and better than so far. She would know how difficult it is. Yeah. Mike barnicle, it was a little tentative, and she supported it but it certainly wasnt an overwhelming kick the republicans in their teeth, its all their fault, approach that democrats have taken. Considering the degree of difficulty in being Hillary Clinton right now, everybody asking will she or wont she run, everything she says, every word has to be so measured in the back of her mind, as well as what comes out of her mouth, i thought she did what is pretty expected. Yeah. I thought the same think watching her talk. Shes going to live her life and go out and do events. It must be going out in front of public, with q a, ive got to answer questions about it. Theres a lot of focus on Hillary Clinton. And theres certainly proof now that the political cycle is bringing back aspects of the 90s. Look no further than Monica Lewinsky who has a new article in vanity fair. The onetime white house intern writes about her regrets of the affair that lead to the impeachment of president bill clinton. Shes 40 years old now. And she writes in part this, sure, my boss took advantage of me, but i will always remain firm on this point, it was a consensual relationship. Any abuse came in the aftermath when i was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position. Lewinsky claims she declined various offers of 10 million to tell her story. She says she was motivated to go
public now after the suicide of 18yearold rutgers student tyler clementi. Clemente was filmed on his webcam kissing another man. Lewinsky said the shame, scorn and suicidal feelings were all too familiar. She goes on in the article to talk about how her mother stayed at her bedside the entire weeks, worried she would take her life. Theres already a bunch of opeds criticizing Monica Lewinsky about this. Not necessarily buying it. Maureen dowd has a really tough one on her. Not buying what . Her motive . Yeah. What would her motive and whether lower motive i mean, if she wanted to make some money off of this, she could have made money. She could have made a lot of money. I think its remarkable we havent heard her name for ten years. We know how much weve heard her
name for the previous five or six years. I dont know. I dont know what the criticism is. I get Tyler Clementis legacy and tells the story, i think shes been remarkably quiet. What do you think . Yeah, i dont quite understand that criticism. I think shes entitled to present her story ten years later. I havent read the piece. I just read account. It seems to me to be a very, very sober and by all appearances honest. Shes entitled to a life now. I will say i think the notion this is going to hurt Hillary Clinton a lot is nonsense. If it didnt hurt her in 2008 ten years after the incident, why is it going to hurt her now. For Hillary Clinton, thats incredibly sexist and completely it wont, mika. Ive got to tell you, if people are kick Monica Lewinskyaround, monicas life turned into a punch line by a person who is now a rock star globally. Why the focus on this woman. Maureen dowd wrote about it. Shes not the only one. Ruth marcus wrote about it. Im sorry, a womans life was ruined. Yes, she says its consensual. She says its consensual. I just do not think i would pick on Monica Lewinsky which her boss say rock star globally. And why kick around a young woman who was 22 at the time, i guess, 23, whatever. It was in that position. Its dumbfounding to me. It was dumbfounding then. It is dumbfounding now. I suppose it will be dumbfounding for the next 20 years. I dont get it. Yeah, i mean she has, obviously, a right to have a piece in vanity fair to
express her feelings. And we have a right to mention it today. And never mention it no further ever again. You know, thats no more closely watched senate race in the country than the one in North Carolina. And republican thom tillis, for the state house who avoided a costly runoff beating more conservative opponents who have backing from the tea party and people like senator rand paul and mike huckabee. Tilliss visibility story being hailed as a win for the establishment. Last night he laid it out in front of an energetic crowd. Its not the end of a primary. Its the beginning of a primary condition and add to beat kay hagan and make harry reid an irrelevant american. Wow. Tilliss win comes in large part through massive spending by the Chamber Commerce and groups like american cross roads. He faced a tough showdown with republican kay hague hoon easily
won her primary. Hagan has raised millions. And millions from democraticleaning groups. 90 has been spent from outside money. Before we move on to other races yeah, this is an important race. Julie, ongoing battle between the tea party and the establishment wing, the Republican Party. I think in the end theyre all going to come together anyway because everybody wants to win. But this is not 2010. Its not even 2012. The establishment, the Empire Strikes back that started in alabama. Julie, youll remember, with the chamber of commerce and the ricketts and several other people poured money into the establishment and he won. It was like the first shot across the bow in the proposed cruz shutdown. Boy, the establishment is pushing back hard to make sure a debacle like that doesnt happen
again. Absolutely. The most important thing for the republican establishment last night was tillis doesnt have to go through a runoff. He cleared 40 which means they can focus all their attention on the race with hagan. You know, North Carolina is an important state to look at in terms of establishment of the tea party battle. You know, well have more races over the next couple of weeks, well see if this is going to be a longterm trend. Again, the most important thing at this point, republicans have target kay hagan directly. And kay hagan for as much money as she has raised and as much support that shes going to get from the Democratic Party is going to face a tough fight. Still going to probably be in trouble. I think she has the toughest great of the governors this fall. By the way, mark, i talked to republicans in the country over the past year, theyre sick and tired and really angry of putting up candidates that say
foolish things and lose elections. They think harry reid should have been retired in 2010. They think republicans should have taken control of the senate in 2012. And i just dont think most republicans are going to allow this to happen again. They want to win. Democrats and tillis himself will tell you hes conservative. Its not like they nominated a moderate. This is one state that was huge to get the right nominee. Karl rove wants him as a nominee. They got him. They still have to find a nominee in georgia and alaska. They can put 13 races in play if they get the right nominees. And this is a huge one for them. Tillis, the establishment believes clearly in the right candidate and i think theyre right. When you get out of this northeast buck that we live in here, when you talk to people in other states where there are contentious races going on, the degree to which harry reid is a focal point for republicans in
so many states . You know, hes like the Koch Brothers which is, if you care about politics, you know who he is. Theres no doubt for rund raising and motivating the base which is a big part of what you need to do in the midterm, getting harry reid out of the majority leaders spot is a huge motivator. As much as stopping obamacare in some races because its tangible. It says, if you wrote for our candidate, or take the Democratic Health seat, you can kick harry reid out. Thats as big as getting nancy pelosi out of the speakers chair in 2010. Harry reid has become that figure. The Koch Brothers using harry reid as well. I will say that thom tillis this is the victory of the scarborough doctrine, victory over puritity. Every statement from cross roads, the conservative group that backed tillis called it a center right group. The chamber of commerce signed up behind them. The nra, national right to life. As mark said, this is a conservative guy. They thought she was the most conservative guy to win the race and beat kay hagan. By the way, i had issues with the nra last year the way they conducted themselves after the horror that happened. But, man, i said it before, as far as candidates goes, this is this is not the first establishment candidate theyve chosen in this cycle where theyve been lined up with the chamber of commerce. Unlike a lot of these other groups, thesefulliby groups that come up and says the craziest things and the tea party you know, national socalled tea party groups. They are lining up with the chamber of commerce. And its making a big difference. A couple of other quick races. And then well move on to one other big story this morning. American idol star clay aiken. Yes. Hes got a lead in the race for congress. Just 369 votes separate him and keith crisco. And Speaker Boehner cruised through his victory in North Carolina. Lets move onto benghazi. There are growing questions about the size and scope of the new Congressional Panel on benghazi. A House Resolution says there will be a republican majority with seven republicans and five democrats. Speaker john boehner picked republican trey gowdy to lead the select committee. Minority leader nancy pelosi who has not yet committed to names democrats to the group objected to the unequal balance. Some suggested boycotting the committee. Congressman jim clyburn of South Carolina says democrats should not take part if there isnt an equal number. This is what he says, quote i would be dead set against it. Im not bringing a noose to my hanging. The democratic congressman
elijah cummings of mtd md wont rule out participating. He said democrats need representation to keep republicans in check. Al hunt, obviously, yes, tough language from democrats. Also, the Obama Administration raised questions on the legitimacy of this investigation, even before it began. What should democrats do . Well, i think they may well not participate. Depends on what more than the size of the minute majority and majority there, it will be the rule, what rights they have to subpoena witnesses, whether information will be shared the way darrell issa didnt. I dont think theres any question congress has the right to do this as much as they want to. I wonder how much is going to resonate with the american public. This is not the first investigation. There have been multiple investigations of this instance that occurred almost two years ago. And im just not quite sure how much is going to help them
politically. Julie pace, what about the white house . Do you expect the white house to continue to push back on this . At this point, yes. I mean, theyve danced around this issue of whether theyre going to participate or not. Theyve been saying they participate in legitimate oversight and they have questions about whether this would be legitimate. And theres two schools of thought on this in terms of white house participation. One is that, if they do participate, then it just its going to keep this benghazi story in the spotlight, straight through the midterms. The other school of thought is that if they really dont have anything to hide, why not participate, turn over any documents that are left. And if you choose not to do that, doesnt that just feed into this republican narrative that they are holding back information. You know, theres real danger here. There are two dangers here. One for the democrats that they are seen as blocking an investigation where four americans died, the first ambassador since 1979, died. They could take a bad situation and make it much, much worse. The danger on the other side, the republicans are seeing making the death of four americans look overly partisan and using it as a political football. So there are dangers on both sides. The investigation is being run in a professional, straightforward way and if its not there will be dangers. But the democrats also have got to be very, very careful. Because this is san issue where very bad situation, a tragedy, could be made much worse. Still ahead on morning joe, Elizabeth Warren said shes not interested in the white house but that doesnt take people from taking note of her battle. And then in the 8 00 hour, the man in charge of the new benghazi investigation we just mentioned him, congressman trey gowdy, well talk with him and then senator Claire Mccaskill. Get ready for that. I think you might want to change your clothes. Up next, tim vander height
is here with the top political stories. Mika, as advertised, the white house came out with the Climate Assessment of every four years. Some of the important points brought up in reading the report, its here now. No longer in the future which is kind of in the perception of the people. That the climate isnt changing. And the events dealing with it now are related to it. And urgent action is needed. As far as the forecast over the next century, the temperatures show go up 2 to 4 degrees. Picture january being warmer 2 to 4 degrees but also in the summer, 2 to 4 degrees. And the bottom line, the result is heat waves and drought is how most of us in this country will experience climate change. The people that are dry are going to get drier. And the people who are wet are going to get wetter. And in the southeast, finding fresh water for agriculture and drinking needs is going to be a
huge issue. The increased occurrence of hurricanes should be up. Heat waves, droughts. And also flooding in the Northern Plains will be an issue that will be more recurring. As far as what were dealing with this morning. Rain headed through detroit. Cleveland, eventually here to pittsburgh. Some of that may wake its way through philadelphia and d. C. Late today. Pretty nice day, though, boston down to d. C. Middle. Country, Severe Weather returns. Not like last week with the horrible tornadoes. With the isolated areas of yellow of greater concern. Oklahoma city, san angelo, back to minneapolis, again, large hail and damaging wind will snap the big tornado outbreak as we go throughout the week. More morning joe when we return. Passion. Became your business. At t can help simplify how you manage it. So you can focus on what you love most. When everyone and everything works together, business just sings. You always get the lowest price
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