Austerity are mobbed by protesters. Pay your share of taxes. Pay your tax. Tonight, times Michael Grunwald, Jonathan Alter and katrina vanden heuvel on how to dismantle the austerity bomb. 10,000 bucks . The godfather of the conservative movement offers romney pocket change to anyone who can save the Republican Party. Ill show you why its a lost cause. Plus, a virginia pizza shop owner uses a sick promotion to sell pies and push the nra agenda. The Beltway Press takes their eye off the ball, complaining about obama and tiger woods. The least popular senator is desperately attacking ashley judd. And david corn, the coauthor of hubris and coauthor of the msnbc documentary tells me what was left out. Im sure the administration cooked the books. Good to have you with us, folks. Thanks for watching. Keep in mind when you hear the word sequester, the sequester cuts were designed to be so bad, so terrible, that lawmakers would be forced to come up with an alternative plan. Well, that didnt work. These cuts are on the verge of happening anyway. March 1 is the big date, a week from this friday. President obama responded with a real sense of urgency today. He made the strongest case yet about the damage these sequester cuts will do to the countrys economy. These cuts are not smart. They are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of americans to the unemployment roles. This is not an abstraction. People will lose their jobs. People standing with the president today are among those who will directly impacted by congress if they refuse to act. Emergency responders, like the ones who are here today, their ability to help communities respond to and recover from disasters will be degraded. Border patrol agents will see their hours reduced. Fbi agents will be furloughed. Federal prosecutors will have to close cases and let criminals go. Air Traffic Controllers and Airport Security will see cutbacks, which means more delays at airports across the country. And it doesnt stop there. Were talking thousands of teachers who are going to be laid off across america. There will be cuts to primary health care for hundreds of thousands of americans. Preventative care, like cancer screenings are also going to be hit and taken off the list. I mean cuts to the military are also going to be job killers because of projects. And the president isnt giving up hope. But its time for congress, dont you think, to get to work . We got a few days. Congress can do the right thing. We can avert just one more washington manufactured problem that slows our recovery. Kind of feels like president obama has said all of this stuff before. Well, thats because he has. Four times in the past three months, to be exact. The republican strategy of obstruct and delay has really become so predictable. This is something within our capacity to solve. It didnt take that much work. Outside of washington, nobody understands how it is that this seems to be a repeat pattern over and over again. They expect our leaders to succeed on their behalf. So do i. Everybody here understands this. This is not a complicated concept. This is the new normal. Republicans in congress continue to make artificial deadlines and refuse to meet them. They also lie about them. House Speaker John Boehner continues to claim the Republican House is doing its job. For the last two years, the house has done its work. Weve passed legislation to tackle the tough challenges. Okay. Lets take a look at these important challenges that John Boehners house has passed. They passed the ryan budget, which is far out of touch with mainstream americans. We made that decision back in november. The country does not want voucherized medicare. Boehners house passed 30 repeals of obama care. More out of touch nonsense that the country rejected. Recently they passed a bill pretending to withhold pay raises from congress, but of course thats something they constitutionally cant do. And president obama says its time to get serious. And it is. But republicans show no signs of seriously addressing the pain ahead for the middle class in this country. And it is about the middle class. And then there is Simpson Bowles, which i think is a total fraud, and we shouldnt be listening to people who have, number one, Retirement Security and Health Care Security for the rest of their lives. Theyre the wrong people to listen to. Theyre doing a lot of grandstanding. But they shouldnt get much attention. More commentary coming on Simpson Bowles in just a moment. Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think. Tonights question. Will the republicans allow the sequester to destroy the middle class . Text a for yes. Text b for no to 67622. You can always go to our blog at ed. Msnbc. Com. Well bring you the results later on in the show. Joining me tonight, Michael Grunwald. He is a Senior Correspondent for time magazine, and author of the new new deal the hidden story of change in the obama era. Great to have you with us tonight, michael. Thank you. Here we are, a week from friday and the big cuts are going to take place. Four legislative days. Of course you have to throw in the vacation that theyre taking right now. Can they get it done in that window . No, they probably cant. I imagine the sequester will go into effect. And then as people start freaking out and Government Services that they like start getting cut, then there will be some pressure to try to replace the sequester. So this was republican senator John Barrasso who is on the Leadership Team talking about the guest their weekend. Here it is. Let me be very clear, and id say this to the president as i say it to you. These spending cuts are going to go through on march 1st. Their taxes are off the table. Okay, michael. How do you walk that back if youre a republican . Well, probably you dont. And theyve you know, remember, republicans used to be all about stimulus. They didnt like austerity. In 2008, every president ial candidate had a stimulus plan. And mitt romney had the largest one. It was only something happened on i think it was january 20th, 2009 where suddenly republicans decided they didnt like stimulus anymore, and that the way to restore the economy was by cutting things. And then, of course, when defense was going to be cut in the sequester, that again is terrible for the economy. Its only cutting things that poor people like that is good for the economy. So, again, theyve strapped themselves to this kind of economic dynamite that has caused double dip recessions in Great Britain and spain. But its not like theyre going to back off it in the next four days. Well, liberals in this country are concerned that maybe the president has strapped himself to doing things to the big three that people dont want. Is there a chance that the president would give in to republican demands and go the austerity route . Well, i think there is look, in his first in his first term, you know, he inherited this economy that was in absolute freefall. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month, and he passed this 800 billion stimulus that the next quarter you had the biggest improvement in jobs in 30 years. And he continued to quietly push stimulus throughout the next couple of years while he had a democratic congress. And thats why we avoided the fates that you had in Great Britain and spain. Since then well, isnt a stalemate. Isnt that what Simpson Bowles is throwing at us right now . What has pretty much taken place in europe. Absolutely. Could we stay out of a recession if we were to adapt Simpson Bowles . Well, we might stay out of a recession because the economy is a lot stronger than it was in january 2009. But there is no question that at this point there is still slack in the economy, and this sort of austerity would hurt. Remember, the argument for austerity was that if you do stimulus, if you run big deficits, youre going to have runaway inflation, and youre going to have exploding Interest Rates. Thats been proven wrong. Where you have low inflation and historically low Interest Rates. Right now our problem is jobs, and there is no question cutting that sort of spending is going to hurt jobs. Michael grunwald, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks for being on the ed show. Erskine bowles and Allen Simpson introduced a new Simpson Bowles deficit Reduction Plan today, even though nobody asked them to do it. The new Simpson Bowles is worse than the old one. There is only 600 billion in tax savings less than what they proposed before. Now there are cuts to medicare, medicaid and Social Security benefits. The ratio of cuts to new tax revenue is threetoone. Who voted for that . Today bowles and simpson were interrupted by protesters as they tried to pitch their new plan. This is a proper response to the latest Simpson Bowles proposal. Pay your fair taxes. Pay your fair tax. Some cuts dont yield. We need good jobs now. Pay your tax. Lets bring in Jonathan Alter, msnbc political analyst and columnist for Bloomberg View and katrina vanden heuvel, publisher of the nation magazine. Great to have both of you with us tonight. Jonathan, what do you make of this . Were talking about austerity when its been proven if we go that route, its going to hurt the economy. Absolutely. In the shortrun, you have to be nuts to want to cut spending right now. The real question for rational people is can we do something . And this is what the president favors, that tries to bring the deficit under control in the longterm. Make some structural changes so that down the road, we can bring that deficit down. Because a deficit of this size that we have now, approaching a trillion is not healthy for an economy in the longterm, even if, as Michael Grunwald says it doesnt cause higher Interest Rates and innovation in the shortrun. In the long run it causes problems. Liberals need to be careful not to get themselves in a position where in rightfully fighting these ridiculous cuts right now, they say, well, there is no problem at all with the deficit, because there is. To me its about the priorities of our country. America is not broke. Its our priorities that are broke. And its a measure of how out of whack the debate in this country is that the Simpson Bowles 2. 0 lopsidedly favoring spending cuts is treated as this mythical arbitrary center in washington inside the beltway. Do elections matter . Do what people have signaled as their priorities . We should be investing in job creation as the best means of deficit reduction. We shouldnt be cutting and bleeding our economy. And if there was any measure of rationality in our system, wed be having a serious debate in congress about the best liberal plan put forward, the one by the progressive caucus. Raising 947 billion in revenue, cutting the Defense Budget in order to not hurt the most vulnerable and the most poor, and also treating these earned benefits in honest ways and investing in infrastructure and jobs. Im in total agreement with that. We have a cold war Defense Budget. Higher than the cold. But there are also some prudent cuts that can be made. Like what . On the domestic side. Well, are you telling me, ed, that some of these programs im not talking about the ones that hurt the poor. I dont want those touched. But some of these other Government Programs couldnt sustain a 5 cut, that some of these agencies . But why begin with cuts . There are you dont begin with cuts. What the president wants which is a balanced approach. You have tax increase 1. 2 trillion in cuts, and boehner is running around saying well, we got revenue just a few months ago. No, we didnt. Thats right. We just had legislation expire. Were not going down a tax path that weve never been before. The Obama White House does have a list of prudent cuts that could be made. Elizabeth warren has prudent cuts. But the kind of cuts, we should be cutting subsidies to big oil. Totally agree. Big pharma. We should be increasing Robin Hood Financial speculation taxes on the corporations. We should be closing loopholes and deducts for the very rich. The frame of our debate in this country is not a realitybased discussion. As Michael Grunwald said, you look across the ocean, the bleeding, the generational loss as spain suffers 26 unemployment. And in our country is similar. This is exactly what boehner is going for right now. They dont want theyve said taxes are off the table or increased revenues are off the table, no matter where you go to get them that is a heck of a place to be considering that you got kicked in the election. If we do have these cuts go into effect after the first of the month, there is going to be a really rude awakening for the republicans. Yeah, i think so too. That will move from an abstraction to this is what these crazy pay the price politically . They better, to make sure that the American Public understands. This is the republicans fault when these cuts come through. The president needs to use his bully pulpit to take on these bullies, and to really speak to what the priorities of these republicans are. Yeah. Because you see it so clearly. And no investment in health care or education. Lets protect the top 0. 1 . If it wasnt going to hurt people, i would almost look forward to this happening. No its cruel. Its cruel. It is cruel. And they were all rejected in the election. In the election. All of the plans that boehner is talking about was totally rejected by the american people. Yep. They had their chance for him to say the senate needs to go do their work is a copout. Its cruel. 2014 is coming up. It is cruel. Its damaging the very ones who have already been hurt so much. And its a hoax because it wont work. President obama needs to hear from the public again. This is when people need to connect with their representatives and senators to make sure that the Simpson Bowles doesnt even get into the equation. Because thats not what we voted for in this country. Were a centerleft progressive country right now. And the time to move forward is right now and not allow the republican obstructionists to get in the way. Jonathan alter, katrina vanden heuvel, great to have you with us tonight. Thank you so much. Remember to answer the question. Share your thoughts on twitter and ed show on facebook. We want to know what you think. So here it comes. The godfather of the conservative movement is offering a whopping yesteryear 10,000 offer to save the Republican Party. You cant make this stuff up. Thats next and a lot more. Stay with us. All stations come over to mission a for a final go. This is for real this time. Step seven point two one two. Verify and lock. Command is locked. Five seconds. Three, two, one. Standing by for capture. The most Innovative Software on the planet. Dragon is captured. Is connecting todays leading companies to places beyond it. Siemens. Answers. To prove febreze can keep this car fresh, we loaded it with fast food, sweaty hockey gear, and a smelly dog cage. And parked it at a mall. In texas. For two days. Then put a febreze car vent clip on the dash and let in real people. It smells good. Like laundry fresh out of like the dryer. Yeah. A man fresh out of the shower. Nailed it. Oh yeah. Proof. Febreze car vent clips keep your car fresh. Another way febreze helps you breathe happy. Proof. Febreze car vent clips keep your car fresh. Do you guys ride . Well. No. Sometimes, yeah. Yes. Well, if you know anybody else who also rides, send them here we got great coverage. Its not like bikers love their bikes more than life itself. I doubt anyone will even notice. Leading the pack in motorcycle insurance. Now, thats progressive. Call or click today. Aarrggh so we created the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. A collection of innovations designed around a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the support your body needs each of your bodies. Our sleep professionals will help you find your sleep number setting. Exclusively at a sleep number store. Sleep number. Comfort. Individualized. At the ultimate sleep number event, queen mattresses start at just 599. And save 50 on our limited edition bed. Ends sunday coming up, the big panel and i break down the biggest beltway noncontroversy of the obama administration. Its tigergate, and its coming up. Liberals who question the Bush Administrations cooked up intelligence before the iraq war are being vindicated by folks who are now going on camera. Well have more on that tonight. And dont forget you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio 127 noon to 3 00 p. M. Share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using edshow. We are coming right back. [ woman ] ring. Ring. Progresso. I just served my motherinlaw your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much. I told her it was homemade. Everyone tells a little white lie now and then. But now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] shes right behind me isnt she . [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. Welcome back to the ed show. Conservative strategist Richard Viguerie is offering a whopping 10,000 to anyone who can come up with a plan to help conservatives take over the Republican Party and win the november 2016 elections and govern america by 2017. For those interested in submitting ideas, the entire 10,000 could go to one person who writes a great plan, or it could be divided among persons who submit specific ideas to advance the project. This is a big deal. If mr. Viguerie is looking for a conservative takeover, he should put his checkbook away. Number one, its not a lot of money. Number two, theyre well on the way. Not only has the extreme right wing hijacked the gop, they are wreaking havoc on our political system by bringing crackpot Conspiracy Theorys to the halls of congress. Let me give you a list. Senators Lindsey Graham and kelly ayotte have written a letter to defense secretary nominee chuck hagel asking him to clarify something he may or may not have said back in 2007. Well, graham explains the letters content on fox news sunday. There was a blog posting about a speech i think in 2007 or 08 that chuck hagel made at Rutgers University and put on his blog the next day six points of the speech. Questionandanswer session, and point six was allegedly senator hagel said the u. S. State department was an adjunct of the Israeli Foreign ministers office, which i think would be breathtaking if he said that. Okay. So lets see if were all on the same page here and have this correct. A rightwing website publishes a resumer from a blog based on something hagel may or may not have said in a speech over, count them, five years ago. And now sitting United States senators are demanding hagel explain himself. Hagel provided ayotte and graham with a copy of the speech and notes he does not recall making any such statement. Now, folks, this is a pattern for the new gop that maybe mr. Viguerie is looking for. Senator rand paul pushing a theory about moving guns from libya to syria. Pauls theory can be traced back to glenn beck. Michele bachmann accused Hillary Clintons chief of staff of having ties to the muslim brotherhood. Her source . An uncorroborated report from a right wing talker frank gaffney. Congressman darrell issa got in the act. He orchestrated an entire circus over the fast and furious gun running operation, all based on the rambling of one paranoid blogger. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher alleged the government was able to monitor the benghazi attack in realtime based on a madeup hunch from rightwing blogger jennifer rubin. So time and time again, we are seeing elected officials peddle rumors and hearsay to further their agenda. Theyre blocking nominations. Theyre ruining peoples reputations, theyre holding hearings, and they are smearing people any possible way they can. No 10,000 price can repair the damage the Republican Party has inflicted upon itself. Lets bring in john nichols, washington correspondent of the nation magazine. John, good to have you with us tonight. There are no boundaries when it comes to making stuff up with the republicans. Where is the Republican Party right now . They are baseless in their facts and their attacks. They claim that there are massive coverups of benghazi. The list goes on and on. Does anybody believe this is good for our political process . Well, it cant possibly be good for the political process, ed. You know, the interesting thing is that the great contribution of the Republican Party to american politics for many, many years was moderate republicans, responsible players who might well tell a liberal democrat to back off a little bit, but they would also tell a conservative to back off a little. That has just disappeared from the Republican Party. And now we have a situation, ed, where someone like a Lindsey Graham, who ten years ago might well have worked with some democrats, is so afraid of a Tea Party Republican primary in South Carolina that he continues to spout nonsense. I mean, even when chuck hagel sent him a letter saying, look, here is the details, here is my speech. Lindsey graham didnt have the dignity or the grace to say okay, my former republican colleague has clarified this. Instead he said if what he is saying is true, well have to accept it there is a bitterness and a cruelty. Youve been a journalist for a long time. Are we at a point now in our news culture that if something is posted on a blog, whether its right or wrong, there is now a pretty good chance that a United States senator might just be quoting that on a sunday show . I mean, my god, do they have any sense whatsoever when it comes to information and how serious a position that theyre in to damage people . I mean Lindsey Graham went on a sunday show, and he quoted a blog, and he held it against chuck hagel and his reputation. What about that . Look at what ted cruz did on the committee. Ted cruz was saying, well, he might have thought this, or he might have done this. They are they are going in to areas of idle speculation about bizarre things. And this roots back to something, ed. We really have the better part of 30 years within the Republican Party of saying that you cant believe any mainstream media. And as a result, there is a tendency to reject the new york times, washington post, cbs, nbc, any mainstream media, they say thats just bias. So they push themselves further and further to the right for their sources of information. Even Rush Limbaugh is suspect to some of these folks because he is too moderate. John nichols, washington correspondent of the nation. Great to have you with us tonight. Thank you so much. Granny get your gun. Next ill explain exactly how radical gun laws across america have deadly consequences. Some members of the beltway media are flatout bent out of shape because they didnt get to see president obama and tiger play golf. They want full access. Tonight the big panel exposes their hypocrisy. [ ship horn blows ] no, no, no stop humans. 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[ breathes deeply ] oh, what a relief it is [ angry gibberish ] the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Welcome back to the ed show. In the months since the shooting rampage in newtown, connecticut, which left 26 people dead, nra Ceo Wayne Lapierre has pushed the narrative more guns means a safer america. Gun rights activists have embraced this claim, with some going even further than that and capitalizing on the national discussion. A Youth Hockey League in fargo, north dakota, with players as young as 4 years old plans to give away 200 firearms in a raffle. Its a great fundraiser for them. The New Hampshire association of chiefs of police is raffling off 31 firearms, including semiautomatic weapons. And the latest all around pizzas and deli in Virginia Beach, virginia, is offering 15 discount if you carry openly to the store or show them a concealed weapons permit. Here is a happy customer posing with her sons semiautomatic rifle. Its fun for the whole family, isnt it, young and old. See, in virginia its legal to carry a gun into banks, hospitals, stores, movie theaters, restaurants, and open carry is even allowed in bars. Sounds like a great idea. Lets see, guns and alcohol, mix them together, nothing is going to happen. Here is what more guns have led to in the Virginia Beach area. I wonder if this shooter stopped in all around pizzas for a discount slice. Or these two charged with two counts of murder, or the person who shot this man walking into the mall. Or the man who was charged with shooting someone in the neck just 15 minutes away. According to Data Collected by slate, the website, and also the twitter feed gun deaths, there have been at least 1,981 gun deaths in america since the newtown tragedy. More guns does not equal less violence. But i sure hope they all enjoy the 15 discount on their pizza. The press complains about the president and tiger woods. But theyre nowhere to be found on real issues. The big panel on the beltway wambulance is next. Plus, the countrys least popular senator is with his ashley judd attack ad. Tennessee is home. I might just want to stop here. And last night Rachel Maddow ripped the scab off the wound with her document hubris. It at worst deception. It is at worst incompetence. Tonight david corn of mother jones on what the movie couldnt show. Mine was earned in djibouti, africa, 2004. The battle of bataan, 1942. [ all ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa Auto Insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaas commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. Begin your legacy. Get an autoinsurance quote. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. Otherworldly things. But there are some things ive never seen before. This ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. Which is good for business. Because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. Suddenly, faraway places dont seem so. Far away. And we are back. The washington, d. C. Media has finally showed some concern about a very serious issue, not having access to the president of the United States when he played golf with tiger woods. Here is fox news ed henry, the president of the white house correspondence association. This is not about a trivial issue like a golf game. We dont really care about the president s score. What we care about is access to the president of the United States, whether its a democrat or a republican. This is about the very serious issue of transparency. Okay. Lets have that discussion and run the numbers. Here are some statistics on president ial access. President obama has held 79 News Conferences in his first term compared to 89 for george w. Bush. But according to White House Press secretary jay carney, president obama has held 35 News Conferences in which reporters were permitted to take questions. Okay. President bush held 19 by this point in his presidency. So what are we talking about here, ed . The media frenzy over the golf game reached tiger woods himself during a News Conference about an upcoming tournament today. Playing with mr. President was pretty cool. He is a wonderful person to be around and we won. Yeah, he calls up and said hey tiger, you want to play . He does not. Obviously, there is a process that is involved. And i was invited to play. He hit the ball well and got amazing touch. He can certainly chip and putt. Just how regular of a guy is barack obama . He is president of the United States. He wants to play with the best golfer in the world, arguably. The white house has said the golf game was played on a private course, and therefore the press pool was not invited. Lets sort it out tonight. Were talking about transparency and access, im joined by joan walsh of salon. Com, ryan grim of the Huffington Post, and susan del percio. Great to have all of you with us tonight. Joan, if it is about transparency and it is about access, hasnt barack obama been more than forthcoming . And why does this come it now when president obama is arguably on his recreational time . Your thoughts. Well, you know, the last time the president used the word transparency, ed, was last week in the state of the union talking about his National Security policies, which have not been as transparent as many of us want. So when i read ed henrys letter, i thought he must be talking about that. He must be talking about the drone program. He must be talking about that white paper on targeted killings, right . Thats what we need transparency on. And, of course, he was not. The letter really reached a certain kind of selfsatire that made me think that its time for those guys to have Stephen Colbert back as their keynote speaker at their din their year, because this is ridiculous that the most important thing, disappointing thing that the president has done is golfed with tiger woods privately, and this is what theyre raising a ruckus about. Its ridiculous. Susan, a golf game. Isnt the timing terrible for ed henry if he represents the press corps . I really think this is unfounded. I really think there is no reason for going after the president whether he is playing golf with tiger woods or anybody else. Im fine with his Vacation Time for the press not to have access. As a matter of fact, its probably more relaxing for the president , which is a good thing. But there is some pushback here. And i think it has to do with something deeper, which is the complaints the press has had with this administration leapfrogging them at times and using social media and other tools to get their message out, which is perfectly acceptable in this world. I think that the press probably hasnt caught up to it yet, the more traditional press. Ryan, did tiger woods have anything to do with any of this . It would have been a heck of a story if somebody had gotten access, and they would have had fun with it. It would have been ratings. If it was just obama and a staffer and two other folks out golfing, they probably wouldnt have wanted to go out there. They wanted to see tiger woods hit a drive. These reporters are just like any man out there. But what they missed is that the other two members of the foursome, Milton Carroll and jim crane, as lucia graves has reported for Huffington Post are oilmen. So at the exact same time there is this huge climate protest going on in washington, obama is out playing golf with texas oilmen. And this is just after, you know, he gave his speech on at the state of the union saying that we cannot wait. The world is being destroyed by climate. We have to do something. That would have been really bad optics. Luckily for him the press was so worked up about the fact that they couldnt get a photo of tiger woods that they didnt google the other two guys that he was golfing with. Right. They didnt mention it. They didnt google it. It doesnt matter. Theyre not complaining about golfing with oil men. Theyre complaining about golfing with a celebrity and that they didnt get their time to ask tying area few questions. All right. Two days ago senator marco rubio said the president s plan on immigration was dead on arrival. The president today reached out to several senators, including senator rubio. Both sides have released statements saying they are committed to a Bipartisan Commission and they agree there is progress. Joan, what is going on here . These statements are very diplomatic given the statements telephone last few days. We have gone from dead on a rival to these guys talking to one another. What does it say about the president reaching out to senator rubio . Well, it seems like it helped. And it is also clear there had been Staff Communications all along that the president is not doing this in a vacuum, and that they know that they cant do it without democrats either. So its actually a rare sign that something might get done on this, and that they decided to dial back the insanity and not slap him and slap him back when he called. I think its a good thing from what we can tell. I think theyre probably still pretty far apart. It would it seems to me that the president , im speculating, would call up rubio and say hey, my plan is just like yours. It really me . Is Newt Gingrich right . Am i the problem in all of this . Ryan, is this new president obama in his second term who is going to, you know, press the republican senators on issues like this where he really wants to see something get done, and we all know that Immigration Reform is a big deal. He certainly has learned a lot from his first term. What he is showing now is that he doesnt want another episode where mack baucus spends eight months sitting around with a couple of republicans pleading to get one of their votes and eventually they all trickle off. And, you know, he was also not involved at all during the health care. Certainly he was sending people down, but he wasnt picking up the phone, you know, and calling down there like he did today, though certainly he had some phone conversations with olympia snowe. Sure. That obviously didnt pan out. But thats what this is. He is saying this is not going to be a 14month affair. We know where we are. Were going to do this or were not going to do it. But were not going to drag it out for 14 months. Susan, the president says that hell work with anybody. I mean, he is calling republican senators, trying to get something to move on immigration. Doesnt this put rubio in somewhat of a box . One day he says its dead on arrival, the next day he says were making progress, had a good conversation with the president. This was a great move by the president strategically, there is no doubt about it. And he said he was open to conversation. He didnt say it was his plan and thats it. They said they were going to work together. As you said, they were both very diplomatic. And now it is on the republicans to show that they can work with this administration and they have more incentive because, frankly, its very much in their own agenda. The problem that the president potentially can have is within democrats in his own party who are up for reelection in 2014 on this and a couple of other issues. He may also have to call some Democratic Senators to get this done. All right, joan walsh, ryan grim, susan del percio. You never know. The president might have been breaking the news to the oil guys that hey, fellows, were not going to do the keystone pipeline. Its your putt. Well never know. First karl rove attacked her. Now the Senate Minority leader is desperately going after ashley judd, 20 months, 20 months, before election day. Were rights back. You didnt have to come over easy. Hi. Cascade kitchen counselor. Look over time, a competing gel can leave cloudy hard water deposits, but cascade complete pacs help leave glasses sparkling. Cascade. Love it or your money back. But im still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesnt unstuff your nose. What . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. Thanks. Thats the cold truth and of course we love hearing from our fans on social media. And tonight many of you are taking issue with the nras wayne lapierre, who made up a story recently that South Brooklyn was a hellish world, where looters ran wild in the aftermath of superstorm sandy. On facebook, ingrid writes the man lives in his own world of violence and an impending apocalypse. Linda bauer calls it fearmongering, the nras constant ploy to sell guns. And kevin says lapierres level of paranoid delusion underscores the need for tighter gun control. You can go to our facebook now and join in on the conversation. And dont forget to like the ed show when youre there. We appreciate that. Hubris, the book and the documentary by the same name have ripped open new information on the leadup to the war in iraq. David corn is here for more tonight, and well be right back. Today is gonna be an important day for us. You ready . We wanna be our brothers keeper. Whats number two we wanna do . Bring it up to 90 decatherms. How bout ya, joe . Lets go ahead and bring it online. Attention on site, attention on site. Now starting unit nine. Some of the worlds cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of americas biggest cities. Siemens. Answers. So if ydead battery,t tire, need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geicos emergency roadside assistance is there 24 7. Oh dear, i got a flat tire. Hmmm. Uh. Yeah, can you find a take where its a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah . Yeah i got it right here. Someone help me i have a flat tire well its good. Good for me. What do you think . Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Welcome back to the ed show. There are signs Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell is worried about losing his job. Actress ashley judd is seriously considering running against the gentleman from kentucky. She is reportedly consulted with new york senator gillibrand and hired a democratic pollster to judge her chances in the bluegrass state. Karl rove already spent 10,000 attacking ashley judd with this wild and crazy commercial, and now Mitch Mcconnell is taking on judd in his first commercial of his 2014 reelection campaign. It pokes fun at the president of the United States and other possible Democratic Candidates who might take on mcconnell. Im going to start with this young lady right here in sort of the pinkwhite blouse, right there. And wait until the microphone comes up. Introduce yourself. From the volunteer state, i proudly stand to nominate. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Tennessee, the home of former Vice President al gore. The fact Mitch Mcconnell is spending time and money attacking ashley judd is a sure sign he is in deep trouble. Come on, she is a hollywood liberal from tennessee who might run in kentucky . Meanwhile, recent poll numbers also dont look too good for mcconnell. Only 17 of kentucky voters would vote for the Senate Minority leader if the election were held today. Another poll shows his Approval Rating at 37 . It makes him the least popular senator in the country. And in a headtohead matchup against ashley judd, mcconnell is leading by only nine points. Now, these numbers and mcconnells new commercial prove the republican minority leader is in a pretty rough spot early on, and there is plenty of time for ashley judd to make up those nine points if she by chance decides to run in the 2014 midterm election, which of course is only 623 days away. 623 days away, and mitch, youre worried . Tonight in our survey, i asked you will the republicans allow the sequester to destroy the middle class . 96 of you say yes. 4 of you say no. Coming up, david corn joins me to discuss even more shocking details about hubris. Thats next. Stay with us. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop . 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I took something for my sinuses, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] a lot of sinus products dont treat cough. They dont . [ male announcer ] nope, but alka seltzer plus severe sinus does it treats your worst sinus symptoms, plus that annoying cough. [ breathes deeply ] oh, what a relief it is [ angry gibberish ] ya. Alright, another one just like that. Right in the old bucket. Good toss see thats much better that was good. You had your shoulder pointed, you kept your eyes on your target. Lets do it again watch me. Just like that one. [ male announcer ] the durability of the volkswagen passat. Pass down something he will be grateful for. Good arm. Thats the power of german engineering. Back to you. And in the big finish tonight, were approaching the tenyear anniversary of the war in iraq, and we still have questions about the Bush Administrations motives. Last night i asked retired colonel Larry Wilkerson, Lawrence Wilkerson about the runup to the war in iraq. Do you believe the Bush Administration cooked the books to sell the war in iraq . I didnt know it at the time, and i fault myself for that. Ill go to my grave with that mass failing on my part. But, yes, in retrospect, having done all the research and work that my students and others have done, plus myself, im damn sure that the Bush Administration cooked the books. Wilkerson is not alone. For the first time in ten years, top level insiders are going on the record about the Bush Administrations push for war. Last night my colleague Rachel Maddow aired an hourlong documentary based on the book by Michael Isikoff and david corn called hubris selling the iraq war. The documentary compiled years of reporting to give us a fresh look at the flaws in the decisionmaking process. At one point, the film showed how personal the conflict with iraq had become for president bush. He got very animated. He used uncharacteristically profanity, and used the middle fingerer to demonstrate Saddam Husseins disdain for the United States and for him personally. Ive heard only one serious criticism of the documentary. Viewers thought it was just too short there is a lot to get in there in the network, and rachel did a fabulous job on this. So were continuing the conversation tonight with msnbc analyst david corn, d. C. Bureau chief for mother jones and coauthor of the book hubris. Congratulations are in order. For his excellent reporting on the 47 in the last campaign in 2012. David, congratulations. Thanks. Thanks a lot, ed. There is so much to pack in one hour. But one thing that struck me is that when it was over with, i turned to my wife and said we actually reelected this guy in 2004. What important facts do you think still could have gone in that hit the edit room floor . Well, we had lots of stories in the book that couldnt make it into an hourlong documentary about dissent and disagreement up and down the chain of command in the Intelligence System that really was totally ignored by those at the top. A real good example is people remember last night hearing the story about the aluminum tubes, and they saw houston woods, who was an expert at the department of energy who said Saddam Hussein cant use these aluminum tubes for his Nuclear Weapons program. Theyre probably rocket launchers. He was one of the top experts in the nation, but there was a guy, a cia analyst who didnt have the same Technical Expertise who kept insisting this was the clue. This told us that he was trying to turn uranium into the type of uranium you can use in a bomb. So that was a very active debate. The experts knew what they were saying, and yet condoleezza rice, even though this fight was going on and had even been reported slightly in the washington post, would get out there on tv and say there is certainty here. There is no doubt he has acquired saddam has acquired these aluminum tubes to make a nuclear weapon. And that to me still, i mean ten years later, is shocking that the National Security adviser would say such a thing and not even know there was a very robust debate over this. What was bushs personal motivation, you think . You know, thats a real good question. Talking to your producer before the show, one of the questions is what do we not know, still not know . And i still think in a lot of ways we dont know why bush did this. One question i have is when we came into office, had there not been a 9 11, would he have been hellbent on this . I think there is a lot of evidence that the neocons around him, you know, Donald Rumsfeld and dick cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, they were gunning for Saddam Hussein even before 9 11, and they used 9 11 as an excuse to go after him right away. Was bush, you know, in that camp . Was it personal because of what happened with his father . His father not finishing off the job . After 9 11, did he just feel the need to be proactive, to do something to show the country he was willing to take a risk with the lives of others, of course. What shocked you the most . And go along with the neocon plan. I got to get this in. David, what shocked you the most about doing your research on this . There was one story in the book that we didnt get on last night because its kind of convoluted. There was a woman named lori milroy, really a Conspiracy Theory who said for years had said Saddam Hussein was the puppet master behind al qaeda. Al qaeda was nothing. It was all Saddam Hussein. And Paul Wolfowitz, the number two in the Defense Department totally bought her theories, even though the cia and the fbi kept saying she was full of you know what. And even after 9 11, he kept saying to everyone, read this book. She knows what she is talking about. This should be a basis of our policy. And the fact that it actually became the basis for our policy, and a fellow who is said to be as part as Paul Wolfowitz who would really become the victim of a conspiracy theorist is still shocking to me today. And i would love another ten minutes in the documentary to work through that. Is there followup work here on your part . Well, mike and i, mike isikoff, were always talking about the next project and what else we can get. I thought the documentary got some new stuff in. And hopefully we can keep finding more. You know, this is history, and history is always changing. But i think the more we go through this, as Larry Wilkerson said in the documentary, there is more and more evidence that this was a hoax. And, again, david corn, congratulations on getting the george polk award