Himself, he said if he felt his strength and his body wasnt up to speed to comply with the duties that were that are expected of a pontiff, and very heavy duties like traveling around, attending ceremonies, working nonstop. At 85, thats tiring for everybody, for any man his age, let alone a pontiff and the pope and leader of 1 billion catholics around the world, but nobody really believed that would happen or nobody believed that would happen before at least next year, because this, maybe i remind you, is the year of the faith. So that came as a surprise to everybody, as you heard card natural dolan doesnt know about it. Certainly he is not the only one, because the spokesperson for the vatican even said he was shocked. He didnt see it coming, and so didnt his closest aides. As we know, when benedict was named as pope, he was one of the oldest popes to take over that job. George, let me talk to you about the fact that we are hearing all the different reactions coming in now just from House Speaker john boehner, saying americans were inspired by his visit and his quiet steady leadership in uncertain times. This unique and historic moment in time, george, that were watching. Explain to us the process of what happens after february 28th. Well, thomas, were actually all waiting to find out, because as you noted at the beginning this hasnt happened in 719 years, so theres no playbook ready to go. The pope made a manifestation of his will today, indicating that as of 8 00 p. M. Rome time, february 28th, he is no longer the pope. So thats that. I dont think theres going to be any ceremony marking this. He has indicated that that is what he has decided, and in the law of the church, that settles the question. Whether the cardinals, who i suspect will be going to rome within the next several days, decide to have four or five days of formal consultations before they lock themselves up in the conclave to elect a new pope, we for this man who has often had a hard time with his public image, who has been the victim frankly of a cartoon presentation of himself by many of his enemies, but whom people seem to have come to understand as a man of god, a real pastor, one of the most learned men in the world, and someone who had a unique capacity to make the christian proposal in a winsome and compelling way. In the shortest period of time, modern catholics have been exposed to this pope, one thing we have learned, george, he was a conservative theologian, who came in trying to radio traditionalized Catholic Church, as he spoke out, the world is changing gej Marriage Equality, calling it a manipulation of nature, he also opposed the topic of female priests as well as stem cell research. So from from your perspective, what will the legacy endorse . Lets save us some trouble that thinking that a change of pope is like a change of governor. The church has certain settled understandings, and they will not change. They involve several of the issues you just described. So we shouldnt waste time among ourselves chattering about this, that or the other thing. What the cardinals are looking for, i expect, is someone who will put a positive face on the Catholic Church action who will be able to be a missionary pope, who will make clear that every time the church says no to something, its on the basis of a high other and more compelling yes to something else. Catholic church is in the business of aforming the dignity of the human person under very difficult cultural circumstances, and the next pope is going to have to be able to take take up that mantel. Thank you both. Again, gentlemen, thanks so much. Now we want to move to our other big story. As we talked about gun control, nbc news has kicked off a special weeklong look of gun violence and gun ownership. Tomorrow night the state of the Union Address will be packed with survivors of gun violence courtesy of a handful of members of congress. We have a problem. Where we shop, where we pray, where our children go to school. But there are solutions we can agree on, even gun owners like us. Joining us, joe courtney. I just want to point out where that ad will air in san francisco, louisville, and las vegas. The minority leader, she has an f rating by the nra. Harry reid has a b rating. One thing we also know is lawmakers are offering their tickets to certain Vice President s. We now youre taking a Wounded Warrior as your plus one. Explain what the strategy is by having someone in teenance that suffered gun violence . I think we want to put a human face on this issue, because at some point, you know, we have to debate it in terms of constitutional sinuses. How a University Background check would work, but at the end of the day, this is really about the unacceptable levels of violence that ordinary americans are suffering every single day because of totally out of control system of gun ownership, which allows guns, very dangerous guns to get in the hands of the wrong people. One has said that its not going to happen until the heat is on and members are feeling the heat every day. However, when the mayor of new orleans, Mitch Landrieu had a chance to speak with lester holt, he said its more of a blindersstyle view of how were all talking about gun control. Take a listen. It is absolutely too narrow and too simplistic, as though if you just ban assault weapons, somehow the murder rate in the country will go down automatically. It will not. Sir, how do you respond to that . I think thats a very unfair characterization of the president s package, which was very broad based. Obviously the proliferation of guns is a big part of it, but the fact is hes investing record sums of resources into Mental Health counseling. Were looking at School Safety issues, and again theres a broad array of issues here that the mayor, i think really sold the president short in terms of his characterization of what were talking about here. I sit on the Education Committee the republican chairman and the house has scheduled a hearing at the end of this month on School Safety. We know this is not a oneissue, one agenda package in terms of reducing the amount of gun violence in this country. I give the president very high marks. He came to connecticut two months ago and made a pledge to the people in that room at newtown, that this is not an incident that will be a news cycle story thats forgotten. He has maintained the pressure, and obviously the effort to organize these folks coming to washington tomorrow is part of that campaign, which again, i fully expect to stay very intense and my colleague gabby, who was in my class of 2006 is doing a great job with her husband mark to be part of that. Congressman, real quickly, before we let you go, you sit on the Education Committee. One thing youre making headlines for is you have sent a her to Steven Spielberg complaining that lincoln is historically inaccurate. In reality, the states representatives at the time voted for the bill that abolished slavery. What kind of response have you gotten . Its remarkable. Certainly back home people have been thanking me, because it was such an incredibly meticulous movie in terms of the historical accuracy. Its a brilliant movie, but it will be an educational tool someday, and kids will be watching this in classrooms, and, but the fact is connecticut abolished slavery in 1848, we emancipated children of slaves in 1784, and we had a very strong delegation in 1865, really interesting people who were very active in the Abolition Movement who unfortunately their legacy is completely distorted. Were hoping, really, this is not intended to, you know, be a negative attack on the movie. Its really just an attempt to try and say, okay, when its time for difd release, lets help the viewer understand in the case of connecticut action it was a leader in the effort to abolish slavery and advance human rights. Connecticut congressman joe courtney, thanks for making time for me. I appreciate it. Thank you. Yes, im going to ask my colleagues, just like they did with John Bolton Joe Biden said no confirmation without information. That was senator graham threatening to block the nominations. What graham is demanding. Plus dick cheneys rip of the president s picks. Plus the in. Ra, the keep to republicans winning over women. Im going to ask steve la tourette why the gop should cut ties with the powerful lobby to gain the womens vote. The pope citing his age and failing health. Weigh in on facebook or find me at twitter. 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. How did i know . Well, i didnt really. See, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive. But when i started losing energy and became moody. Thats when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. We discussed all the symptoms. Then he gave me some blood tests. Showed it was low t. Thats it. 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Tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. So. What do men do when a numbers too low . Turn it up [ male announcer ] in a clinical study, over 80 of treated men had their t levels restored to normal. Talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. Get the blood tests. Change your number. Turn it up. Androgel 1. 62 . Welcome back, as aiding tell cleopatra pendleton, the mom of the young woman shot and killed, the mom will be the guest of the first lady tomorrow night. As you may recall, the first lady attended the funeral. The young girl who was killed performed the president s inauguration at the end of january. As the president gets ready to deliver the state of the Union Address, poll is finding most persons the quinn pillian poll asking in his address, 35 say the economy. 20 want to hear about the federal deficit. 15 want to hear about gun policy. 12 interested in health care. My political power panel joins my about more about this. Doug is a democrat tick strat jill. Hogan go aheadly is a republican strategist. Great to see all three of you. Lets figure out exactly whats going on with the president and establishing the state of union, as we look at those numbers, ruth. The economy has certainly been something we talked about for a long time. The sequester is looming. How much does the president go after his adremember sears tomorrow night. Well, i guess the storm is stay tuned. Im a bit confused about the white houses approach to the speech. We do have a huge issue for every american in the inaugural. Now we hear the economy is going to be back here a lot, but and we know what the president s approach is, especially to the sequester that we need to have a builded approach. And so, therefore, by definition in a sense its got to be confrontational, because that is not the view of the republicans whose help hes going to need at least on the house side in order to avert the sequester, which doesnt look like its going to happen. I would say the state of the union is pretty fractured and argumentative right now. I think that will come through to some extent in the speech. When we looked, though, at the quinnipiac poll, though, logan, a percent says they trust president obama to be able to lead on the at 41 . There we have it. Do you think and do you agree with ruth, as she said stay tuned for tomorrow night, but do you agree with the fact that the president as somewhat predicted, will come out swinging, but find the right balance and right tone . Yeah, look, im speaking as a republican obviously, but 66 Million People voted for this guy, 61 Million People voted to fire him. Thats a pretty interesting dynamic. The company is still very fractured, shes absolutely right about that. The he can make claims, and push the republicans along, but if hes going to lead, im going to say hes probably going to need to anger a few democrats as well. If he comes out of this speech, republicans and democrats are a bit concerned, i think hes actually won something here. He will look as though hes a person trying to move the ball forward. Hes the only one who will appear to aunds you have to give to get. Right now the republicans seem to be dug in, the republicans are just fine with the way the president is doing thing, but if the president says, were going to have to make some cuts in medicare, i think youll see a circus on the left. It wont just be the right. So, doug, the articles on politico, as we look at them, they use the language aggressive, and convince the gop is unwilling to cut deals, the president is planning to issue another broad challenge at a Republican Party he regards as being vulnerable and divided. Now, after the speech i would throw in dysfungal too. Well let you throw that in, but everyone comes from a dysfunctional family, doug. Hes going to go to asheville, atlanta, chicago, so thats where hell go after this. Do you think hell be swinging for the fences, so to speak . The inaugural was big and bold. It seems like i have to drill down to the pillars of the foundation. First to hogans point, he has actually said some things about medicare that as angered the left. He as not he has talked about chain, cpi, some things that the left is not very pleased with. Remember, he signed into law over 2 trillion in cuts. So its not as if the president has been unwilling to talk about cuts. I think now is the opportunity for the president and republicans to come back to the table and finish this out. You know theres about a 1. 5 trillion that needs to be dealt with to avoid sequester. The president has put a plan on the table. It should be balanced. Thats what the American People voted for, and we hadnt heard much from republicans. It looked like theyre just sitting on their hands waiting for a sequester to happen and trying to blame the president for it. With their approval numbers, thats going to be hard to do. One thing i want to get on a record, and i know we have an abbreviated time. The tea Party Statement is going to be delivered as well as the republican response by senator marco rubio, but senator rand paul will deliver the anyway, our power panel, thanks so much. As the president is getting ready to make his address, we had to know what you this i is the state of our union. Here is my answer, proud and ready for whats next. Whats yours . Take a picture, or share it with us on twitter and instagram. Were going to show your responses on air. And i have diabetic nerve painp when i first felt the diabetic nerve pain,is, of course, i had no idea what it was. I felt like my feet were going to sleep. It progressed from there to burning like i was walking on hot coals to like a thousand bees that were just stinging my feet. I have a great relationship with my doctor. He found lyrica for me. [ female announcer ] its known that diabetes damages nerves. Lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. Lyrica is not for everyone. It may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. Or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eye sight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. 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At a recent study backing him is this, suggesting the issue of guns will drive more women to the polls. Former Ohio Republican congressman steve la tourette joins me. Ivity to point out you had an a rating from the nra during your time in congress, but a few polls are showing that more women want to control gun ownership, more men want to protect gun rights. So do you think that dumping the nra based on that is really enough to bring and woo women back to the rep party . I dont think dumping the nra. I think where republicans run afoul on a lot of issues, is theyre seen as a party that doesnt want to talk about the issue. There are a number of solutions that would actually do something to reduce gun violence and certainly school shootings, but when you dig in your heels and say were not going to talk about background checks, thats what turns a lot of people off, including women. Do you think its more about the lack of a commonsense approach to the debate, the conversation . I do, actually, because, you know, in your previous segments you had the mayor of n