Sylvia matthews burwell. The confirmation should be an opportunity to examine the failures of obamacare and how people are hurting because of it. But Republican Opposition to the Health Care Law could mean a tougher time this goaround. It is still going to be painful for the administration to go through every detail of obamais care. The republican Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell says we should expect the shortcomings during confirmation hearings. God love her. I dont know why she would want to do that, chris. Is she going to have trouble getting confirmed to this position . These confirmation hearings are going to be a goat roping. You mark that down. Weve marked it down. Goat roping. I dont know what it means. And here was the dramatic packed room beginning to to the burwell hearing. We have convened this hearing to consider the nomination of Sylvia Matthews burwell to be the next secretary of the at the present time of health and Human Services. Can you hear the goats . Can you feel the drama . No, youre not seeing things. Not too many people showed you up for the goat roping of Sylvia Matthews burwell. In fact, it was serene with one of her chief supporters being john mccain. Regardless of my objections to the Affordable Care act, the department of health and Human Services need competent leadership in the position of secretary. I believe ms. Burwell has the qualifications to run hhs and have the assurance that she will work with members of congress as she has as director of omb. I recommend strongly ms. Burwell and hope the committee will endorse her nomination. So that happened. Well, thats sort of change although, if you had been paying attention to the republican attempt to cross raid from obamacare to something else, it wouldnt necessarily surprise you. Because they are trying to very subtly move two Different Levels on the rhetorical switchboard at the same time its easy not to notice. There was a similar scene one day before. The republican controlled house was holding a subcommittee hearing with a bun of Insurance Company executives. But exits on the republican side allowed multiple defensemmocrat speak in a row and let heavy democratic criticism of repub c republicans go unanswered. There was a dirth of lawmakers on the left side of the rostrum and a full bench on the right. As republicans grew bored, democrats held sway to get to the bottom of how Many Americans were paying obamacare premiums, 67 as republicans have prematurely reported, or was it far higher . On the exchange 85 of the people paid, is that correct . Thats correct. 86 paid, correct . Thats correct. For 312014, 81 paid, is that correct . Yes. And for 412014, 83 paid, is that correct . That is correct. And youre still waiting for everybody else to pay because their deadline has not passed yet, is that correct . Thats correct. So it turns out people are paying of the the republicans who managed to stick around for the hearing were getting a bit frustrated. Identify any states where you are offering products in the exchanges where consumers can expect a premium decrease. At this juncture we do not have the information. You dont have the information . A lot of uncertainty floating around out there. Okay. So you dont know if your consumers are going to see any decreases. You know they were promised decreases. I thought that reading your reports you all did analysis and trend lines for the near term, the midterm and the long term. Has anybody done any kind of analysis . So what were republicans focused on now that they were no longer getting any traction on obamacare . Now that they are slowly, gently, sadly backing away from something that is working for many people. They are not passing legislation to end work place discrimination. You know what theyre doing. And we will not take any shortcuts to the truth, accountability, or justice. And we will not allow any side shows that distract us from those goals. House Speaker John Boehner announcing how the select committee on benghazi will not allow any side shows. Of course not. The great Obamacare Benghazi is happening right before our eyes. The early plan for republicans to run on the fail europe of obamacare has collapsed underneath them and they are searching for something to replace it. Theyve decided benghazi is that thing. So while republicans can barely be beared to stick around on health care, just hours ago the house passed resolution to establish a select committee on b benghazi largely along party lines. And almost every one of the 230plus House Republicans is clamoring to be among the Seven Members placed on that ben gazy select committee that will be chaired by tray gowdy. He said republicans shouldnt be fundraising off four dead americans. Speaker boehner in between his revved up base and common human decency. Four americans died in benghazi. Should the nrcc fundraise off of your efforts to the select committee . Our focus is on getting the answers to those families who lost their loved ones, period. But the Campaign Committee which you are very involved in is fundraising off of this. Why is that happening . Our focus is on getting the truth for the American People and these four families. If elected republic wrans understand one thing, they understand where the energy of the base is. And their behavior is always a great way to figure out what the base is exercised about and what theyre not that into. The base is no longer so worked up about obamacare. Its working. And as it does, little by little, each day with each small fact of people getting insurance, it shrinks as a political target. And so republicans need something new. If you dont believe the gop politicians are the best weather vane, how about roger ales at fox news, probably better than any single human being on earth can sense the anxieties of his audience. Fox news programming on these two topics, the Obamacare Ben gaz y at fox news on one graph. Wendtal, are you surprised by both the sort of substantive success and enrolling people and the slow backaway from it as a political target by republicans . Not at all. I saw that the Health Insurance industry was going to be having this kind of information as weve been watching the enrollment figures over the past several weeks. Keep in mind that the Insurance Industry during the Health Care Reform debate, they were siding with the republicans. They wanted to just spread this fear of uncertainty and doubt, and i might note that congresswoman blackman used that word, with which is at the core of their campaign to try to confuse people about the Affordable Care act. But the numbers are telling a different story and thats what were going to be seeing, i think, between now and november. Well, that was what was fascinating about that hearing yesterday, the kind of curtain raising moment republicans hyped this report. The Insurance Company said dont go with this data. Its shoddy. They were prepared to have their big political moment in the sun. The insurance executives who have been on both sides of obamacare at different times said actually, yes, people are paying. Thats exactly right. And weve been ive been saying this ive been watching the Analyst Reports for Health Insurance companies as theyve been releasing earnings. Theyve been doing very well, thank you, since the Health Care Law was passed. Their earnings have been almost off the charts in many cases as more people are signing up, which, you know, it makes the argument this was a government takeover of health care all that more ridiculous because private Insurance Companies are doing quite well. So are republicans just going to walk away from this and this will end up being something that two, three years from now is no longer a central political issue . I think they will after the midterm elections because it will continue to dissipate as a Campaign Issue for them. But theyre heavily invested in this and i think you will see certainly in l some districts and some states that they will keep this up. Once again, it will be a Campaign Based on fear, uncertainty and doubt, and it will be important for the democrats to dispel that and to remind people of what is in this law that benefits every one of us. Every day that more people are enrolled in had it, it gets ease wrer to make that case. Wendall potter, thank you very much. Thank you. All right. We are heading into the last two years of a twoterm incumbent democratic president , with which means were at the peak scandal point of the political cycle. While independent counsel ken starr was in full lewinsky mode and while then president bill clintons secretary testified before the grand jury for a third time on this day 16 years ago. The republican focus on scandal proved disastrous for House Republicans who ended up against all odds losing seats in the midterm election. By comparison how much do republicans really hope to b benefit from benghazi. Charlie pierce, writer at large for esquire magazine and esquire. Com. Charlie, do you see any parallels here . Ive been saying theyre not the that dumb, theyre not that dumb, theyre not going to go through this again. Im beginning to question what i thought before. Well, i mean, it takes a while to get the kangaroo suits out of mothballs. I do think i do think they understand the dynamic and i do think they have shortterm Political Goals that have blinded them to longterm political liabilities which is basically what happened in 1998. Thats right. What happened in 1998,s and here is where i see the replay, they started creating these institutions and bodies that had their own gravitational pull and momentum and once you had the independent counsel it kind of got out of everybodys hands pretty quickly. There were some people urging it on. To me, thats the danger thats the real danger by john boehner. You get subcommittees, you get stalling, invocations of executive privilege and the next thing you know youre on the road to escalating. Thats the thing. When you compare the obamacare issue and the benghazi issue i shudder to call it an issue but lets call it that for arguments sake you can make it up. You can make up the numbers on obamacare but sooner or later math is going to crush you. You can make up anything you want about the benghazi thing, and if the president withholds one email, its no longer about benghazi. Its about what are they hiding . And you get another two weeks out of that. And its the scandal which is the other part of it that is reminiscent of the clinton years. Before we got to mon cue lewinsky and the impeachment and some people remember or may not remember, this was this carousel of scandals, it was about Hillary Clintons investment in cattle futures, it was about everything, travel gate. And eventually they got somewhere and thats whats similar to me about benghazi. What the scandal is keeps changing. There was a memorable moment, ill never forget it, in a congressional hearing when ken starr came before a House Committee and was being questioned, i think much to his unhappiness by barney frank, and ken starr admitted that there wasnt anything on whitewater. There wasnt anything on travelgate. There wasnt anything on the cattle futures. There wasnt anything on the billing records. There wasnt anything on the suicide of vince foster. I think barney looked at him and said something like, it would have been nice if you told us that a year and a half ago. Thats exactly right. Charlie pierce, thanks always for your time, man. Thanks, chris. Last week we met the maryland gun dealer who wanted to sell the personalized ip1, the nations first smart gun. This is all about freedom. It really is, man. Even when the nra, the bastion of great freedom, they say this should be prohibited, how hypocritical is that . Theyre bowing down to fear, bro he. Its cowardice. Theyre afraid, so they bow down to that. And that is cowardice. That is not what people who stand for freedom do. You stand up and you fight for what you believe. You do not bow down. After word got out about his position, he got Death Threats and changed his mind about the smart gun. Andy joins me again tonight, this time from his gun shop. Next. 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Dont live in beatrices world. Live in the modern world where 7 and a half minutes could save you on Car Insurance. Esurance. Click or call. Its not for colds, its not for pain, its just for sleep. Because sleep is a beautiful thing™. Zzzquil. The nonhabit forming sleep aid from the makers of nyquil®. It has now been three days since our special report on that Digital Smart gun that could be a potential game changer that cannot be purchased anywhere in america t. Has been three days since new Jersey Senate majority leader a democrat, a longtime gun control advocate came on the show, made a truly remarkable offer to compromise. If the nra, the gun owners of america, those people who have stood in the way not only of the retail sales, they have also gone after gun manufacturers. Yep. Who were beginning to develop other technology other than armitex that if they would, in fact, get out of the way of preventing the research, development, and manufacture, distribution and sale, i would move to repeal this law in the state of emergennew jersey. She is offering it to repeal the law she helped write, that mandates once smart guns like the digital handgun that i tried out last week at a maryland gun range, a gun that can only be fired by an authorized user with a special watch, that once a gun like that goes on sale anywhere in the country new jersey gun sellers must eventually take all other guns off the shelves and only sell smart guns. The law was designed to encourage the development of safer, smarter guns that could save lives. For Second Amendment activists it served as prooch the government wanted to use smart guns to take traditional guns away. Two different Gun Store Owners who planned to sell the smart gun were bullied and intimidated into reversing course. I met one of them last week, andy raymond, staunchly progun conservative who told me bringing smart guns to the market was all about freedom but it was subsequently decided not the to sell them after he received Death Threats. We will not sell the armitex pistol. I will not be part of anyone be [ bleep ] over anyone when it comes to guns. I believe my principles were correct. Unfortunately maybe i was wrong. I dont know. So the people of new jersey, my apologies. You have nothing to worry about from me. Andy raymond like Loretta Weinberg was trying to find Common Ground, trying to make a little bit of progress in this intractable war of attrition that is american gun politics. The National Rifle association has simply not engaged. We have tried over and over again to get someone are from the nra to come on the show and respond to the offer to say whether the nra will stop blocking Smart Gun Technology in repeal for the new jersey law. The nra just will not come to the table. It it will not accept the olive branch. It will not even acknowledge the olive branch has been extended. Right now it remains impossible to buy a smart gun anywhere in this country thanks in part to an organization that claims to stand for americans having the right to buy whatever gun they want. Joining me now from his store in maryland is andy raymond, coowner. Andy, how are you doing . Im doing okay, boss. How are you doing . Im doing well. I wanted to check in on you because it was remarkable after we had that conversation to watch the trajectory of what happened, to read your facebook page, which we were all reading and the ugliness and nastiness on the facebook page, to watch your video about the decision you made to not sell the gun. Im curious what the reaction has been after that after we did the pace and in the wake of this whole fallout. Well, in the wake of all of this, things have been pretty positive. I got a lot of emails from a lot of people including the people i wanted to reach originally with the gun, fence sitters, antigun people. And ive even gotten emails from progun people saying you have every right to sell what you want to sell. Thats what i do. Im a gun dealer. So i thought that was pretty cool. I havent gotten a lot of negativity in the past few days and thats been refreshing. I thought we had a really goo