The extremists will remain extreme and come back to haunt you. An old activist once told me, dont invest in those that carry mess, not if you really have a message. The tea party is going to remind some republicans of that. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. The clintons are in the ring. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington. Lets start with the best fight in the country, the clintons versus karl rove. Rove started this battle row yal over hillarys health, this brain injury hes mixing it up about. The clintons are hitting back with a combination of punches, the defense of the former secretary of state is 100 , that rove is dealing with some kind of sickness himself, or,
according to bill, the republican operatives charges are so inconsistent as to be laughable. Well, the question now looms up there in the air, is this nasty stupid politics or nasty effective politics . Did rove hurt himself, which really doesnt matter in the big world, or did he hurt himself but also hurt Hillary Clinton in the act . This matters. If hillarys forced to play defense on health, will this rob her of a clean, upbeat future campaign, forcing her to play rear guard tie her to the past, putting the focus on what shes been through, not where she wants to take us . Again, we can agree, rove is nasty, but is he nasty stupid or nasty smart . Is he playing the bad guy knowing it will help the republican nominee, perhaps jeb bush be the good guy . Will he take the low road so his eventual candidate can zip up the high road . This much is plausible. Karl rove has done it all before, and now hes doing it again. And somewhere this week, the campaign for 2016 began, and on
karl roves time table. Steve mcmahons a democratic strategist and wayne slater is Senior Writer at the Dallas Morning News and coauthor of the book about karl rove, bushs brain. Karl rove reportedly said this about Hillary Clintons health scare, 30 days in the hospital and when she reappears, shes wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury . We need to know whats up with that. Well, rove tried to clarify those comments yesterday on fox. Lets watch him in action. I didnt say she had brain damage. She had a Serious Health episode. We dont know what the doctor said about, you know, what does she have to be concerned about. We dont know shes hidden a lot. Shes hidden a lot of this. Today bill clinton was asked about roves attack. Heres how the former president responded. First of all, i got to give him credit, you know, that embodies that old saying that consistency is the hobgoblin of
little minds. First he said she faked her concussion, and now they say shes auditioning for a part on the walking dead. She works out every week. She is strong. Shes doing great. As far as i can tell, shes in better shape than i am. She certainly seems to have more stamina now, and theres nothing to it. Do you think this is their way of inserting her age or her physical capabilities into the 2016 debate . I dont know, but if it is, you cant be too upset about it. Its just the beginning. Theyll get better and better at it. Im still waiting for them to admit theres nothing to white water. Good point there. Let me go to wayne on this. Youve watched this guy karl rove. Is he nasty stupid or nasty smart . Because hes nasty, the question is, does this work as it gets into the bloodstream . In fact, its everywhere now. Its probably going to be the story of the week in american politics because of the way the clintons have reacted already. Look, its absolutely worked. Its absolutely worked, its part of the conversation. You fly by, you drop something, you foul the water, you move on and its part of the conversation. If you look at everything karl has done or been associated with or allies have been associated with, from questions about ann richards actuality in 1994, to the attack on john mccain by that socalled military group in 2000 raising questions about his mental acuity, to some obama court races where karls client found the opponent was under questions about his sexual orientation, if you look at every one of these cases, its the same pattern. You smear somebody, you fly away. In those cases, karl was able to basically say what we call in texas the mark of rove. You saw it happened, but you didnt see karl and gave himself some deniability. In this case, its just interesting he was out there,
out front, the guy who dropped the bomb. Yeah, he did it himself. Lets go to steve mcmahon. My theory is, he could be like a kamikaze pilot in world war ii, he could blow up the ship, blow himself up, who cares, who cares if hes known as an s. O. B. . Hes already known as an s. O. B. , but in this case hes the guy who dropped the bomb and did it with impunity. Thats right. You can blow yourself up but it doesnt matter if you take out your opponent, and hes very, very good at this. Wayne didnt mention, perhaps, the greater slander of all, which was taking john kerry, somebody who was a decorated vietnam war hero and turning him into a swift boat captains version of, you know, a lying, cheating, scoundrel. Its outrageous what he does. Its subliminal advertising. You know, this is what gets the right wing machine going. Its the same thing that the president deals with with this birther crowd. Theres no justification for it. This health thing is really attacking the persons well being or being itself. I remember the old movie anatomy of a murder, dont think of a blue cow, well, youre going to if somebody says think of a blue cow. Even the liberals and pro hillary people are going, well, is there something there . Your thoughts. Thats exactly how it works, chris. Wayne said it best, you drop it into the water and then pretty soon its there. Karl rove goes away. If you think about karl roves objective here, number one, he wants to remain relevant after wasting 300 million last year and getting nothing in 2012. I like how you sneak in your own points in there. But number two, he gains you know, hes punching up and the president at this point, president clinton, is punching down, so karl rove has gotten exactly what he wants. Heres nick coal wallace, appears regularly on morning joe, she said on morning joe, she doesnt think he raised the
issue of Hillary Clintons health by accident. That seems to be clear. Karl didnt just stumble into this line of questioning about Hillary Clintons health. Hes one of the most prepared and deliberate speakers. I think injecting questions about her Health Crisis from a few years ago is something that karl thinks is fair game. She knows what shes talking about. Interesting phrase there, by the way, fair game. Thats an interesting history right there. Anyway, this point, why does rove allegedly smear his opponents this way . Because it works. Consider the clinton brain damage story. Right now the press is slamming rove for this vicious, outlandish comment, but they are also talking about clintons Health Problems as saeblgt of state, disrupting the story she wants to tell about her time in foggy bottom in her forthcoming memoir. Back to you, wayne. This changing of the cosmos, shifting it around to hillary wants to tell a great story, its going to have so much color in it, we can just tell, her family history, her mom passing
away, and all the countries shes been to. I would like to know what its like to be in all those countries, and she could tell us, yet the first question at every book stop will be, what, whats the health beat story here . They are going to ask it. Theyve been primed now by karl rove to ask the question. Yeah, no question about it. Look, one of the things, the interesting thing that bill clinton said was not simply the tone was a light one, fairly light one saying, i dont know, shes in great shape. It was also to say the hobgoblin of little minds, to point out that no matter what the right was saying, this was his argument, they are going to say its hillarys fault, whether its a fake deal about benghazi, must be hillarys fault. Whether its something real, brain damage, must be something wrong with hillary. Whether its some schoolgirls are kidnapped in nigeria, where was hillary on the beat . Everything is going to be run
through the o limb pick of Hillary Clinton between now and then and what bill clinton is doing is sort of reminding people that no matter what you see out there, they are going to make it all about hillary. Exactly. Remember teddy roosevelt, she said, if you dont have something good to say about something, come sit next to me. Steve mcmahon, the people who hate hillary will believe it all, even the contradictions that she was faking it and she was sick. Why not . Why not believe them both . Theres Something Else going on here, chris, which is she exits as secretary of state one of the most popular people in america, certainly, one of the most popular political figures in america, and this is a way to inject a partisanship into the view of Hillary Clinton that doesnt exist right now. When you have a 68 favorable or 70 favorable, there are a lot of independents and republicans that think well of you, this is trying to get the clinton wars going again to par tannize the electorate so clintons
favorables going into the election are 50 , 48 , instead of 70 accou . Theres always a counterpunch that works, why have a fight if he sucker punches you . Anyway, thats what this is. Anyway, thats a schoolyard phrase from the 50s, actually. Politico reports, two sources close to the clintons describe both former president bill clinton and secretary of state furious over roves attacks and reflect a growing level of anger and a desire to push back instead of letting the fight play out elsewhere. At first the spokesman for Hillary Clinton said this, please assure dr. Rove shes 100 . Later, a tougher response came from a clinton spokesperson. Karl rove is still all over the map and continuing to get the facts wrong, but he doesnt care because all he wants to do is inject the issue into an echo chamber and hes succeeding. Its flagrant and thinly veiled,
they are afraid of what she has achieved and has to offer. That was a mixed bag of a sickness and all over the board. Im not sure what the clarity was in that second statement. I like the first one. Whats the smart response, wayne, to this kind of karl rove attack, is there one that works . Well, there are two things. You go after him directly. I think they are right about it. I think you do it with a tone that is somewhat lighter. If you become too, too dark in your response, it looks like youre trying to hide something. Make it clear theres nothing wrong with her. Ultimately, Hillary Clinton has to do this herself. If shes in, if she becomes the nominee, and she shows herself to be physical, very physically fit, showing up here and there, moving like she did as secretary of state from one place to another, she demonstrates that this is a lie, but remember what karl and his good friend used to quote saying, he who does the thing that your opponent wont
do has the advantage. Yeah. Unfortunately, thats true. Hey, steve, what do you think of this . Do you think theres a smart way . How would you advise the president and former first lady, former first lady and former secretary of state how to handle it . Normally when a crazy person says something crazy, the best thing to do is take a rational response and ignore it. Here, it was said in a way and was on page six in new york city right away, so im sure they were infuriated, and the clintons have a reputation for going after their enemies hard and pummelling them and sort of punching them first, shooting them second, strangling them third to make sure they are dead and i think thats what youre seeing here. The First Response i think the clintons thought was tepid, then it was a little stronger, then the big dog came out himself and got a few licks in. I think they are feeling better today than they were a couple days ago, but its in the water and its going to be talked about, for sure. I like the israeli response, ten for one, make them pay for it, make them wish they never did it, were never born if they do it. Thats tough with karl rove, who likes getting hurt. Hes a strange one. Anyway, i think hes the kamikaze and im not knocking previous kamikazes, just him. They are patriotic people, hes a killer dog. Thank you, wayne slater, as always for your expertise. Coming up, how jon stewart is heading a fight against the right. He reminds me of the book by al franken when he was a comedian, lies and lying liars who tell them. Also a crack in the solid republican wall of resistance to the hike in the minimum wage. Why some leading republicans say its time for a raise. And the mom whose daughters life may have been saved by medical marijuana. Thats a story a lot of people were thinking about and what shes doing to change the laws around the country so that other children can be helped. Finally, let me finish tonight with the power of snl and now Comedy Central. Dont get in their target zone ever. And this is hardball, the place for politics. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans
that are powered by the moon. She can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. My mom works at ge. My mom works at ge. When folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. West virginia is now assured of its first woman senator. Congresswoman Shelly Moore Capito won the republican nomination. Theyll face off this november with capito the early favorite to replace the democrat, the great jay rockefeller. Elsewhere, won the primary out in nebraska, the overwhelming favorite to hold that seat for republicans in november, and well be right back after this. Easier to navigate, we made the allnew Jeep Cherokee. With blind spot monitoring, forward collision and lane departure warning. Because even a restless mind, needs peace of mind. Wellqualified lessees get a low mileage lease on the 2014 Jeep Cherokee sport front wheel drive for 199 a month. Still running in the morning . Yeah. Getting your vegetables every day . When i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] couldve had a v8. Two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. Two full servings of vegetables trwith secure wifie for your business. It also comes with public wifi for your customers. Not so with internet from the phone company. I would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. But that would require wifi. Switch to comcast Business Internet and get two Wifi Networks included. Comcast business built for business. Welcome back to hardball. The daily shows jon stewart may be the single strongest voice isnt the country in calling out the right wing for its hypocrisy, meanness, and ignorance. But lately hes getting more serious about the rights tactics. And its not just for laughs. Just this week, stewart called
out Rush Limbaugh for trashing the twitter hash tag bring back our girls, which brought attention to the 300 kidnapped schoolgirls in nigeria, and hes taken on karl rove for drumming up conspiracy theories about Hillary Clintons health, implying she has a brain injury. On the 30th of december she goes in and turns out to have had a blood clot, they wont say where. Unanswered questions, an attempted coverup, my god, its brainghazi when did you start caring so much about the Brain Fitness of those who have to hold the oval office . Perhaps i assume it was right after your boss fell and banged his head after losing the battle with a pretzel. Well, cleay, stewarts sick of the below the belt style politics played by the far right and its showing. Joe, editor of the national mem
poe, and michelle bernard. Joe, start with this, i watch jon stewart a lot, and i think something new is happening. I think hes really damn serious about this slighting, hating if you will, below the belt tactics, going on Hillary Clinton maybe on nothing, going after people like Michelle Obama, who have a true sentiment of sympathy for those girls scared to death over there somewhere in nigeria, and perhaps helping to drum up International Action on it. And whats the point of that i think ill let him speak. I think jon stewarts really ticked. Well, youd have to imagine, chris, that hes been doing this basically for well over a decade. He would get sick of the deef solution of political discourse in the hands of people like karl rove and Rush Limbaugh. You listen to a Rush Limbaugh mock the first lady for trying to help kidnapped girls in
nigeria, what could be the possible motive for him to behave that way . So, yes, i thought stewarts reaction was totally appropriate. With rove, you know, the thing about karl rove is people forget, this guy is a vintage watergate vintage, nixon dirty trickster. He was investigated by the watergate prosecutors in 1972, 73, for his work with donald segretti, who went to prison, as you recall, in watergate. He escaped at that time, he was quite young, but this is what hes done his entire life, and you can well imagine somebody like jon stewart watching karl rove year after year, people believe hes responsible for smearing john mccain, people believe hes responsible for smearing john kerry, going after people much more distinguished and decent than he is, and, you know, why not get sick of that at some point, you know . I certainly am. Im with you on that, but i think the fair game is so wide
now. Anythings fair game, a persons health, sticking it to them fair game is the reference to valerie plain, is it not . Im familiar with the