People cannot provoke to bring out of you whats not in you. And we need to deal with this kind of venom and disregard and disrespect for women. And we need to punish it adequately, but not excuse it and not find excuses. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. Just bomb the place and tell us about it later. This is hardball. Good evening im Chris Matthews in washington. You heard it right, thats the attitude of many on capitol hill according to one of them. The president should just go to war with isis terrorists and tell us about it later . How about the constitution that puts that authority in the u. S. Congress. Why elect people to congress if they dont decide which wars we fight. What happened to the republicans out there charging president obama with exceeding his authority . Did they want him to check with them on the Big Questions or not . Isnt the decision to go to war a big question . Is it worth having a vote on . Give me a single reason why the u. S. Congress should not have to vote on yet another war . Joining me, two congressmen from california. Should the u. S. Congress vote on whether we go to war with isis . Absolutely. The president is talking about a mul multiyear campaign against isis. This is the thing congress should vote on. We ought to limit what the president can do and what he cant do. It ought to have a sunset date. I hope thats what well do in the next two weeks. Should there be a vote on whether we go to war. 535 of us raised our right hand and swore to uphold the constitution. The constitution says congress are the representatives of the people. Theyll decide whether we go to war or not. Absolutely, we have to vote. Its our responsibility. We represent the people of the United States. Its a decision for the people to make through our vote. We must vote. This is a big deal. Its our responsibility. The president has already started that process under the war powers act. Hes notified congress that hes taking military action. Those first steps, that sets in place the 60day clock. That 60day clock right now says we have to vote by october 7th. What about the substance, would you support a resolution which included the use of special forces on the ground . Well, i dont want to see major Ground Troops no, special ops. People working with the Free Syrian Army. Like we used in afghanistan in
the beginning. You know, i support what were doing on the ground in iraq now and we have military advisers that are trying to give us good intelligence, trying to help train the iraqi forces, helping us be more precise in our strikes. I dont think were there yet in syria, chris. We dont have the same ground capability that we have in the peshmerga to work with. So i think its premature to be talking about air strikes in syria or boots on the ground of any sort in syria. And this means that its going to be a very challenging issue in terms of drafting an authorization. But without a force that can hold ground in syria, if we displace isis through air strikes, does it mean alnewsra moves in . Assads forces move in . Until we can answer those questions, i dont think we ought to be contemplating a major air campaign in syria. So you dont nt to go into syria, just iraq . It would have to be narrowly drawn as it pertains to syria. If we discovered there was an active cell in syria, posing an imminent threat to the United States, thats something where it would be appropriate for us to take action how do we stop them from beheading our people . Theyre in syria, beheading our people. How do you stop that if you dont go into syria itself where theyre beheading us . Its very difficult without having a Major Military force there, to be able to rescue those hostages or prevent other hostages from being taken. But at the same time, we have to ask ourselves, are we willing to have another major occupation of a muslim country, and is that in the best longterm interests of the United States . I dont think it is. And we shouldnt be provoked by these acts, as horrific as they are, into doing things that will be ultimate lly be counterproductive . Do we go into syria with special forces and whatever units we have to . I think special forces, if they do the rescue operation that ultimately fails, i think thats appropriate. To go in and work with a syrian group, assuming we can figure out which one. No. I think theres something we can do in syria, find out where mr. Baghdadi is, and put in his back pocket a hellfire missile. Thats a possibility we ought to keep open and available to us. I know were into another country. I know mr. Assad is there and all that goes with that. But i think we have, as we have in pakistan, the necessity of taking out these leaders wherever they may be around the world. If its in somalia or pakistan, wherever, take them out in a limited way. So this resolution thats going to come up for a vote needs to be very, very carefully crafted. I dont want to see renewed heavy duty military operations, such as we saw in iraq and afghanistan. No way. But limited, the real secret here or answer, lies in making sure we have a coalition. We have to make sure that the surrounding countries, iraq, turkey, the gulf states, jordan, and others, are working together. Theyre the ones that are ultimately going to have to carry this fight and occupy the ground just as mr. Shif suggested a few moments ago. Its up to them to occupy particularly iraq. Its interesting you both believe we should have a vote and you decide on this issue. A republican from georgia, he told the New York Times today that neither his democratic nor his republican colleagues want a vote. Quote, a lot of people would like to stay on the sideline and say, just bomb the place and tell us about it later. Its an election year, a lot of democrats dont know how it would play in their party. And republicans dont want to change anything, like the path were on now. We can denounce it if it goes
bad and praise it if it goes well. So there a cynical view by a republican. And i dont think theres anything wrong with congressman kingston, maybe a well founded view politically. But hes saying, you guys make the decision in the white house and well decide whether to shoot at it or not. Chris, there are people on both sides of the aisle that would be happy not to have to vote on this. But the reality is, this is part of our constitutional responsibility. If were not willing to do it, we dont belong here. So i think this is something that is difficult, as painful as it is, and as risky politically as it may be, this is something we need to do. And if we dont, frankly, we in congress have only ourselves to blame if congress in the institutional scheme of things becomes even more diminished as an institution. Take a look at this. I want you to respond to this poll. Wall street journal poll shows
the country is supportive for action against isis. One reason might be the impact of the beheading videos. 6 out of 10 americans say theyve seen the coverage of james foley and steven sotloff. The biggest story is the beheadings. As a result, 61 of the American People say, taking military action against isis in iraq and syria is in the National Interest. What exactly should that look like . 40 of americans say they would support only air strikes. 34 would support air strikes and combat troops on the ground. So in total at least, 3 4 say they would support at least air strikes. Your thinking about that, congressman gar mendy . I think they have not fully considered all of the factors involved. The extraordinary cost of the afghanistan war, the terrible outcome of the iraq war. We need to be very measured, very deliberate, and very, very
careful. But we do need to vote. The law says we need to vote. The constitution says we need to vote. We didnt come here to play chicken. We came here to do our job, and that means we have to vote. We have to be very careful as we construct a resolution that will authorize the president to carry on an appropriate level of military action. I am not in any way going to vote to move back into iraq with heavy duty troops as we have in the past. Air strikes, okay, we have the advisers on the ground. Thats enough for me. Realize this solution here does not lie in American Military presence in this area. Weve done that. We did it for a decade. It didnt work. We need to make sure that the countries surrounding this area, theyre the ones that have the real risk here. We do have risks, no doubt about it. But the real risk lies in the countries around it. They need to put the troops on the ground. The iraq government needs to get its act together. Thats in process. New prime minister, a new cabinet in place. And hopefully theyll reach out and try to heal the wounds of the divisions that malachi put in over the last six, seven years. So theres work to be done, but we have our job to do. We cannot and should not duck this responsibility. And when we do this, full debate, maybe the American Public will have a better understanding of how this can have a good outcome rather than an outcome and go down the path that we did with the first and the second iraq war. Okay, thanks so much. Coming up, my interview with u. S. Senator jill brand of new york. Well talk about the two big stories of the day. Whether the senate should have a vote on whether we go to war against isis. And violence against women, like the kind in the videotape that cost ray rice his job. The National Football league is
facing Big Questions tonight. What did they know and when did they know it . For one, they knew about the earlier tape showing rice dragging his fiancees limp body out of the elevator. That should have been all they needed to fire him. Plus the Police Report. Plus tonight battle for the control of the senate. Despite the doom sayers, some good Democratic Candidates are giving some reasons for their party to stay in power. And finally the constitutional responsibility for congress to vote for a war or against it. This is hardball, a place for politics. [laughs] when were having this much fun, why quit . And bounty has no quit in it either. Watch how one sheet of bounty keeps working, while their two sheets, just quit. Bounty, the noquit pickerupper. Tonight the city council in ferguson missouri is meeting for the First Time Since the death of Michael Brown. The council will announce the creation of a new review board to improve relations between the Police Department and the community. The death of Michael Brown last month set off violent protests and city leaders vowed to hire more African AmericanPolice Officers and improve outreach
between the city and its citizens. 70 of whom are African American. Well be right back. Ffee into a. My goal was to take an idea and make it happen. Im janet long and i formed my Toffee Company through legalzoom. I never really thought i would make money doing what i love. We created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. Go to legalzoom. Com today and make your business dream a reality. At legalzoom. Com we put the law on your side. Were back and joining us right now is the rising star in Democratic Politics today, senator jill brand from new york. The arthur of a hot new book, off the sidelines. The story everyones talking about, speaks directly to abuse of women that youve tried to legislate about. Im talking about the images of ray rice and the lack of interest by the nfl leadership, especially commissioner Roger Goodell. As multiple people pointed out, goodell had the evidence that rice knocked out his fiancee. There was a Police Report which said he struck her. The original video shows him dragging her on to the floor from the elevator. That was all out there. Now theres more palpable anger about it, that he feared Public Opinion and looked the other way. Calls for his resignation have begun. What does this tell us about the accountability or lack thereof in protecting women . Its part of a big story and a long story. Certainly the nfl got this wrong. Its outrageous. Its disgraceful. He needs to be punished. And i think there needs to be accountability. But it is part of this larger issue of, how are women treated in society . We have Sexual Assault on College Campuses with no transparency. We have huge challenges in the military. Thats why these issues need to be raised and we need to hear womens voices when we begin to advocate for change. What about the guy, its a male at the top, Roger Goodell. He knew this person had been knocked out by the male in this case. Should he have said something then, rather than waiting for the full tape to be released that were looking at now . It seems like theyre only reacting to the public
disclosure, not to the reality . I think thats right. Thats what you see time and time again. In cases like this, in many areas. We know he admitted to beating his wife and that he dragged her out of an elevator well in advance. He should have been suspended then and fired. Its really an issue of a conduct and a behavior thats criminal, that there should be no tolerance for in any setting. And we need better accountability. Our Football Players are role models for our kids. We need to make sure that theyre held to a higher standard, and at least a standard of accountability that should have been done here. Heres janay palmer, by the way, then fiancee at the time. She wrote, no one knows the pain that the media and unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To take something away from the man i love, that he has worked for his whole life. This is our whole. Know we will continue to grow and show the world what real
love is. How do you explain that . You cant get particular with her. But why would a woman who has been knocked out cold, dragged across the floor and kicked around to get her out of the elevator, to say later, this is what real loves about or something . How do you explain that syndrome . One of the challenges we face in the military context and the College Campus context, you have to define this behavior as the crime that it is. College campuses, when you say rape, its just a college prank, its not serious. Oh, they had too much to drink. No, these are brutal crimes. These are crimes of violence, crimes of domination, and if you dont call them for the crimes that they are, you dont have the justice and accountability that you desperately need. So you see it in all these instances where were not looking at these action as the crimes they are. Its a problem. Its a larger societal problem and its about how we value women and how we value women in
society. We dont see enough justice. Do you sense theres something changing about women in leadership . Lets go to the top. Your name is mentioned a lot and elizabeth warrens name and skret clinton, i think most people think shes the probable nominee if she runs for president next time. What is it thats come . Is it an idea whos time has come . Is it like stufforage the last part of the century . Whats happening because i think the Glass Ceiling may be notching up several floors right now. One of the things i talk about in the book, we need to break the highest Glass Ceiling. Im supporting hillary in 2016, i think hell be great. But womens role in the workplace, how do you help women get off the sticky floor . Stop this continuation of women being pulled down into the lowest wage jobs over and over again. So its part of this broader conversation of how do we
support women in the workplace . And part of it is getting women to the corporate boards, on the school board, and Hillary Clinton running and winning the presidency. Lets go to isis for a moment. A decision a lot of members of congress are trying to duck. Do you believe that you as a United States senator should have a role here whether we go after isis militarily . I do. I think there are certain things the president can do on his own. There are actions he can take to protect u. S. Personnel, embassies, et cetera. But if this is going to be a long and protracted assault on isis, thats going to be multi. Faceted, over many years, theres a role for congress to play. I know were war weary as a country, but this is a serious threat and it must be addressed. Isis is fastmoving, it has me tafticized, it has a lot of resources. Its a threat on our interests. We do need to engage and i think theres a role for congress to
play, especially as our strategies and as our approach begins to shift and change. We will have a necessary role. Well, our nbc poll tonight reports that the number one news story in the last five years was the beheadings of those americans in the last couple weeks. Theyre horrific. My question, when it comes to how we fight this, everybody seems to be for air attacks, strikes, drone attacks, then you get the boots on the ground and everybodys against that. But what about the central question . Should we send in special forces to support the moderate opposition groups there like the Free Syrian Army . In syria, thats a far more complex issue. You know, ive met with the opposition leaders at many stages as theyve shifted. And the Biggest National security interest for the United States in syria has always been the presence of severe chemical weapons that can be sold to terrorist groups, used against americans and american allies. So the issue has always been, how do we lock down and destroy those chemical weapons . When i was talking to opposition leaders, they wouldnt even make a deal with the u. S. To say, the minute a sad falls, we get to go in and destroy thos