Shooting of two police in ferguson. Law enforcement said it was unrelated to the protests. We must be against all violence, all wrong, no matter who the victim, and no matter who the assailants. Its time to rebuild the trust by having equal protection under the law. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. Americans back Ground Troops. Lets play hardball. Good evening, rime Chris Matthews in washington. Big news night tonight. For the first time theres evidence that the American People would back deploying u. S. Combat troops on the ground to fight isis if the military recommend its. Obamas problem is that republicans overwhelming support using Ground Troops. Democrats oppose such action. Republicans are still the hawks in fighting isis on the ground. Democrats are the doves. What this means, the people who put this president in office dont want an escalation of this war, while republicans are more than ready for it. Catch all that. Meanwhile, theres lots of agitation about the secret services failure to tell the first family that somebody was shooting into the white house windows. Tonight we go the round table with this and two other big issues. President obamas attack on the cia for underestimating the threat from isis and a smattering of new polls showing the republicans are closing the deal this november on the United States senate. Lets start tonight with the first real evidence that americans are ready for war. A plurality of americans now support sending combat troops if the military recommends such action. Theyre also expecting it to
happen. Those views come as u. S. Led air strikes rain down on the isis army and the u. S. With arab allies conduct strikes over the weekend and through today, targeting military convoys and oil refineries. The u. S. Also struck in iraq, on an isis advance toward baghdad. One account spotted insurgents a mile from baghdad today. A prize winning columnist with the winning coast and the editor with the Huffington Post media group. Thank you, gentlemen. All this is happening at the same time. The American People are getting, at least on the right, on the republican side are getting ready for Ground Troops. Democrats are holding back. At the same time, we have the situation in iraq, where isis looks for real. Yeah. Theyre still on the offense, right at the gates of baghdad. They look for real enough that military analysts dont think you can get rid of isis. You can do very much of anything
to isis just from the air. So the idea is supposed to have the local ground forces, the iraqi army, the peshmerga, the mythical syrian moderate rebels who are supposed to close in on isis. But people are skeptical of that, and gee, why would they be skeptical of that . Is sounds farfetched. But theres one person who doesnt want Ground Troops and says were not going to have them, and thats barack obama. You believe he can hold back the military . Not sure. That same poll that you showed, that graphic also said 2 out of 3 American People, by 21 say they expect us to have Ground Troops. So what is going to change . Why do they think were going to escalate no matter what the politicians, and the president say . Dont forget the American People have now been living in this new world since 9 11. Its 13 years. Its a long time. And i think the American Peopleare more sophisticated and knowledgeable about a lot of this than perhaps the president credits them. I dont think the American People are excited, to be sure. Its more that theyre resigned. They know slippery slope . And also that this is a condition, this is almost like a disease that inhabits the world that were going to have to constantly fight with some form of radiation or medication, of which Ground Troops may be part. And i think theyre quite realistic, if unhappy about it, overall. Theres a huge partisan split, but overall, the American People are probably gritting their teeth and saying we cant afford to have these people sake over that region. Theyre aware of the fact that it can, in the end, come back to haunt us. What a development. Anyway, whether its the prospect of more beheadings, or the proclivity of the american military, as weve been saying, americans see it going to a ground war. According to the new poll
conducted by nbc news and the wall street journal, a plurality of americans, 45 , say they would favor american Ground Troops if military commanders recommend it. Take a look at those results. Democrats are opposed to Ground Troops 4632. Republicans support Ground Troops by 6323. They are gung ho. They are jeronimo on this thing. This is the president s conundrum. An escalating conflict would divide his supporters and unite his opponents. 72 say the United States will end up using Ground Troops against isis, even though the president says hes ruled it out. This is a strange situation. A president who says were not going to ground war, not really believed by the American People who believe were going to ground war. The people say, yeah, yeah, right, right. So whats the plan exactly . They hear what the plan is and i think theres skepticism that this plan is going to do what
the president says we have to do. He says you have to degrade and ultimately destroy isis. And so the Islamic State or whatever you want to call it. So if you got to destroy it, i think people, as howard said, i think people are more sophisticated about this. Theyre filling in the blanks, saying my question s theres 30something thousand by latest estimates. Are we going to kill them all . No, theyre going to put their hands up. Those days are over. Theres not going to be a mass surrender. How are we going to end this . If you listen to what the president has been saying lately. He doesnt use the word destroy anymore. A few weeks ago he did. He said degrade and destroy. I think he understands and the American People probably understand that thats not in the cards. Why do we end it . We dont end it. We contain it. The American People, by and large, unhappily understand that. The fact that most of them in effect dont believe what the president is saying here. The president keeps assuring no american boots on the ground in combat. The American People, did you see that number. Over 70 say its going to be there. What does that say about the president s credibility on this . John boehner told the new york timess he did not want a war vote until next year. Yesterday he said he would not hesitate to bring the congress back right now. I think hes watching these polls. I know youve said that assuming your speaker next year, you want to have a vote on a resolution. Why not now . Id be happy to. The president typically in a situation like this would call for an authorization vote and go sell that to the American People and send a resolution to the hill. The president hasnt done that. So to be clear, if the president put a resolution forward now, youd call the congress back . Id bring the congress back. I wonder what dinet he found the speaker at. Hes out of town. Hell come back to washington when hes called. Thats what my column says, the president should Call Congress back, they ought to have a debate and vote. He may on extraordinary occasions convene both houses. He can do it. Nobody believes this is a nofault, halfway war. Its not going to work out that way. I dont think its going to work out that way. And, so, this is important stuff. And this is what congress is supposed to do. But the president is reluctant to do it, i think. Tell me why. Couple reasons. Daddy, because ive been trying to figure this one out. Everybody comes on this show, we want to vote. Nobody comes on and says they dont want to vote. The whole war powers act which was put in place was supposed to involve congress. Its ended up doing the opposite. They dont want to vote. Democrats dont want to do it because it will display their divisions. Theyre bitterly divided. On the republican side theyre gung ho. But they dont want to embrace the president and validate his leadership. They dont want to say hes commander in chief. No, thats right. Theyd rather criticize him for his shortcomings. Yes. Thank you both. Joining us right now is republican senator ron johnson of wisconsin. A member of the senate frorn Relations Committee and the Homeland Security committee. Thank you for joining us. Can you go through the realities of capitol hill . Do they reflect the voters on the democratic side who dont want a ground war . On the republican side theyre willing to accept the escalation. Where are the two parties and why are not getting a vote . Were not getting a vote because of the politics of the situation. You mentioned the key word
reality. The American People are accepting reality. They support president obamas stated goal of defeating isis. Nobody relishes war. Certainly the American People dont. I dont. But the fact is, we havent chosen to go to war with islamic terror. They chose to go to war with us. Our only choice right now is, are we going to fight that war on the defense . Or are we going to take the offensive here . Are we going to fight them overseas . Or treat this as a Law Enforcement activity and be total defense and fight them on our shores . I think the American People are ahead of the politicians and the administration accepting that ugly reality that islamic terrorists have declared war on us since at least 1993 when they tried taking down the world trade center, and this is going to be a long, hard struggle. Its going to be difficult to defeat it. But heres where president obamas absolutely right. In his u. N. Speech, which i thought was very strong, he said the Muslim Community must rise
up. They must publicly, visibly, loudly, reject and renounce islamic terror, this ideology. That is, in the end, what its going to take. But thats going to take years. Let me ask you about japans goal, they wanted to knock us out of the pacific with pearl harbor. They thought they could do it. Turns out they got us in the pacific even stronger. We took every island back until we got to them. Hitler wanted a gigantic empire. What do you think isis wants . They want us out of the middle east and to establish a caliphate. What do they want with the United States . What is their goal as you see it . Islamic terror is trying to destroy the modern world. Dont ask me why. To establish this caliphate. I dont think theyre stupid. Heres what i think they want to do. Right now, i do believe they want to draw the u. S. And the
west into this battle. But they want to draw us in because they dont believe we have the staying power. I think Charles Kraut hammer nailed it in his column. They are counting on the fact that we wont be in for the longterm. We dont be in there to defeat isis. So when we bug out of there in a couple of years, theyll claim victory, and be the preemnant islamic terror group. They can establish their caliphate, but again, theyve been go ahead. Do you buy i thought the article was well written too today. But he makes the case well end up having to, quote, mow the lawn year after year, never facing a treaty with the arabs ever. Its just going to go on and on. Never have to cut a deal then, because the war has to continue. But at some point, dont you think the United States is going to have to reach an end to this war, or do you believe its an endless process of mowing the lawn, fighting terrorism for the rest of our lives, never
stopping, is that how you see it . I think it really is going to end up being in the hands of the arab world. Pretty depressing. This is their moment of choosing. Are they going to reject this ideology and this hatred . President obamas conundrum, if america leads too much, the arab states will sit back and go, americas going to take care of it one more time. If we dont lead enough, we wont be able to draw the arab world into that coalition 100 committed. So its a very fine line. I dont envy president obamas task. But again, i thought his u. N. Speech was strong. He laid out the steps. We got to be realistic. We got to be honest with the American Public. He was wrong in taking any action off the table. He was right in establishing the goal of defeating islamic terror. First with isis and then around the world. Thats why this is going to be a long tough slog. Would you support Ground Troops if it came to it . If thats what it takes to defeat isis, yes. Wea weve got to support what it takes to achieve the goal president obama established. Thank you both. A very interesting state there, wisconsin. Coming up, a shocking report that a gunman, three years ago in 2011 fired seven shots in the white house and the secret service on duty failed to realize what was going on. It took four days for the agency to figure out what had happened. And even then it was only because a housekeeper discovered broken glass. Meanwhile, theres news today that the man who jumped the white house fence made it farther into the building than we knew. He made it into the east room where they hold the press conferences. Well have the round table, talking about the polling, showing americans supporting troops in the middle east if the
military says so. And Speaker John Boehner said american boots might be required. He called isis barbarians who intended to kill us. Republicans have three states locked now and are advancing on three other key states, needed to win control of the chamber. Let me finish tonight with my fears about this war, the more we bomb, the more enemies we make, the bigger isis grows. This is hardball, the place for politics. All around the world the dedicated people of United Airlines are there to support you. Thats got your back friendly. Red lobsters endless shrimp is now
the years largest variety of shrimp flavors like new woodgrilled sriracha shrimp or parmesan crusted shrimp scampi. As much as you like, any way you like hurry in and sea food differently. For the second year in a row, senator ted cruz came out on top at the values voter summit straw poll. He earned 25 of the vote cast at this weekends summit down from 42 last year. Ben carson came in second with 20 followed by former governor mike huckabee. And Hillary Clinton managed to sneak into the poll, getting one vote. Well be right back. For the second year in a sneak into the poll, getting one for the second year in a sneak into the poll, getting one sensitive bladder . Never miss a chance to dance. Introducing a revolution in bladder leak protection. New always discreet. Up to 40 thinner, for superior comfort. Absorbs 2x more than you may need. For danceallyouwant protection. No wonder more women already prefer new always discreet pads over poise. New always discreet. Now bladder leaks can feel like no big deal. Because hey, pee happens. Curious . Visit alwaysdiscreet. Com. Welcome back to hardball. Earlier this month, most americans were aghast when a man with a kpif jumped over the white house fence, charged across the lawn and got into the president s house. Late today the Washington Post reports he got further into the building than previously known. He barrelled through the front door carrying the knife, past the stairway that leads to the first fleals living quarters and made it down the press conference room. Another report describes another secret service fumble in 2011. Seven shots were fired into the white house while the president s youngest dourt and his motherinlaw were inside. It took four days in that instance for the bullet assault on the white house to even be discovered by the secret service. It was a maid who discovered the damage. The Washington Post broke the
story and learned three errors involved in that mistake. Officers on scene who thought gunfire had probably hit the house were largely ignored. Nobody did more than a cursory inspection of the white house for evidence of damage. And key witnesses were not interviewed. The secret service put out a response explaining their actions in the days following. It outlines confusion and unconceu uncertainty on the night of the shooting. A former secret Service Agent for president obama and also our arthur and friend here and radio talk show host. What do you make of the fact that he got all the way to the east room . While he was wielding a knife
and it seems someone did try to stop him, and the officer was overpowered, not that thats acceptable. Multiple layers of security failed. There are mechanisms that we cant talk about on television that broke down as well. The secret service from their end hasnt tried to put lipstick on this. They said it was an absolute breakdown. Suppose he was a man with his wits about him i mean, heres a deranged guy pulls this off. What do you think a man with a plan could do . No question if he had a explosive vest on or any kind of a weapon at all, wed be having a far different conversation. I think thats obvious. Regardless of anybodys politics our president has to be safe and security in the white house. The secret Service Knows that. I think youre going to see massive changes. I hope some of the infighting
goes away after this. The Washington Post reports the first lady was aghast and it is furious when she learned about the gun shots days lat