Armies of lobbyists and lawyers . Or does it work for all the people. Now the House Of Representatives is about to show us the worst of government for the rich and powerful. The house is about to vote on a budget deal, a deal negotiated behind closed doors, that would let traders on wall street gamble with Taxpayer Money and get bailed out by the government when their risky bets threaten to blow up our financial system. This is a democracy, and the American People didnt elect us to stand up for citigroup. They elected us to stand up for all the people. Thats the Bugle Signaling charge. Today the white house scrambled to contain the fod. Just minutes before the scheduled vote, the white house took the dangerous move of taking direct aim at the warren wing of the party by declaring
and campaign contributions, opening up the ÷÷naufloodgates. First you give the keys to the bank and then you bail the banks out. We are not having that. I think the vote today shows that, shows the unity of the Democratic Caucus and republicans are going to have to go someplace else if this is the garbage theyre going to put on the floor. Its both the quid and the quo, talking about corruption its got money coming in to the democrats and republicans to pay for loopholes and shenanigans on wall street. Senator warren took the floor again today to rally against the carveouts for the big banks. Here she is. A vote for this bill is a vote for future Taxpayer Bailouts of wall street. When the next bailout comes, a lot of people will look back to this vote to see who was responsible for putting the Government Back on the hook to bail out wall street. Why in the last minute, as you
head out the door, and a Spending Bill must be passed, are you making it a priority to do wall streets bidding . Who do you work for . Wall street . Or the American People . Congresswoman edwards, i want to know what you see. Youre the politician of the three of us. Is this the future of the Democratic Party . Z . Jp goalong party that makes deals with the worst elements in our society and wall street . Your thoughts . One thing the last election told us, it told us th [rn amen people need to know were prepared to get in there and fight for them, fight for their paychecks and their bank accounts. Stop fighting for wall street and special interests. Frankly, theres no question about it, this bill absolutely stinks. The American People know it. When i came into congress in i would never again vote to bail out big banks. While republicans in this Congress Take the American People down the bank road again. We will not do it. Luke russert, it would take 50 or 60 votes to get this pass. Who are your colleagues . What are they saying to you when theyre voting for the bill . They would say this is a good bill go ahead, luke, im sorry. They say its a good bill because it leaves the democratic imprint on the funding through the rest of the fiscal year on everything with the exception of the department of homeland security. And theyll have the Immigration Fight in early march and the rest of the government is funded and theyre not worried about shutdown politics. Thats really their point. This is the best they can get before the Super Majority comes in next congress. However, what you do, you talk to other democrats who say, you know what, republicans have shown they have an awfully difficult time getting to 218 to fund the government on any priority. Were more than happy to go at
it with them and go to the ring a few more times because it makes them look bad. I want to say one thing that i think is important when you talk about the future of the Democratic Party. When this was negotiated by harry reid, and the other Preept Reetors on the senator side with the house gop x kyleadership, t reason why there wasnt a freakout over the doddfrank language because this thing passed in the house in October Of 2013 with 70 democrats supporting it, including steny hoyer, the difference in Campaign Finances that was negotiated between reed, mcconnell, and boehner. What youre seeing tonight is the liberal wing standing up to something that was directly negotiated by reid and the white house, and was supported by them before. Theyre not taking itn f. Also, could there be another factor here . Youve lost both houses of congress now. Youre the opposition on the hill. Youre not worried about
carrying the water on Debt Ceilings and all the rest and budget deals. You lost the house a while ago. Youre losing the senate. Is this a revolutionary spirit fueled by the fact, you dont have to run the show, you just have to drive your ideas . I think whats really clear, chris, is the fact is, the American People are expecting us to fight for them. Theyre depending on us to fight for them. Were prepared to do it. You know, if you look at that deal that was negotiated, i dont know that the white house frankly was clearly in the room on this. And clearly some deals were cut with Mitch Mcconnell because hes always wanted to raise those Political Campaign contribution limits. He wants to throw the individual limits out the window. But we cant let them. We cant let wall street walk away with the store, and on the other hand, give them the open keys to the government by allowing all these political contributions. And like i said, if the republicans really want a bipartisan bill over here in the house, they know they can get democratic votes, but they have
to get it with a clean funding bill. Thanks so much Donna Edwards and luke russert. Coming up, guess who is defiant inzkw;o the face of the Torture Report . Dick cheney. The man who once said wed have to work through the dark side. Hes unapologetic about what the cia did. He said hed do it all over again in a minute. Big surprise. Thats ahead, this is hardball, the place for politics. You dont need to think about the energy
that makes our lives possible. Because we do. Were exxonmobil and powering the world responsibly is our job. Because boiling an egg. Isnt as simple as just boiling an egg. Life takes energy. Energy lives here. Chris christie, like many of the potential 2016 president ial candidates isnt talking about the Torture Report one bit. He refused to answer questions about it. Now a new poll finds the people in his home state say they dont think hed make a good president. 53 , a majority of new jersey voters say government christie would not do well in the white house. Of course its a blue state. And even though christie is the
strongest republican against hillary in the garden state, new hillary in the garden state, new jersey is still deep blue. A remote that lives on your phone. I think that what needed to be done was done. I think we were perfectly justified in doing it, and id do it again in a minute. Welcome back to hardball. Former Vice President dick cheney, he mingsed no words in his interview with fox news. Describing his preferred approach to terror. Here he is. He is in our possession. We know hes the architect. What are we supposed to do . Kiss him on both cheeks and say, please, please, tell us what you know. No, of course not. We did what needed to be done to catch those who were guilty on 9 11 and prevent a further
attack. We were successful on both parts this report said it was not successful. This report is full of crap. Director of harvards project on public narrative and author of the 1 doctrine. And also former rnc chair michael steele. What do you think is in the makeup of a guy who dismisses all different opinions as crap . Cheney will go to his grave denying everything that is very clear at this point. This is the moment they feared, that there would be an official inquest that would prove right everything people were saying. Now its happened and cheney is digging into his final position. Hes in a shrinking country, cheneyland, that gets smaller and smaller. And even now you can hear him shooting at President Bush as to who knew what. This is cheneys last stand. Let me ask you about policy. Im a big believer, as mike
dukakis said, the fish rots from the head. An old greek expression. Whatever it is, i believe the boss sets the tone. I worked in politics for 15 years. When staffers did something, i knew the boss wanted it done, or they wouldnt be there. Thats the operative. And i was one, an operative. You are the bosss guy. So when somebody says somebody at the cia did something, my view is, they were told to do it. Whats your view . Where did the water boording come from and all that stuff, how did it work its way down to the bowels or the dark place this came directly, chris, from bush and cheney, both of them. At the start, it was ordered by the president and the Vice President. The cia didnt just wake up one day and say, hey, were going to do a lot of extra legal and extraordinary things. It came from the white house. They were ordered to take off the gloves as the white house said right at the beginning. Dont worry about what people say when they find out. Go to the dark side. They were following orders. Now, ultimately, the president and the Vice President were briefed intensively about exactly what cia was doing from the beginning and throughout. Bush was quite engaged in this as was cheney. They got regular reports, what is the yield of the interrogation, is it successful, is it not . Both men are directly driving this. To the extent their cruelty involved, michael, essentially, torture, whatever you want to call it, theres torture, cruelty involved, youre hurting people, causing them pain and fear and all the mix of horrors you get in your mind when youre being tortured, where is it going to end, is it going to end with me ending, all that, did they do that with an attitude of we want to do this, we dont like these people, they are bad people, was it personal . Ron . Thats to you, ron. You bleeped out. The fact is, they engagedPresident Bush only when things were made personal. Cheney and bush viewed this as an affront to them personally, which was kind of the way bush was managed, the tapping of blood lust. This was about managing bush. By cheney, by others. But also doing what they felt need be done. Dont worry about the consequences. Of course cheney creates the 1 doctrine, that idea that we should do everything. Everything essentially we can think of. Dont worry about these issues of ends and means. Now what we find is of course the worst nightmare, that not only was this morally reprehensible, cashiering americas moral authority, but it was of no value at all, which they were warned about at the beginning. Youre sure of that . Absolutely. We got nothing out of it . Absolutely nothing of value that couldnt be got in a hundred other ways. But they didnt get it in a hundred other ways. Let me have michael in here. I want to set this up politically. Cheney isnt hiding. No, hes not hiding. Cheney has never hidden. I think thats what frustrates a lot of people. He puts it out there and you have to deal with it. He makes it easy for you to unpack it, as hes done again. Theres a lot that ron said that, i wasnt in the room, i dont know whats inside these mens hearts and heads. I do know how the process i do not think that the president and the Vice President were sitting around over a cup of coffee saying, were just going to start waterboarding, out of thin air. We know what the cias business has always been about. This is nothing new. This is nothing transcendent in terms what the cia has done in terms of black ops. What about going into the dark areas of intelligence, we got to go back in there in the quiet, where theres no
discussion absolutely. Why is cheney saying to do that . Why are we laying it out on the table . I want to make the point that came from the top. Cheney exhibiting no moral qualms about the acts revealed in the report. Lets listen. Did the ends justify the means . Absolutely. No doubt in your mind . No doubt in my mind, im totally comfortable with it. Doing his job there. Cheney previewed the at any cost mentality. Yet days after 9 11, lets listen. We also have to work the dark side, if you will, we have to spend time in the shadows, in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if were going to be successful. Thats the world these folks operate in. And so its going to be vital for us to use any means at our
disposal basically to achieve our object. How do you read that . Thats the way this works. Dont blame it on the cia. It guy looks like he was ready to do it from the top. Exactly. Thats where the buck ultimately stops. You laid it out very well at the opening of the segment. That at the end of the day, its going to start at the head. If there are good things that come from it, youre going to the head. Thats how cheney saw this. This is all in the context of what happened post 9 11. This is that world that was created. Again, we have a history. Whether were trying to go after castro in the Kennedy Administration they didnt do the job, did they . No, they didnt. Or whether youre going after osama bin laden, its the same type who is still the head of cuba right now . Anyway, lets go back to ryan. What is it in cheneys being . Whats in his head that makes him curl the lip and talk about torture and stuff like that with such delight and relish . Whats that all about . Cheney has always believed
that tactics matter. Hes arguably one of the finest tact itions at the top of government for many years. If cheney believes that his position cannot be challenged, as long as he digs in and doesnt flinch, hell do that. Thats where cheney is sitting at this point. Many people are turning on him at this point. John mccain and others are saying, cheneys wrong. But cheney at this point will be The Last Man Standing with this position if thats what it takes. Thats what hes thinking about. Historys record, i didnt flinch. And i think ron is absolutely right about that. Thats the one thing about the man, hes consistent from the very beginning to this moment. And now one has to unpack that. I dont know about love, but in his view, alls fair in war. Ron, thank you for being the expert. Michael steele, thank you very much. Up next, a hardball farewell to michele bachmann. Were going to the riddic lift, this is hardball, the place
for politics. And also, where you can hear the debate. Place for politics. And also, where you can hear the debate. Hardball, the place fo politics. And also, where you can hear the debate. Place for politics. And also, where you can hear the debate. Hardball, the place fo politics. And also, where you can hear the debate. This is hardball, the for politics. And also, where you can hear the debate. You dont need to think about the energy that makes our lives possible. Because we do. Were exxonmobil and powering the world responsibly is our job. Because boiling an egg. Isnt as simple as just boiling an egg. Life takes energy. Energy lives here. Come from all walks of life. If you have high blood sugar, ask your doctor about farxiga. Its a different kind of medicine that works by removing some sugar from your body. Along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. With one pill a day, farxiga helps lower your a1c. And, although its not a weightloss or bloodpressure drug, farxiga may help you lose weight and may even lower Blood Pressure when used with certain diabetes medicines. Do not take if allergic to farxiga or its ingredients. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include rash, swelling or Difficulty Breathing or swallowing. If you have any of these symptoms, Stop Taking Farxiga and seek medical help right away. Do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. Tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. Farxiga can cause serious side effects, including dehydration, genital yeast
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