republican party. we see some of those same arguments now. livingston was going to be one very specific guy. when they turned to denny hastert in obscurity and everybody had it look him up without the benefit of google at the time, when they picked hastert were they picking somebody who had ideological specificity? >> no. but what he did have, the twist there was he was also tom delay's guy. so tom delay was in the leadership back then and wanted to be speaker but there there was a recognition especially in the wake of the bad mid-terms they had and the fact gingrich was forced out as leader. tom delay was too radioactive to be speaker himself. but he had formidable strength within the republican caucus so he championed hastert on his way out the door. gingrich told republicans there's one guy that can unite us. they called him the coach. he'd been a wrestling coach, we now know more about that. but the coach is the guy who can bring us all together. >> that is fascinating because that gets us right ba

if you were a republican all the republicans on this panel are republicans from safe districts, mike pompeo, trey gowdy from south carolina they are almost unchallenged at this point all three of them. and yet when you look at the politics for them it's a no brainer but the party politics, the party brand, there are definitely republicans that are upset, republicans in the hallways yesterday who said to me when i was in washington, this isn't playing out the way it does for a party but they have this committee set up and going to go forward with it. there is a lot of reluctance on the part of the republicans doing this kind of a hearing with such a prominent witness. >> wisconsin democrat paul ryan, you had a chance to speak to him a couple of weeks ago and he told you he didn't want the job of house speaker. what does it say about his view of trying to govern the house now? >> it was late at night, just after speaker boehner said he wasn't going to remain as speaker, going to resign from congress. i was walking downstairs in the basement of the capital and paul ryan was there, i sta

i'm calling as a former republican, and i was a jack kemp republican. i grew up in southern california. i was in college in the 1980's. i really believed in supply-side economics. it was a new thing then. it was being very antiestablishment. that if we give tax cuts to wealthy people that it which ago down to the core and it would enhance our economy and all the wonderful things that we 1980's;back in the however, it didn't work. it never did trickle down. i went from being a fiscal conservative to now what i consider being fiscally responsible. there were a lot of people who do need extra help. i guess my question is -- at doespoint -- how far down -- how unequal to incomes have to become before supply side economics people will admit that it didn't work? guest: it did work. ma'am, it did work at the time. if you remember the difference between yourself and the late 1970's and the kind of economic conditions you were in, and the economic conditions even up to 2000, bill clinton did not substantially change what kemp was all about. from 28%,the top rate

>> look, that's a question for the republican conference to make. >> you're a member of the republican conference. >> what i have said -- >> have you called -- why don't you challenge him? why don't you call for him to step down? >> what i have said repeatedly chuck, both publicly and privately -- and when i say publicly and privately, that's the same thing -- we need leaders who will honor the promises that men and women have made to us. >> if you're glad john boehner is leaving, how come you don't call out mitch mcconnell? >> listen, at the end of the day -- >> he is your leader. >> at the end of the day it depends on where the votes are in the conference. mitch has the votes to remain as majority leader. >> i'm going to read you quotes from your fellow republicans. senator lamar alexander said this about you. "in kindergarten you learn to work well together and play by the rules. another thing you learn in kindergarten is to respect one another." senator orrin hatch "squabbling and sanctimony have no place among colleagues in the u.s. senate." john mccain, "i would never contemplate

the republicans determine who the speaker is and the last thing they want to do is bail the republicans out. it is all about the 2016 election. they want to regain the majority and they are happy to see the republicans floupder. it is up to the republicans to solve the problem. >> it seems that the show down has been coming for a while between the warring fractions of the republican party. do you see an official splitting. it could go many directions and do you see the party coming up united with one leader that represents the new face of the republican party? or do you see it going another direction and law makers deciding maybe the republican umbrella and we'll form a official tea party or a presence in congress? >> congress can happen after you so the events of today of kevin mccarthy who was by all accounts a sure winner and suddenly stepping down. and that is unlikely to happen before the 2016 election. we are talking about the end of october. i think it is october 29th when john boehner would step down. and so yeah, the republicans have to solve this problem in 2 or 3 weeks and th

ronald reagan was a big tent republican. he held for everybody and that was a big thing, too and he was a big staunch anti-communist as well but what happened in the interim is we had a rise of two factions first religious right and again this was written in the majority of activists started to mobilize the religious people who were not bringing in just the limited government and the limited government philosophy they were bringing and we want a social agenda that we want to push. another group came in as well starting in the 70s into the 80s and those were the neoconservatives. these were basically disillusioned liberals and leftists that we are social engineers from the right but the point is this changed the conversation of the republican party compared to the days of barry goldwater whose rhetoric with was the government is the problem not the solution into the whole american enterprise was to allow people to live their lives as they see fit and pursue their own dreams with the government protecting life, liberty, proper

republican leadership will vote for it, an get some of the republicans. that pattern, a lame duck speaker of house, cutting a deal with a lame duck president. add $85 billion in our national debt, to give away any and all leverage for remainder of the obama administration. that's what this deal means. it is worth understanding. this deal means, that republican majorities in both congress will extract nothing of significance from president obama. this deal means that republican leadership have fully surrendered. it is interesting they call it clearing the decks. that is uniquely washington term. you recall back in december the trillion dollar "cromnibus" bill? very first thing we did after winning majorities in both houses, was also called clearing the decks. boy, these decks need a lot of clearing. these chairs get rearranged like on the deck of titanic. no one addresses the fact of the ship of the united states is headed toward the iceberg. 18 trillion in debt, that the party of washington, the washington cartel has created and complicit and growing. onl

. >> the republicans. big smile. badge of honor to have the republicans as an enemy. this is a stark and important contrast with the way that our current president talks about republicans. and however you feel about the similarities and differences in the policy positions, this is a really stark signal about a very different approach to government. >> if you look at the republicans versus the democrats whether it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. >> thank you. >> the economy does better when you have a democrat in the white house and that's why we need to have a democrat in the white house in january 2017. there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage and what we hear from the republicans who have -- it's always the republicans or their sympathizers who say you can't have paid leave. you can't provide health care. they don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down planned parenthood. they're fine with b

we need to have those debates within the republican party. we do stand firm certain humanistic principles. what i read about in "the conservative heart," it is important to remember that the notmust be pro-people and against things. it is important that republicans on immigration, but to say that we are coming down on one side of things would rule out the dissent going on now, and would make more bad blood, i think it is unproductive. it is not productive because some leader could not win a debate, but rather it feeds into this narrative that we have right now that republicans cannot get their act together, they cannot decide if they are more racist or more greedy. it is completely unhelpful. what we need to have is a respectful airing of different where of view on that, what we agree on is the moral consensus that we are fighting for people, instead of against things. to that point, almost one year ago, republicans won the majority in the senate and expanded their majority in the house. it feels like republicans are debating over greed or he

it's a rejection of not only the republican establishment but the institution itself of the republican party. a rejection of the party by the base. they don't have an institution they want to rally around. they have an incoherent ideology and have a lot of frustration. how that filters out is complicated but no real party to pull everyone together. >> robert costa with me now from capitol hill republican congressman from pennsylvania and tom davis. mr. dent thank you for coming on the show. we all grew up with a republican party like in pennsylvania where i grew up and a party that we recognize going back to lincoln, a party of the center right, occasionally of the center. what is the republican party today? how would you describe most members? >> we have a pretty eclectic bunch. i think the fundamental challenge we are facing is this that we have to demonstrate that we have the capacity for governance. tom davis, my friend on the show with me was part of the governing wing of the republican party. what we saw last week with a vote to keep the government open, only 91 house republicans

alabama republicans are crying uncle. they apparently would please like some way out of the national embarrassment they created for themselves last month when republican governor robert bentley announced he was closing a lot of places where you get a driver's license. losing your local dmv would be inconvenient in any case but what made this potentially a federal case is that last year, alabama started requiring people to show new forms of id at the polls they never had to show before if you wanted to be allowed to vote. and a valid driver's license is at the top of the list forcepsable alabama i.d.s. driver's license the most common way people are allowed to vote now in alabama. it had heavy and disturbing voting rights implications when the alabama governor decided last month he was going to close the places where you get that kind of i.d. in the alabama counties that have the highest proportion of voter who are african-american. republicans shut down the place with your get a driver's license in every single alabama co

do the republicans have an ambush ready? you've got to believe they're up to something. >>> and donald trump has been on top of the republican field for three months now. trump's staying power has been a nightmare come true. looks like the trump seduction is working. people can imagine voting for him, but can't imagine voting for bush. >>> and let me finish with this great movie about true american patriotism from a great man, steven spielberg. this is "hardball," the place for politics. >>> welcome back to "hardball." this hour, the house republican conference is meeting behind closed doors, awaiting word from congressman paul ryan about whether he'll run for speaker of the house. let's go live to capitol hill, where nbc's kelly o'donnell has the latest. kelly? >> reporter: good evening, chris. this is an opportunity for paul ryan to try to play hard to get, talking with members of his republican conference to see if they would welcome him as speaker without too many strings attached. in covering ryan over the years, i have

house republicans behind closed doors. at house gop which is the official twitter feed for house republicans. just about two minutes ago. this would have been a meeting about roughly 45-minutes. paul ryan is the next speaker of the house. the choice of republicans. what happens here is this is not technically unofficial. tomorrow, the full-blown, republicans and democrats, they come before the house floor tomorrow, though official vote tomorrow, both sides there. the question is, as we have been following, could paul ryan get to 218 votes. we still do not know the exact number that paul ryan got inside that meeting this afternoon. do not know if we will find that out this afternoon or when. tomorrow, paul ryan could be the next speaker of the house. i should also mention that john boehner, his last day will be friday. trish: wow. i wonder if he is breathing a sigh of relief as he gets out with a lot of interesting budget issues. okay. going over to chris. gary smith. paul ryan is the guy. will he be able to bring republica

republicans shut it down. this is a chance for the democrats to push and try to turn what was really a big focus on sidney blumenthal through the character on the outskirts of this drama, republicans bringing him into the mix because there were so many emails exchanged between him and the secretary saying hey, you had this guy had your ear all the time, why weren't there as many emails between ambassador stevens and yourself, why didn't he have a direct line to you. couldn't he call you? couldn't he get in touch with you? the idea that the ambassador would have their private email address wouldn't be something they would expect, but this was a republican push. they see this as a way to gain ground. ranking member comings was calling him out on it saying you want to enter that information into the record, let's do it, make it public. >> just for greater context, what came before, what came after. libby, stand by. democrats on the committee offered their theories on why the republicans were focusing on sidney bl

house, if she gets elected president, she'll have to deal with a republican house, maybe a republican senate. if they control just one of those chambers, what does she do? what would -- how would her approach be different in a way she would actually get something through? >> well, what she would say, i think, and she says this a little bit in the interview, and i've heard her elaborate it more in other contexts. she would say, listen, when i'm not in office, when i'm running for something, i'm their biggest target and they'll throw anything at me and it's a complete circus. when i was in office, when i was senator, secretary of state, i not only had good approval from republican voters and good approval ratings from republican americans, i get things done with republican auto elected officials and i think that will happen again when i'm president. i know they like to play politics with me when i'm running. i can handle that. watch when i get elected, it won't be that way. i have no illusion about these guys because we know how this game is played. she's taking a sort of, wise man, for

he is the republican speaker of the house. how do you assess his legacy because so many other , republicans have been so critical and ungracious since he left. you worked closely with him. what is his legacy and what kind of the speaker was he? congresswoman rodgers: i had the opportunity to work closely with speaker boehner, and through the years i really believe that he was the right man at the right time to be leading us. it did not mean that every member agreed with every decision. and there was a lot of people suggesting that speaker boehner should have made different decisions, could have gotten something done, more than what he did. what i saw in speaker boehner was someone that was trustworthy. i think day in and day out, that is why he remained speaker as long as he did. the members really did trust him when they told him something. they knew that he was not playing games. and the second part was that he made decisions based upon what he thought was good and right for america at the end of the day. and for me, i may n

of, and at instead republican. -- mary in and island, a republican. obama isresident running on the platform that benghazi is dead and al qaeda is dead. when that happens they could not admit that it was terrorists that attacked that compound, and .hey had sent reinforcements i guess because that did not go with the lines and al qaeda was dead. i have one more thing i want to say about this. if hillarynton -- clinton's daughter had been in that compound, if president obama's daughters had been in that compound, they would have been coming in first instead of abandoning those people. one, or clinton, neither cares about those. host: this is from fox news, it says, in the year leading up to the 2012 attacks -- let me positive knowledge that the sick -- that the secretary of state is making her way down the hallway. saying hello to the media that is gathered outside there. she will be stepping into the hearing room momentarily for testimony taking place and about 15 minutes. you can probably see her shake the hands of the lawmakers that make up this comm

i think the republican party is strong. work is being done and we need to move on and find our next speaker. >> one more thing. there's somebody else who wants this job and it's the congressman from utah. listen to this. >> we'll have those discussions in the coming weeks. we're trying to build consensus here that can get us through the numbers and get us back to the work that we were all elected to do. we'll continue along those lines. >> would you support congressman chaffetz? >> i think what he said is really important. we have to get the work done. i would love beyond jason. we have a number of people who have worked hard and i think work and experience are going to be the top things we look forward in addition to what is their view on funding defenses as we look to 2016. >> thank you so much. joining us now chris wallace. there is what you live for. all kinds of big news happening on capitol hill. you're really good at this in deciphering what's going on. what's your read on it? >> it was really interesting your interv

that has been the republican message for years. today at last there's proof, your message has sunk in. the base does not trust your establishment and the political train just jumped the tracks. the man who would be speaker of the house, the majority leader and a lieutenant of the outgoing speaker john boehner, just changed his mind. is not running. made the announce independent conference this morning. >> don't think people realize what he said. he was asked to repeat it. >> all members of the conference were shocked. >> absolutely stunned. >> didn't see that coming, and now historic disarray. the republicans canceling the vote for a new speaker, the freedom caucus wants one of their own. can they hijack the process and if so can our government function at all? and the mesh hero -- then hero who tend stop a terror attack in france, attack on the streets here at home. now he wear what happened. and minutes ago, new video of the attack, let's get to it. >> who woulda thunk it. this is about much more than politics. it's much bigger t

paul ryan is liked by 225 republicans. get with the program, guys. >> how do you know we're not on the program? i mean, you're doing -- >> if he wins a conference, will you support his agenda? >> we have a constitution as a country. i have five policy questions. >> will you support him? >> it's not that easy. if he goes with that, we'll give him a strong look. >> you're holding the caucus hostage. >> the answer is yes, i will support paul ryan. but paul ryan is also a very smart man. the underlying governing and political dynamic of the house has not changed. paul ryan, if he becomes speaker, i hope he does, what will happen is he'll have to make accommodations and collaborate with the democrats to pass a debt ceiling, pass a budge ut t agreement and om any mus appropriations deal. if he does those things, he'll have his legs taken out by some of his own members. if we go with the status quo, the house will continue to be mired in this paralysis and the speaker would be weaker. he'll have the same problems john boehner had

just stayed a republican. i voted republican for bush. i vote for the ones that i think are telling the truth and are going to do good for america. but it broke my heart just to see that this committee was focusing on trying to get the truth out of hillary, and the state department, what happened, and why they didn't get help in all of this. only onee to see that of the democrats was asking questions that were constructive. all of the rest of them took their 10 minutes just talking a bunch of talk, and talking against the republicans, saying that they were coming after hillary clinton. it was not the truth. bullies, and they are very disrespectful. they kept talking about republican says, republicans that. you never heard one of the republicans say anything about the democrats in a bad way. we are americans. we need to know what happens. i have nephews that are in the service. if it had been one of my nephews , i would want to know the truth. my advice to a lot of the democrats who called in and to talk against the republicans and what th

the ratings for the republican congress and the republican party were low. fast forward to a year after that shutdown and republicans had not only a very good leaked night in 2014, they actually reached the highest number of seats they've had in the house of representatives since world war ii. that's the level they're at right now. so there's a lot of negative stuff going on here from a public relations standpoint for the republican party right now. i don't see an obvious or quick way out of this for them. so this is a mess that could play out for a long time. you got to keep the example of that government shutdown in mind. because we all thought when the government was shut down in the fall of 2013 and you look at the poll numbers, my god, there's going to be a price for them to pay at polls next year for this. there was in the end no price they paid for it. >> steve kornacki, stand by. former republican congressman tom davis. he's joining us from capitol hill. he's also the co-author of the book "the partisan divide ", congress in crisis." was your party h

and yet republicans, 29 republicans vote "no,," $25 "yes." now, for a democratic leader, what a great victory. a democratic leader with just 46 democrats added $500 billion in spending without paying for it? holy cow. i don't recall harry reid ever being able to campaign saying give me a democratic majority, i'll add $500 billion in spending without paying for it. this is an accomplishment. the prior democratic leader harry reid was not able to achieve. and yet the current majority leader got this win for the democrats. let's look at the next example. confirmation of the attorney general, loretta lynch. now, i serve on the judiciary committee. i participated in multiple hearings where miss lynch over and over again refused to acknowledge any limits on president obama's authority whatsoever. when miss lynch was asked how she would differ from eric holder, who's been the most lawless and partisan attorney general this nation has ever seen, she said, no way whatsoever. when pressed repeatedly if she could articulate even a single limit on the au

said republicans are not the enemy. will that be picked up as the standards or is that -- >> probably not. i think if you're hillary clinton you hear that, you sort of have to take it given that her answer in the democratic debate was that she saw republicans was her enemy that was a bad moment for her might come back to haunt her at some point. i thought it was nice what to get out i thought it was -- it was gracious, right decision, i think that people are -- probably very happy that he's not running. >> dickerson: susan, what did you make of bernie sanders at the jefferson jackson dinner as nancy cordes reported, he's turning up the attack on hillary clinton, it's not a full frontal but different than we've seen. >> it's new series of the campaign. this was much more critical than he's been before and drawing the contest where he's made good decisions that withstood the test of time like trade and gay marriage she's had to reverse herself. also looking to do big speech on what it means to be a socialist which is some

that is how republicans have argued the point. >> you're arguing something that most republicans don't argue. so what donald trump has done is he's taken it to the very beginning of the 9/11 crisis, not post-9/11 which is how jeb and a lot of republicans argue the statement he kept us safe. >> but michael, with all due respect, that's exactly the point, is that for some reason republicans only count history from 9/12 and everybody else counts history from before 9/12/2001. that's the bottom line. there is no -- you can't choose when you start history and have people look at you seriously. >> yeah, but chris, you can't -- but you cannot sit there -- chris, you have no intelligence, you have no evidence that suggested to the state department, the nsa, the pentagon, or anyone else that 9/11 was going to happen when 9/11 did. so you're presuming -- let me finish my point. you're presuming, gentlemen, you're presuming that our government deliberately allowed it to happen. >> no. >> and that's just not the case. >> that's my point, michael. i just want to be very clear about there's these tw

only 79 house republicans voted for it, including paul ryan. 167 republicans opposed it. as did all of the republican presidential candidates. >> did you see the recent deal announced today or yesterday. more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. >> this is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. right and left are is spending us into oblivion. we should use the debt ceiling to force upon them budgetary reform. >> so this deal in washington is an example why washington is broken. republican leadership joined with every single democrat to add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. >> he couldn't possibly have meant $80 trillion to the debt. but even ted cruz meant $80 billion, he still is wrong. the budget office estimates the budget deal will add exactly zero to the deficit. back with us, david frum and david corn. david corn, this new speakership has had one half day of peace, at least. how many more? >> well, the day is not quite over yet. >> that's right. >> but let's assume that paul ryan made it to bed

you and keep that and try to get that republican party and the house the republican caucus as it's called united? >> that would be phenomenal to get 247. but i'm certainly giving it all i've got. >> here's also something intriguing that emerged today. congressman walter jones of north carolina raised questions in a letter earlier this week suggesting any candidate for the party's leadership speaker, majority leader, any of the leadership positions, in his words committed any, quote, misdeeds since being elected to the house of representatives should step down. do you know what he's referring to? >> i do not know what he's referring to. to me like i said i'm not into judging someone else. i'm into one thing and that is i want to see a principle-based congress replace the old power-based system that we have. >> since he's raised it, congressman walter jones, have you committed any misdeeds since entering the house of representatives? >> maybe running for speaker. i'm not sure. but, no, i have not. >> if you become speaker of the house, what would you do as far as funding for planned parenth

the combination of the disarray with the republicans on capitol hill and the large field of republican candidates. we saw the president today really in the east room at a news conference trying to convey the main message that democrats are trying to sell. this is the talking point. we are united. we know what we stand for. we have a vision and all agree on the major tenets of our platform. 95%. and he was enumerating and not surprisingly, what he was enumerating are issues that he himself is very much embracing. gwen: there were five democrats on the stage this week. can you imagine there would be five democrats on the next democratic debate stage snr chuck: i don't know how -- gwen: chafee, webb and owe mali o'malley. rise -- -- beth: he was ill at ease and you wondered what they were doing there. huck: there was moments. obviously had a national security point to make. he has been critical of secretary clinton on the libya decision. that seemed to be the point he wanted to make about the middle east. the interesting -- and i was actually disappointed that the debate carry on this. he

the republicans don't have a plan b. if not paul, who will it be. paul is an old timer, even though only 44. he's been there 16 years and he has enough knowledge to bring the conference together and he'll take the job. >> you were in and around the hill, around the time of bob livingston and newt gingrich and you know the type of talk that goes at the top levels here, can you remember a time where these types of demands, i will take the job if you proms that the machinery for removing me from the job is dismantled. >> well, the leadership had the ability to tell the members who they should pick. they went down the list, and they decided on denny hasser and this time around they are imposing paul ryan and you have followers that are just not interested in following and that is the problem with the house representatives. it is scattered. it is hard to bring the congress back together. >> tom, you heard michael talking about the dilemma. but be careful what you wish for. >> paul ryan has been a vice presidential candidate and polished and he polled wel

while what's going on inside the republican party is frankly not good for republicans, i don't think it's really good for the democracy that we have. boehner was a very conservative guy. kevin mccarthy is a conservative guy. if those two guys aren't conservative enough for your taste, who is? >> i don't know that it's about the conservative enough. this is democracy. >> a lot of people did not think that john boehner was conservative. >> i understand. out of chaos comes change. the american people are clamoring for change. they like the idea. now's the time to put forward strong leadership. i believe this lie in the failure of speaker boehner to stand up to barack obama, at least that perception. the images of playing golf. those don't fly right now. we're in a political battle and now the the time for a speaker with fire in his belly. >> just a quick thing that i'm thinking of now from the democratic side is at least in the presidential race we have hillary clinton and bernie sanders. he's a self-proclaimed socialist. talk about having the dichotomy withen a party. democratics might

there's also interesting news on the republican side in terms of polling. but the juicest piece of just plain gossip on the republican side today is what jeb bush's brother said about ted cruz. politico.com today naturally is the source for the high school locker room gossip story of the day which is that george w. bush, former president george w. bush speaking at a high dollar fund raiser for his brother's presidential campaign two days ago in denver apparently reportedly apropos of nothing volunteered to the assembled donors at that event that when it comes to texas senator and presidential candidate ted cruz "i just don't like the guy." so that's the news from the junior high part of the 2016 race. jeb's brother doesn't like ted. that said, we do have more substantive news including some really, really good news for one otherwise sad sack republican candidate. and that existentially good news for that candidate is coming up later on. stay with us. why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? cialis for daily use, is the on

back to calls and sue sdemran is on our republican line -- suzanne is on our republican line. she's in lynchburg, virginia. caller: hello. host: you're on the air. go ahead. caller: oh, ok. i just wanted to say that i'm grad that mr. ryan has decided to do this because i feel he's a peacemaker. that's what he's trying to do is bring the congress together and that makes me feel very happy there's someone there who wants to bring everyone into an understanding with each other so they can speak together and not be so partisan. that's why i think he volunteered and i think he's giving up a lot by leaving the other office that he held and this nation is very happy that he'd be willing to sacrifice that much. i'm sure there's a lot of people that would disagree with at but that's just how i feel. host: bloomberg saying that the republicans poised to nominate ryan and speaker. voting under way. independents line. hello there. caller: hi. i think paul ryan may be ok, but i had the feeling that establishment was not satisfied with those that wanted to be speaker and they began pushing

elizabeth on the republican line. caller: good morning. i was wondering what you think darrell issa's chance would be? guest: [laughter] it is hard to say at this point. i do not know that there is the strongest, to be honest, if i recall correctly, when he first declared, he said that support for speakership would rise organically. history shows that really do folks get elected to leadership positions in congress without organization and whipping post to get votes. my comment alone, i am not sure he has the support he would need. important ishand, who else is funny. if he is going to be one of the only candidate and other folks are considered front-runners and they do not run, he could have a good chance of getting elected speaker. host: steve from west virginia, good morning. good morning. i think you're guest nailed it when he said it is so hard for republicans to come up with a speaker because they have to work with the democrats and president. the official position of part of that party is to not work with them at all. i have a sugges

to a republican? in to that chaos this week steps hillary clinton as the star witness at the benghazi committee's public hearing on thursday. her appearance there has been heralded now by a total of three republicans including majority leader kevin mccarthy saying that the benghazi committee's objective has been to harm hillary clinton's presidential campaign. republican congressman mo brooks raised the ante on clinton hysteria in the house of representatives by saying this. >> it's not about e-mails. it's about national security and how many lives she put at risk by violating all rules of law that are designed to protect america's top secret and classified information from malling into the hands of our geopolitical foes who then might use that information to result in the deaths of americans. >> let's talk about that. >> it's national security issue. in my judgment, with respect to hillary clinton, she will be in a you meek president if elected by the public next november because the day she's sworn

in republican history. i don't believe ben carson strikes me right now -- he strikes me mainly as an iowa candidate like huckabee and santorum before him. so if you're republican what does this tell you? it could tell you you've either got to shoot the moon with trump and boy, would that be an exciting proposition, or think you're playing it safe by going with rubio, the little mr. firecracker of the bombs away set. cruz i have to believe would be an inaugural kiss to hillary. america isn't mad enough in either sense 69 word mad to go that far. how in the world did we get from walker and rand paul and chris christie and joe biden and all the rest to this? the answer is that donald trump showed himself the best television candidate since ronald reagan and jack kennedy before him. attack trump and it looks like sour grapes. meanwhile, hillary clinton has proven herself all are pro on defense. attack her and you're a dead man. could be quite a general, by the way, if this thing keeps up. hillary versus donald

you could potentially have a republican president, a republican senate and a republican house in 2016. >> you could, and potentially, your nominee could be ben carson, matt. he's in second place right now in those polls. what do you think of the comments that he's made regarding the holocaust? these aren't off-the-cuff comments. this is actually an excerpt from a book, a newly released book. >> yeah. first of all, what in the heck is he doing opining on nazi germany and hitler? it's crazy for someone running for president to really go there. clearly, look, i mean, let's be honest, authoritarian regimes, of course, confiscate guns. that's part of what they do to stem, you know, to make sure there's not a resistance. i think the notion that had people -- and by the way, i think i can opine on these things, i'm not running for president. and i think it's fair to say that the notion that had jews been armed, that that alone would have been able to stop the holocaust seems dubious at best. >> at best. and joan, you have this following, of course, the comments in oregon, saying that, you kn

for the republican nomination. the second best person on that measure is marco rubio, who is throughout this primary process shown a lot of potential upside both with conservatives and moderates. as you point out for trump, this number is at 59% of republicans who can imagine supporting donald trump. he was deeply under water during the summer, and is up nearly ten points since we last polled this same measure last month. so more and more republican primary voters are saying even if donald trump isn't my first choice, i can imagine supporting him to be the republican nominee. that's a big movement and it's something that can be very worrying to somebody like a jeb bush, who's coming in below marco rubio, his chief rival, and a lot of republicans not coming within top three or four of that measure. >> also ted cruz jumping up a little bit there as well. but lots of interesting new numbers. should get a lot of attention. carrie, thank you for joining us. >>> as donald trump basks from the glow of the new poll numbers

you will never go wrong figuring that the republican audience, republican party and voters, whatever you want to say will always have a tendency to not trust the main stream media. that is the tendency. but you know, i've written about this and they have every reason not to trust the main stream media. >> absolutely. >> they get this tonight. >> they seize it. >> right. this is why we don't trust. >> the audience loves it? >> i thought back to newt gingrich, south carolina debate, cnn. >> john cane. >> yes. yes. >> and gingrich knew it was coming, won the debate, won the primary in south carolina. these people are never going to understand they helped the people that they loathe. bernie goldberg, everyone. next up, williams, hume, ahead. [female announcer] if the most challenging part of your day is the staying awake part, sleep train has your ticket to a better night's sleep. because when brands compete, you save during mattress price wars. save up to $400 on beautyrest and posturepedic. get interest-free financing until 2018 on tempur-pedic. plus, helpful advice from the sleep expe

thank you. >>> round three of the republican debate just hours away. 14 republican candidates with two front runners. everybody else fighting for the top spots. what can we expect? >> there's potential for a very big moment. carson has now moved into the lead. for donald trump it's a big test. can he answer questioning substantively. can he deal with the heat and not lose his temper. last night in iowa he talked about the polls and was both scolding and pleading with first of the nation caucus state voters to get his numbers back up. of course, it's ben carson who has been the beneficiary of the surge. as a consequence some of donald trump's criticism. for carson it's a big moment as well. can he answer the questions. he'll get all kinds of additional scrutiny because of his jump in the poll. these are the two outsiders that have been dominating the race. >> what about the candidates? what do they need to do? >> it's a test. it's a big test. jeb bush shrunk his campaign, had to cut back expenses. he's been asking why he's flailing and at times seems irritated about the question. he mak