About your Search

English 28
news talks about how the nra has put out a new app that allows young children and everybody ages 4 and up, to use assault weapons on an iphone app. at an early age, i guess. >> someone sent me the apps available on iphones and other phones. >> how sick is this? how sick are these people running a great organization, proud organization? how sick are these people that have commandeered the nra and turned them into an extremist operation for survivalist and gun manufacturers? how many million s s of dollars have people made over the slaul slaughter of innocents, now they're doing this. >> at the top of the house, nra does not represent gun owners. they represent manufacturers and money. >> there you go. >> they don't represent million s of americans that want to defend themselves. harold, you're from tennessee, an nra supporter. l let's talk about people in the northeast that don't understand what nra has been, what a great organization it has been through the years. how the organization has not always been the organization it became in the mid-1990s. could you explain gun owners and
to "morning joe." it's funny, that ad was fake. we have a real one by the nra which we will show you coming up, which it should be fake. it's wednesday, january 16th. good to have everyone with us. with us on set, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. hello, mike. >> hello. >> you look nice today. >> thank you. >> donny, doesn't he put together well in. >> on the barnicle scale. >> he's adorable. chairman of deutsche incorporated, donny deutsch. >> but -- you know what? it's okay. i put a lot of effort into my has be haberdashery and still no comment. >> now ceo of melanie barnes solutions, melanie barnes, you worked in the white house very high up. huh. interesting. notice anything here, gentlemen? >> yeah, where is he? >> oh, joe's here. he's coming. he's going to pop up on screen. i was just noticing that melanie happens to be a woman and worked in the white house. >> and worked in the white house. >> good god! >> policy adviser. >> this is something. take note. no, but i should do a blog on cool women like you. so we'll have to catch up. and joe's going to be joining us. actually i see
before the nra gets organized. he failed to do it andologic had -- and lbj had a bill bottled up in the committee and it went through with much less in october and the president spoke angrily about the failure to do something to defeat the gun lobby. while i have a spirit of the season and feeling things have changed and saw joe's powerful statement in the immediate aftermath of the killings, i have my doubts whether this president and this congress have the guts and strength and political courage to go forward. >> they have to move quickly, don't they? >> i think they do. you can't lose them. the sense of moral urgency that comes with proximity to this thing. right now, the nra is on its heels. the defenders of per miss gun laws are in a defensive crouch right now and the time you want to capitalize on that. the only time. you don't want to let any sense of complacency step back and allow the forces time to regroup and bolster their efforts. they will exist. this will not be an easy thing to get done. >> mika, we talked about this happening in shopping malls in other gone and mo
insight into that fascinating meeting today at the white house between vice president biden and the nra. what can the vice president, what can the white house reasonably expect to get out of the nra today? >> the nra is going to go in there with a conciliatory face. they're being smart. they're sending not their top lobbyist but an official who has worked with biden over the years, worked with him in the '90s in the senate, is actually friends with him from the delaware beach, jim baker, the nra's number two, but he's coming with a very hard message. the nra told me that in the past 18 days, their paid memberships have gone up 100,000. they've gone from 4.1 million to 4.2 million. and they tell me that before this debate is over, they want to get to 5 million. so the nra sees this fight as a growth opportunity. willie, it's $25 a year, you get a free camo duffel bag with that. and we're told that jim baker, the nra lobbyist, is going to tell vice president biden we're willing to discuss, talk to you about any possible constructive solution, but here's the kicker, we listen to people bey
in the nbc news/"wall street journal" about the nra. 41% think of them positively, 34% negative. hollywood think 23% favorable, 46% negatively. we talked before about lance armstrong and pr. clearly the nra has got a pr challenge here. how do you think they've done so far since newtown in positioning themselves to be strong in this fight? >> why are you looking at me, mark? >> i'm just starting with you randomly. i went alphabetical. >> yeah, the nra has had good days and bad days in this. and actually, that depends how you look at it. even when the nra has a bad day and the media is calling them too aggressive, that's a good day for the nra. that usually ends up working in their favor in terms of membership. but, you know, i think the politics of maligning the nra is probably not a strategically good idea. that poll, for example, showing the favorability numbers, gun sales have skyrocketed, there's been an urgency to vilify the nra. for example, there's an ad out right now, one of a dozen, maligning a congressman named john barrow, a democrat in georgia. it's a democrat-on-democrat sort o
tread very lightly. they'd better be very careful. they have wandered in and followed the nra whose made some horrible pr mistakes over the past month. republicans better be careful and think twice before they make their next move. >> right. >> remember, one of the reasons the numbers are so high on background checks is because most people believe that those background checks already happened. >> right. >> they don't think that's a change in the law. >> right. >> so you're on really weak ground when people haven't got a clue and they actually support something they think is law. so the education part of it is one aspect of it. but you've also got the sheer power, the emotion of the 9/11 families style approach where you've got the sandy hook families coming in, it's very hard to oppose -- it's not about the president. you've got -- it's not even about bloomberg's money that's going to go into the advertising. the emotional force of the sandy hook families is just like it was with the 9/11 families. and republicans have got to face up to that. frankly, democrats have to face up and grow a
the vice president and represents the nra rather than wayne lapierre who i think cost the nra a huge, huge percentage of people who support the nra, obviously. but universal background checks gets the door open, and maybe then you can get high-capacity magazines. >> 75% want that also. so i keep missing the political minefield of why a republican can't move on guns. i'm not seeing it. i look at the numbers. >> look at the 100,000 new members of the nra, literally, now, of all times? it's a pretty deep division, andrea mitchell. >> and i have seen no sign, even though they very smartly did keep wayne lapierre out of the white house meeting, i don't see any sign that the nra is ready to give on the background checks, even, which they ought to. but they have not conceded anything. they feel really empowered, as mika just pointed out, the rise in members, they say rise in money, but it isn't their grass-roots membership that really matters, it's the clout they have in washington. they feel really empowered by this, and guns are leaping off the shelves even as the vice president was sitting dow
for the gun industry. >> the answer is the big lie has worked for years. the nra has said for years, if they take away your military-style assault weapons, take away the ar-15, they're going to take your hunting rifle, your handgun, which is a big lie. it's a big lie because constitutionally the government can't do that. the supreme court made sure of that. we had a shooting yesterday, an ar-15 in albuquerque. >> six people including children. i guess we just don't want to talk about it. >> blown away. >> a guy shot his family with an assault rifle. but that's all right to these people, i guess. i'm sorry. i don't mean to -- you know what? we have to have a tough conversation. >> you guys look like you're blaming me. >>> coming up next the baltimore ravens shock tom brady and the new england patriots. unbelievable. >> sorry, barnicle. >>> also it's setting up a match -- it's going to be a great game mika. it's going to set up a match with the 49ers. we'll be right back. i was overweight my whole life. i obsessed about my weight my whole life. i figured i was
think with every bushmaster that is sold, the nra ought to give coupons to "the book of eli" and get "the road," which is a great book. of course, zombies, people eating people, end of the world-type stuff. >> okay. so we will get to this ridiculous testimony on capitol hill as well as some of the powerful testimony in just a moment. i want to do these other stories first. you have to stay with me here. come on, now. >> they had a bushmaster. they tried to eat them, lock and load. >> what do i do? >> he almost died in the driveway. he almost -- denzel almost died, if he had a bushmaster or anyone -- a rocket launcher -- >> come here, now. it's all right. >> have you seen "the book of eli"? >> i have. it's a great underrated movie. >> you know what else i saw? i just saw it. denzel, man, "flight." >> that's good. that's good. flying upside down. >> there are good movies this year. >> flying upside down. >> including -- >> you know -- >> okay. >> the stewardess had a bushmaster, she could have shot him before he got on the plane. >> now i'm going to do the top story. cut his mike. toda
that are a danger to themselves including criminals and the mentally ill. nra executive vice president wayne lapierre will testify before the senate today and has released his prepared remarks which, in part, read, quote, when it comes to the issue of background checks, let's be honest. background checks will never be "universal" because criminals will never submit to them. meanwhile, this morning, "the new york times" is reporting that despite chicago's strict gun laws, the city is still struggling to control its gun violence -- guns attributed to more than 500 homicides last year alone in the windy city with at least 40 killings already reported this year. we were talking about this earlier, joe. how do you think this is going to pan out as we look forward on guns? something that you're stepping into a bit yourself. >> well, i think it's great news that you have tom coburn, an oklahoma conservative, who's been a champion on a lot of conservative issues coming out and supporting universal background checks. now, this should be a very simple, obvious thing for politicians on both sides of the a
inundated not by liberals, i've been inundated by conservative nra members that have been hunting their whole life. you know, you joke about me being from the upper west side. i've spent 45 years of my life in alabama, in mississippi, in northwest florida, in georgia. that's where all my friends are. baptist churches. they're hunters. my friends are all hunters. i've yet to have one call me up and say oh, joe, you know what? you know, you can't speak out against assault weapons. or hey joe, you know what? >> it's assault weapons. that's the thing. >> when i take my 6-year-old boy out to teach him how to hunt, i need that clip that's got 30 cop-killer bullets. they're thanking me. you look at the polls. background checks that are an anathema to the nra that would take care of these gun show loopholes, over 80% of americans want tough, stringent background checks on anybody buying a gun. a majority of americans want to get rid of these asinine clips that are used for one thing and one thing only, killing people. they want to get rid of them. those are like big issues even in conserv
the answer. there is no -- in pennsylvania, there's a gun culture. the nra people win because they're relentless. we'll talk about gun control now and talk about climate change and talk about peace in iran. then talk about something else, fiscal accountability, poor people and gay rights and the gun people never stop talking about guns. they will keep a record on anybody that votes against them, a life record and nail you against any vote any time in your career. it's tough business. i think there's a chance on browned checks. it's -- background checks. it's very hard to say give a gun to anybody. information about who gets guns. crazy people getting guns. scary guns getting in the hands of scary people. i think that's an argument hard for them to oppose. >> i think also high capacity magazines, even though that's a tougher slope. >> harder fight. >> things are changing. i've said this before, i'll say it again, whatever the nra gives the next two years to candidates, outside groups are going to give more. newtown changed everything. >> newtown changed everything. the nra makes mis
interest group money. we don't notice that quite as much. but if the nra, if groups want to go into state house districts, state senate districts, things can move really fast. and state politics, to some extent, is easier to manipulate from outside ideological groups. and so that's why great governors, great mayors are remarkable figures because they're governing in what is a tinderbox situation. what christie's been doing so great and what reagan did as governor of california. >> you know, the thing is, mika, what works for chris christie and what works for other governors across the country would work in washington, d.c. it really, really would if somebody were willing to stick it out. it's not easy. george w. bush thought he could come and make it like austin and it got rough and ugly. you know what? somehow bush for, you know, all the mistakes that he made, george bush figured out how to work with democrats. he really did. he figured out how to work ted kennedy on education reform. democrats and bush worked together pretty well. it was ugly and shrill at times, but they still got stuf
and the wayne lapierre fringe of the republican party, i'm not talking the nra, i'm talking the extreme fringe of the nra, that's just such a losing formula. >> yeah. so look, everything you said is obviously completely true, and i can't disagree with it. it is at the moment a recipe for disaster. it's some kind of thelma & louise exercise where they're trying to take the party over the cliff. but i also agree, i think the colin powell performance was extraordinary. i think the way he calmly, clearly, logically -- it was just so logical from a, b to c laid out everything you just said in terms of how the republican party has moved and why it's not his party, i think there are a couple other things about the interview worth noting. one is, of course, he is to some degree still fighting the battles of the bush administration where he had that sensible, more centrist position and was fighting the neocons and for the most part probably lost. and he also has this -- you know, this particular ability to look at the situation as somebody who is a member of a minority and is trying to be a republican
's enough. >> do you think that can be done? >> i think we'll find out. >> what's your message to the nra and members of the house e judd dishry committee? >> i think we have to look at this legislation. the number of people killed by firearms is extraordinary compared to other nations. euroing we're i don't think we're a blood thirsty culture and we need to look at everything we can do to safe guard our people. >> i appreciate your honesty on this. let me quickly ask you, the "rolling stone" article kind of exploded on our show that morning it broke and led to a fairly quick departure. do you feel misunderstood about parts of those -- the repo reporting -- and is there anything you would change looking back? >> first, i would tell you, as a commander, i take responsibility for what happened. when i came back to offer my resignation to president obama, that's exactly what i told him, i take responsibility, because that's what commanders do, and move on. i think that the media controversy that arose around that, i actually believe that it may not be entirely accurate, but the commander i
the president have a conversation with the survivalist wing of the nra in. >> that's the point. you look at gun control and budgetary issues, the president's strategy is to fight with the interest groups, fight with the mainstream of the republican party and to try to ply away maybe some faction of the center right or the people heviews as the reasonable republicans and conservatives and make it politically unpalatable with them to continue to hang out with the nra. >> you can say the survivalist wing of the nra. >> that's very important. there are millions out there that believe in what the nra believe in on a lot of issues but not on high capacity magazines, not on assault weapons. >> that's one of the big questions of this whole second term is how much obama can use the office of the presidency to really take what i think is a center, common sense position on gun control, immigration, any of these issues and really push through legislation in congress. i think it's clear from this interview he views that as his role, to use the power of the presidency and rhetoric do that. my question is how
to the very successful, very organized nature of the nra's grass-roots operation. but this is favorable territory if they can thread the needle for people like joe manchin. >> the numbers are overwhelming. you have joe manchin who's now coming together, has a bipartisan bill out we'll be talking about. he's together with senator kirk out of illinois, a republican, talking about universal background checks. again, this is something that stands anywhere from 85% to 92% approval rating. the nra is still against it. we'll see if any republicans are still against it, too. steve, i'm going to -- since mika's not here -- >> oh, god. >> my breakfast has just arrived. and i'm going to prepare, and i'm going to make it even harder for a woman to carry me from combat. and we'll be right back. when we come back, we're going to be talking to mary matalin. i'm very excited about that. she likes munchkins as well. "fortune's" leigh gallagher, "the washington post's" eugene robinson and actor victor garber. up next, mike allen with the top stories in the "politico playbook." first here's bill karins wi
of the most important things that they stand by and what this country stands by. >> the nra, i think, has been extraordinarily successful at creating that impression, that if you give up one thing, you give up your 30-round magazines, you give up your assault weapons, that the next thing that's going to happen are going to be your shotguns or your rifles or your hunting guns. >> right. >> and i don't see any reason why that's true. i don't think there's any particular evidence that it's true, but that is the ethos that they have created around this issue. and what i think people have to break through, including people like senator manchin who is in a much more reasonable place. >> if you read that "times" piece, joe manchin is facing the consequences of what he said sitting in that chair. >> exactly. >> the monday after newtown, he came in here and said you know what? we've got to sit down and have a reasonable conversation. i'm an a-plus member of the nra, but we've got to talk about limiting some of these things. he said picket outside his office. he's faced tough town hall meetings. he's un
they can get bipartisan support, where they might even be able to get nra support. the president on guns is saying, look, public opinion's got to change, and then we'll be able to ride that wave if it happens. i think we can't lose sight of one central fact. this president wants economic restoration. that's a legacy. he wants the moment that bill clinton had in 2000, remember at the democratic convention where he strolled in as they were announcing how many jobs were created? >> right. >> that's what president obama wants to leave behind. he wants to be able to spend more on infrastructure to achieve those ends. so i still think that's where all the action is. and i agree with jeff zeleny, there were some pieces of this that were statements where he is politically. and even for the history books. but the nitty gritty, i think, is economic restoration. >> dr. brzezinski, as you know better than anybody, presidents' best-laid plans often are set to the side when something blows up halfway across the world. it certainly happened in 1979. it's really happened again with this president with a