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tv   Meet the Press  NBC  March 22, 2015 10:30am-11:31am EDT

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. >> this sunday one time middle east success story turns disastrous. u.s. troops withdraw from yemen as the country descends into all out civil war. state of distrust. >> we have to evaluate what other options are available. >> benjamin netanyahu pulls to the right to win the israeli eltion. has he left the peace process in tatters and altered his country's relationship with the u.s. permanently? plus climate catastrophe. jerry brown the governor of drought stricken california on why there should no longer be a debate about climate. >> this has to be at the level of a crusade. >> find out which 2016 contender he thinks is unfit for office. >> such a level of ignorance.
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>> an end game is illinois the most corrupt state in the country? as aaron schock faces a federal investigation. why so many politicians from that state ended up in jail. i'm chuck todd and joining me from provide insight analysis is john stanton helene cooper former democratic congresswoman and head of the wilson center jane harman and rich lowry. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." good morning. we start with yemen a country once touted as a success in america's counterterrorism is spinning out of control. yesterday special forces were withdrawn as iranian backed shi'ite rebels pushed south seizing the third biggest city. yemen's president has been kicked out of the capital holed up in the south in january is
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now appealing for intervention from the united nations and emergency meeting of the security council will be held this afternoon. andrea mitchell has been track being all of this. yemen in chaos. is this now a failed state? >> it's not only a failed state, this is now a proxy war, civil war and a proxy war between iran backed shi'ite rebels and the saudis. the saudis on the border worried about their oil field. they had low level insurgencies for years but this is a serious athlete to saudi arabia. you have a shi'ite-sunni civil war going on with big players behind them. >> al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is this failed state we've seen. underwear bomber launched from. without a u.s. presence there aqap can only grow.
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>> in fact. we had the bombings which were claimed by isis as their bombings against the horrific bombings, 130 or more dead in these mosques. the white house is not saying whether or not it isis. if that's the case then this is the first time we've seen isis there. it's a spreading of isis but also with the special forces withdrawn there's no way we can continue to fight against aqap, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> very quickly the arab spring. big terrorist attack in tunisia earlier this week. what's going on in yemen only two semisuccess stories of the arab spring. arab spring no long ear success. >> no. in fact these forces were trained to beat libya the other failed state. you see the spread of failure and islamic extremism in the arabian peninsula. this is even worse. >> libya, syria, yemen, three
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filed states. now to u.s.-israeli relationship. we know in a tough election things get said in the heat of the moment. and benjamin netanyahu's warning high turnout from voters would benefit the left and his ruling out a palestinian state helped him win another term in office. but he may have incurred a heavy cost provoking outrage from the obama administration and though prime minister netanyahu has attempted to walk back his comments it seems the damage at least with president obama has already been done. >> i want a sustainable peaceful two state solution. >> that was israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to nbc's andrea mitchell trying to temper an election he promised that there would be no palestinian state while he was prime minister. >> i haven't changed my policy. what has changed is the reality. >> the u.s. is not buying the walk back. >> we can't just in perpetuity
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maintain the status quo. that's not a recipe for stability in the region. >> is there any reason at this point to believe he's serious about a palestinian state >> we take him at his word when he said it wouldn't happen during his prime ministership. so that's why we have to evaluate what other options are available. >> the white house has hinted the u.s. could stop protecting israel at the united nations perhaps drafting a new security council resolution outlining the framework for a palestinian state. it's been the framework for u.s. policy for the last two decades and even accepted five years ago by netanyahu himself. >> translator: my vision of peace in this small land of ours, two free peoples live side-by-side in mutual respect each will have its own flag its own national anthem and its own government. >> now the white house warns that netanyahu's right turn
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including his election day message to supporters that israeli arabs were coming out in droves means everything september u.s. security assistance to israel is on the table. an effort to apply leverage to a new israeli government and a warning that the u.s. may no longer stand between israel and the rest of the world at the united nations. i'm joined now exclusively by israel's ambassador to the united states. let me start with asking you a simple question. what is the position of the netanyahu government on the peace process and a two state solution. >> the same it was when president netanyahu gave his speech. he's committed of a vision of peace. a demilitarized state. what has changed is the circumstances over the last few years. you just talked about with andrea what's happening in the region and the collapse of all these states in the middle east in library area in yemen, in syria. we have a collapse of 100 year order in the middle east and
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militant islam is charging in to the void. that's the first thing. the second thing that changed which very few people have talked about is that a year ago ten months ago the leader of the palestinian authority reached out to a terror organization and forged an alliance with hams. hams is committed to israel's destruction. their charter calls for the murder of jews worldwide. they fire thousands of rockets at israel. what israel believes has to happen now is president abbas has to break his alliance with hams and return to peace negotiations with israel. if that happens and we can solve the problem of israel's legitimate security needs we can get back to the peace table. >> you'll deal with abbas even if he's not speaking for the entire palestinian people because that had been one of the critiques before he only runs the west bank hams runs gas you can't negotiate this just with one -- >> that's not the prime minister's critique. the prime minister has been neerking ing
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neerk -- negotiating with president abbas. our concern, chuck, is a palestinian state today would be a palestinian terror state. so the prime minister is not against a demilitarized palestinian state. he's not against -- he hasn't retracted in any way his vision he laid out six years ago in 2009. what he's against is establishing a terror state on the west bank which would create not another gas but 20 gazas. >> he didn't say what fortunate and others seem to suggest he's saying. he was very clue in his interview with andrea mitchell. he didn't change his position. he didn't run saying i'm against a palestinian state. he said i'm responsible for the security of israel. we're going see another armed terror base used to launch attacks against israel. israel left lebanon in 2000.
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we didn't get peace we got an iranian terror base. israel left gaza. we got an iranian terror base. now iran's leaders are saying in the last few weeks that they are going to arm palestinians in the west bank to launch terror attacks against israel. that the prime minister is not willing to agree to. >> if the united states doesn't stand in the way of the united nations imposing a framework of what a two state solution would look like what does that do the relationship between united states and sniz >> we hope that won't happen we know the united states stood for decades against these anti-israel resolutions. >> you do believe an imposed framework of a two state resolution is an anti-israel resolution. >> we're against imposing any resolution through the united nations because the policy of the united states has been for a very long time that you need a negotiated settlement to this conflict. only way to reach peace is if we
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have the parties at the negotiating table. a united nations resolution will do the exact opposite. it will hard palestinian position and prevent us not only from having peace today could prevent peace for decades to come because no palestinian leader will move from those positions that are put forward at the united nations. here's the problem. a major problem. what the palestinians want is they want a state that they don't want to give israel peace in return. israel is in favor of a palestinian state. that would end the conflict with israel. we're not in favor of a palestinian state. we'll don't wage war against israel. >> let me ask you something about settlements. during the campaign and i want to put this up from "the washington post," reports were netanyahu said settlement construction was not only to provide housing for residents but to deny palestinian territory and continuity. it's a neighborhood i initiated in 1997. he said its value is that it stops the continued advancement of the palestinians. this goes to the critique of the
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settlement construction that settlement construction is all about preventing a palestinian state. what do you say to that? >> that's not true. the jewish settlements will be part of any peace deal. settlement construction that goes on about 90% of it is in those areas. it's within the consensus not only inside of israel. >> do you deny settlement construction -- >> that's not the obstacle to peace. this conflict has been going on for 50 years. 50 years before there was a single settlement on the west bank. the reason we have not resolved our conflict with the palestinians is they refuse to recognize the right of a jewish state to exist period. and they don't take israel security concerns seriously. in a region where states are collapsing, where you have isis and iran backed militant islamists all over the region. isis is not thousands of miles away from israel it's 18 miles away. israel's security concerns have to be addressed seriously and the only place where it will be
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addressed is not in united nations. >> two final questions. what is a bad deal with iran? we know you're not going to get what you truly want. what's a bad deal? >> a bad deal has a short break out time. right now they are talking about a year break out time. that leafs iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure in place. a very bad deal is a deal that would automatically remove restrictions on iran's nuclear program after a decade. that's a terrible deal because it would create a situation where you have a deal that wouldn't block iran's path to the bomb it would pave it. they don't have to sneak into the nuclear club or break in. they could walk into the nuclear club, become a nuclear weapon state. it would be very dangerous. >> how do you restore trust. some in the obama administration quietly seem to hint if relations could improve with the prime minister if you western in your position. what do you say >> i serve at the pleasure of
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israeli government and the israeli prime minister. as long as they have confidence in me i'll do whatever i can to advance my country's interest but to work to strengthen the relationship between the united states and israel. we have no better friend and ally than america. all the people of israel know that. we hope the american people know as well that they have no better friend and ally in the middle east. the one solid reliable democratic ally than the state of israel and we think we believe -- >> do you believe the bristol-myers administration can trust you >> yes. >> thanks for coming on "meet the press." i'm joined now by the permanent observer of palestine in the united nations. welcome back to "meet the press." let me ask something just right off the bat about recognition of israel as a jewish state. will the palestinian, will you be able to say that the palestinian people, can you say this on your behalf you recognize israel as a jewish state? >> well, we were asked to recognize the state of israel and we have done that.
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>> not as a jewish state. >> this is a new condition that israel added. israel can characterize itself as it wish but can't demand from us things and impose conditions on us. we belong to this land. we have a long history in that land. but yet at the same time we accepted to have two states on that land. one exist. the other one is struggling for its independence so that we can actualize the objective over two state solution. now the israeli election and the statements of prime minister netanyahu are putting obstacles in the process of doing so. if we do not move seriously in the direction of a two state solution now and as he suggests to wait then there will never be a two state solution there will be a one state solution. if we have a one state solution the majority will be palestinian arabs, the minority will be
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jewish. and it will not be democratic if they want to impose on us a system that didn't work in south africa an apartheid system. it won't work in our region. therefore, i think we have a collective responsibility, all of us in the international community including the united states of america is to legislate in the security council the parameters on the two state solution to defend that plan and if prime minister netanyahu is genuinely committed and reversed his position again to a two state solution, then he should be in favor of this resolution adopted by the security council and not only that it will set the basis of a two state solution, but also it would say that it shouldn't happen in a short period of time and we should have a mechanism, elective mechanism to accomplish that objective. >> as a show of good faith would you back off on your insistence
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of becoming a member of the international criminal court an trying to use that as a way to go after sniz >> why should we back? what we're doing is legal. is peaceful. seeking accountability through -- >> you don't trust the israelis are investigating some of the bombings that took place in gaza? you don't trust them. >> this is a judgment for the international criminal court to decide upon. but the second one, for example is a continuing war crime and they are continuing with their settlements. they are continuing with an illegal policy. we are seeking a peaceful legal option. so we are doing something that's legitimate. they are doing something that is illegal. and by the way with regard to the security council, the first step should be to adopt a resolution under the parameters to defend the two state solution and then after that we should
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have another resolution demanding for israel to stop this illegal activity of settlement activities because we cannot have two state solution when we have now 600000 settlers not only in the blocks but also in other parts of the occupied territory and there is global consensus in characterizing the settlements as illegal thing. so if they want to haveserious the negotiation. >> i want to go back to the international criminal court. if you go ahead with this, israel is withholding tax revenue. >> that's also illegal. >> the united states, the united states law, it was passed in a congressional resolution that if you do this, the u.s. will withhold its funds. your willing to risk the financial stability of the palestinian authority by going this route which by the way the
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international criminal court has been unsuccessful at going after people who have truly committed horrid crimes. this is not a reliable place to go. >> listen what people should appreciate what we're doing we are refusing to seek violent ways to try to resolve this conflict. we're seeking peaceful ways. one through the security council which we have been blocked often or through legitimate international criminal court or the international court of justice. we are seeking peaceful legal methods to seek accountability, to address these issues, and to fight for the right for the causes of the palestinian people. so those who are punishing us for doing so, what message are they giving us? the message they are giving us go on fight and we don't want to fight. >> if you don't want to do that
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will you renounce your partnership with hams? >> this is another issue. i'm glad you posed the question. when we were divided it is not true it was not the policy of the prime minister netanyahu. i heard with my own ears the ambassador of israel in the united nations whom was speaking on behalf of prime minister netanyahu saying in the security council debates how can we negotiate with abbas when he doesn't represent all the palestinians. so when we were divide they didn't want to negotiate with us. when we are uned they don't want to negotiate with us. it was prime minister netanyahu who negotiated with hams a cease-fire during the second war with gaza and he negotiated to release prisoners. why it is legitimate for him to negotiate with hamas and it is not legitimate for us. >> all right.
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i'll leave it there. you have answered my question on hamas. i appreciate you coming on "meet the press." >> thank you. let's bring in the panel. helene, where do things stand right now? it is shockingly intractable. we know that. what does it mean for u.s. and israel? >> at the end of the day the underlying relationship will be there. the united states is israel's biggest and most important ally and, you know israel is a big and important ally for the united states. so all of the security guarantees that the united states has given israel all the years all the military aid, the protection, the security protection that's untouchable and it's there to stay. what's different now and this has been -- i've covered this issue for years. and when, the you know as a reporter you call the white house, you call the state department you're like oh, i bet you guys are pissed off
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about b.b. for years we heard you reporters you are overreading it there you go again making mischief. gone. this time this week i started making calls and they are -- i was shocked at the level of anger and they were proposing -- they were bringing they are the ones that brought up the u.n. the idea they may not protect israel in the u.n. security council over this outlining -- >> i want to jump off on the u.n. thing. jane harman i heard, i heard almost a resignation in the ambassador's voice that this u.n. resolution is coming. almost as if they are more concerned how it would be worded. so it's a fate accompli. do you buy that? >> not really.
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i think that there's a lot that has to happen before the u.n. vote and that includes some moves by congress. i heard lindsey graham's athlete yesterday that he wants congress to withhold u.s. funding for the u.n. so i think there are a lot of moving parts. i'm from california. this is an earthquake. and the perceptions have shifted regardless of what b.b. said before or said during the campaign and helene is right that at least in the u.s. and i guess in many parts of the world people are viewing this differently and it matters what b.b.'s next moves are. >> that's problem for netanyahu rich, if u.s. has been sort of standing in the way of even western europe from doing boycotts and all of these things, how does the economic -- >> let's be honest about what's going on here. b.b. won an election when everyone on the left and the white house around the world thought he was going to lose, was ready to dance a happy jig on his political grave and it
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didn't happen and we had this temper tantrum ever since. on top of this president obama hates him with a burning passion. it's as if ted cruz -- think about this. we're on a verge of a major diplomatic revolution forge an opening with iran and we're going leave iran of its u.n. blagss to end its nuclear program at the same time we're going start isolating israel at the u.n. this is completely perverse and makes no strategic sense. >> john stanton, the person that needs this is hillary clinton? >> yeah. >> she doesn't want a rift with israel by obama. >> no. also in a sense it could help her in a way because it could provide her the opportunity to make a very stark statement of i would not do this. it helps separate her from obama which she will need a little bit. >> we'll see. i'll be curious if the left wants to hear that. i don't know. we'll talk more about 2016. we pause it. coming up california's jerry
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brown and fighting climate change and wait until you hear how he says he may have considered a 2016 presidential run. you don't want to mis [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, we've always been at the forefront of advanced electronics. providing technology to get more detail... ♪ ♪ detect hidden threats... ♪ ♪ see the whole picture... ♪ ♪ process critical information and put it in the hands of our defenders. reaching constantly evolving threats before they reach us. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. just stay calm and move as quietly as possible. no sudden movements. google search: bodega beach house.
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if you're only tuning in on sundays you may already be behind on the conversation from analysis of the israeli election results to how 20160 and the candidates are past their honeymoon phase.
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no one has declared. our nbc politics team has been delivering this and more to your inbox every morning. those are just the headlines last week. go to so you can get that wisdom. when we come back the california governor sounds off about climate change, ted cruz and his own 2016 plans. in small business you have to work hard, know your numbers, and stay focused. i was determined to create new york city's first self-serve frozen yogurt franchise.
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natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more. welcome back. this week there was more evidence that climate change is, indeed, having a big impact with the news the level of sea ice in the arctic has now fallen to a record low. while the issue is still polarizing here in washington president obama has tried to make fighting climate change a priority in his second term. on thursday he signed an executive order that directs the federal government to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40%
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from 2008 levels and to make that cut over the next decade. in california's governor jerry brown is having to propose a $1.1 billion emergency funding package to deal with that state's severe drought. it has blighted that state for four years. on friday, i was joined by governor brown and i started by asking him if drought conditions in california are now the new normal? >> it's turning out that way. what we're really doing here is accelerating funding that i asked for in january we're moving it faster, adding some new programs, trying to push the envelope as it were because any kind of building or technology whether it be for efficiency or storage it does take time and we are running out of time because it is not raining. california has to take decisive action and has. we have first water action plan in the state's history. we have a $7 billion water bond
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that we're throwing funds from and very importantly for the first time the state of california has the authority to start regulating the water that's under the ground on private property. very far reaching and the implementation of that will go a long way to helping us. >> do you think before you leave as governor you're going to end up having to ration water? >> i don't want to speculate on that because first of all mandatory rationing is a word that you have to apply to you know, 14 million homes and hundreds of water districts. this thing is to be developed very carefully. we're watching it on a weekly even a daily basis. there are many parts of california, many people, many business, many farmers many homes. and some people are already in rationing in the town of st. helena. others think they have a lot of water. we're one big state very diverse and managing it i think in an
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intelligent way and increasingly we're taking more mandatory measures. >> is there any particular industry part of the state that isn't taking this as seriously as you would like them to take it? >> well, i think those that have good water storage and have been more prudent are not as anxious as they should. i think the whole spectrum of these golf courses with temperatures of 85 degrees out they have to find a way to absolutely recycle 100% and introduce these restrictions. we'll know more. the rainy season is over in three weeks. we'll know even more then. have no doubt, our best water experts and scientists and regulators are looking at this as we speak and we're getting ready to respond as mother nature tells us what's up ahead. >> speaking of mother nature, this drought issue directly
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attributable to climate change in your opinion? >> look, as they say the scientists know more about this. i'll tell you this. our research results that now say there's a connection to the current drought and the extreme weather in the east and other parts of the world, the u.n. has already said there's going to be 40% of the world will suffer from water short judging. >> are your scientists not yet saying this drought is connected to climate change? is that why you're hesitant. >> to particularize a particular storm or absence of rain in a given week, you can't tie that into the build up unprecedented of carbon dioxide and methane and other greenhouse gases. we know there is some connection and we know that this drought is just the kinds of things that are absolutely inevitable in the coming years and decades. and it builds up slowly. that's the challenge. and it becomes irreversible.
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so you can't just sit around and engaging rhetoric because some of your donors and your constituents say well we want to make profit. the coal companies are not as important as the people of america and the people of the world. and i think this has to be almost at the level of a crusade to wake people up and take the steps intelligently, carefully but nevertheless forcefully from this point going forward. >> as you know tissue of climate change is polarizing. i'll play four a clip this week from one of the republican presidential candidates on the issue of climate change. here it is. >> as i think the world is on fire literally. hottest year on record. you're not there, right? >> i just came back from new hampshire where there's snow and ice every where. my view actually is simple. debates on this should follow science and should follow data and many of the alarmists on global warming they have a problem because the science doesn't back them up.
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>> that was republican senator ted cruz a likely presidential candidate saying what he said on climate change. what do you say because you've dealt with some republican skeptics in california. >> what he said is absolutely false. over 90% of the scientists that deal with climate are convinced that the human activity, the industrial activity, the generation of co-2, methane oxides are building up in the atmosphere heat-trapping and causing not just warm drought in california but severe storms and cold in the east coast. so it's climate disruption of many different kinds. that man betoken a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of that data. that man has rendered himself un-foot run for office.
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>> speaking of climate change some environmentalists are not happy with you because of fracking, you allowed fracking to go on in california. you have a study coming out later in the summer. considering how much water by the way is used for fracking, isn't that alone your water crisis in california? isn't that alone enough reason to prohibit fracking or temporarily stop it? >> no. not at all. first of all fracking in california has been going on for 50 years. it uses a fraction of fracking on the east coast for gas particularly. this is vertical fracking for the most part. it is different. california imports 70% of our petroleum products. our cars drive over 330 billion miles mostly on petroleum. if we reduce our oil drilling in california by a few percent which fracking would do we would import more oil by train or boat. that doesn't make a lot of sense. what we need to do is move to
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electric cars, more efficient buildings and more renewable energy. in that respect california is leading the country and some would say the world and we will continue moving down that path. >> i know what you said about a presidential race for yourself. let me ask the 2016 question this way. what are the three issues these presidential candidates should be talking about and probably will be dealing with in their first year in office in 2017. >> i think they have to -- you got to get a budget that lives within its means and you can't spend 21 or 22% of the gross domestic product and only collect 18%. you have to find some ways of getting some revenue, particularly on our roads and highways and transportation trains and bridges. pretty fundamental. secondly i think climate change very important. and thirdly we have to invest in science, in technology, in our universities and that's building for the future and that's stealing from it.
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i would like to see a positive agenda and not the methodology that somehow government can retract to where it was in 1929 under calvin coolidge. >> if you were ten years younger would you be running this year? >> yes i would. >> you would be running for president? >> i can't say. i've run three times. if i could go back in the time machine and be 66, you know i might jump in. that's a counter factual. we don't need to speculate on that. >> governor jerry brown oldest and youngest governors of california. thanks for coming on "meet the press." >> thank you. let's get some quick reaction. jane harman he's your governor. how about the honesty? >> i loved it. >> should he run anyway? >> that's his call. you know, hey what's old isn't old to me any more. but i remember him as a young governor too. he's better now. this is jerry brown reaching the gold standard. >> speaking of democrats and presidential politics, john stanton today's "boston globe"
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let me put it up. have an entire special section devoted to convince senator warren to run for president. "boston globe" is used to somebody from massachusetts running for president. they realize their expense accounts will get smaller. but the editorial calls on her to run. three supporting articles from op-ed authors why she should do this. do you think these draft things can work >> with warren, i don't. she's not going run. she enjoy this. for her and for people that are smart about what they are doing with these drafting movements with her they are going to try to bring her big toishsissues to table and make her a voice in the democratic election to keep hillary to the left. >> the day she got in is the day she loses that influence. rich lowry nobody nbc news confirms the first official candidate for president a major candidate for president ted cruz freshman senator from texas.
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what's interesting he's doing it at liberty university, a university founded by reverend jerry falwell. what does that tell you. it's not about virginia. what does that tell you? >> it's shrewd for him to go first. the location goes the fact that his path to nomination requires uniting the populist right and it means the likes of ben carson and mike huckabee have to fizzle on the launching pad. scott walker has to lose altitude. this is a crowded running lane that he's in. >> especially social conservatives and you look at it you see helene, mike huckabee can he not raise the money. scott walker want as piece. ted cruz thinks he can win iowa. huckabee has proven it. >> absolutely it feels we're in a game of thrones sort of. i think this feels very shrewd
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on the part of cruz. rich is right. >> not only that jerry brown just handed him his first fundraising material to the right anyway there. >> our emails are in our inbox. >> i have more president ideal politics coming up. next i'll take a look at just how different the primary electorates are between the race democrats and who shows up to these primaries for 2016. we'll be right back. (car starting) great. this is the last thing i need. seriously? the last thing you need is some guy giving you a new catalytic converter when all you got is a loose gas cap. what? it is that simple sometimes. thanks. now let's take this puppy over to midas and get you some of the good 'ol midas touch. hey you know what? i'll drive! and i have no feet... i really didn't think this through. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling)
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nerd screen time while we wait to see which candidates decide to run, might have one tomorrow this sunday i want to take a look at the democratic and republican presidential primary electorate, the voters who will decide who gets their party's nomination in 2016 and we wanted to show you how different these two groups much voters are. we got all of this from our recent "wall street journal" poll asking people which primary do they plan on voting in. let's start with republicans. over half of the republican primary electorate is over the age of 50, male and almost completely white. 95% of the republican primary electorate is white. now take a look at the democrats. more than half of their electorate is under the age of 50. female. and less than two-thirds are white. so just look at the white vote percentages among primary
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voters. here's what could spell trouble for the republicans in the general election and here's why. over the last six presidential elections, as the country has become more racially diverse the percentage of white voters in the general election has been steadily dropping. in 1992 look at that it was 87%. in 2012 gone all the way down 72%. democratic primary electorate is 62% white. more closely reflecting this overall trend than the republican primary electorate sitting at 95% white. in 2016 the expectation is it's probably going be 70% white 30% nonwhite. so democrats have an inherent advantage. demographics are a problem for republicans because older white republicans tend to be more conservative. candidates have to go further right to win the nomination. they make up 95% of the primary electorate and then they have to swing back to the center in the general election to appeal to a more diverse group of voters.
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romney failed to do that in 2012. nor on this and the ideological split between the two primary 40% of the streetlights in detroit, at one point, did not work. you had some blocks and you had major thoroughfares and corridors that were just totally pitch black. those things had to change. we wanted to restore our lighting system in the city. you can have the greatest dreams in the world, but unless you can finance those dreams, it doesn't happen. at the time that the bankruptcy filing was done, the public lighting authority had a hard time of finding a bank. citi did not run away from the table like some other bankers did. citi had the strength to help us go to the credit markets and raise the money. it's a brighter day in detroit. people can see better when they're out doing their tasks, young people are moving back in town the kids are feeling safer while they walk to school. and folks are making investments and the community is moving forward. 40% of the lights were out, but they're not out for long.they're coming back.
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and we are back. before we end the show with the panel in our end game segment, this week marks the 70th anniversary of the culmination of one of the bloodiest and most iconic episodes of the "second world war," the battle for iwo
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jima off the coast of japan. this weekend some of the few surviving japanese and american veterans gathered on the island and one veteran has been reflecting on all of this with our own harry smith. >> lawrence was a 23-year-old rifle company commander when he first laid eyes on iwo jima. 07 years later memories are not so far away. >> i carried 231 marines to the shore. then six days later we walked off only 99 of us. >> iwo jima where more than 20,000 u.s. marines were either killed or wounded. the sands were sacred. >> when we first landed and within the first hour it wasn't too bad. then the bottom fell out. it got worse. we lost 2,000 men the first day. >> those who survived saw their
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comrades fall in a rain of enemy fire. the man who became lieutenant general snowden held a marine he knew was dying. >> i got emotional about that and held this young man and my prayer was to god to take this man home. >> after five days of fighting joe rosenthal took the picture, marines planting the american flag on japanese soil, victory here, those would not be achieved for more than a month. >> the marines didn't barrett brunt of the battle. but the battle i know of was the individual performance of the marines that led us to victory. >> a 70th anniversary reunion of honor was held saturday on iwo jima. once bitter enemies gathered in peace to recall the sacrifices made here. and the old general has but one wish. >> that's my hope that,
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eventually the young people will get the message that somebody has to pay for freedom sbchlt while their forebearers did it now it may turn out to be your turn. that of course was my colleague, harry smith, with retired lieutenant general lawrence snowden. on the 70th anniversary of eeiwo jima be back for end game in less - you set rules around the house, right? so set rules for your kids when they go online: don't be a cyberbully.
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no racy selfies. and remember everyone can see everything you post, even grandma. rules keep kids safe online. the more you know. back now with the panel end game time. loretta lynch this is she's still not confirmed. it's been she was nominated before ash carter was nominated to be defense secretary. confirmed. ash carter has been confirmed. she has not. listen to what president obama had to say to "huffington post" on friday about loretta lynch. >> the irony is the republicans dislike mr. holder.
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if they want to get rid of him get loretta lynch confirmed. >> whether she thinks the executive branch can in effect write laws on its own is a threshold question. her answer in the affirmative should be disqualifying no matter how historic her confirmation would be. this is the stance john mccain is using the same reasoning on this. don't you expect president obama if she goes down to either keep eric holder who also agrees? what's the end game here? >> the holder thing is unavoidable. the end game is to maintain the principle with the institution self respect that the senate will not put an attorney general in that the president can write laws on its own. if that means no one else is confirmed and eric hold certificate there for another two years sob pit. nothing against her personally.
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the senate can't do this. >> so your advice to mitch mcconnell, he wants to use it as a bargaining chip. you think it should be a principle decision. bring up the vote now. >> i don't think she should come up for a vote. >> you wouldn't bring her up for a vote. >> no. >> why. >> because of this principle. >> then vote her down. >> don't even bring her up for a vote. as a matter of faithful nose the constitution no attorney general nominee who has the view that congress can be cut-out of the law writing process should even be considered. >> jane harman you were a former member of congress. >> i remember bush 41 term one when the commander-in-chief authorities were used to do everything and i was in congress as the senior democrat on the intelligence committee and we were cut-out of a lot of the back up for these new rules and laws. i just want to say one thing about her. she's superbly qualified. she will render impartial judgment. the point here is the president is using his authority to issue
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executive orders not write laws. >> look they say it's prosecutorial discretion what they are doing but that has to do with individual immigration officers making case by case decisions. the president says this applies to 5 million people. >> by the way the courts are going to decide. >> congress should have its own view of what is constitution all nor not. >> john stanton, obviously there's some republicans who sit here and say quietly wondering does this make the party look bad they are standing in the way of a historic nomination african-american woman. the president itself is not suggesting race is playing at that role but some african-americans see it as race. >> some do. dick durbin said it on the nature floor. i don't think it has anything to do with race. >> it's all about immigration. >> all about immigration and mcconnell finding himself in a box. he wanted to avoid this. he wanted to get this done early. we don't want holder we want to
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get rid of him. he's now -- this could in the end help them because it could hurt her politically enough they may be able to tamp her down a bit when she gets confirmed. >> helene cooper, let me quote rudy giuliani. i find loretta lynch not only to be an acceptable appointment but i find to her to be an extraordinary appointment. i'm going to be shocked the white house is quoting rudy giuliani. >> you never know they might at some point. >> she may not get confirmed. >> i'm not assuming she will. it's hard to imagine with the sort of atmosphere that we now have and the deep divisions between president obama and the republican congress who he can come up with who would be palatable to president obama and this republican -- >> chuck schumer came up with casey. so maybe cornyn has to come up with somebody. finally i want to go to aaron
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schock who resigned this week amid a congressional probe into the use of federal tax money. there's a preliminary ininquiry into schock which could thread charges. schock shardly the first politician from the land of lincoln to be under investigation. his allegations may not crack the top five of corruption in illinois. quick snapshot of illinois politicians who ended up behind bars. four governors, one currently serving time back-to-back governors, john stanton. we got jesse jackson jr. he replaced somebody who was also behind bars. aaron schock here if he done end up in prison he's not even in the sweet 16 of corruption in illinois. >> illinois has become the new louisiana for your stereotypical stand for corruption. >> this scamming of mileage stuff, what are they thinking? this seems petty.
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>> hubris is a sad thing and i want erupts all over the place including business and politics. but it seems to me in this case it's a sad story. and rather than mock him feel very sad that congress once again has been stained by the behavior of a member. >> all right. thank you all. congratulations illinois. that's all for today. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday it's "meet the press."
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good morning. i'm vai sikahema. we're in the midst of march madness. brackets are filled. the big dance is under way and the games will rake in billions of dollars. those big bucks aren't going over well with everyone. some say it's the ncaa school corporate sponsors who win. not the fans and certainly not the athletes. a group wants the athletes to get a slice of that pie. they started add movement to play college basketball and football players. the e


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