krauthammer is driving the same thing now. it is still really senator john mccain. over the past week senator john mccain made six different television appearances just to talk about the benghazi attack and obama administration cover-up of the attack making his case over and over and over again to any blinking red light within sight about how benghazi should not be viewed as an attack on a u.s. consulate but instead be viewed as a democratic lie. an obama scandal. the senate needs more information about this blatant cover-up, says john mccain. john mccain needs more information. this, for example, is john mccain convening a press conference yesterday morning denouncing the scandal that congress is not being given enough information about this horrible scandal that he can't get any answers on. while john mccain was demanding answers at this press conference, that he convened yesterday morning, some of this colleagues, from a committee that he's a member of, were getting answers. on the subject that he was so mad about. john mccain was missing a three-hour high-level closed classified b

see him taking on an old bitter foe. >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. >> tonight congressman tim ryan of ohio on the president's middle class rally be cry. jonathan alter on the epic throwdown with john mccain. plus the new senator even nate silver didn't see coming. >> we missed the north dakota senator. >> yes, you did. >> heidi highcamp joins me for an exclusive interview. and republicans in ohio haven't learned anything. tonight state senator nina turner on today's republican vote to defund planned parenthood. >> good to you have with us tonight. thanks for watching. absence of arrogance. president obama continued his fight for the middle class today and hit back at republican bullies in the process. the president held his first new conference since winning the president once again pipts the first time he's faced the news media without the worry or pressure for reelection. president obama is staying in constant communication with the american public as he makes it clear the country cannot afford to extend the

john mccain continues to spiral out of control over benghazi. >> the chickens are now coming home to roost. >> the banks revolt against elizabeth warren. >>> and workers are threatening strikes at walmart stores across america. >> we expect our associates to do their job. >> josh ed elson has the latest on the workers versus walmart. >>> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. democratic leaders are in the budget fight to win it for the middle class. president obama is wrapping up his southeast asia trip. he was overheard requesting help from a higher power to solve the standoff in washington. >> in washington he's deadly serious about keeping the upper hand in negotiations. democrats are defending the line in the sand. here's how democratic leader nancy pelosi when she was asked if the democrats would accept a deal extending tax cuts for the wealthy. >> talking about a possible come romiez that would cap deductions. is that something that's acceptable? >> no. the president made it very clear in his campaign that there's not enough resources. what you just described is a formu

. and yes, that means steve schmidt and michael steele and meghan mccain, who we've been able to bring on board officially here at this network, but also, everybody else on the right, who was willing to come on just as a guest, because you are not afraid to leave the echo chamber. i will not say your name here for fear it will get all your christmas party invitations rescinded from your friends on the right. but you know who you are and i thank you. and i hope there are more of you next year. i'm thankful for c-span. i'm thankful for the election that we just went through. and i'm thankful that it is over. and that it really, really, really, i swear, it really is too soon to start talking about 2016, for a long time, it will be too soon to talk about 2016. i am thankful for that. and for the fact that through this flawed and contested, but ultimately noble system of regular elections and representative democracy, what we have in this country are peaceful transitions of power. i am thankful for all of that. and you know what, i am thankful for the fact that the highest profile per

, great to have you with us. >>> john mccain changes his tune on susan rice. how does this guy have any credibility left whatsoever? michael tomasky will weigh in next. >>> republicans are getting real. we'll have the new revelations about their bid to block the vote. >>> and what it means in the next election. stay tuned. we're on point. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. if you're eligible for medicare, you might know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help pay some of the difference. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral to see a specialist. so don't wait. call now to request a free decision guide to he

two people -- >> no. well -- >> bill: no. >> same thing happened with mccain! same thing! >> bill: did it really? how many did mccain get? >> there were 59 voting districts. 57, mccain got none. zero. not one. >> bill: you know, they do she unanimous begans going on? >> i don't think so because i haven't heard any reason to think so. it's not like republican high school some huge numbers in these precincts up until romney, you know. >> bill: these are largely african-american? >> almost uniformly black. almost universally inner city and not particulary wealthy and the philadelphia enquirer went out there and said, we're going to get to the bottom of this.

good seeing you again. >> thanks, neil. >>> coming up, -- >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. >> all right. you're on, mr. president. the good senators here to say that himself. >>> there saw lot of clean up to do. people need help and heat and power. they still need food. they need shelter and the kids are still trying to figure out where they are going to school. there is a lot of short-term immediate stuff that has to be dealt with, and we are going to make sure that we stay here as long as people need that help. that's fema's primary task. >> well it is a good thing because those people need help and for quite awhile. president obama visiting storm-ravaged staten island. lots of folks are still without any place to live today. they are without power and without hope and without a lot of stuff. so with things looking hopeless out there, we decided to bring melissa francis here to offer some advice on how you get through pretty bad stuff like this. why melissa francis you ask? what is this harvard inning indicated --

. dionne, great to have you with us. >>> john mccain changes his tune on susan rice. how does this guy have any credibility left whatsoever? michael tomasky will weigh in next. >>> republicans are getting real. we'll have the new revelations about their bid to block the vote. >>> and what it means in the next election. stay tuned. we're on point. ♪ it's so important to make someone happy ♪ when you give a child a toy, it has to work. ♪ make just one someone happy and when it's a toys for tots child, well, what could be more important? so this year, every hasbro toy donated to toys for tots will be powered by duracell. happy holidays. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere. ed show." john mccain would do everything in his power to keep susan rice from become become secretary of state if nominated. mccain can claimed he would block not just rice but anyone the president nominated. yet over the weekend, it must have been the turkey. mccain seemed to have a change of heart. >> she could conceivable get your vote for secretary of state. >> i think she deserves the ability and the

>>> tomorrow night, i'll talk to senator john mccain with his battle with president obama over benghazi. that's all for us. that's all for us. "ac 360" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> good evening. >>> we start every night like we always do "keeping them honest." we begin tonight looking for facts not offering opinions or trying to play favorites. not supporting democrats or republicans. you can find that on plenty of other cable channels. just finding the truth, finding the facts. tonight the focus on what played out in washington today. two foes back at it again. the battle over benghazi, the attack that killed four americans. senator mccain has maintained either white house negligence or a cover up. today sep tor mccain took it a step further saying that because of susan rice's narrative role following the attacks, he and senator mccain would block any effort to promote ms. rice to secretary of state, should hillary clinton leave that post. president obama took the opportunity to fire back directly at the senator. >> if senators mccain and graham and oth

mccain to lead them on foreign policy. senator mccain continued to lead the charge. as of this weekend, for politicizing the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya, he's not only saying he would block susan rice from being nominated to succeed hillary clinton as secretary of state if president obama makes that nomination, he now says he would block all nominations for anybody to succeed hillary clinton as secretary of state until he feels satisfied that he, john mccain, has received the information that he wants to receive about libya. this coming from the man who didn't bother to show up to the three-hour briefing on libya that was in his committee last week. but he's not embarrassed by that. he wants america not to have a secretary of state until he gets what he wants. even though we don't know what it is that he wants. because it's definitely not more information, because when information is being offered, he's not showing up for the briefings. how did john mccain get to be the republican party's north star on foreign policy in 2012? i mean, senator mccain had a capital h heroic mili

twinkie with rolling stone's matt taibbi. >>> plus john mccain. >> the chickens are now coming home the roost. >>> the banks revolt against elizabeth warren, and workers are threatening strikes at walmart stores across america. >> we expect our associates to show up and to do their job. >> josh edleston has the latest on the workers very walmart. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. democratic leaders are in this budget fight to win it for the middle class. president obama is wrapping up his southeast asia trip. in thailand he was overheard requesting help from a higher power to solve the standoff in washington. >> yes, we're working on this budget, and we're going to need a lot of prayer for that. >> the president is being lighthearted about it overseas, but in washington he is deadly serious about keeping the upper hand in negotiations. fellow democrats are defending the line in the sand. here is house democratic leader nancy pelosi when she was asked if the democrats would accept a deal extending tax cuts for the wealthy. >> we've seen talk about a possib

. susan rice and john mccain, the man who wanted watergate style hearings, meet. and only cnn catches up with mccain before the big meeting. >> what do you have to learn today from miss rice? >> whatever ambassador rice wants to tell me. she's the one who asked for the meeting. i didn't. >> wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall? >>> spyfall, real-life bond movie. yasser arafat's body was exhumed. was the palestinian leader po h poisoned by israeli spies? >>> plus this. >> you said walden is in trouble. >> i'm the trouble walden has been in, repeatedly. >> he calls it filth, the half in "two and a half men" begs you not to watch his show. "newsroom" starts now. >>> good morning to you. thank you so much for being with us. i'm carol costello. we begin with a high stakes meeting just minutes from now. this hour, the u.s. ambassador to the united nations will muster all of her diplomatic skills and tiptoe through a political mine field. susan rice meets with republican senator john mccain. as you know, mccain had vehemently opposed her nomination of secretary of state. now he shows signs

>>> tomorrow night, i'll talk to senator john mccain with his battle with president obama over benghazi. that's all for us. "ac 360" starts now. >>> we begin as we do keeping them honest looking for facts not offering opinions or playing favorites. we're not supporting democrats or republicans. you can find that on plenty of other cable channels. our goal reporting, finding the facts. tonight our focus, it's over the attacks in benghazi. today, mr. mccain took it a step further enand said because of susan rice's role, the confusing fact, we'll talk to senator mccain in a second so president obama took the opportunity to fire back directly at the senator. >> if senator mccain and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. and i'm happy to have that discussion with them. but for them to go after the u.n. ambassador, who had nothing to do with benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous. >> well, senator mccain heard that remark. 73 minutes later took to the floor of the u.s.

. that very public dispute from john mccain, who also never forgives, and president obama over susan rice. could it be mccain hasn't gotten over the 2008 election? we're sort of stacking up revenge here on the other side. i got nothing more to say about that. >>> plus spy fall, what we're learning about the affair that brought down the cia chief and perhaps derailed the promotion of the top general. and has been tabloid fodder now for almost a week. >>> and besides complaining about how president obama won re-election by giving away gifts to minorities and young voters, ever wonder what mitt romney has done -- actually been doing since the election? well, david letterman has an idea. >> today mitt romney drew a picture of the house of representatives chamber and gave a state of the union address in front of it. >> and the fourth new entitlement, obama care, we repeal that one. >> message from pretend president romney. >> got a few more of those sugar plums in the side shows. let me finish way book about when we hay hero for a president. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪

now. thanks so much. >> good to be with you. >> john mccain abruptly changes his tune on susan rice. how does this guy have any credibility left whatsoever? mike it will tumaski has written about it and will weigh in next. >>> then the republicans are finally getting real. we'll have the new revelations about their bid to block the vote. and what it means in, yes, the next election. stay tuned. we're on point. show." little refresher course here. john mccain said that he would do everything in his power to prevent u.n. ambassador susan rice from becoming secretary of state if nominated. in fact, mccain claimed that he would block not just rice but anyone the president nominated. yet, over the weekend, it must have been the turkey. mccain seemed to have a change of heart. >> she could conceivably get your vote for secretary of state? >> i think she deserves the ability and the opportunity to explain herself and her position just as she said. >> mccain has given up on blaming susan rice for the administration's response to the attacks on the consulate in benghazi. tomorrow, rice, alon

. >> and there's an amazement at the white house that senator mccain and senator graham went so hard after susan rice, having just come out of an election in which republicans lost votes among single women in particular and did badly with minorities, so to go off the susan rice, an african-american female, the white house saying what are they doing? chris: does it look that way as an observer, sexist? >> i wonder if something else is going on, whether lindsey graham wants to do something on immigration reform or is trying to cover his back on benghazi or there are politicks to play but the white house can't understand the opportunity. chris: a lot of motives going on there. >> chris, i live in brooklyn and bringing you two updates for the sandy recovery on the effort back home. chris: good for you. >> good news and bad news. good news, the motorized wheelchairs are beginning to work again and old people's wheelchairs are powered by electricity and when the power goes out they literally can't move around. the power is beginning to come on in some of the high-rise buildings so people a

for senator john mccain. >>> and first, it was papa john's. now denny's is serving up a grandstand breakfast on obama care. good to have you with us tonight. the republican party has an identity crisis. african-american and hispanic voters have been told they were bribed by their vote for president obama. this is not a winning message for republicans. now or in the future. mitt romney was the big loser for the republican party and he's now thrown the gop into turmoil as he rides off into the sunset. once again, romney was recorded telling his big donors what he really thinks about americans. >> what the president, president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote. >> extraordinary financial gifts. msnbc can't confirm the authenticity of the recording although we do not know when the call was recorded. romney went on to explain why he believes minority voters chose president obama. >> what the president did is he gave them two, two things.

. >> we'll do whatever is necessary to block the nomination. >> reporter: senators john mccain and lindsey graham said rice was either lying or incompetent when she made this statement five days after the attack. >> we don't have information at present that leads us to conclude this was premeditated or preplanned. >> reporter: president obama said the ambassador was presenting the intelligence information she was given. he challenged those who attacked ambassador rice. >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody they should go after me. >> reporter: senator mccain accepted that offer. >> the president of the united states, the commander-in-chief is the most responsible and i hope the president has no illusions about our view of his responsibility. >> reporter: mccain and graham want a watergate style committee to investigate the benghazi attack. and general petraeus will testify here on capitol hill tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. back to you. >>> president obama and republicans in congress have staked out their position on the so-called fiscal cliff.

news tonight. ambassador susan rice will meet face-to-face with john mccain tomorrow. >>> plus, he's the wrong with everything wrong with politics in america and now donald's kids know it. what happened in the trump political intervention? >>> and we'll tell you what joe biden is doing in this picture. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. there are patients who will question, why does my mouth feel dryer than i remember it to be? there are more people taking more medication, so we see people suffering from dry mouth more so. we may see more cavities, bad breath, oral irritation. a dry mouth sufferer doesn't have to suffer. i would recommend biotene. the enzymes in biotene products help supplement enzymes that are naturally in saliva. biotene helps moisten those areas that have become dry. those that are suffering can certainly benefit from biotene. >>> what did the gop learn from that devastating election defeat? not enough. in some places they just picked up where they left off before the election. that's next. >>> republicans spent the last two years attacking voting rights a

questions about susan rice -- >> about the benghazi attacks. >> senator mccain and senator graham want to go after somebody, they should go after me. >> former cia director david petraeus will testify before the senate intelligence committee. >> general petraeus had an affair with his biographer. people are snapping up copies of the book. >> it's so pathetic. >> the book is available in hard cover and extremely hard cover. >>> today on an i'm sorry i lost conference call with top campaign don't oorks ors, mitt romney said the president won the election because he game african-american and latino voters, quote, gifts. abc news has this audio. >> what the president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote. >> romney also said that the president's campaign focused on giving targeted groups a big gift so he made a big effort on small things. those small things, by the way, add up to trillions of dollars. he said the president followed the old play book

when asked about the white house spin and the benghazi terror attack. >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. >> the president of the united states did not tell the american people the truth about the attacks that took four grave americans' lives that went on for eight, seven hours for which we were totally unprepared. >> how did the media handle this showdown? a new scandal involving now former cia director general petraeus and an extramarital affair, a florida socialite, a bare chested fbi agent and is this a concern or a washington smoke screen? >> i don't think anyone on either side of the aisle underestimates the difficulties. >> both sides work to gain the high ground in dealing with the looming fiscal cliff, but the media seem to be one-sided in the details. which side do you think they're on? and it's in with the new, but are the old staying, too. >> oh, you've always asked that question except to mitch mcconnell. >> on the panel this week, writer and fox news contributor judy miller. jove oldman, talk radio and jim

. let me start with this. there's a real battle going on tonight. john mccain is out there on every television show accusing u.n. ambassador susan rice of covering up a national security breach. he says rice denied al qaeda's lead role in the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi that cost the lives of ambassador chris stevens and three others and she did so knowing it was true. well, the man who defeated mccain in the 2008 presidential campaign takes this as a personal shot at him. how will he respond? will he name ambassador rice his new secretary of state to replace hillary clinton? will he meet mccain's challenge head on and send rice up to the capitol to go face-to-face with the enemy? tonight we study the battlefield and the firepower of the two sides in this year-ending fire fight. mccain sure wants this fight, but do his fellow republicans? do they want an older white guy taking on the competence of a young woman of color, a rhodes scholar of solid reputation? most important, what end does the president want for this match of fact and wits? i'm joined by michael o'hanlon

? >> thank you, mr. president. senator john mccain and senator lindsey graham both said today they want to have watergate style hearings on the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi and said if you nominate susan rice to be secretary of state, they will do everything in their power to block her nomination as senator graham said, he simply doesn't trust ambassador rice after what she said about benghazi. i would like your reaction to that and would those threats deter you from making a nomination like that? >> well, first of all, i'm not going to comment at this point on various nominations i'll put forward to fill out my cabinet for the second term. those are things that are still being discussed. but let me say specifically about susan rice, she has done exemplary work. she has represented the united states and our interests in the united nations with skill and professionalism and toughness and grace. as i said before, she made an appearance at the request of the white house in which she gave her best understanding of the intelligence that had been provided to her. if senator mccain an

election in 2008 when this bragging that we get every year was being done by a john mccain republican surrogate named mitt romney. >> inside a campaign, what do you get on the inside that we don't get on the outside because you're doing your own polling? >> you see the widest array of polls. you look at mason dixon that came out yesterday. you take that apart, it's close to the internal polls. it shows that john mccain is leading in the states that he's got to lead in. we're going to pick up pennsylvania. we have a good shot in virginia, new hampshire, new mexico, nevada, that's the pathway to victory for john mccain. we're excited. we're hoping to see a lot of people out there in chicago on election night with barack obama experiencing a long, cold night, that john mccain won. >> it's nice he wishes physical discomfort on his enemies. but notice what exactly he was so confidently predicting there. the day before the election in 2008, it was mitt romney. these were his predictions for states that john mccain was definitely going to win. >> john mccain is leading in the states he's got