Chris Matthews challenges the Hardball Roundtable to tell him something he doesn’t know. Here are some of their scoops:
Jeb Bush might not have landed a punch against Marco Rubio in last week’s debate, but the spirit of his attack is resonating with voters. In the debate, Bush cited Rubio’s poor record of attendance in the Senate and urged him to start showing up to work, or resign his seat. Real Clear Politics’ Rebecca Berg says on a recent trip home to Florida, she asked voters at a series of Donald Trump rallies why they are not backing Bush and Rubio — and many voters raised Rubio’s spotty attendance. A few even recited the exact percentage of votes he has missed.
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Meanwhile, Mother Jones’ David Corn has a tidbit about the latest GOP front runner: Dr. Ben Carson. At a book promotion event last year, Carson, talking about Americans, said, “Many of them are stupid.” But there’s more. At the same event, he said “all the media” has tried to “shut” him down. That remark shows that he shares the prominent — but false — right-wing view that conservatives are persecuted. Carson went on to say, “We’d be Cuba if there were no Fox News.” Really? Only Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly are preventing us from being a repressive one-party state? Another extreme and nonsensical statement from Carson.
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Finally, the Wall Street Journal’s Carol Lee says President Obama is going to send a new plan to Congress for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, but his plan is coming too late to have an impact on the legislation that sets defense policy for 2016 (the NDAA). The president faces two options: try to get the language changed in the NDAA that will be negotiated next year, setting policy for 2017, and set the stage for closure after he leaves office; or take executive action. This fight has been under the radar for the last couple of years, but it is about to really heat up.
The Staff