“Cordray was being filibustered because we don’t like the law… That’s not a reason to deny someone their appointment. We were wrong.”This most unlikely sentiment was actually expressed by a GOP senator yesterday. Can you guess which one?
On the show today:Michael Scherer, White House Correspondent, TIME (@michaelscherer)EJ Dionne, Columnist, The Washington Post/Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institute/msnbc Contributor (@ejdionne)Annie Lowrey, Economy Reporter, New York Times (@annielowrey)Michael Steele, Fmr. RNC Chairman/msnbc Political Analyst (@steele_michael)
The Guardian‘s Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) will be joining Alex to discuss the latest on Edward Snowden and the ongoing NSA surveillance scandal, and GQ correspondent Brett Martin (@brettmartin) will be discussing his new book, Difficult Men.
First up, with all of the bluster and gum-flapping surrounding the filibuster battle this week, you may have forgotten about the whole other ball of dysfunction that is immigration reform. With the bipartisan Senate bill apparently “DOA” in the GOP controlled House, President Obama is now publicly jumping in to the debate. In an interview with Telemundo’s Dallas affiliate, the President aptly compared Congress’ behavior to that of his children:
the danger of doing it in pieces is a lot of groups want different things – and there’s a tendency to put off the hard stuff until the end. And if you’ve eaten your dessert before you’ve eaten your meal at least with my children, sometimes they don’t end up eating their vegetables. So we need to do this as a complete package.
Watch the interview below.
For their part, the bipartisan “gang of eight” is targeting 121 House Republicans, including Paul Ryan, whom Democrats hope could emerge as a champion of immigration reform. Might he be able to build a consensus? Can Obama still have an effect on the outcome, or has he already achieved lame duck status? Next up, the latest on Edward Snowden and a discussion with the man at the center of it all, Glenn Greenwald. Stating today that “Bilateral relations, in my opinion, are far more important than squabbles about the activities of the secret services,” Putin made his priorities clear. As he enters his fourth week holed up in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, will the former NSA contractor stop leaking documents to maintain his asylum in Russia? What effect will the leaks ultimately have on the delicate balance between security and privacy? GQ’s Brett Martin will be joining Alex to discuss his new book, Difficult Men, which documents how shows like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men have brought about a “third golden age” of television. What do the rise of these morally ambiguous and emotionally complex characters reflect about our changing tastes and values? Have movies been eclipsed by television?
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