coming up, john mccain plays "hardball." i asked him about the politics and immigration. >> rand paul who appears to people like me because he is people like me because he is pretty dovish. >> we might have a hawkish -- >> i'm not sure if it is in the dictionary. >> i'm not sure. it's all in my big interview with john mccain. the man who ran against obama. we got married, we became a family of five. without the time and money to wash all this stuff separately. so we wash it all in cold water with tide. even sara's shorts. those are mine. seriously? throw it all in... really? because tide cleans better. even in cold. >>> 114th congress has picked its chairs. take a look at the graphic. only one woman has been recommended to a committee chair. all the way at the bottom of the screen. she'll be head of the house administration committee. meanwhile, paul ryan moves over to the ways and means committee. a gavel he has always wanted. ipt doctor crypt krip crim citizenship. being a private banking client isn't what it used to be. f

i want to pick up on what lauren said on john mccain. john mccain is going to emerge anand it appears to be emergings the next house armed services committee chairman. ththere are going to be new leaders overall, but mccann has retired. there will be a leadership change in house armed services committee as well as the appropriations committee. talk to us about what a mccain chairmanships going to mean. there are folks in the defense industry as well as the pentagon were terrified i that -- by that . >> w will see less than you expect o of his chairmanship. john mccain is a show horse, but not much of a workhorse. it's not clear what issues he does care about. they are highly unpredictable. sitting on this committee, does not much he can do, particularly about the issue which he says is important, which is sequestration. not where it's going to happen. he has one issue that he cares a lot about, which is the correctness and utility and efficiency of the quisition system. if going to hold a lot of fire and brimstone hearings. what we need

coming up, john mccain plays "hardball." i asked him about the politics and immigration. >> rand paul who appears to people like me because he is pretty dovish. be. >> we might have a hawkish -- >> i'm not sure if it is in the dictionary. >> i'm not sure. it's all in my big interview with john mccain. the man who ran against obama. >>> 114th congress has picked its chairs. take a look at the graphic. only one woman has been recommended to a committee chair. all the way at the bottom of the screen. she'll be head of the house administration committee. meanwhile, paul ryan moves over to the ways and means committee. a gavel he has always wanted. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24, a circadian rhythm disorder that affects up to 70 percent of people who are totally blind. talk to your doctor about your symptoms and learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com. don't let non-24 get in the way of your pursuit of happiness. it's not about how many miles yo

so it will be interesting to see there, because she's always with mccain or often with mccain and graham on that sort of thing, and she'll be an interesting one to watch there too. >> the three amigos. >> i think mccain tweeted out that joni ernst is going to be a new member of the amigos. somebody did. i think the hawks are clearly ascendant. i think they are because the isis threat has brought back terrorism, and the instability in the middle east and vladimir , putin don't forget has made national security for republicans much more like it was before the rise of the libertarian wing. if you look at who's coming into the senate, where it is cotton or ernst, or most likely dan sullivan, you have more in the was evident on the campaign trail that house strategists were aware of was that the insecurity over the isis threat was palpable and that's why there were a lot of ads about it down the stretch . and i think you'll find that there is a carryover there. the one thing in the voting for the authorization of military force is they are going to want -- the republicans are going to want ob

send to you, senator mccain. we will always remember veterans day of 2014 with senator john mccain here tonight. thank you so much. i know you will state to sign the books and we can't think you enough for your service and all you do for the country and for being here. [applause] >> you are watching booktv with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. television for serious readers. >> and now booktv continues with more nonfiction authors and books. on after words. ..

he joins me now, senator john mccain. thank you so much for being with us, senator. >> thank you, andrea. >> the question is, would you have liked to have been invited to that white house lunch tomorrow? >> no, i really believe it is for the leaders of the parties on both sides that are in the leadership. i think that's entirely appropriate. they are the ones that make the training run on time. i will have plenty of opportunities. i will be talking to chuck hagel. there is no lack of communication. >> some white house officials had told us that they wanted to hold this meeting with the 16 or 17 people from the hill whom they thought they could get things done with. i'm just wondering if you are not included in that circle. what do you want to see in that authorization? >> i would like to see an authorization that doesn't restrict the commander and chief. you may find that a little unusual, given this president with my feelings about his leadership. the fact is we need to understand that the president is the commander in c

senator john mccain, you know all about him. i'm going to tell you just a little bit. he served in u.s. navy from 1954 to 1981. he was elected to the u.s. house of representatives and arizona in 1982 and the senate in 1986. he was the republican presidential candidate in 2008. he is now serving his fifth term in the senate. myron dell kind over here is our 107th president of the national press club. he has had a 42 year career with the "associated press" and he has covered many world leaders. myron received his b.a. in 1961 from ohio state university and an ms with high honors and 62 from columbia university graduate school of journalism on a pulitzer traveling fellowship. when he retired in 2004 myron joined the national press club and was asked to assume leadership of the international correspondents committee. he worked to expand the clubs international activities and also attract more members to the international media, international organizations and diplomatic missions in washington d.c.. also in that year he began his second career as a professorial instructor a

later on i will be joined by senator john mccain for an exclusive interview. he has a new book about americans in combat and we will talk about what to expect in congress over the next two years now that the midterms are over. "street smart" starts now. ok, everyone, here's a

she's always with mccain or often with mccain and graham on that sort of thing and she'll be an interesting one to watch there too. >> the three amigos. >> i think mccain tweeted out there will be a new member of the amigos. the isis threat has brought back terrorism and vladimir putin don't forget has made national security for republicans machine like it was before the rise of the libertarian wing. if you look at who's coming into the senate or most likely dan sullivan you have more in the senate and there was one saying and it was evident on the campaign trail that house strategists were aware of was that the insecurity over the isis threat was palpable and that's why there were a lot of ads about it down the stretch and i think you will find that carry over. >> so, this is a guy who during, it was not last year's snow-magdon, built a snowman in his yard and had a sign and took a picture of it, with a caption like now what, al gore? true.is is >> are there any others in the senate who, sort of in this category? and i won't even try to describe the category. ( laughter ) i'm probably gett

john mccain has been critical of the administration's foreign policy hand ling on everything. he's using this resignation as well as criticisms we heard from past defense secretaries as well as leon panetta to try to drive the knife and stake into the administration. >> absolutely. to what colonel jack jacobs has noted and others, there are indications that there was conflict regarding, i guess, the view national security policy that secretary hagel wanted to pursue and what the administration wanted to pursue. colonel, you talked about a number of people. he seemed to be an outside per. >> yeah. it's a difficult white house to try to become an insider. >> given the nominee. the person who was selected. >> you can't get in the door. even if you're the toughest of guys and deck tear hagel a nice chap. given a difficult job he was not up to do. on top of that trying to insinuate himself into a close society of people who make decisions and pass out -- you have to be one tough person just to do the job in a great environme environment. >> senator harry reed said with the united s

mccain will be an inside legisla legislator, a guy who works hard. there are a bunch of people like that. but there are four or five people that are going to be thinking, jeez, i can be president. i am going to make some statements and it's going to be hard to get things done with those people host: next fromwic. good morning, keith. caller: good morning. another beautiful day in america since tuesday's results of the election with the republicans taking over the senate. it's the fact that the best governor in the last was re-elected in scott walker who has won for a third time in four years. my comment is that, of course, divided government can work. we have seen it with tip o'neill and ronald reagan working together, but now, we have a pure i'd log in the office who it didn't take notice of the result after 2010. was re-elected in 2012 but now, after seeing his post-election conference, he is not going to give in to working with the republicans after this election. we have seen a previous caller call in and talk about the low approval rating of con

is john mccain hip to her? >> is john mccain, in fact, going try and pick the next secretary of defense? and knowing a little bit about john mccain i think he probably try to do that. >> colonel reese, do you have a name in mind who could possibly fix these problems between the white house and the joint chiefs and the pentagon? >> carol, let me go out on a limb here a little bit. today's world with this asymmetric threat, my concern is the old guard in the political side stays inside washington and they don't the foundational logic of what we're really fighting and trying to stabilize around the world. maybe this is the time we bring back a guy like general mcchrystal who has done this and has been very successful, understands these political ramifications also, even though he had t falling out with president obama he is a guy who is very well respected, understands the politics of it and it might be time to look at it from a perspective like this. i completely understand the civilian side with the policies and

the top policy adviser to the mccain/palin campaign. he doesn't have that memorable a face . i don't mean that in a bad way. you don't see him and instantly know who he is. he has a names that hard to pronounce and hard to spell. he's never been a famous guy in politics. he did really pop in the news one time that you might remember because it was a scandal in that presidential campaign. when john mccain was running for president, you might remember that russia started a war with the nation of georgia. you might further remember that john mccain, as a candidate for president, came out when that war started and said, we are all georgians now. john mccain was pledging, basically, that if he were president, the united states would act as if we were georgia. we, america, would go to war with russia on behalf of this other country. and at the time that john mccain presidential candidate was pledging a war with russia because we are all georgians now, at the time that he was doing that, the lobbying firm of his top foreign policy adviser randy scheunemann had u.s., been hired and p

[applause] and also to you senator mccain. [applause] we will always remember veterans day 2014 when senator john mccain here tonight. i know he will stay to sign books and we cannot thank you enough for your service and all you do for the country. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> we are the special collections at the university of wisconsin in madison and in 1914 that goal of the exhibit is to commemorate the 100 year anniversary to highlight the collection of the university library system as well as the historical society with artifacts related to not only wisconsins role in the war but what was happening in each country when the conflict began in 1914. war broke out summer of 1914 and a hang gary and was assassinated and by a serbian whose goal was to bring all served together in one country independent of sunbury and control after the assassination to the air of the throne austria put pressure on serbia to give them -- allow them to have an investigation and austria are actually serbia acquiesced meet to use their o

mccain is an annapolis graduate and mccain assuming he takes the services and doesn't do banking they have different approaches and harry reid will be much more supportive of the white house in the operations and campaigns but they understand and defend the respect. they worked together on the subcommittee. where harry reid was the chair and mccain is the ranking member said they have a pretty long history of collaborating. >> we will give you a break for a minute. what do you want to discuss first since you are the domestic policies are for the morning. >> one of the things is to help pension where you have lamar alexander from tennessee ascending to be the chairman of the panel and also the retirement of tom harkin who especially after ted kennedy was the leader in a lot of ways and devoted his career to help the issues. and alexander is also involved in the committee for the education and has really kind of position himself to oppose obama a lot more vocally but at the same time i find it makes alexander so interesting to watch but only was he opposed what he has an idea what he wa

so much for the straight talk express center mccain. but he also has this -- the white house has this problem of having such a tight inner circle and people like chuck hagel coming in are never allowed to really quite do their jobs so i feel horribly for chuck hagel, i think he got a raw deal here. >> i did that in my take, all right president, david, now, make the decision of bringing somebody in who will get the job done. he wants to degrade and destroy isis. really? >> this administration is more clueless than we thought if they think the midterm leighs were the result of bad policy by chuck hagel. what this is schizophrenic governing. three days ago, we'd white house decide to increase forces in afghanistan with what everybody has said was a win by the pentagon. three days later, we fire the secretary of defense who arguably advocated for that policy as the one supposed to implement it this is the fourth defense secretary in six years for this president. he finally needs to go get a dove be the defense secretary, that is what he wan

the top policy adviser to the mccain/palin campaign. he doesn't have that memorable a facep about i don't mean that in a bad way. you don't see him and instantly know who he is. he has a names that hard to pronounce and hard to spell. he's never been a famous guy in politics. he did really pop in the news one time that you might remember because it was a scandal in that presidential campaign. when john mccain was running for president, you might remember that russia started a war with the nation of georgia. you might further remember that john mccain, as a candidate for president, came out when that war started and said, we are all georgians now. john mccain was pledging, basically, that if he were president, the united states would act as if we were georgia. we, america, would go to war with russia on behalf of this other country. and at the time that john mccain presidential candidate was pledging a war with russia because we are all georgians now, at the time that he was doing that, the lobbying firm of his top foreign policy adviser

john mccain wants plenty of u.s. military action in iraq and in syria. so first, a new secretary is going to face very tough grilling by mccain at a confirmation hearing. and for the just under two years that may be left on the job for any new secretary, plenty of questions from john mccain almost every day of the week. it promises to be, shall we say, a political fire ball, a politically contentious two years for any secretary that comes in to do the job. >> and you can imagine, barbara, i certainly wouldn't raise my hand to go through the confirmation process that this next nominee would be going through. but do you think ultimately there are going to be issues with confirming someone the president puts up for this? >> i think we may be getting to what we always get to in covering any administration. when the white house sends up a nominee to a congress of an opposing partying plenty of fireworks at a confirmation hearing. plenty of questions. but short of that nominee having any real dings in their record, any real problems, there's been a general, as

give me your quick reaction to what we just heard from john mccain. because you know one of the complaints about not just the defense department but the state department, cia and congress department that the white house micromanages everything. they really can't make decisions on their own and it's so frustrating to those various agencies, departments of the u.s. government. >> well, wolf, hagel is really a class act and you saw from his statement and the white house earlier, he's a patriot and i think the president wanted new leadership there and instead of waiting for the back and forth and the discussion over the weeks decided to do what i think is the honorable thing is to step aside and why? the secretary of defense is three big jobs. the first is to oversee the personnel and readiness of the troops. the second is to oversee the budget of that some $600 billion a year in defense spending. the third is where i think the president needed new leadership on is to oversee strategy and policy, work in the chain of command between the president and comm

senator mccain, thank you for joining us. in your latest book you decided to write about 13 soldiers, not yourself, and from the revolutionary war to our latest enterprises in afghanistan and iraq. is there a line of similar later between all of those? >> i think there is a similar later in that, no matter where they came from or what their gender or race was, that they were dedicated to serving the country, sometimes with honor and integrity and sometimes maybe not so much, but with courage. they served with courage, and i think they epito mizeed many aspects of that particular conflict. in other words, plum martin who was in the revolutionary war at 15 literally almost starved to death. >> ifill: and died in poverty. yes, and without a pension. actually, took him 30 years for a pension, but compare that with mike monsieur who is a man who sacrificed his life for others. it wasn't a question or food or equipment. it was a dramatic change, but each of them served and sacrificed, and ordinary people who did extraordinary thing

tackled there by brice mccain. >> cris: big play for marlon brown there. so many of these receivers since steve smith has come to this lineup have not had anhere close to the kind of year that they had a year ago. marlon brown is one of them. he had seven touchdowns last year and barely a factor this year. >> al: under 4:30 to play. flacco, and throws that one out of bounds, stopping the plclockt 4:15. second down and ten. >> cris: well, the pressure has obviously been there all night long, but let's give credit on the back end. william gay has really sort of established himself. brice mccain got beat on that ball early, but gay has really had no issues to speak of. sometimes you make a play like you did a week ago with that pick six over there against the colts and quarterbacks tend to shy away from you, but the coverage has been good. these young players for the steelers have really done a job tonight. >> al: second and ten. they blitz. and paying the price, smith. and he can't make the catch, blake is there. incomplete. third down. >> cris: totally just

but ernest pushed back on mccain on whether he was a critic. >> i don't think that was full disclose area at the confirmation hearing. >> i have just been handed a note that i misspoke and said i supported the president's position on containment. if i said that, i meant to say that obviously his position on containment, we don't have a position on containment. >> reporter: the tension only grew over the summer. >> we must prepare for everything. >> reporter: his two predecessors, robert gates and leon panetta both wrote books they were scathing about the president. >> i haven't seen any evidence of that, i think that one of the hallmarks of secretary hagel's career is that he's been somebody who's been extrordarily loyal to his country and to haze command never chief. >> reporter: senator jack reid has already pulled out of the -- the first female defense secretary ever. but any pick is going to first have to get through a new republican senate come january. >> ed henry, live on the north lawn. >> senior political analyst brit hume is here tonight with perspective on the hagual ouste

as you know, senator mccain has had strong differences with the president. don't know what the president's policy is when it comes to isis and the middle east. >> chuck hagel had differences with the president as well as you just mentioned. he was publicly disagreeing. do you think we could see a new strategy against isis come january and the new defense secretary in place meaning perhaps boots on the ground? >> i believe that we have to ultimately have a number of boots on the ground. not so much in a combat role but as far as being in bed with the iraqi army to coordinate strategy and tactics with the kurds. also to have special operators on the ground to carry out missions which only special forces can do. also to have spotters on the ground so we can make better use of the air attacks. there has to be a real discussion on what we're doing. i support a strong policy against isis. i also believe we have to be ready to move against assad. with the president, it's one step forward and one step backward or one step to the side. we're going in but we won't use

the top policy adviser to the mccain/palin campaign. he doesn't have that memorable a face . i don't mean that in a bad way. you don't see him and instantly know who he is. he has a names that hard to pronounce and hard to spell. he's never been a famous guy in politics. he did really pop in the news one time that you might remember because it was a scandal in that presidential campaign. when john mccain was running for president, you might remember that russia started a war with the nation of georgia. you might further remember that john mccain, as a candidate for president, came out when that war started and said, we are all georgians now. john mccain was pledging, basically, that if he were president, the united states would act as if we were georgia. we, america, would go to war with russia on behalf of this other country.

you agree with senator mccain, talking about advisers only. you remember there were initially advisers sent to vietnam, 300 in iraq, and then 500, 1,500, now up to 3,000. is this emerging as another vietnam? >> no, i don't think so. i think the president has been clear that these advisers are going to have a secondary, noncombat role. what i do hope is that the new chairman of the armed services committee, senator mccain, and the congress in a first bipartisan way in the lame duck session come up with the funding and the authorizing support for the president. but i see the president and senator mccain perhaps becoming stronger partners in this isis issue. i'm concerned about the al qaeda links, about their penetration into egypt. i think that turkey needs to step up a lot more. our coalition partners and nato need to do more of the bombing. this is going to be a long effort. it's not going to be easy. >> iran says now they're fighting isis as well. the major reason isis hasn't moved into the iraqi capital of baghdad and the 7 million people wh

that is what mccain calls ted cruz and what ted cruz calls mccain. they have a lot of love for each other. elected -- he has not been elected -- we assume he nol, he said there would be shutdown. that sending a message on and he plans to be tough. will he be able to actually implement that edict? we do not know. my money says, "yes." i think he is a lot more impressive and can be a lot more persuasive. this is what the guy wanted to do his entire life. he is not going to let ted cruz mess with him. him runt going to let .im a mock -- amuck there is not a lot etc. to do to get things done. immigration, good grief, i hate where the issue is right now. i hate everything about it. i support comprehensive immigration reform. i think some of us think that there is a chance, with a republican house and senate, of them probably together some sort of pragmatic agreement. it is not going to be what we saw come out of the senate 1.5 years ago. it is something that will pass the house. it is not going to be something that everybody likes. i think it will be some

you changed john mccain to toilet mccain. >> yes. seth, john is gutter slang. >> seth: i respect you, dr. aberdeen, i do. but i just don't think you're cut out for telling jokes. >> seth: well, seth, i respect you. it is your show. so, i suppose, my only retort would be -- >> seth: well said, doctor! we'll be right back with jack mcbrayer! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ [ aniston ] when people ask me what i'm wearing, i tell them aveeno®. [ female announcer ] aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion has active naturals® oat with five vital nutrients. [ aniston ] because beautiful skin goes with everything. aveeno®. naturally beautiful results™. aveeno®. ias the people of this , little belgian town waited for the crowning moment ♪ nature had other plans but... with the help of the masters of the artois brewery a new star was born stella artois. originally brewed as a beautiful holiday gift. for the people of leuven, belgium. [car revving] [car revving] ♪ ♪ [car revving] introducing the first ever 306 horsepower lexus rc coupe. once

policy was failing, hagel was tired of micromanageing by white house aides according to republican john mccain, saying that he expressed deep frustration in a white house meeting last week. >> he was up to the job, it was the job he was given he was never brought into that real tight circle inside of the white house that makes all of the decisions that put us into the incredible debacle we're in today in the world. >> reporter: white house press secretary josh ernest ducked a direct question on whether hagel was pushed you on but hagel pushed back on mccain by noting he is say frequent critic. >> i don't think that was on full display. >> reporter: a reference to mccain and others pounceing on hagel's performance at his confirmation in january 2013 over iran policy. >> i just been handed a note that i misspoke and said i supported president's position on containment. it i said that, it phefpbt to say i -- himeant to saywe don'tn containment. >> this is beyond anything that we have seen, so we must prepare for everything. >> reporter: his two predecessors, gates and panetta wrote books that wer

mccain claimed to have a meeting with chuck hagel and hagel expressed frustration. i know chuck was frustrated with the administration's national security policy. his predecessors have spoken about the excessive mi comanagement from the white house. chuck's situation was no different. in his own comments, chuck hagel didn't hint of tension with the president and had warm words for him. josh earnest will come out for the daily briefing and he will get a lot of questions about the timing of all of this, and who the president is nominating next. >> the president played nice. but we had a quote that came from a senior official. make no mistake. chuck hagel was fired. those are tough words that you don't so here too often when people leave or step down in washington. >> reporter: that's right. critics are saying chuck hagel was a republican and becoming a scapegoat for the midterm election losses or did the president feel right now he needs to make a change? he has two years left in office. and we talk about the national security crisis and if there was tension we would

john mccain was pled

senator mccain and i were leading the way, at least in the senate, on acquisition reform, to make sure that the level of cost was brought down. it was much too much. we had done some of that with some success. where yousome areas have stuff that we are spending too much money for. but in terms of the amount of wepetition that we have, passed the competition in contracting act many years ago, which was very important. but also this acquisition reform act. we led the way in the senate on a bipartisan basis. it was a very important reform and we have to keep trying to get rid of the waste that exists an operationon, in that size there will be raced but you have to keep fighting it. >> when you want to go have dinner, who are some of your friends here? who do you call? >> i don't want to pick on anyone. i resist on that, totally. we don't go out to dinner very much with people. that part of our life seems to have dwindled. much more when we came here over the years, whatever the time pressure was, whatever the reason, there is less about that goes on. -- less of that that goes on. i have t

michael schure, we know we are going to hear from john mccain? >> every sunday morning. >> yeah. >> but you will start to learn names like richard bu are. r, likelihood the head of the intel gention committee, bob corker, the head of the fortunately relationships committee in the senate. corker has work with the president before. he has been critical of the president in terms defendant arab spring, in terms of iraq and afghanistan. those are two names you will know. one issue that's going to come up is see quest trace. it's going to revisit us in 016. with the house and senate as they are constructed sequestration, the republicans are going to try to feel back when it comes to the penitentiary gone. the democrats are going to have a very hard time fighting the sequestration cuts being peeled book dmift domestic spending. >> mike viqueira, i want your thoughts. the president has articulated strategy for fighting isis, isil in iraq and in syria. if you are talking about iraq, initially, the strategy was to take care of iraq first. that was two-pron

will go beyond the question of who the individual is or what our policy is going to be because john mccain is the chairperson of the -- is going to be the chairman of the arms services committee and nobody has stronger views on our military and what he believes is a failed policy in the middle east than senator mccain. so i think it will be very interesting. so i don't mean that from a partisan point of view but from a philosophical point of view as to what the president's policy is going to be, how senator mccain is going to accept that i think it will be an interesting discussion as to what was name bud also what the policy will be and how that will play out as far as confirmation. >> those hearings will be really, really fascinating because, as you correctly point out, senator mccain is very well versed on all of these issues, whether isis, syria, iraq, afghanistan iran, north korea, those hearings, whoever the nominee turns out to be, will be fascinating. congressman king, stand by. christiane amanpour is monitoring what's going on as well. christiane, give us your reaction. how will t

senator mccain and i were leading the way in the senate on acquisition reform to make sure that the level of cost was brought down, because there was inh too much cost overrun the military expenditures, and we have done some of that with some success. there are still areas where you can read about where we are still spending too much money, what in terms of the amount of competition that we have, we have passed the competition in the contracting act many years ago now, which is very important. there is also this acquisition reform act that we lead the way on in the senate, again, on a bipartisan basis. it was a very important perform and we have to keep trying to get rid of the waste that exists in the pentagon. in an operation of that size, there is going to be waste, but you have to keep fighting it. >> when you go to have dinner, who are some of your friends here? >> i don't want to pick out any, i just resist that totally, and if you don't mind, i would -- i don't go out to dinner very much with people. that life has somehow dwindled. senators,s with other but whatever the time pressu

john mccain was 72. no one said a word about that. if we're going to play the fat card, why aren't we talking about chris christie again. >> no one is talking about mccain being too old. >> hillary what, because she's a woman? neil: he deferented himself from the chris christie. he never told anyone to shut up, but i think this puts him kind of in the gutter, whether that was his intention or not whether it was a reference of whether she was up to the job. >> it might work unfortunately. neil: with whom? >> women live two years longer. they should get a two-year pass with reagan because they live two years longer. this was to mccain from obama big time. subtle words. neil: it was. >> confused. that is a word you describe the elderly. oh, we can't elect him, he'll croak and we'll have palin in the white house. that kept coming up. neil: it doesn't make it right. but the other side has done this. >> i don't know. i just think that, again, his father was on that time. so you're basically saying your dad wouldn't be up to it. neil: let me

>> well, the first big change would be john mccain. john mccain, the president's toughest critic on war policy, taking over the senate armed services committee, that's going to be a big change. then republican senators who've said, we're going to repeal obamacare. if they try, he will veto it. he's only vetoed twice -- used veto twice since he was first elected. that's going to be another cause of gridlock. and gridlock is what the voters tell us they don't like. there are other big changes to come. judges, supreme court justices, how does he get them confirmed? you can see also republican senators, we already know ted cruz, rand paul, others want to run for president. are they going to try to prove they're obstructionists, or are the republicans going to prove they are different from the democrats and can get things done, can good afternoon. -- can govern. that's going to be the big question for their party and for the government and the people. >> andrea mitchell, chuck todd, members of the big team that will be here with us in the s

mccain wants to go to war everywhere. he wanted to send troops into nigeria to rescue the girls. so i hope whoever takes the position is not listening to john mccain. >> but can he influence the president's decision here? >> i think he will have a lot of influence on who gets confirmed. but now that he really does have the power, with it comes the level of responsible he didn't have when he was on the outside. >> what is that? >> he doesn't want to leave the united states without a secretary of defense in these times. he may have a list, but i think the president will be in the best position -- >> and hagel's legacy. what does he leave behind? >> a mess. not of his doing, but one that he couldn't begin to fix. >> but if he couldn't fix it -- it is just about energy and bandwidth here? >> i think those are relevant, but i don't think he -- he had the record as a soldier, but not an the administrator of the pentagon. >> is that the president's fault? by making the wrong choice? >> well, i think again, the world in 2013 was very different than it is today. and the fault is that we d

mccain is an annapolis grad. jack reed is a west point grad. they both have very different approaches. supportive of the white house. they both know and understand defense. there is a mutual respect. they worked on the seapower subcommittee. they have a long history of collaborating. which one do you want to discuss first? policy the domestic czar. >> the health committee, health education, labor, and pensions. we have lamar alexander ascending to chairman of the panel and the retirement of tom harkin, who was the leader of health and a lot ways, devoted his career to help. involved and been cares about education, has positioned himself to oppose obama vocally. which makes him interesting to watch, not only will he a those in obama policy, he has an idea of what he wants to do instead, and he pushes those ideas. he thinks them through and tries to make them work. he is not just a guy who says no. you're going to see a lot of his ideas coming through. if we return to regular order you can expect to see a lot of bills out of the health committee.

senator mccain doesn't pull his punches. it could get very sporty. >> what do you think about that, phil? >> the problem we face here, i remember works on the covert action program in afghanistan almost a quarter century ago. we had a great partner, pakistan. we do not have that partner here. we had the support of groups that were coherent. finding one of those characteristics in syria, we have not said we're supporting the opposition to oust the government, and we don't have a partner to deal with who is consistent in helping us support the opposition. >> guys, thank you very much. we're going the get back to the breaking political news when we come back. we want to break down the election results, the republican's stunning midterm victory. lots more coming up after this. (receptionist) gunderman group. gunderman group is growing. getting in a groove. growth is gratifying. goal is to grow. gotta get greater growth. i just talked to ups. they got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. like smart pick ups. they'l

. >> you just heard john mccain sure doesn't sound like it, does it? >> is well, i think john mccain has opposed these negotiations from the beginning. i think it is ironic, though, even jock mccain's good friend lindsay gram, called for the united states and iran to work together. regarding isis, so i think if there's a deal this does open up opportunities for the united states and iran to finally begin pursuing some of the mutual interests that they do share, but that have been blocked from cooperating. >> how does the president make his case? is. >> well, i thisty president has to make a strong case that this is a good deal. and it's a deal that will freeze iran's nuclear program, will impose massive inspections over the program, and really give the united states the best assurance possible that iran can't build a nuclear weapon. i think if this deal is what a lot of russ expecting, he is going to be able to make that case, and really it is going to be incumbent on congress to not blow that up, because that will be a gift to hardliners who don't wan

senator mccain and i were leading the way, at least in the senate, on acquisition reform, to make sure that the level of cost was brought down. it was much too much. we had done some of that with some success. there are some areas where you have stuff that we are spending too much money for. but in terms of the amount of competition that we have, we passed the competition in contracting act many years ago, which was very important. but also this acquisition reform act. we led the way in the senate on a bipartisan basis. it was a very important reform and we have to keep trying to get rid of the waste that exists in the pentagon, in an operation that size there will be raced but you have to keep fighting it. >> when you want to go have dinner, who are some of your friends here? who do you call? >> i don't want to pick on anyone. i resist on that, totally. we don't go out to dinner very much with people. that part of our life seems to have dwindled. much more when we came here over the years, whatever the time pressure was, whatever the reason, there is less of that that goes on. i have

there are some truly compelling stories in senator mccain's latest book. i want to focus on one we were talking about earlier i just read the chapter on. monica lynn brown. tell us about her. >> she is a medic highly trained. in the civil war i believe it was 20% of those wounded survived. now, 90% of those wounded survived mainly because of the capabilities of the first ones there to treat the wounded. monica was the classic example of that. she was highly trained, skilled, had on her the necessary things like dressing and all kinds of capabilities to stop bleeding and things like that. she was in a convoy, ied, went off and people were killed and wounded and she ran right into the fight. she treated, she saved lives, she was awarded obviously recognized for that achievement. that should dispense, i believe, with any debate about whether women should be in combat. >> right. absolutely. >> really? why should we debate that anymore? if any woman has passed the physical exam, then they should be in combat if that is their desire to do so, in my view. i know

>> well, the first big change would be john mccain. john mccain, the president's toughest critic on war policy taking over the senate armed services committee, that's going to be a big change. then republican senators who've said we're going to repeal obamacare. if they try, he will veto it. he's only vetoed twice -- used veto twice since he was first elected. that's going to be another cause of gridlock. and that's what the voters tell us they don't like. there are other big changes to come. judges, supreme court justices, how does he get them confirmed? you can see also republican senators, we already know ted cruz, rand paul, others want to run for president. are they going to try to prove they're obstructionists, or are the republicans going to prove they are different from the democrats and can get things done, govern? that's going to be the big question for their party and for the government and the people. >> andrea mitchell, chuck todd, members of the big team that will be here with us in the studio tomorrow night as the result