>>>
two of the richest men in
america
are pouring
big money
into
america
as they seek to gain control.
michael bloomberg
speaking out about
gun control
. he is putting $12 million of his own money behind a new
ad campaign
that will air in 13 key states.
>>
for me, guns are for hundreding and protecting my family. i believe in the second amendment and i'll fight to protect it. with rights come responsibilities. that's why i support come prehelpsive
background checks
. so criminals and the dangerously
mentally ill
can't buy guns. that protects my rights and my family.
>>
today we learned that
facebook
founder
mark zuckerberg
is forming a groom group that will pour millions into a group for
immigration reform
. he is putting in $20 million into the effort. and the pro
obama
group will begin an aggressive
online campaign
pushing for
immigration reform
. joining me now, democratic strategist,
chris
kofinas. lois, let me start with you. i want to play what
wayne lapierre
played on "meet the press" in response to
mayor bloomberg
and his millions of dollars he is willing to put up in this battle.
>>
he is going to find out this is a country of the people, by the people and for the people. and he can't spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the american public. they don't want him in their restaurants. they don't want him in their homes them don't want them telling them what food to eat. they sure don't want to say which firearms to own that and he can't buy
america
.
>>
interesting remarks for many reasons. he waves in this soda ban and some other things but basically paints
bloomberg
as daddy war bucks, trying to dole out his cash. we know the nra has its arsenal as well and has, too, shelled out millions of dollars in an effort.
>>
i think before this whole fight is over, we'll be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on this. he made a very clever point. he is trying to paint
bloomberg
as a guy that is just going to buy everything. but the one thing that is going on here is optics. basically,
bloomberg
has on his side sort of this whole notion that it is time to do something different. and
wayne lapierre
is looking like a tired old white guy that is clinging on to something of the past.
>>
i'll let you say that. i'll bring you in on this.
chris cillizza
, the other
chris
we like so much. he said it is harder to change politicians' minds on an issue when an election is more than a year off. timing still mataries great deal in politics and it is how to see how $12 million spend in march of an offyear will have a tremendous persuasive effect on the incumbents. that is
chris cillizza
's analysis of
michael bloomberg
and his $12 million buy. do you see it that way?
>>
i think there is at love truth to that. when you talk about as many states as the map shows,
13 states
, $12 million. we're not about a very serious buy. if you wanted to get serious, you're about tens and ten of millions of dollars. that being said whargts does do is start a conversation in some of these
red states
and the language in that commercial is very main stream acceptable language.
>>
not just the language. the look. i'm from texas. that's a good old boy on his pick-up. and he is appealing to a certain audience.
>>
so part of this, i think, is to make people comfortable with the debate. there will be around two and around three. especially when you're talking about
gun control
. this won't be settled in the next few days or weeks. i consider this an opening salvo for a guy who has billions of dollars. you won't win this. let's be honest. you won't win this by pouring money into ad buys. you're going to win this by the folks that are negotiating this right now in the senate. come to terms with some kind of deal on, particularly on criminal
background checks
and what that entails. that's where the sticking point is right now.
>>
and let me bring you in on
mark zuckerberg
. politico has done some reporting. what do we know regarding his involvement and the news that's out that he plans to in some ways follow in
bloomberg
's footsteps but on a different issue.
>>
right. and i think he is willing to put some money into this which could be effective. what
mark zuckerberg
has is a
social network
of a billion people. and that is where i don't know to what extent he'll use that. that's where he can be particularly effective on this issue.
>>
you pointed out, using a
social network
, you know that was part of team
obama
's strategy. this long arm of the internet. and certainly, if you bring in
zuckerberg
, his millions of dollars, and his million of friends, this could be something that we've never seen before. especially from a person this young even.
>>
no question about it. and don't forget that the
obama
network knows how to use
facebook
. and during the campaign, if you clicked on
obama
's website, they would ask you immediately to sign in through
facebook
so they could get your whole network. so i wouldn't be surprised if we saw some sort of collaboration between two groups to reach as many people as possible.
>>
that would be interesting. i want to play the president's remarks. he was at the naturalization ceremony, regarding a bill.
>>
i expect a bill to be put forward. i expect the debate to begin next month. i want to sign that bill into law as soon as possible.
>>
throws the latest remarks on the president. the timing here that we're learning about
zuckerberg
, coincidence, what do you think?
>>
you know, i don't know. that is a very interesting question. i think the time is right for immigration and you know, all he has to do is read the paper and know that it will come up in the next couple weeks. i think the president's comments today were very politically interesting. because he is basically saying this is a priority. i'm going to do this. and i'm sure he can feel the tide in his favor. the republicans just last week came out with their autopsy report that went on and on about reaching out to different demographics.
>>
and
chris
, let me bring you in. when we would say the name sheldon ableson, you had democrats just repulsed by the man. here you have
mark zuckerberg
, i'm assuming he is a democrat and some others like
michael bloomberg
who are willing to put their money up for issues that democrats want or progressives would like to see move forward. the same with sheldon ableson with his ideas and his ideology and his millions.
>>
yeah. i think the difference here is putting money behind positions and issues where the cause is right. i think it makes a difference. especially that's where the country is moving toward. i think what you're seeing on the immigration issue is everything is kind of coming together. the timing, the politics, the policy, to push something forward. and i think where
zuckerberg
's group, when it comes up, millions of dollars help but the ability to organize people online, get that support rolling are the grassroots level becomes very powerful. and i think when you see the president coming out there and talking, the president is basically saying, listen, we do not want anything to stop this momentum and time is always the enemy in these somewhat difficult issues. you want to keep it moving forward.
>>
i know in d.c. you like to call people game changers. this
mark zuckerberg
thing could be all those people on
facebook
and his money and his youth on his side. thank you. great pleasure having you both on.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/51322119/
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