Rubio halts Limbaugh's rush to judgment on immigration reform

>> i don't see where there is any -- commonalty in what the president wants and what you want.

>> you know, rush, that is an important point, the president has an interesting decision to make when he gives a speech. he can either decide he wants to be a part of the solution or a trigger to start a bidding war. i don't want to be a part of a bidding war to become the most lenient path forward.

>> that was rsenator marco rubio ? he said at some point he didn't understand why president obama went out to las vegas to make the speech. why didn't he do it at the white house ? and i just want to put up for the audience a map of what was once mexico . i'm sitting in los angeles doing this show. you're in las vegas , we are both sitting in old mexico . so do you want to help out marco rubio as to some idea why president obama would have come out to old mexico to make that speech today.

>> well, you know, it is funny, marco rubio used to live in las vegas , he still has relatives here. in fact, his cousin is the first hispanic leader of the state senate here. so he is very familiar of why the president came out here. so that was just a very foolish thing for him to say, considering his familiarity with las vegas .

>> and i remember, rush limbaugh seemed so thrilled to get marco rubio on and actually start to talk about this. that the tough-talking rush of yesterday kind of slid over and just kind of let rubio do his thing.

>> that is what i heard, the tone was very warm, rush put up some questions. but they were not designed to trap or ensnare. and i think we are witnessing today a really important breakthrough. i think it is a very good thing for america. probably if it continues and turns into any kind of real immigration compromise it is probably on balance, bad for the democratic party which has benefitted so heartyily, this is what good demographics look like, where we move past the partisan or electoral issues and get real compromise. one thing marco said, 40% of the undocumented workers in this country came here legally. they came here and their green card or otherwise expired. we're talking about people who didn't come here illegally and we have to try to way to accommodate them.

>> i want to show you how confused rush limbaugh is at this point. i want you to listen to something he said yesterday where he said the plan is an amnesty plan.

>> i don't think that "fox news" is that invested in this. but i don't think there is any republican opposition to this, of any majority consequence or size. we'll have to wait and see and find out.

>> and here is rush limbaugh today saying you didn't hear what he said yesterday.

>> i didn't say that. did i o -- did you hear me say that? i want to call on fox news and others to join me in defeating this plan. i don't recall saying that. that doesn't matter -- i'm quoted as saying things i never said constantly. but you see it is out there.

>> john ralston , that is how much rush folded up his tent today on this whole issue. and i think ari has a very serious point here, if that is all it takes, marco rubio calling into rush limbaugh 's show, if that is all it takes to mute rush limbaugh on this subject, it seems like real progress is possible here.

>> well, lawrence, i mean, the whole point of that was for marco rubio to go on rush's show and try to walk this fine line that he is trying to walk. and they -- rush said to him. you can read the whole transcript but disuntil tildisstill it dow n to, can we find a way to demonize the president. well, i think we can. they're dealt a losing hand here, lawrence, he can talk about a bidding war but the president and democrats hold all the cards here. and marco rubio , at some level after going and kissing rush limbaugh 's ring, has to realize that.

>> and ari, as we said in the previous segment, we'll hear more of this. rubio can't say look, i'm at least 90% agreeing with the president. he can't do that. he has to do what john is saying. he will have to find some way to say demonizing things about the president obama while on the policy he is actually working toward an agreement on with him.

>> yeah, if you look at the details, at the end of the interview there was an attempt to loop in the affordable care act and other issues to hit those conservative contrasts. but look, what i heard from the white house today and officials speaking on background was that they don't want to focus on what they consider small contrasts between the white house proposal, what the gang of eight and rubio have put out there. what they see, i think is tremendous movement in rhetoric and now at least broad strokes, policy. and so this is a real chance to move forward on that and to get something done. and one other quick point, i'm so glad in the previous segment you had on a " dream act " organizer. because there is something amazing going on here. we have folks who don't even have political rights , voting rights in the country who still stood up and used their voice to exercise first amendment rights, which thank goodness is available to noncitizens. and engage in this conversation. i think the last time we saw it in depth was in the civil rights era , where again you had an attack on people's status. and yet they still found ways to get heard, be heard, and affect washington, which is so hard to do. so i'm pretty excited about what we're seeing today.

>> coming up, a child is murdered and that child's father is heckled because he dares to say that these weapons of mass murder and massacre are not needed by anyone. that is going to be in tonight's rewrite.

>>> and we are now just 11 hours away from learning who will replace john kerry in the united states senate . governor patrick has indicated he will make that announcement tomorrow morning. that is coming up. i love to eat. i love hanging out with my