npr senior analyst cokie roberts. we'll get your thoughts as well. white house correspondent for bloomberg, julianna goldman. we're in washington this morning. and joe is back with us as well. we want to start on capitol hill. couple of things developed in the past 24 hours. >> a quiet night. >> not a quiet night. the power struggle on capitol hill is reaching extreme levels. both in the number of republican filibusters and now in the way democrats are dealing with it. yesterday the senate approved a measure to block the minority's power to filibuster certain presidential nominees. the so-called nuclear option is the most significant change to the rules of the upper chamber since 1975. it barely passed with 52 votes. through five years of the obama presidency the senate held votes to end filibuster 79 times. that's already more than double the amount during president bush's eight years in office. the senate can now end the debate on executive and judicial nominees. there have been many blocks with a simple majority. however the new route does not app

here to tell her story tonight are two guests -- cokie roberts, political commentator for abc news and npr. she's also the author of two books about women's political history -- "founding mothers" and "ladies of liberty." thanks for being here. >> betty karolyi is a first ladies expert. she's the author of numerous books including "first ladies from martha washington to michelle obama." and she's currently working on a new biography of lady bird johnson. ladies, i want to start with the beginning, where we were 50 years ago this week. this is an administration birthed in national tragedy. what were the immediate challenges for the brand new first couple in those first terrible days after the assassination of kennedy? >> well, they were enormous. first of all, nobody knew whether there was a widespread plot. and so the country was in terror for a period of time. and then they had to -- they had to be both taking over and making sure that there was a peaceful transition of power without seeming to take over because of the image of being -- pushing the kennedys out of the way, any of that

roberts right behind lady bird johnson. >> cokie mentioned how controversial this was. was it really a tough job selling this to the congress and was it a difficult job at the lobbying group? the billboard lobby was far too strong. >> i think we forget how strong it was. i think maybe now the judgment is she tried to do too much on that. it was very hard. but she did. >> in washington, people don't realize this beautiful city we live in is much more beautiful because of her and mary lasker, her friend was a wonderful philanthropist. this profusion of flowers and trees and the fact that you just come into the city and are greeted by total beauty is a result of her having been here. >> this was a complement to lyndon johnson's great society programs or was it an independent campaign? >> it was a little of both. i think it was required of every first lady since her, what would be her project. michelle obama was asked that even before the nomination. it was a complement to the great society and also uniquely hers. >> but the first ladies who have succeeded her, did you see

. >> well, coky roberts say it's possible conspiracy theorys surrounding the assassination will never be put to rest. her father was house majority leader during the kennedy years and served on the warren commission that investigated the death. >> i went home for thanksgiving after the assassination z i remember the phone ringing and in the den in the house where i still live. waits president johnson calling to talk about the establishment of a commission i remember my father saying words we need a blue-ribbon commission to investigate the assassination of so the american people will know everything that happened and will not question it for years still to come. of course, that has not happened to put it mildly. >> thank you, coky. tonight abc7 news i team looks into the theory held by an investigator that the the asassin did not act alone. >> we have a fantastic follow up on the power of social media to do g a san jose man who needed surgery to save his eye sight. cheryl jennings made it happen. it's just incredible. >> we want to thank twitter and a anonymous donor >>. it's been a s

here to tell our story tonight are two guests, cokie roberts, political commentator for abc news and npr. she's also the author of two books about women's political history. eddie lloyd caroli is a first lady's expert. she is the author of numerous books. she is currently working on a new biography of lady bird johnson. ladies, i want to start with the beginning, where we were 50 years ago this week. this is an administration birthed in national tragedy. over the immediate challenges of the brand-new first couple? >> they were enormous. no one knew if it was a widespread plot. the country was in terror for a. of time. they had to be both taking over and making sure that there was a peaceful transition of power without seeming to take over. because of the image of pushing the kennedys out of the way. had to be very, very careful. lyndon johnson was very lucky that yet lady bird to help them with that. she had a good year for knowing what exactly to say and when to say it. >> in particular, what did she do in those first weeks? >> she said she felt onstage for a part she never rehearse

. >> well, coky roberts say it's possible conspiracy theorys surrounding the assassination will never be put to rest. her father was house majority leader during the kennedy years and served on the warren commission that investigated the death. >> i went home for thanksgiving after the assassination z i remember the phone ringing and in the den in the house where i still live. waits president johnson calling to talk about the establishment of a commission i remember my father saying words we need a blue-ribbon commission to investigate the assassination of so the american people will know everything that happened and will not question it for years still to come. of course, that has not happened to put it mildly. >> thank you, coky. tonight abc7 news i team looks into the theory held by an investigator that the the asassin did not act alone. >> we have a fantastic follow up on the power of social media to do g a san jose man who needed surgery to save his eye sight. cheryl jennings made it happen. it's just incredible. >> we want to thank twitter and a anonymous donor >>. it's been a s

. >> cokie roberts our colleague from nbc was reporting on "morning joe." you can't underestimate the people feel there was a conspiracy. she was in college, people were huddled around thinking she with her father and leeadership in congress would know something but didn't. her mother called and said secret service agents and security had surrounded the leaders, her late husband, then the majority leader, had surrounded them because they didn't know how widely it spread. like the lincoln assassination. they didn't know if it spread to the cabinet and leadership. >> absolutely. this was only a year after the cuban missile crisis showdown. that was not an irrational judgment. you have lbj brought to "air force one" at love field because that was the place secret service detail felt they could make him secure. but johnson says i will not leave dallas without the president. in other words, without president kennedy's remains. so jackie kennedy took a little while to get from the hospital to love field with the president's coffin. so you've got a new president t

along with our abc team, cokie roberts, donna brazile and matthew dowd. donna, let me begin with you. they call it the nuclear option in the senate, becaus it's such a massive change in senate rules. you heard senator mccain right there, it is going to change the way the senate works, shouldn't be done. >> i disagree of course with senator mccain. with all the conversation this morning with the nuclear deal with iran. this is mel bra mattic with the senate. the truth of the matter is, george, is that senate democrats have gone back and forth and back and forth with republicans for the last two years to try to come up with an agreement that was consistent to continue to allow the administration appointes and the judicial appointees and, you know, they just couldn't keep this deal, so senator reid, at the urging of his caucus, decided that this was time to go ahead and have a deal where simple majority rule. so, the president will be able to get his nominees through and the senate will be able to function. >> the senate can't function? i thought it was quit

joined by paul gigot, abc's cokie roberts, keith ellison from minneapolis, ana navarro from cnn and john heilemann. thanks you all for being here. let's talk about this republican race, we saw chris christie and rick perry. paul gigot, it's clear that christie is trying to own the center of this room, he's got all kinds of conservatives lining up from cruz, to rubio, to paul, all on his right. >> i think he shouldn't take that bait. he shouldn't run as a moderate. he should avoid that distinction. he should come out and have a reform agenda of his own that can appeal to all sides of the republican spectrum, transcend this so-called conservative moderate divide, don't play that game, and i think with his record in new jersey, he'll have an appeal to an awful lot of republicans and particularly because he's a governor. >> that's exactly right. i mean -- absolutely. and look, it's not -- i think the way he would frame it, it's not conservative or moderate. it's pragmatist. that's what governors are. they have to run states, balance budgets. i mean, he made a point to me later, they also ele

abc new s newso cokie roberts a hunt. we are not done. let's hear what happened in virginia. >> ken cuccinelli campaigns with the results with the opportunity to win. >> boy nominating the right guy. >> cuccinellis said voters sent a vong signal. >> despite being outspent by $15 million, this race came down to the wire because of obama care. that message will go out. >> this election was not between republicans and democrats. the tra division served us so well and at a time when washington was broken, think about what they have been able to accomplish when they worked together. >> the poll showed a wide gap and you said it would be close. >> any time in virginia now, terry mcauliffe, he is not a virginia guy. he walks in the room and you hear that voice. that's a syracuse, new york voice, not virginia. >> he carried a lot of votes. from the beginning, i thought he would lose. you take the government shut down and the ethics investigations and extreme positions on social security and this race was almost won. you had a lot of republican vo

. >> and cokie roberts right hind lady bird johnson -- right behind lady bird johnson. ho cokie mentioned how controversial this was. was it really a tough job selling this of the congress and was it a difficult job at the lobbying group? >> the billboard lobby was for a strong. i think we forget how strong it was. i think maybe now the judgment is she tried to do too much on that. it was very hard. but she did. in washington, people don't realize this beautiful city we live in is much more beautiful because of her and mary lasker wonderfulend was a philanthropist. this profusion of flowers and trees and the fact that you just come into the city and are greeted by total beauty is a result of her having been here. >> this was a complement to lyndon johnson's great society programs or was it an independent campaign? >> it was a little of both. i think it was required of every first lady since her, what would be her project. michelle obama was asked that even before the nomination. it was a complement to society and also uniquely hers. >> but the first ladies who have succ

kennedy's footsteps, cokie roberts referred to this sort of delicate dance of being respectful but able to take control. what was the two women's relationship like? >> guest: lady bird johnson, many people said this is a daunting act to follow. she said well feel sorry for mrs. kennedy, not me because i still have my husband. i think she made a special effort not to imitate in anyway some of the projects that she considered for example beautifying the mall. lyndon johnson advised her not to do that because the kennedys have had done something similar but she was an amazing -- and amazingly absent -- he didn't have envy of anybody. she seemed to consider the kennedys a different generation and i find your amazing in that regard. she knew that jacqueline kennedy was extremely popular and yet she knew she had a lot to offer to match. >> guest: that is something you have to keep in mind. there were lots of times when mrs. kennedy was pregnant and she lost the baby. there were a lot of things she did to do in mrs. johnson filled in. so she knew the role well and she was a quintessential wash

. >> or if you're cokie roberts. remember that? >> what did she do? >> it's a long story. but she stood in front of a green screen rather than go to the capitol. >> wow. i didn't know that. >> a dozen minutes after the hour. >> coming up, peter johnson, jr. fought to get sarah murnaghan a lung transplant. now he's helping another family fighting government to get bone narrow. how you can help, too. that's next. >>> then your comments are pouring in on this one. the white house thinking about closing the embassy at the vatican. we will read your comments as we roll on live from duluth, i mean here. ♪ you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love? ♪ with an ultra-thin coating and fast absorbing advil ion core™ technology, it stops pain before it gets worse.