>> reporter: there's not a whole lot of news here. the most important thing, thing we're all waiting for, is to see what kind of link there is between these proximity talks that the administration has successfully begun. george mitchell is proceed yating. what's between those proximity talks and direct talks. we understand there's an affirmation that one will lead to to the other. snool and a lot, of course, has been made between some rift in this relationship. we talked about the meeting in march, of course, where netanyahu actually had several meetings with the president, but none of it was seen on camera. he didn't get any of those ceremonial niceties. the last visit for june 1st had to be rescheduled until now. what's your sense you're getting about whether this relationship is back on the footing it used to be on? >> reporter: having this working lunn frp right now with a broader group and there's lots of talk about how strong the military to military cooperation is. we think it's pretty good behind the scenes but who knows. >> who knows indeed. richard wolffe competing a little bit with protest ers at the white house gates as we often see. thanks so much for that report. vice president joe biden is back a in the u.s. after spending time with some 90,000 u.s. troops stationed in iraq. they plan to -- in her exclusive interview in bang dad andrea asked the vice president about the way forward in iraq and afghanistan. and she began by asking about that mortar attack near the u.s. embassy just as the vice president arrived. >> thank you very much, mr. vice president. >> thanks for being here. >> well, iraq is at such a critical stage. now, you've been here. we know that incidents are down. it's a lot safer here. that's part of your message. the iraqis are stepping up. yet in the middle of the night, what happened? >> well, actually i was getting out of the car. i was debriefing my two colleague s and we heard this whistle. it went over our head in the automobile and apparently not too far away there was an explosion. but, look, you know, that's not a big deal. it happens. and it's unusual. incidents are way, way down. know we don't talk about specifics of security. but your reaction? >> my reaction was not too dissimilar to yours. he said let's go inside. i thought let me finish the debr debris. the likelihood -- it's like lightning striking there. i said, okay, we went out and continued the debriefing in the hallway and went to bed. >> you -- >> we didn't ignore them. as you know, there are significant -- the windows on these residences are -- and apartments are real, and so -- you know, what i did, i covered. i pulled the cover over my head and went to bed. >> what you're doing in iraq and what the administration wants to see here is to move forward and have a government and have the mission end at the end of the summer. how does it really happen with a caretaker government. >> well, first of all the caretaker government is doing a pretty damn good job. the progress we made against akai da and iraq has been led by the iraqis. they have stepped up. for example, what people don't realize is we're drawing down to 50,000 combat troops remaining. that's not their primary mission, but these guys are able to shoot straight, the same guys and women that are here, but we've already drawn down a significant portion of that 95,000. already hundreds of tons of equipment has already left iraq. so it's not like on august we go boom, we've now gone from 145,000 to 50,000. it's well, well under way and it's working and the general, twouchb bright stars in our military, is absolutely confident. there's no concern about getting down to 50,000. >> and what will happen if the iraqis are really not ready to step up to it or some incident happens, or a bigger series of incidents? >> we have # 50,000 troops. that's a lot of troops. the general is absolute confident and he has the authority to move those troops within iraq. if there were any trouble you know as well as i do it's likely to end up in a regional piece, not a nationwide piece. we don't anticipate that but the general has the ability to move for forces around. for example, right now it was really a stroke of genius. one of the things that really diminished tensions between the arabs and the kurds is what they call the disputed internal boundarie boundary. the bottom line is he put together a deal where there's an iraqi national army, which are kurds, and u.s. troops. they're together on something like 31 points along the border. that's the way in which you can take existing troop whose are not in the lead in combat but continuing the train, mentor, and deal with the iraqi forces. nobody that i'm aware of is worried about notwithstanding how long it takes to form a government, the security apparatus breaking down. >> there is a conflicting impulse here among the political leaders. there's some people who say, you know, you're abandoning iraq. you're moving everything to afghanistan. that's the war you care about, and you're leaving us alone. some people say, you know, we want you to get out. we don't want american interfeeshs. stop telling us what to do. how do you navigate between those political -- >> well, think the way to nav gat is to keep our promise. we signed a thing called the s.o.f.a., the strategic agreement about troops in iraq. president obama came along and that was anegotiate. he said they were going to get troops out and by 2011 we're going to have all combat troops out unless they asked that we decide to negotiate staying. that's the expectation. the president said we want to draw down those forces to 50,000 by the sum over 2010. as an added incentive for the iraqis to step up. they have stepped up. they have stepped up. and so the best way i have found and i dwloink may have observed, i have deep personal connections with most of these leaders. i mean i've been talking to them, knowing them for over six ye years. >> do you think they're ready to take over? >> they are. absolutely they're ready to take over. now, the hard part for them is forming this government. look at the result. 91 votes -- there's 320-some members of their parliament, the core. 91 of those seats twoenlt one party. 89 went to another party and all the rest are divide up in small parties. that's a difficult government to put together. there's no clear majority. and they're in the process. one of the reasons i came, andrea, i met with each of the major players representing each of those parties and the reason for doing that was to get a sense of where they thought it was going to make my own assessment how close or far i thought it was and whether or not at the request we could be of any service to them. but also to deliver a message. no outside interference. do your own bidding. make sure you're on a position that every major party is included in order -- the government has to reflect the election in order to build confidence in the people who haven't had the peaceful transition of government and generations. >> that is part of andrea mitchell's exclusive interview with joe biden. coming up we're going to play the rest of the interview including what the vice president tells andrea about that plan to begin with with drawing troops from afghanistan next summer. remember there was a statement where vp biebd was quoted in a book by jonathan alter saying you can bet on it. you can bet troops will be home or starting to come home by next summer. andrea asks him about that. we'll get that very interesting reaction from vice president biden as we see the rest of andrea's exclusive interview. also coming up, oil from the bp disaster touching every gulf coast state and spreading deeper and deep sbeer louisiana. we're going to have a live report from venice coming up. remember, you can send andrea your thoughts. you can find her on twitter@mitchellreports. as we wait for the press availability between about prime minister netanyahu and president obama obama, they met for lunch. we now have that tape to show you. well, i just completed an excellent one-on-one discussion with prime minister netanyahu. i want to welcome him back to the white house. i want to first of all thank him for the wonderful statement that he made in honor of the fourth of july, our independence day when he was still in israel. and it marked just one more chapter between our two countries. as prime minister netanyahu indicated in his speech, the bond between united states and israel is unbreakable. it encompasses our national security interests ourk strategic interests, but most importantly the bond of two democracies who share a common set of values and whose people have grown closer and closer as time goes on. during our discussion in our private meeting we cover add wide range of issues. we discussed the issues of gaza and i commended prime minister netanyahu on the goods that have been aloud in. i think it's ak noojed that it's moved more quickly and effectishly than many people anticipated. obviously there's still tensions and issues that have to be resolved us but our two countries are working cooperatively together to work on the issues. the quartet has been, think, very helpful as well and question believe that there is a way to make sure that the people of gaza are able to prosper economically while ill real is able to maintain its legitimate security needs in not allowing missiles and weapons to get to hamas. we discussed the issue of iran, and we pointed out that as a consequence of some hard work internationally we have ibs substituted through the u.n. security council the toughest sanctions ever directed add an iranian government. in addition, last week i signed our own set as robust as any other country. other countries following suchlt we continue to put pressure on i rehab to meet its international obligations. and to cease the kind of provocative things that has made eight threat to international communities. we have an extensive discussion about the prospects for middle east peace. i believe prime minister netanyahu wasn'ts peace. think he's willing to take risks for peace. and during our conversation, he once again reaffirmed hislingness to engage in serious negotiations with the palestinians around what i think should be the goal not just of two principles involved but the entire world. that is two states living side by side in peace and security. israel's security and needs met, palestinian having a sovereign state that they call their own. those are goals that have obviously escaped our grasp for decades now but now is the time to cease on that vision and i think prime minister netanyahu is prepare dodd so. it's going to be duff. it's going to be hard work but we have seen proximity talks taking place. my envoy george mitchell has helped to organize five of them so far. we expect those proximity talks to lead to direct talks and i believe that the government of israel is prepared to engage in such direct talks and i commend the prime minister for that. they're going to need to be a whole set of confidence-building measures to marek sure that people are serious and that we're sending a signal to the region that isn't just more talk and more achlkts it should be recognized the other states have to be supportive of peace because although ultimately this is going to be determined by the israeli and palestinian peoples, they can't succeed unless you have the surrounding states having a greater investment in the process than we've seen so far. finally, we discussed issues that arose out of the nuclear and nonproliferation conference and i reiterated to the prime minister that there is no change in u.s. policy when it comes to these issues. we strongly believe that given its size, its history, and the region that it's in and the threats level threat threats levied against it it has unique requirements. got to be able to respond to any threats in the region and that's why we remain unwavering in our commitment to israel's security. the united states will never ask israel to take any steps that would undermine their security interests. so i just want to say once again that i thought the discussion that we had was excellent, that we've seen over the last year how our relationship has broadened. it sometimes it doesn't get publicized. on the whole economic militaryives, israel maintaining its qualitative military edge, intelligence sharing, how we are able to work together effectively on the international front, that, in fact, our relationship is continuing to improve, and i think a lot of that has to do with the excellent work that the prime minister has done. so i'm grateful and welcome once again to the white house. thank you. >> thank you plrks president. thank you. the president and i had an extensive excellent discussion in which we discussed a broad range of issues. these include, of course, our own cooperation in the fields of intelligence and security and exactly as the president said. i is extensive. not everything is seen by the public. but it is seen and appreciated by us. we understand fully that we'll work together in the coming months and years to protect our common interests, our countries, our peoples against new threats. and at the same time we want to explore the possibilities of peace. the greatest new threat on the horizon and the sing isle most dominant issue if many of us is the prospect that iran would acquire nuclear weapons. iran is brutally terrorizing its people. spreads terrorism far and wide. and i very much appreciate the president's statements that he is determined to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. that has been translated by the president into his leadership at the security council, which passed sanctions against iran. by the u.s. that they signed a few days ago and i urge them to follow the lead and adopt much tough err sanctions against iran, primarily those against the energy secretary. as the president said, we discussed a great deal about actively moving forward the quest for peace between israel and the palestinians. we're committed to that peace. i'm committed to that peace. and this peace i think will better lives of israelis, of palestinians, and certainly would change our region. israelis would zloirn a lot to get that peace in place but they want to make sure that after all the steps they take what tay get is a secured peace. we don't want a repeat of the situation where we vae indicate territories and those are overtaken by iran's proxies and used as launching grounds for terrorist attacks or rocket attacks. i think there are solutions we can adopt, but in order to proceed to the solutions, we need to begin negotiations in order to end them. think it's high time to begin direct talks. i think with the help of president obama, president abbas and myself shoulden gauge in direct talks to reach a political settlement of peace coupled with security and prosperity. this requires that the palestinian authority prepare its people for peace. schools, text pobooks and so on. but i think at the end of the day, peace is the best option for all of us and i think we have a unique opportunity and a unique time to do it. the president says that he has a habit of confounding all the naysayers and you've shown it time and time again. i think i'd had to opportunity to find cynics myself, and i think if we work together with president abbas, then we can bring a great message of hope to our regions, to the people, toonld the world. one final point, mr. president, i want to thank you for reaffirming to me in private and now in public as you did the longstanding u.s. commitment to israel and the lateral strategic importance. way tonight thank you, too, for the hospitality you and the first lady have shown sarah and me. think we have to address the balance. i've been coming here a lot. it's about time you and the first lady came to israel. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> we've got time for one question each. i'm going to call on steven collison, afp. >> thank, you mr. president. as part of the steps which need to be taken -- do you think it would be helpful for israel to extend the moratoriums -- do you make these measures will contain [ inaudible ] >> let me first of all say i thank the israeli government working through layers of various governmental entities and jurisdictions have shown restraint over the last several months they think has been conducive to the prospects of us getting into direct talks. and mope hoy hope is that one d talks have begun well before the moratorium has expired that that will create a climate in which everybody feels a greater investment in success. not every action by one party or the other is a reason for not engaging in talks so there ends up being more room created by more trust. so i want to just make sure that we sustain that over the next -- over the next several weeks. i do think that there are a range of confidence-building measures that can be taken by all sides that improve the prospects of a successful negotiation, and i've discussed some of those privately with the prime minister. when president abbas was here, i discussed some of those same issues with him. think it's very important that the palestinians not look for excuses for incitement, that they are not engaging in provocative language. that at the international level they're maintaining a constructive talk as opposed to looking for opportunities to embarrass israel. at the same time i've said to prime minister netanyahu -- i don't think he minds me sharing it publicly -- that they working, i have done some significant things when it comes to the security front. and so us being able to widen the scope of their responsibilities in the west bank is something i think would be very meaningful to the palestinian people. think that some of the steps that have already been takeen in gaza helped to build confidence and if we continue to make progress on that front, then palestinians can see in very concrete terms what peace can bring, that rhetoric and violence cannot bring. that is people actually having an opportunity to raise their children and make a living, you know, buy and sell goods and build a life for themselves which is ultimately what people in both israel and the palestinian territories want. >> i think the latest sanctions adopted by the u.n. create a legitimacy or create dele jijmization of iraq's nuclear program, and think that's important. think the sanctions the president signed the other day actually have teeth. they bite. the question is how much do you need to bite is something i cannot answer now, but if other nations adopted sim laugh sanctions that would increase the effect. the more like-minded countries join in the american-led effort that president obama has signed into act, into law, i think the better we'll able to give you an answer to your question. >> anyone else? [ inaudible ] do you think it was a mistake. >> do you think it contributes -- do you trust in our prime minister benjamin netanyahu. if i may, did you discuss with the president or -- [ inaudible ] >> well, let me first of all say that the premise to your question was wrong, and i entirely disagree with it. if you look at every public statement i've made in the last year and havg it has been a constant reaffirmation of the special relationship between the united states and israel. that our commitment to israel's security has been unwavering. and, in fact, there aren'tny concrete policies that you could point to that would contradict that. and in terms of my relationship with prime minister netanyahu. i know the press and stateside enjoys, you know, seeing if there's news there. but the fact of the matter is i've trusted prime minister netanyahu since i met him before i was elected president and have said so both publicly and privately. i think that he is dealing with a very complex situation in a very tough neighborhood, and, you know, what i have consistently shared with him is my interest in working with him, not at cross-purposes so we can achieve the kind of peace that will ensure israel's efforts for decades to come. that's going to mean some tough choices. and there are going be times where, you know, he and i are having robust discussions about what kind of choices need to be made, fbut the underlying approach never changes. that is the united states is committed to israel's security, we're committed to that special bond, and we're going to go what's required to back that up, not just with word bus with actions. we are going to continually work with the prime minister and the entire israeli government as well as the israeli people so we can achieve what i think has to be everybody's goal, which is that people feel secure. they don't feel like a rocket's going to be landing on their head sometime. they don't feel as if there's a growing population that wants to direct violence against israel. that requires work and that requires some difficult choice both at the strategic level and the tactile level and this is something that the prime minister understands and why i think that we're going be able to work together not just over the next few months but over the next several years. >> thank you. >> the president and i discussed concrete steps that could be done now, the coming days or the coming weeks to move the peace process further along in a very robust way. this is what we focused our conversation on. and when i say the next few weeks, that's what i mean. the president means that too. let me make a general observation about the question before to the president. and here i'll have to paraphrase mark twain, that the reports about the demise of the special u.s./israel relations -- relationship are not premature. they're just flat wrong. there is -- there's a depth and richness of this relationship that is expressed every day. our teams talk. we don't make a it public. the only thing that's public is you can have differences on occasion and the best of families and the closest of families, that comes out public and sometimes what is not told is the fact that we have an enduring bond of values, interests, beginning with security and the way that we share both information and other things to help the common defense of our common interests and many others in the region. we don't often admit to the ben fieshl affect of this cooperation. so i think the president has said it in front of the entire islamic world. he said the bond between israel and the united states is unbreakable, and i can affirm that to you today. >> thank you very much, everybody shoo thank you, everyone. lights, please. >> stay cool out there. >> you even been watching taped into our news room, president obama meeting with israeli prime minister netanyahu. both leaders pushing back hard on notion that there's a rift between our two countries. the prot saying the bond between thee the u.s. and israel is unbreakable and netanyahu saying any rumors are, quote, flat wrong. the sanctions passed by the u.n. have teeth. do they bite hard enough. he said we'll have to wait and see. as we carry on with our "andrea mitchell reports," vice president joe biden, what he told andrea about general petraeus taking command there and how long the u.s. soldiers will remain in the country. every day if you don't always like the taste of them. good thing v8 v-fusion juice gives you a serving of vegetables hidden by a serving of fruit. 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[ male announcer ] chevy traverse. a consumers digest best buy. with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. it seats eight comfortably -- not that it always has to. well, general david petraeus a took command of u.s. and hay nato forces in afghanistan sunday in kabul. he says his plan to start pulling out troops july 2011 does not mean they'll turn off the lights and let the doors close behind us but critic says there shouldn't be an arbitrary deadline put on withdrawal. >> a statement like we're not going to turn out the lights in the middle of 2011 is indecipherable and certainly sounds an uncertain trumpet. so i'm more concerned about the perception of our friends and our enemies as well as the people in afghanistan as to the depth of our commitment. the president should state unequivocal cabably that we will leave when we have succeeded. and to somehow put that burden on general petraeus is not appropriate. he's a military leader. >> well, vice president joe biden reacted to senator mccain's commenting during an exclusive interview with andrea yesterday in iraq. >> look, i have great respect for john. i sat in the oval office on the sunday after thanksgiving with general petraeus, with the general chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, with the secretary of defense, with the national security adviser, with the president and me. and the president said this is the policy you all have recommended with a couple of tweaks by me, the president. tell me now if you think there's any portion of it that does not work. and he went around the room, and each of them spoke to him and said, circumstance this is the policy. we all sign on. there were two pieces in the policy besides the surge of 30,000 forces. keep in mind there were already 68,000 american forces there, all right? so it's not like even if you didn't have the surge, we didn't have the significant engagement there. h went around the room and they talked about two things. the military idea was that by december after a year of this, we would have a proof of concept they call it. was the strategy working, or would it have to be altered? was the strategy of so-called coin and ct, that is, you know, those counter-terrorist activities, was it producing the result. >> the military uses all these abbreviations. secondly they said that by july of 2011 we would begin to draw down troops, and the phrase everybody used was the slope of the drawdown would depend on the circumstances. there is no question that we will begin to draw down troops in july. but we're not talking about a rush for the door. we're talking about it based on conditions. and even if you drew down every surge troop, which is not suggest thagt's likely to happen in july, you would still have 68,000 troops there and another 35,000 nato troops there. so this manufactured notion, this is a rush to the exits is just -- even if you wanted to eliminate every troop, you couldn't possibly get the troops out in less than a period of long months. and that is not the intention. but here's the reason why that date's important. that date's important to say to the afghanis, you've got to step up. we cannot want peace and security in your country more than you want it. >> doesn't it also say to the taliban we're heading out the door? >> no, we're not because the taliban knows that we still have over 100,000 combined troops even if there were not. even if there were not the 30,000, which will still will be. but this is the idea if you do -- it's the same thing we did here. we said to the iraqis and they said, all right, we want all your combat troops out of the cities by last summer. everybody was saying, oh, my god, isn't that send issing a signal to al qaeda and iraq that this is awful? >>. >>. >> no. it was sending a signal to iraqis you've got to step up. >> as you know, you were quoted in jonathan alter's book that you could count on the fact. >> we were beginning the drawdown. what was unfortunate is it didn't capture the way the whole conversation we had. i said you can count on it. it was in the context of the discussion being people are saying we're going to be staying there forever and we're going to be adding troops. i said that's not going to happen. we are going to begin the process, and it is condition-based. but if you don't -- if you said to the present afghan governm t government, which has understandableably that. guess what rngs the likelihood of their being an incredible spurnd ak and accommodation among the different parties to put that country together, it would be less likely. >> do you think that there has become a sense of problems within the foreign policy team and the military team the fact that general mcchrystal was fired, that you've had disputes among the civilian afghan advisers? there are questions that john mccain and others are raising about ambassador eikenberry. does this send the wrong signal? >> no. think it was broekt brilliant and elegant. the most respected general of the united states military right now particularly as it relates to the encountering insurgency is general petraeus. he is the guy who has the faith and support of the afghanistan government, the pakistani government, and nato. they are the three most important players in how this policy succeeds. he has a very good relationship with gin real eikenberry, now ambassador ike enberry. i might add general eikenberry used to command the troops there as well as he has a good relationship with richard holbrooke. the irony is this oil bad joke about turning lemons into lemonade. i think he has the capacity to do what unfortunately is required today of a modern day general to be both diplomat and warrior. and he has that capacity. so i think you're going to see things straighten out. and one last point about this. the reason that i haven't diverted from support of the president's policy is and general petraeus is it's much too early to make these kinds of judgments. we don't even have every troop there yet. the surge hasn't finished out yet. and so to make a judgment that it's not working is just premature. that's why the military suggested december. before we started the surge they said let's take a look in december. that will be the time to make the judgment. >> andrea mitchell's exclusive interview with vice president bind. you can walk the whole interview on msnbc.com. and tonight rachel maddow live from afghanistan at 9:00. be sure to tune in. what is the government's case? nbc's pete williams breaks it down coming up next. with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. woman: discover the protection, comfort and convenience of transitions lenses for the entire family at transitions.com/walmart or visit a walmart vision center today. transform plain old ribs into these fall-off-the-bone honey bbq ribs. the secret's in the sauce, made with campbell's french onion soup. for these delicious ribs and dozens more sizzling summer recipes, visit campbellskitchen.com. bgecko: ah, thank you,n sisir. as we all know,s, geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and trailer insurance... ...as well as motorcycle insurance... oh...sorry, technical difficulties. boss: uh...what about this? gecko: what's this one do? um...maybe that one. ♪ (dance music plays) boss: ok, let's keep rolling. we were on motorcycle insurance. anncr: take fifteen minutes to see how much you could save on motorcycle, rv, and camper insurance. i can take one airline out... and another home. so with more flight options, i can find the combination that gets me there and back quickest. where you book matters. expedia. the justice department is taking the battle over gramgs to a whole new level. it cease suing arizona on the grounds that its new law sun constitutional. pete williams joins me now. would say within the next hour or so they'll file the lawsuit. they'll ask the judge to stop this law from going into effect on the scheduled date of july. what they'll say is immigration is a federal mat their the states can not legislate in this area. they can't take over because the federal law is the law of the land. they'll say arizona police are not trained to do this. that's a question for the federal government. arizona says we're not trying to make that decision. if we get someone who is here illegally, we'll ask federal officials. as a practical issue the federal government is -- they understand arizona's problem here. they think the federal government isn't doing enough. but they think arizona is going to overdo it. they'll have so many people in detention the federal government won't be able to absorb it all. they figure if they don't stop them all they're going to see 0 other states go in their own direction and you'll have all sorts of varying enforcement of immigration in the country. >> also there was all this talk about whether it's unconstitutional from equal protection, people saying that people would be treated unfairly. >> and that, in fact, is an argument that is made in the lawsuits already filed by a number of civil rights groups in arizona. civil rights groups in arizona. if you're picked up by federal immigration agent, but it's going to be very different if you're picked up by a state police agency in arizona and that's not treating people equally. all right, what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? we'll tell you coming up. [ male announcer ] hello, bikes and backpacks. ♪ aloha, surfboards and skis. ♪ welcome, strollers and sippy cups. ♪ the nissan rogue's interior can be reconfigured dozens of different ways to handle whatever life throws at it... no matter which life you're living today. the award-winning nissan rogue -- now with up to $2,500 total customer savings ♪ [ dog barking ] [ sniffing ] [ male announcer ] missing something? like 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99 at sears optical, with bifocal lenses for just $25 more per pair. hurry in to sears optical today and don't miss a thing. which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? >> i think that -- i do think that, look, michael steele's comments about the war in afghanistan, this is a war of obama's choosing it got lost a criticized by people like lindsay graham and jim demint. there were calls over the weekend over possibly replacing him. he's going to stay through november, but there's going to be a lot of talk over the next few days about what do you do, how do you handle it, can he be a surrogate in any way, shape or form for the party. the party will certainly try to put a stop to that, but can they. and what has he been doing behind the scenes to kind of rehabilitate himself? obviously as you know, since you document this kind of stuff, because this isn't the first time he made a political gaff. is there something qualitatively different about this one, where that's it? >> i don't think it's that's it. there is something slightly different about this one, the position that he seemed to be taking, which he backtracked on, that the war in afghanistan might not be winnable, runs -- criticized from democrats not really criticized from republicans. what steele's been doing to your question, what would you think he would be doing? making calls, trying to reassure people, especially those 168 people of the republican national committee that he can still be strong. i don't think he can really rehabilitate himself. there's been too many gaffs, i think most people in the republican political class here in washington think that this is the end of the road for steele, they're fine and happy until november because replacing him will be too much of a pain, but after november, that's it. >> chris cillizza, thank you so much. tomorrow, andrea will be back, she'll be live in aspen, colorado and i'll be on along with chuck todd 9:00 eastern for the daily rundown. tamron hall is up next, she's going to talk to amanda knox's father, if the italian prison system has its way, he could end up in prison for defamation. tamron has the latest on that story coming up. former president jefferson. kraft homestyle mac and cheese? this tastes suspiciously like... my recipe. so you like it? like it? it's my invention. kraft has stolen it from me. ♪ [ music stops ] ♪ i will be taking this dish as criminal evidence. ♪ gadzooks! these handles are hot. [ male announcer ] new kraft homestyle mac and cheese. rich, creamy, oven baked like jefferson used to make. [ jefferson ] thievery! i'm tamron hall, right now much of the northeast under a heat advisory at this hour. and forecasters predict we will see record breaking temperatures. live pictures from the new jersey shore where many are trying to escape the stifling heat. the president commented just a few minutes ago on the extreme heat we're experiencing. and michael steele is facing more calls to resign after he said the afghan war was president obama's war, a war of choice. not only is he historically wrong, but