Transcripts For MSNBC Morning Joe 20100108

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[ male announcer ] effortlessly removes more grime per swipe. with the mr. clean magic eraser extra power. morning joe starts right now. ♪ sweet home alabama ♪ >> that will do it. crimson tide wins the national champi championship. >> hello. >> roll tide. 37-21. it is alabama. that is basking in victory this morning. look at that. >> exciting. >> did you have fun? >> yeah, it was fun. a good game. >> yeah. colt mccoy. >> jody is out there. it was surreal. had a wonderful time. a big household. the wife, the kids. first time they were number one since 1992. alabama started trying to run the clock out with 14:59 left in the third quarter. and that's the thing. you sit there, and i don't care how -- how young the quarterback is. if you give him enough series, because you keep running up the middle for an entire halftime, he is going to get his rhythm. not the greatest coaching in alabama history. >> they got a little cocky, don't you think? >> no, they got safe. they got conservative. up 24-6, and this kid was a great star for a high school in texas. >> true freshman. >> yeah. it was so painful to watch in the third quarter. >> a lot of people wondering this morning if colt mccoy in his last college football game, should have gone back into the game, given it wasn't broken or separated. but we were talking to gary danielson on "way too early," and he said if you have a pinched nerve and you can't feel it, you can't throw a football. >> he said he couldn't feel nothing. it's like he slept on it. you feel nothing. >> it's like you. >> from here to my ankles. >> a lot of people already are saying, well, texas would have won if -- if colt mccoy would have played. i don't know if that's the case or not. the reason alabama -- and we were talking on the phone early in the game, the reason they did so well in the first half is because texas was three and out, three and out, three and out. so your defense gets exhausted. guess what happened to alabama in the second half? three and out, three and out, three and out. and, again, they led texas back into the game and it was a shame, but you have to take mark ingram and trey richardson from pensacola. >> when it was 24-21, i just couldn't turn it off. unbelievable. >> mika, stop. you weren't even watching the game. >> you were at your event. >> but we had the game on. are you kidding? we had the game on. it was amazing. >> how many people said roll tide to you last night? >> oh, the entire audience. roll tide. >> i heard -- they were from a little burg. i heard they treated you like a rock star. they were all over you. >> it was nice. it was a really lovely event. it was fun. we're off to the next. >> boston. >> yes. you're going to harvard. >> words we've never heard before. >> i'm sorry. why does that strike you as so funny? >> i don't know. it's kind of fun. it will be great. >> the alabama of the north. >> go say roll tide in harvard yard. >> let's do it. you won't have to worry about the sweatshirt that kay bailey hutchison wanted you to wear. thank goodness. today in detroit, the nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a u.s. airliner will make his first appearance in federal court. it follows a declassified report following failures that could have prevented the attack. the visa status of that alleged bomber was not flagged by the state department because his name was misspelled in the system. now the administration is pushing a series of measures to close those same types of gaps in the future. no one will be fired over the incident, his counterterrorism advisers admit, he as well as others, failed to piece together the existing information. >> i am less interested in passing out blame that learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer. ultimately, the buck stops with me. as president, i have the solemn responsibility to protect our nation and people. when the system fails, it is my responsibility. >> i told the president today, i let him down. i am the president's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism. i told him i will do better and we will do better as a team. >> well, i like that. >> yeah. >> you didn't hear george bush say that he made a mistake too much. and i remember at the end of his first term, they asked him if he made any mistakes, and he said he couldn't remember any he had made. well, hell, you ask me four minutes in any given day if i have made any mistakes, i can count them out in four minutes. >> me too. >> i was very impressed with john brennaman's performance in the briefing after the president's speech. i am still left with one question. what happened after this young man's father went to the cia station chief and reported his son was an extremist and had been mentally captured by -- >> and a lot of times -- >> why wasn't he put on the no-fly list then? >> a lot of times they are skeptical, because it is somebody that may want a visa to come to the united states or may want some money this is one of the top bankers in the entire country. he didn't want anything but to help protect america. >> by the way, this statement by brennaman is the very way this president leads. a number of times he has taken responsibility, said he is sorry, and moved on. and we've been often jarred by that. >> ironically, he will actually gain more political stature doing that, than by blaming george w. bush. it doesn't make a lot of sense, but at this point, when the white house blames george w. bush for anything, even if they have a good argument it makes them look small when they say, hey, the buck stops with me. doesn't it make the president seem more confident. it makes him seem like more of a leader. >> two quick things about that, joe. one a lot of people are sick about all of the references to the bush administration. it's over. it was a year ago. move on. that's in the rear view mirror. i was reminded about my conversation with a top-ranking national security official and it gets to the volume of threats. >> oh, yeah. >> i mean, just the sheer volume of threats that these people have to handle, administer and make decisions on each and every day. it's overwhelming. >> and that's what the sources in the intel community tell me. there is so much information. any single given day you get horrifying information across your desk. how do you prioritize it. you only have so many assets. let's face it. let's face it, capitol hill is not treating the cia and the intelligence community with a whole lot of deference right now. and not a whole lot of funding, so you've got to prioritize. >> a difficult landscape. newly released security video from newark airport suggests a good-bye kiss may have been behind sunday's six-hour shutdown. a man was warned not to enter around a passenger-only area. a man embraces a woman, he leaves the airport a short time later. officials have not identified him. a kiss. the pentagon is confirming robert gates will stay on. this poor guy cannot go home. bob gates, he's staying on as president obama's defense secretary for at least another year. a holdover from the bush administration, gates has grown to become one of the president's key advisers, although it's an open-ended commitment. gates will oversee the expansion of the war in afghanistan through the summer and oversee the planned withdrawal in july 2011. blackwater is not us disclosing the financial terms of several lawsuits it settled for reckless behavior. the company, now known as z services," has been accused of illegal activity. the company is pleased to be free of lawsuit's "distractio "distractions." and conditions growing increasingly deadly. a truck spun out of control, killing four people and injuring seven others. further north, heavy snowfall pounding the region. in north dakota, the windchill hit 52 below zero. that's a reason not to do it. >> exactly. >> just don't do it. >> you know, mika, in the middle of the -- while i was watching the game last night, i was -- i got across my twitter feed, where we were going back and forth with everybody in tide nation and longhorn nation or whatever they call themselves, a "the new york times" article came across, and i remember you being critical of jay leno and his performance at 10:00. i think you said he just wasn't funny, which i thought was kind of cold of you. you stand shoulder to shoulder with these people. so "the new york times," willie geist, is reporting that maybe mika was on to something early. because they are talking about -- according to "the times" report, leno starting at 11:35 and cone an starting at 12:05. >> bill carter, the man who wrote the book on late-night television, with a front-page piece below the fold, suggesting nbc has a plan in place -- they haven't decided to do it yet -- that would move leno back to his own time slot at 11:30. the affiliates are not pleased with the performance of the 10:00 show. leno talked about it last night. >> assi you may have heard, the is a rumor floating around we were canceled. so far nobody has said anything to me. but if we did get canceled, it could give us time to travel. as i understand it, fox is beautiful this time of the year. nbc only cancels you when you are in first place, so we're find. >> i was wracking my brain, going through old transcripts of the show, joe. i think you were the one who were perhaps slightly critical of lay. >> i don't stay up that late. >> maybe i said parts of the show sucked. >> nbc said this. >> what's that say about the world? go ahead. that means kicking him back to 11:30. >> you know what this would do? this would obviously leave a big hole open at 10:00 p.m. >> willie. >> huh? "the willie geist show?" >> can i stop waking up at 2:00 a.m.? >> listen, jay was funny at 11:35. he has not been as funny at 10:00. i feel bad for conan. >> we don't know what's happening. >> they put out a statement specifically about conan. >> and we're now throwing him over a cliff. >> that's not happening. >> a series of 15-minute comedy shows until 1:00 a.m.? >> conan waited in line, got moved up and people hasn't gotten used to him. and jimmy fallon is doing incredible in the ratings. he's going to get pushed back as well. >> maybe. >> this is all maybe. and by the way, conan is so -- he's crazy. i love him. >> i love conan. >> yeah, talking about the pot calling the kettle black. 10:00 p.m. >> not very nice. >> willie. nighttime willie instead of morning willie. >> well, something about a couch. coming up, it was the opening -- >> by the way, when you called me last night and i was at the game, hello, willie. he had his couch voice. i'm on the couch voice. >> okay. >> he told me he was doing his best work there. >> really? the charming opening line to the palin/biden debate. >> i can call you joe? >> a former mccain adviser gives new insight into the famously scripted line. one of the top stories in the politico playbook. and michael steele blasts republicans in his own party. you will hear ultimatum um. i'm liking him. >> i'm thinking this guy is finding his voice. new developments on a larger than life billboard in times square that has the white house heated. first, a very heated bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> just thinking about willie on the couch, right? >> that's weird, but let's move on now. >> congratulations -- >> awkward moment. >> that was kind of >> let's talk about -- hot under the collar. let's talk about the weather. a little coating of white in southern new england down to new york. atlantic city to baltimore, d.c. an inch of snow in most locations. temperatures will fall during the day today. get ready for the arctic chill to head to the eastern seaboard. saturday, windy and cold, even though it will be sunny. you want to talk about cold, look at birmingham, alabama, where they are still celebrating. 5 is the windchill. stay warm today. gets better by sunday. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. 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[ female announcer ] new moisture wrap body lotion. neutrogena skin care. #1 dermatologist recommended. the omb director had a baby with this lady, a shipp eping heiress. i guess omb stands for the office of managing the booty. ladies, put your husbands to bed and hide your over ar rories. >> good morning. the budge set changing course, and the budget system is recalcula recalculating. good morning. >> that -- whoo! >> did he just say put your babies to bed and -- >> put your ovaries to bed? okay. >> oh. >> sometimes brains are sexy, right, mika? >> sure. >> forget i asked. >> put your ovaries to bed. >> let's take a look at morning papers "wall street journal." obama orders security fix for the breakdown in the christmas day attempted attack. "the new york times," tighter rules for air pollution. health benefits will outweigh costs to industry and government. >> "l.a. times," leno in talks to return to late night. >> "birmingham news," back on top. nick saban holds the trophy. he is the first coach to hold two trophies since 1 996, and still incredibly disliked here. roll tide. look at him. seriously. three years ago, alabama miserable. the program now number one in the nation and they will be great next year. >> yeah. remind me what someone said about you going to the gym. "houston chronicle "painful ending, longhorn' quarter back injured. >> what did somebody say about me? >> oh, when i sound -- oh, the game. and i said, yeah, the game. and they said priorities and walked away. >> it happens once every couple of decades. >> and i said can we turn the game on here? >> title game. number one. >> i understand. you don't go every year. >> a bunch of people watch a bunch of people running around. >> i seriously would have skipped the super bowl or the final game of the world series. >> i was extremely defensive. >> and, by the way, did i not tell you two months ago if you had a book event on this night, i was going to be in california. >> i was very defensive. >> amen. >> they think you are amazing. >> making fun of me again. with us now, chief political correspondent for politico, mr. mike allen with a look at the politico playbook. >> happy friday. >> we're going to talk about sarah pal ninin in a minute. but president obama turning the corner and focusing on the economy. >> in the new year before the state of the union address, they said there would be a hard pivot to talk about jobs. today is the day. 2:40 eastern time in the east room, the president will talk about stimulus funding going to clean tech, manufacturing jobs. that's a few hours after the 8:30 a.m. release of the jobless number, so people soak that in. it will be a little above or below 10% and it will talk about how stimulus funds will create jobs and all next week, the president will focus on the economy. and as part of the one-two punch, attorney general eric holder will talk about how they are going to crack down on financial fraud where people are trying to use stimulus funds illegally. >> terror is going to linger, isn't it? >> of course. health care isn't done. it is looking like negotiations will drag on at least a little while. not looking like the state of the union address will be in early february. pushing it back to give them as much time to make as much progress on health care as possible. but this reminded the president, when you run the free world, you don't control your own agenda. >> that's right, mike. let's talk about sarah palin. mccain campaign senior adviser steve schmidt asked about the debate prep for the vice presidential debate with joe biden. listen to what he said. >> he told us that the debate was going to be a debacle of historic and epic prochposition. he told us she was not focused, not engaged, not participating in the prep and i said to her, governor, this doesn't seem to be going well to me. and she assented. she said that's right. >> what john mccain said about sarah palin. >> and he was interviewed in conjunction for "60 minutes" for the long-awaited book by john halperin. they will be on "morning joe" next week. among the revelations in this book are the fact that then-senator clinton was so confident during the campaign, that she had planned to transition to the white house back during the primary. >> that's going to be good. i've got it, going to read it this weekend. >> i couldn't put it down. it's great. >> also, we hear about governor palin accidentally referred to the vice president as o'biden. she kept saying in campaign prep. that's why they came up with the line can i call you joe? >> o'biden. and she actually admitted to that in her book. she said i couldn't stop saying o'biden. we'll talk to you later in the show. coming up later, former presidential campaign rudy giuliani will join us right here on set. plus, the big plays, and full highlights from the national championship game that ended a few hours ago. the play that knocked colt mccoy out of the game. and after the show, check out joe and mika on the radio. go to joe.msnbc.com or wabcradio.com. we'll be right back. i'm george duran and this is the hunt's crash kitchen tour. what are we making? penne pasta with eggplant, chicken, and tomato. these tomatoes are not my favorite. this, my friends, is what i am bringing to the table. do you trust me? uh... hunt's flashsteams every tomato to keep that backyard garden fresh taste. get your hands out of there now. you're very lucky that it came out this good. isn't it time to take a fresh look at your tomatoes? ...it's easy to feel like you're fading into the background. that's because bipolar depression doesn't just affect you. it can consume you. one option proven effective to treat bipolar depression... is seroquel xr. for many, it's one pill, once a day. here is some important safety information you should be aware of. call your doctor if you have unusual changes in mood, behavior... ...or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children... ...teens and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking seroquel xr have an increased risk of death. call your doctor if you develop fever... ...stiff muscles, and confusion as these may be signs of a life-threatening reaction... ...or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with seroquel xr and medicines like it... ...and in extreme cases can lead to coma or death. tell your doctor if you have a history of low white blood cell count... ...or seizures. your doctor should check for cataracts. other risks include increased cholesterol and triglycerides, weight gain... ...dizziness on standing, drowsiness, impaired judgment, and trouble swallowing. use caution before driving or operating machinery. learn more about bipolar depression and questions to ask your doctor at seroquelxr.com bipolar depression... ...doesn't have to consume you. take the step today and ask your doctor... ...whether seroquel xr is... ...right for you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. did i just say ron insana? >> yeah. >> exciting. hey, where's the tree? >> mika didn't we tell you? >> where's the tree? >> mika they took the tree down. christmas is over. >> that's actually depressing. >> plunge forward. >> all right. >> speaking of hope -- >> i will try. welcome back to "morning joe." 6:30 on the east coast. today, president obama will turn his attention to the economy, meeting with key advisers before giving a statement on unemployment this afternoon. this follows days after intense focus on terrorism, including yesterday's report detailing security lapses that failed to stop the christmas day airline attack. just this morning, france announced it will join a list of nations to use body scanners at some of its airports on passengers headed to the u.s. at some point, we just need to face the fact that we need them. near st. louis, police say a disgruntled worker opened fire at his job yesterday, killing three people before he apparently took his own life. five people were injured, including two listed in critical. no word on a motive, but the gunman was reportedly in a pension dispute with his company. horrific. and president obama is very comfortable he says being a pitchman for his policies, but apparently not for designer jackets. take a look at this. weatherproof. the maker of a coat that the president happened to wear on his trip to china used the photograph in a giant ad plastered in new york times square. what are they thinking? the white house not happy. the company has agreed to pull the billboard. >> you have to give them credit for cahones. thinking they could pull this off. middle of times square. >> have they no respect? okay, i want to hear sports with willie geist. >> we told you at the top of the show, alabama the new national champion. surely you didn't stay up that late and watch the game like i did. bcs championship game. vince young, the former texas great quarterback who won a title there three years ago. first quarter, look at this. nick saban, a punt in his own territory. didn't go well. colt mccoy, runner up for the highsman, texas start quarterback, drilled. just right helmet into the shoulder. mccoy motions to the sidelines, saying i need to come out. goes to the locker room. did not return to the game. x-rays showed a separated shoulder, pinched nerve. replaced by an 18-year-old freshman. mark ingram, the heisman trophy winner punched it in. alabama never trailed after that. led 7-6. later this is a freshman, guys. trent richardson, beating defenders up to the end zone. tide up 14-6. the other side of the ball, this was not smart. the very end of the first half. why not hand off and run out clock. they try a shovel pass. darius, this time with an interception. 28 yards for the touchdown. alabama up 24-6 on a bone head call by the texas coaching staff. and in the third quarter, gilbert finds himself. shipley, a great receiver. and here they come again. gilbert connecting again with shipley. this time in the fourth quarter. two-point conversion. sudden suddenly, 24-21. texas had a chance here, but gilbert sacked there. turns it over. that would lead to a touchdown. alabama wins 37-21. 14-0. wins the national championship. after the game, nick saban talking about what this big win meant for alabama. >> this is something that is special for the state of alabama. special for the university of alabama. it's special for our fans and our great supporters. but we have a great team at the university of alabama. >> now, a lot of people asked after the game, as they watched it, should colt mccoy have gone back in? he didn't look like he was in pain on the sidelines. had shoulder pads on both arms. here is what he said. >> i really have no pain in my arm. i just can't feel my arm. it wasn't a painful hit. i have taken that hit over and over my whole life playing this game. i know you're going to get hit. i guess i got hit the right way. like i said, i'm not in pain. my arm's dead. it feels like i slept on my arm, i woke up, and it's dead. >> if you can't feel your arm, you can't feel the ball. he could have given him some pales. how to make a fortune on the biggest bailout in history. ron insana coming up. and mika with must-read opinion pages. and tonight, mika and joe will be in cambridge at the harvard bookstore on bratle street. 6:00 tonight. mika and joe. more information about the tour on our website. joe.msnbc.com. >> and today is -- >> elvis' 75th birthday. viva, las vegas. >> happy birthday to the king. >> we'll be right back. e on thee of historic reform, a major step forward for america. let's make sure the health care bill is as strong as possible. under the house plan, we'll be offered good coverage at work. and we won't pay a tax on our health benefits. if you're self-employed or between jobs, you'll be able to afford insurance. and you can keep the benefits you have now. we're at the finish line, tell the president and congress, choose wisely, get it right for us. some republicans in "the washington times" say no money under steele. >> i tell them get a life. that's old washington and old ways, and i don't represent that and it kills them. i've had enough of it. if you don't want me in the job, fire me. but until then, shut up, get with the program, or get out of way. >> seriously, that's leadership. he came on the show and said republicans -- he wasn't sure if the washington republicans were ready to take control of washington. that's the kind of tough talk you need. >> who doesn't like him in the republican leadership? >> a lot of people. it's -- everybody wants to be in charge. chaos, everybody is chopping away at everybody else. but, you know, i'll guarantee you there are a lot of members of congress who were upset when he told the truth and came out and said it's a party that doesn't know which direction they are going. >> i really like what he's saying. i think it will be good for the party. >> i think it will be great for the party. people sat back and said nothing, enabled george bush for eight years. here is a guy that's selling the truth. >> here now with ron insana, who we listen to. he has a new book "how to make a fortune from the biggest bailout in u.s. history." very good, ron. >> more optimistic i think than most at this point in time. >> thank you for coming on this morning. >> it worked for goldman. >> that's the idea, joe. last year was the year for wall street. this is the year for main street. >> i love it. >> okay. i want to hear more about that. "washington post," charles krauthammer, has a good one on obama's guantanamo obsession. >> hey, mike barnicle. krauthammer is exactly right. we'll shut down gitmo, and they'll find another reason. now they are talking about drones. remember, 9/11 was about -- we had troops in saudi arabia. they go back to 1492. they don't need an excuse to hate us. they just hate us. >> that's the bottom line, joe. and they'll continue to hate us, whether we close guantanamo, whether we withdraw every troop from afghanistan. they will continue to hate us, continue to try and kill us. >> all right. but i think closing guantanamo is more about what we stand for. >> if you want to make it about yourself, about your country, that's legitimate. but anybody that runs around saying if we shut down gitmo, the world is going to think more of us and they will stop attacking us, they live in a fairy tale land. >> you say closing guantanamo is more about who we are. >> and what we want to be. >> who are we? if you look at guantanamo, first of all, they are living in the best conditions they have lived in this their lives. >> wait a minute. >> they are. >> detainees are enemy combatants down there. they don't fall under the civil liberties, the juris prudence of the american judicial system. >> i get it. i'm not going to start this because we have ron insana here. >> i'd be happy to jump in, but it's not really my baliwick. >> "the new york times," bubble in the banks. ron insana. >> they will pay a much bigger price for passing health care reform than dealing with the banks. there is a two-track problem on how to fix what went wrong with the financial system over i would say the last 25 years. we will a variety of occurrences that led to the financial crisis we just experienced. you had a shadow banking industry that was built up around derivatives. commercial banks and investment banks were allowed to merge. and people made a lot of money in a variety of bubbles. >> and the big banks, goldman made an awful lot of money. my question and willie's question, we gather all the news. how do we make that money in the new year? >> you do what the bankers did last year. >> i'm skimming right now. >> a crisis in credit. >> look, the bankers -- there's no doubt i understand the pop list rage on main street. that wall street seemed to make too much money. if the federal reserve had not flooded the system with so much money, the situation today would be far worse than anyone can possibly imagine. we were this close between november of '08 and march of '09 to literally going over the edge. the idea was to recapitalize financial institutions. >> so how do we make money? how does main street make money? how do we make a fortune from the biggest bailout in u.s. history? >> do you what wall street did last year, joe. they bought stocks in march 2009 and made a fortune, because the market went up 70%. there are a lot of stocks that will benefit from the turn in the economy, which will be a lot stronger than most people anticipate. you can buy real estate at prices we have not seen in a generation in terms of housing affordability. san diego, henderson, nevada, phoenix, miami, florida. listen, we all live somewhere around the tri-state area, by age 60, are you mandated to move to florida. >> southern and central florida, they are giving them away. >> individuals should take advantage. $8,000 government tax credit that allows to buy a first-time home. $6,000 credit if you buy a vacation home. >> invest in real estate, make money that way. it is so low there. in phoenix, las vegas. willie, you need to buy a police in las vegas. you also say bank stocks. >> they went to almost nothing at the depths of the crisis and been recapitalized. making a lot of money right now. and if the economy does continue to improve, as i expect, they'll make even more. >> isn't one of the dangers, buy a condo in florida, don't in naplna down in naples where they are literally giving them away. isn't that how we got into trouble? >> you won't get the terms that you got at the height of the housing bubble, where they give you a mortgage 110% of the value of the condo. we're talking about depressed prices. four years ago, buying at the peak. now you're buying at the bottom. you get a tax break after you buy it. 20 years from now, the piece of property will be worth a lot more than today. we know this from real estate cycles. a five-year down turn after a big spike and once the upturn starts, u.s. usually a big one. you can buy them as investment properties. investors are all over the foreclosure market like white on rice. a very attractive opportunity. there are helpful websites in the book that tell you how to buy foreclosed properties and you get government assistance as well. >> what is the biggest mistake, other than willie and i do, which is invest at the dog track. >> that's a bad idea. well if you're good at it, particularly if you double down, things can go well. the biggest mistake is not investing. if you are sitting on the sidelines getting 1.5% in a cd, are you missing one of the biggest opportunities we'll see in our lifetime. >> interesting. >> and mike has known me for a long time, but i would say i rarely make projections like this one. >> i've never heard you. >> but these things only come around once in a while. and if you don't take advantage, you miss the boat. >> how to make a fortune from the biggest bailout in u.s. history. new book. ron insana, great to have up come back soon. >> thank you so much. >> i like it. and look how the book ends. my gracious. still ahead, the political fallout from the christmas day security breach. david gregory joins us. up next, time for the friday's finest. time for which stories make the story in willie's week in review. and i'm seeing america's mayor. keep it right here on "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. 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( whistling ) ( sniffing ) missing something? now at sears optical, get 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99. or take a year to pay. sears optical. don't miss a thing. hey! announcer: you don't drive every time you smoke. yet you smoke every time you drive. driving and smoking don't have to go together. re-learn life without cigarettes, free, at becomeanex.org. a new way to think about quitting. introducing aveeno ultra-calming with active naturals feverfew. we know feverfew... has properties that help neutralize irritation... to strengthen skin and calm redness in just one week. discover new aveeno ultra-calming. okay. put your seat belt on. that's all i'm going to say. welcome back to "morning joe." just about 7:00 on the east coast. with us on the set, the former mayor of new york city and former presidential candidate, rudy giuliani. >> is he america's mayor. he is america's mayor. >> he just gave me a kiss. also with us, put on your seat belts. dylan ratigan's, whose new show debuts on monday. >> we'll keep asking questions, doing the job. >> look at that handsome graphic for you. um-hum. that's what i'm talking about. a couple of questions. >> that's all it is. >> answer my question. i don't understand. >> the mayor can tell you, sometimes have you questions, you need answers. >> where did you come up with the name of the show? >> my parents. i went with the self-titled version. >> patriotic graphic. >> my parents, great name pickers. they are. >> a lot to talk about. alabama crimson tide, number one. >> congratulations. >> congratulations. a job well done. >> i don't care, but it made me feel good, because i know you. >> seriously, you and your easy chair, job well done. >> she's making fun of me. >> so, anyway, had yyou had the president, my mother calling me up engaged, thinking they did this purposefully to preempt something. i had gotten home early to watch all of the pregame. after 30 minutes, i said, mom, you can't convince conspiracy theorists. i said, mom, i think you're right. >> we'll talk to america's mayor about her. did she really do that? >> she still believe it this morning. i said i want you to know i'm going to say this on tv. and she said go ahead, maybe they won't do it next time. thank god she didn't ask me to get a copy of his birth certificate. >> whoo! our parents, stories within themselves, aren't they? today in detroit, the nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a u.s. airliner will make his first appearance in federal court, following the release of a declassified report that outlined intelligence failures that could have prevented the attack. the visa status of that alleged bomber was not flagged by the state department because his name was misspelled in the system. the administration, pushing a series of measures meant to close those types of gaps in the future. president obama said no one will be fired over the incident, but his counterterrorism adviser admits he, among others, failed to piece together the existing information. >> i am less interested in passing out blame than i am learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer. ultimately, the buck stops with me. as president, i have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and people. when the system fails, it is my responsibility. >> i told the president today, i let him down. i am the president's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism and i told him that i will do better and we will do better as a team. >> all right. new developments just coming in this morning. wnbc jonathan dean is reporting the fbi has arrested two from queens in connection with the zazi terror plot. we'll have more on that coming in. officials not saying what new evidence has surfaced, but the two men had been under scrutiny for months. an attorney for one of the suspects said that his client knew zazi but denies any connections on terrorism. newly released security video from newark airport suggests a good-bye kiss may have been behind sunday's six-hour shutdown. the video shows a man being warned not to loyter around a passenger-only area. but when the guard leaves his post, the man slips by and embraces a woman. >> you have to do what you have to do. you shut down an airport for eight or nine hours. >> he leaves the airport a short time later, but officials still have not identified him. i hope he wasn't -- i just have some ideas about this. >> let's talk to america's mayor, rudy giuliani. >> good to have you back. >> nice to be back. >> what was your take away from yesterday? are you glad that the president said that what we're going through is a war on terror? >> i am very glad about that. i have some positive things and negative things. i couldn't object to anything you said. you could object that he's waited two weeks to say it and not interrupting his vacation, because it sends a signal that this is not that important. >> or does it send a signal you don't want to give a nod to the terrorists and have a hysterical knee-jerk reaction. >> the president of the united states should be able to react to an attempted attack on this country in less than two weeks without being hysterical. if you're hysterical, you need two weeks so you won't be hysteric hysterical, what kind of a -- >> wait a minute. it didn't take two weeks. >> no question, if he wants to learn from this incident, and i assume that he does, next time don't take two weeks, don't stay on vacation, don't have a good deal of your administration on vacation. it goes beyond the politicians of it. i've run large bureaucracies. it sends signals. it sends the wrong signal for a year. >> who is he sending the signal to? >> everybody that works for him. that this is not a matter of tremendous importance. he doesn't have their backs. here is a big signal. you take khalid shaikh mohammed, clearly at war with the united states, clearly an enemy combatant and you try him in civilian court. that's a very bad signal. >> to make a point? >> not just to make a point. >> you are bringing him to new york for pr points. and eric holder said perception was big. >> reality is, he's trying to distinguish himself from bush. that's why he never uses the word war on terror. the reality, some things bush did right, some things he did wrong. he was more successful that preventing terrorist attacks than obama has. bush was wrong to send people backs to yemen. you shouldn't follow that example. >> was bush also not wrong -- was bush also wrong to let people out of gitmo? >> yes. absolutely. the evidence is clear. one out of five people have left gitmo have come back and attacked us or our allies again. >> this will re-ignite the gitmo debate. >> my analyst for a second. forget the politics of it. what do you think they were thinking? in other words, put yourself in your shoes and interpret their strategy. it surely wasn't mindless hysteria. >> it has gone too far. bush had overreacted. we make the war on terror worse if we emphasize it too much this is what they truly believed. they were fundamentally wrong, and the facts have proven them to be fundamentally wrong. let's see if president obama is a president clinton and if he can make a mid-course correction. he has now said it's a war on terror, no more putting these people in civilian courts. >> which bush did also. >> mistake. >> a mistake, right. >> your point is treat the war like it's a war if it's a war, and don't have it be a half-war. >> we catch abdulmutallab, and he's talking why do you cut it off? for what possible reason do you stop him from talking to get a lawyer? it makes no sense. >> you know john brennaman. >> i don't know him personally? >> do you think he's done a good job? >> whether he's done a good job or not, i don't know. lots of people give advice. i don't know what the advice has been internally. >> when you just said -- i believe you just said that the obama administration has been less successful in preventing terrorist attacks in this country than the bush administration. >> correct. the attack on ft. hood was the first domestic attack by an islamic terrorist since 9/11 on domestic soil. >> and the president did not want to say -- >> he de-emphasized this attack. tried to have political correctness trump reality in dealing with the attack. it wasn't an isolated attack it comes out of the ideology of this war. >> talking to the same clerics that the detroit bomber talked to. >> he has to start using the words islamic terrorism. we've got to do that. that's our enemy. >> that's not politically correct. >> you can say islamic terrorism without upsetting. >> i think we have to remember 9/11. >> since 9/11. since september 11th, bush did something that was -- i have to remind you, mika, that was totally unexpected. i was here on september 11th, and i was getting briefed every day. every day i was being told we're going to get attacked again, we're going to get attacked again. i'm absolutely certain that the quick reaction of the bush administration in afghanistan, the damaging blows that they gave to al qaeda right away, stopped a lot of attacks in this country. i can cite 20 attacks they prevented. >> let's talk to a guy that probably never voted for a republican presidential candidate in lhis life, mike barnicle. as a lot of blue-collar democratic followers, a guy that will vote for a bush and then vote for an obama, most reagan democrats, whatever you want to call them. they listen to what rudy giuliani is saying and they go, yeah, he's right, don't they? >> oh, absolutely. >> we're emphasizing political correctness over personal safety. >> i don't think there's any doubt that political correctness infected the oklahoma incident. i don't think there's any doubt about that. >> you mean ft. hood. >> the reaction to it, ft. hood. i don't think there's any doubt about that. my question to you, mr. mayor, if you can put your old u.s. attorney's hat on. in terms of the cleric in yemen, the american cleric in yemen, do we have an extradition treaty with yemen? >> i don't think so but i'm not sure. i doubt that we do. but the mere fact that we don't have an extradition treaty doesn't prevent extradition. in fact, sometimes it's easier to go get them. throw them on an airplane. you're not violating a treaty. >> given the evidence on the table with regard to ft. hood, i don't understand why we haven't scooped him and brought him back. >> i don't know the answer to that i don't know if it's something that's been considered and we can't do. >> the four of us can ask you questions and people watching at home, it's an endless list. people are fearful of being in danger. and we have a real threat, we're in a real situation. as a policy architect, we know we have military capabilities that far exceed anybody we've been fighting with. we've been dropping bullets and bombs for years now. what can we do better? in other words what can we as a country expect different from our government so what they are doing is not just gratifying a yippie-kay-yay response to fear, or at the same time is honest that there are people who would like to kill us, and you need to reconcile those two things. >> and a certain subset of people specifically. >> right. but amt at the same time, it leads to the fear there's a boogie man in the closet. you make fear-based decisions that are too violent or too politically correct. it could manifest 1,000 ways. over the next ten years, how would you frame it so you diminish the threat, not just through military suppression, but also through structural -- >> by being honest and realistic about it. forget political correctness. describe it correctly. that's why it's important for the president to describe our enemy as islamic terrorism. it's not just al qaeda. there are numerous groups, like al qaeda. domestically inspired terrorism that have been inspired by islamic clerics overseas. that's the enemy that we're facing. >> even if we acknowledge that, how would you -- with resource deprivation, you know the variables. >> you have to cover the people on the ground, cover their backs. that's a critical part of leadership. i took over a police department when crime was out of control. >> what's that mean? >> cia agents need to know that if they make a mistake in good faith, they won't go to jail. >> they can't running scared. >> i pick up -- >> let me stop you right here if they make a mistake in good faith what about if they did what their president, vice president, the justice department, everybody in the government, nancy pelosi, dianne feinstein, everybody told them they could do from 20041 to 2006? >> if you create those kinds of impacts on a bureaucracy, it tends to just try and protect itself, not take any risks. we want people to take risks on behalf of getting correct information. we're constantly saying why doesn't the president not have the information he is supposed to have? one of the reasons, we've constructed ourselves to get inadequate intelligence, because people who are gathering are frightened to do the things to get the information. that's been going on for a long time. >> you talk about connecting the dots, mika. it's important we try and connect the dots here. i know it will offend a lot of obama supporters, but david ig gnat y ignatius, you remember what he wrote, that despite the fact that they kept us free from attacks since 2001, despite that they did what the government told them to do, what is wrong and immoral. and david said it was like a truck bomb went off outside of langley, and that it -- it caused the cia officers basically to be depressed, and, secondly, to stop taking risks. and bad things happen when you allow that environment. when have you a commander in chief saying forget the fact that we told you to do, you may go to jail. >> this is the friction i think many will have as we watch this president's leadership play out. because he does give realistic, in his view honest and often apologetic vow of how things we conducted in the past and how he wants them conducted in the future. while agree with a lot of what you have to say about undermining the work of people who put their lives and entire futures on the line for this country. >> the cia. >> i completely respect them. it's not them who should be held accountable. it's the people who made the decisions. the people who made the orders that were potentially immoral or breaking our national rules or betraying the principles -- >> the commissioner without consulting with the -- >> but the strange thing about the president's approach to his predecessor, he blames him for a lot. thank goodness he didn't do it yesterday. >> yeah. >> however, he then uses him as an example of following the things that his predecessor did wrong. which absolutely astounds me. for example, bush released people from guantanamo. bush took too long to react to the shoe bomber. these are things that bush -- if he could do them again, probably would do differently. so if you're following the predecessor, follow the things he did right, not the things he did wrong. >> he has defined himself this first year by not being bush and not being cheney. he needs it turn the page and start figuring out what he is. and harold ford jr., thinking about running for senator in new york state. >> if there's any place you can do, basically if you're not from new york, this is the place you can do it. >> why is that? bobby kennedy, hillary clinton. new york, very open minded. >> probably because -- i'll get in trouble for my own party for saying this, probably we're the most cosmopolitan state in the country and the most diverse and most open to people and that means i'll probably campaign against him if he runs, but why not? people don't want him, they won't vote for him. people do want him, they will vote for him. >> look at the upper west cider from the university of alabama and i absolutely love it. there was a japanese billionaire that said -- he loves new york more than any city on the planet, because this is the only city on the planet where people come up to him and ask him for directions. >> exactly. >> seriously. and by the way -- >> i love that about new york. >> my family is here, i'm here. we absolutely love it. mr. mayor, thanks again. thanks again from my family and so many others, for what you did, what the police department did, what the fire department did, what everybody did over the past 20 years to turn this city from an unlivable place, called the worst cesspool to the number one city on the planet. >> and whether you agree with everything mike has done or not, he's made it better. he's improved on everything that i started. which i appreciate very, very much. i really do. >> i think he's a great mayor. >> stop it. all right. coming up next. a preview "meet the press" with david gregory and savannah guthrie with the gaggle out of the white house. and an exclusive sneak peek on the party feud in florida. >> good morning, light snow ending from new york city southward to d.c. up to an inch in most locations. no reports of any airplane delays. chilly out there. chicago, 22 is your temperature. windchill is 9. incredibly cold. the coldest morning we'll see this entire winter in the middle of the country. it gets better by sunday. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. please help me welcome a long-time friend of glencoe baseball. a man who played second base here some 45 years ago. actually, 47. ladies and gentlemen, mr. larry mccarthy. amidst today's financial turmoil, our sophisticated wealth transfer strategies... and philanthropic expertise ensure your legacy... is passed on to family or your favorite pastime. ♪ northern trust. wealth management. asset management. asset servicing. look at that. live look at the white house. beautiful. and with us now from washington, the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. also joining us from washington, nbc news white house correspondent, savannah guthrie. nice to have you both on board this morning. david, let's start with you. the president is i guess america's mayor says he's changing his tune a little bit on how he is characterizing the war on terror, but no one is being fired for any of the security breaches and attempted attacks what do you make of that in terms of his response? >> well, he says the buck stops with him. ultimately, he will take responsibility for this at this stage. and what americans want to see is he is communicating a sense of urgency about it and taking up some of the reforms. this really does transsend one administration. there is a system. multiple systems, added to by the bush administration after 9/11 and we're still in the process of making sure all of that is working properly and there is enough wading of information in the system to put together information that becomes available when it points to an attack like this. and i thought there was something else striking about this report, and that is while there was a focus on additional attacks in yemen, they weren't focused on an attack from yemen in the united states. we have spent so much time thinking about al qaeda as a centralized command and control operation and where bin laden and zawahiri and all the rest and are they calling the shots? and al qaeda is much more like a franchise business now. it's an idea, and franchise business and there are startup groups that want to use methods to attack the united states. >> savannah guthrie, the term war on terror was a loaded term. you could go back and look back at the republican debates in 2008. all republican candidates said it. democrat debates, they were reluctant to frame it in that term. this president never used the term war on terror, but did so yesterday. that was not a mistake. how is the white house adjusting its message on this issue? >> look, let's define our terms. the war on terror became a very loaded term that obviously this white house has said it won't use, but the president has said multiple times, including at his inaugural address that the nation is at war. i thought it was striking, though, how he seems to be issuing an answer to critics, most notably, former vice president dick cheney who says the president acts like we're not at war. the president issuing a missive, yes, we are at war let's not be partisans, let's be citizens. they think this is an appealing message, any time the president takes responsibility and says the buck stops with me, they think that's the right way to go, by doing this report, by doing it quickly, laying out facts here, they hope they can turn the page and move on to the economy. we're expecting an unemployment report. the president will speak on the report later. we'll see a big focus on the economy later on next week as well as health care. they are anxious to move on in terms of the public debate. >> david gregory, was there never a time you can remember president bush saying i messed up. the buck stops with me? i remember famously the president saying at the end of his first term, he couldn't think of a single mistake he had made. president bush. i make mistakes every couple of minutes. that's why it's so strange. but this president struck a definite tone there different from his pressed so predecessor. >> he did. and he's had occasion to do it on more than one occasion. president obama talked about making mistakes in terms of rhetoric used early on in prosecuting the war on terror as a mistake. but it's not something the bush administration ever thought would benefit them in the sense that they felt that sort of candor would be twisted by the media in a way that would only hurt their efforts overall. it's interesting to get into the debate on whether this is a war on terror different from the bush administration's. john brennaman is an interesting figure, the top counterterror adviser. he worked in five administrations. he worked in the bush administration while he was still at the cia and he swung back hard at former vice president cheney last sunday. he said that that was completely out of line. look, the country is still at war, in afghanistan and iraq, wars that president bush started. certainly at war against al qaeda. if there are differences with regard to how you treat prisoners, what kind of legal standing you give some of the worst terrorists in the world, the status of guantanamo bay, where both administrations have made mistakes of sending prisoners back to yemen, that is a big policy debate, and it's a legitimate debate to have in terms of how you go about prosecuting this kind of war. >> mike barnicle. >> savannah, can we look forward in the new year to the white house at least cutting back, curtailing, maybe even stopping the repeated references to what the bush administration did during the war on terror and get going with what the obama administration is going to do? >> you know, it's an interesting point, mike and one i've often raised, actually dating back to the summer with senior officials, asking them essentially when does the statute of limitations run on blaming the bush administration? i asked about a month ago on camera in the briefing with rob robert gibbs, and the response is not yet. why shouldn't we point out the failings of the bush administration and what we inherited, what we have to deal with? the other thing i would note, rudy giuliani made the same point. what's interesting about this is on the one hand, they often do blame the bush administration for failings. however, they also commonly in response to arguments, hold up the bush administration in some of the things it did to explain their own behavior. for example when they were criticized for charging abdulmutallab in the federal court system, they point out richard reid was charged in the federal court system this is an interesting logical flaw. this is the administration you spent two years running against essentially and excoriating so even if they did it too, is that really the standard you want to hold yourself too? it's an interesting philosophical, communications debate. >> very quickly, you have dayou governor schwarzenegger on this weekend. he is one of the more interesting governors. where does the wind blow relative to the incumbency? >> it's an important question and one i'll get into with governor schwarzenegger. he talked about what an arnold republican is someone fiscally conservative but more socially moderate. it's always a question of if he's an example of where the republican matter might go. the difficulties in california politically, economically, for in governor, still raise questions about what kind of model that will ultimately be and politically, california has its own place. it's difficult to replicate around the country. >> we'll look for that on "meet the press" before we go, really quickly, the president's comments yesterday were delayed quite a bit. what was going on behind the scenes there? >> actually, they are taking another look at the report and further declassifying it, and it's very interesting. that speech was supposed to be at 1:00, and then moved to 3:00 and then to 4:30. right up until the last minute, they were deciding what could be out there for public view. >> savannah guthrie, the co-anchor of "the daily rundown" with savannah guthrie and chuck todd. >> it could get ugly. >> we launch on monday morning, and the first guest will be the chief of staff, rahm emanuel. we hope that "morning joe" viewers will hang in and watch us. >> great. "meet the press" can't wait to see arnold schwarzenegger. and also john mccain and michael steele. >> the reverend al sharpton, talking with harold ford jr. about the senate race and taking on the teacher's union. that ahead, on "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. e on the vee of historic reform, a major step forward for america. let's make sure the health care bill is as strong as possible. under the house plan, we'll be offered good coverage at work. and we won't pay a tax on our health benefits. if you're self-employed or between jobs, you'll be able to afford insurance. and you can keep the benefits you have now. we're at the finish line, tell the president and congress, choose wisely, get it right for us. oh, that's kyle. he aced his fifth grade geography class. you see, now that we're using fedex to ship globally, i have to learn all the countries again, so i brought in kyle as a consultant. did you know that we have customers in czechoslovakia? actually, it's called the czech republic. yes, kyle, you're a lifesaver. without kyle, i never would have heard of that new country called buttheadistan. shh. 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[ female announcer ] trying to lower your cholesterol can be a challenge. but with the help of honey nut cheerios' sweet taste, lowering your cholesterol is a non-challenge. get $2 in coupons at non-challenge.com this is really good! two of nature's sweetest wonders now in new sun crystals ® . the only 100% natural sweetener made with pure cane sugar and stevia. with just 5 calories a packet. new sun crystals ® all natural sweetener. sfx: can shaking op when you own a business, nothing beats the sound of saving time and money. and it's never been simpler to save - with regions lifegreen checking and savings for business. you'll enjoy free online and mobile banking. and with regions quick deposit, you can deposit checks right from your desk. drop by and get started with a business financial review through a regions cashcor analysis. it's how business gets into the rhythm of saving. regions it's time to expect more. some republicans in "the washington times" this morning saying no money under steele. >> and i tell them to get a life. that's old washington. that's the old ways and i don't represent that, and it kills them. i'm telling them, looking them in the eye saying i had enough of it. if you don't want me in the job, fire me. but until then, shut up. get with the program or get out of the way. >> i love it. >> welcome back to "morning joe." here with us now, civil rights activist and president of the national action network, reverend al sharpton. also with us in washington, "new york" magazine's mark liebowitz. mark, we'll get to you in a moment. >> so, anyway, reverend, yesterday, we had a fascinating conversation on our abc radio show, you and i did, about school reform. you have done a couple of things that have upset people in the civil rights community. we'll get to school reform in a second. but you have gone after arenas. >> what i've gone after is violence in sports and entertainment. for the last year or so national action network has been dealing with the high level of violence and gang activity in our community. when we see this pattern, the last of which in the wizards locker room, it would have been hypocritical to not come out and say this is wrong. i called commissioner stern and said we need to sit down and talk about how we deal with these images and what it means on the streets, where we're telling kids to stop this kind of gun play. >> you also said if a white guy pulled a gun on a black guy, would you have been marching. it's hypocritical not to do it when a black guy pulls a gun on a black guy. >> let's go even further if i can question rush limbaugh about portraying us as thugs it would be hypocritical for me to say, wait a minute, that's not the way we need to be projecting ourselves. this is not personal between me and a player this is about being consistent. >> and you also are talking about -- in a way that a lot of civil rights leaders haven't talked about in some time about teacher's unions, education reform. you're ready to turn the tables over in the temple and say schools are not about unions, not about jobs, they are about kids. >> the priority of the educational -- can i say educational structure in this country ought to be whether the kids are learning. secretary duncan and newt gingrich and i have toured the country. president obama met with us last may, said you ought to tour the country together. newt gingrich and i, we don't agree on much, but we agree on that. >> have youyou have a lot of pe unions angry with you. >> some are saying we're right, some are saying we're wrong. if black and latino kids are four grades behind in reading and writing, i don't care about somebody who has not effectively taught being protected. >> fire the teachers that don't work, that don't perform, and hire teachers that can teach kids. >> you have to hold teachers accountable, and give teachers that can teach incentives. you have to deal with merit pay. give people incentives to go in the community. you have to deal with alternatives. we're not looking in our community -- >> why don't progressives get that? >> what do you define as progressive? people call themselves progressives that have regressive policy. it's who has power of definition. i don't call anyone who protects the status quo that doesn't teach kids in my community progressive. they call themselves progressive, but the policy is regressive. >> i couldn't agree more. if we have a civil war break out on education, it will be fascinating. right now, florida politics. >> oh, my god. this is a big story. >> you went to god's country, pensacola, florida, and you're writing about it in "new york times" magazine. >> in the republican party. i have the first pensacola dateline of my career. i can retire now. look, i think there's a great sort of blood letting -- internal blood letting going on in the republican party, which often happens in parties out of the soul. there is an ideological battle between the purists and pragmatists. charlie crist, once-popular governor down there, thought he had a cakewalk of a race to become the next senator from florida. and marco rubio, very quickly become the cause celebre of the republican party, is giving him a run for his money. florida, a great political story, as it seems to every few years. >> to many republicans, the governor's biggest sin was his support -- wow. that's saying a lot. that doesn't look good for him. >> well, it depends on who you talk to. i mean, i think clearly -- >> let me say something, mark. >> sure. >> i don't know if you know this, we're not taping this, this is a live show. so you don't get a chance to try this again. so you if can pretend you're awake this morning. >> i think he's adorable. >> we won't bring up the fact that you drove a tractor into coburn's barn. just act like you give a damn. just pretend. >> it's the tough demeanor. >> what the hell is going on in florida, mark lebovitz. >> florida is ground zero -- actually, i'm not very good at this. >> brutal. >> i would like to ask mark and reverend al the same question. you first, mark. the tea party. >> just don't call them the tea baggers. >> what sense do you get them in florida. are they i real mix of people, not just crazy people? who are they? what is your sense of who they are? and then reverend al, what's your sense of who they are. >> go ahead. >> let me tell you who i think they are. a lot of them -- first of all, there are some very clear, unifying themes to the tea party. one is incredible resentment toward president obama at this point. and certainly in florida, toward governor crist. beyond that, there are a lot of people with very different sort of issues that they care about, but clearly, the question is whether this can actually coale coalese into a clear political movement. as we saw in nooew york 2003, wn there is a third-party candidate there, is a real danger to the republican party. >> people have the right to protest. i've said it all my life. how you translate protest to political power is another question. i don't see the cohesion that will effect the body politics. the protests ought to give those in power that there is dissatisfactions we need to deal with. >> dissatisfactions with the republicans as well as democrats. >> a lot of dissatisfactions. >> they make that very clear. you have to hear what they are saying, rather than just becoming defensive, because they seem to be an equal-opportunity attack group at this time. >> isn't the reason for the dissatisfactions the exact problem you just identified with the american educational system. where people claim one label, i don't care, conservative, progressive, libter yab, i don't care what it is, and they use that to justify. people watch, education is important if education is so important, then why are you working? war on terror. >> i think people say that the results don't matter that we all have different -- >> i think it's worse than that. i think people think that people don't represent the truth, and instead of solving problems by solving problems, they solve problems by appearing to solve problems. >> and labeling. >> let me ask mark one more question. i feel bad. >> you were mean. >> i want to protest on behalf of mark. >> so -- >> mika too. >> mark, i think we may have like a jay leno issue here, where charlie crist may quit his new gig, running for senate and actually go back and run for governor again. >> yeah there, is some talk -- i haven't heard anything tangible, but that could certainly -- that's something people are talking about. and i'm something people are talking about and i wonder if it's something charlie crist himself isn't having some regret about. we'll see. should be a great year down there. >> alphabetically, name the first five people in your fifth grade class. >> mark was up late reading mika's book. >> within the to the alabama game. let's see, alexander -- >> he's going to do it. >> longson, richmond, stefans, tracy, wallstein. >> he went to a good school. >> that's the only thing i learned. >> mark, thanks so much. >> rev sharpton, this has been fascinating. >> glad to be withes you. up next, it's front page news in the "los angeles times" this morning. is jay leno going back to late-night? and highlights from the big showdown last night. of course, we're talking about the fists of fury on "the jersey shore." i thought we were talking about alabama. but, apparently, the cooler with willie geist. what in the world? >> you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. would you like a pony ? ye ! 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[awkward chuckle] ♪ fa-daddle-daddle-leh-do-do ♪ fa-daddle-daddle-leh-deh-dee ♪ i need to get out of here [thunder rumbling] ♪ ah-deedle-deedle-leh-deh-do [thunder rumbling] travelocity is your cure for cabin fever. ♪ music if you find a lower hotel or vacation package price online, we'll match it, right up until the day before check-in. and we'll also guarantee that your booking will be right. travelocity. you'll never roam alone. what do we have? >> "the cooler"? >> we need to kick back and relax and give people information they simply just don't need. >> i do some of my best work around "the cooler". >> go ahead. >> can i just point out how good it is to have this cooler on the table. our own friend, dylan. this clown over here. >> he called me an elitist. >> i know, i saw that. >> well, you are! >> how stupid are these people? >> the way you're talking about these tea partyers. you're like, who are these crazy people, as he's eating his caviar. are they a diverse group or all stupid, all nut cases. and you're making sexual references to them that fifth graders make. >> it's just terrible. >> just terrible. >> he's an idiot elitist. let's go on. >> let's talk about a real story. front page of "the new york times" today, bill carter, the television reporter who wrote the book "late shift," talking about letterman and leno back in the day, reporting that there could be can another late-night shake up here at nbc. the report says that jay leno could, in this new plan that's being discussed, apparently by nbc, move back to his old time slot, that's at 11:35. we don't know what that means for anybody else. presumably, conan could get bumped or go elsewhere. we don't know. that's all speculation right now, but perhaps another shake up just seven months after conan took over the job and leno -- >> didn't "the times" suggest that it might be 12:05, that conan would start at 12:05. >> give leno a half hour, and conan 12:00 to 1:00. leno joked about it last night. >> there's a rumor floating around that we were canceled. i heard it coming in this morning on the radio. so funny, nobody said anything to me. but if we did get canceled, it would give us time to do some traveling. >> that would be wonderful. >> in fact, i understand fox is beautiful this time of year. i don't think there's any truth to the rumor. in my experience, nbc only cancels you when you're in first place, so we're fine! >> when all this started popping up on the web yesterday, nbc put out a statement saying, jay leno is one of the most compelling entertainers in the world today. as we've said all along, his show has performed exactly as we have expected on the network, but it has some made some issues for our affiliates. both jay and the show are committed to working closely together to solve the problems. last night, a fresh, brand-spanking new episode of america's finest television program, the "jersey shore," the reality program that's swept the nation over the last couple of weeks. a couple weeks ago, we had sn k snookie getting punched by a man. and last night, more fights, involving one involving run-run. >> what the [ bleep ] are you saying? [ bleep ] >> come on, [ bleep ] >> [ bleep ]! >> seriously, get out of my -- >> get up, you little [ bleep ]. >> that is so enough, really. >> no, it's a dialogue-driven show. >> can can i ask you a question? >> vote for america! >> t.j., i think, got the tapes mixed up. that was mika's book tour last night. >> at the brocksville library. >> is that the show bill moyers is the moderator of? >> yes, the new pbs show. "jersey shore". >> coming up next, decision 2010. our next guest says the republican party, the resurgence of the gop, is overstate, they're not coming back, he says. we'll find out why, next on "morning joe." in this unusually volatile time, you want a financial partner... who is unusually prepared to help. the meeting with northern trust went well, didn't it? yeah, they get it. they really get it. a little more stability would be nice. northern trust offers the strength and expertise... that can only come from a 120-year track record... of thriving even in difficult times. they understand. roller coasters are for kids, not money. ♪ northern trust. wealth management. asset management. asset servicing. oh, just come snuggle with momma! missing something? now at sears optical, get 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99. or take a year to pay. sears optical. don't miss a thing. hey, welcome to "morning joe." joe and mika, willie, mike, and another joe, columnist and blogger for salon.com, joe conson, an interesting take on the so-called gop tsunami some are predicting for the 2010 elections. we'll get to that in a minute. and when you think joe conness and crimson tide football, he'll also weigh in on the university of alabama being number one again. >> joe is very happy. you enjoyed being at -- you didn't go to the game. but sitting in your big chair watching last night. that was good. congratulations. >> do some of my best work sitting in the big chair watching. >> let's do the news and then we'll go to joe and figure out why this republican tsunami is not going to be so big. all right. today in detroit, the nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a u.s. airliner will make his first appearance in federal court. it follows the release of a de-classified report detailing the intelligence failures that could have prevented the attack. according to the findings, the visa status of the alleged bomber was not flagged by the state department because his name was misspelled in the system. now the administration is pushing a series of measures meant to close those types of gaps in the future. although, president obama says no one will be fired over the incident, his counterterrorism adviser admits he, among others, failed to piece together the existing information. >> i am less interested in passing out blame than i am in learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer. for, ultimately, the buck stops with me. as president, i have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people. and when the system fails, it is my responsibility. >> i told the president today, i let him down. i am the president's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism. and i told him that i will do better and we will do better as a team. in new developments this morning, wnbc's jonathan dienst is reporting the fbi has arrested two mean from queens, new york, in connection with the najibullah zazi terror investigation. zazi, who was born in afghanistan, was arrested in september for allegedly plotting to set off a bomb, likely targeting the new york city subway system. officials are not saying what new evidence has surfaced, but the two men had been under scrutiny for months. an attorney for one of the suspects says his client knew zazi, but denies any connection to terrorism. officials are expected to announce new details this afternoon. security video from newark liberty international airport shows the man who was behind sunday's security breach there that led to a six-hour shutdown at the airport, yes, after a guard apparently leaves his post, the man slips into a passenger-only area where he greets a woman and kisses her. and it appears that embrace was behind the entire scare. the man, who has yet to be identified, was later seen leaving the airport. the pentagon is confirming that robert gates will stay on as president obama's defense secretary for at least another year. a holdover from the bush administration, gates has grown to become one of the president's key advisers, although it's an open-ended commitment, gates will oversee the expansion of the war in afghanistan through the summer and toward the start of the planned withdraw in july of 2011. the security firm once known as blackwater is not disclosing the financial terms of several lawsuits it settled in alleged cases of reckless behavior. dozens of iraqi civilians accused the company now known as "z" services of illegal activity, including the 2007 killings of 17 people. in a statement, the company says it is pleased to be free of the lawsuits' "distractions." officials in atlanta say at least three people were injured in a chain reaction accident early this morning. icy roads apparently caused the 27-car pileup. the southeast continues to be gripped by a dangerous weather system that is bringing record low temperatures to many parts of the nation. the maker of a designer jacket is taking down a huge billboard in new york's times square after complaints from the white house. yeah, weatherproof, the maker of a coat the president happened to wear on his trip to china used the photograph in a giant ad in times square. the white house was not happy -- >> big deal! >> he's not a model. >> he looks great in the jacket. >> he's not a model. >> if i'm running weatherproof, i'm taking that picture and put it in times square. >> actually, if you're running weatherproof, you're agreeing with the white house and you're pulling the picture. >> i'm not doing it. you bought two yesterday. i'm buying one today. >> joe, everyone, pause for a moment. >> that'll do it. crimson tide wins the national championship. >> alabama, back on top of college football this morning. capping off an undefeated season by beating number two texas in last night's bcs title game. the crimson tide held off a late-game rally by the longhorns to win 37-21. >> you know, it's such an exciting night for alabama fans, first time since 1992. i've got to say, though, there was a bit of an empty feeling, colt mccoy being injured. you would have loved eto see hi take on -- because the second half of the game, they were killing the clock, the entire second half. so when people say, texas would have beaten alabama if colt mccoy -- no, we don't know that. >> looking very handsome. >> i appreciate it. we don't know if colt mccoy played, the outcome, but we know nick saban's conservative coaching won the game. >> we know that alabama was living in the past, what was your connection with vera bryant. they wouldn't bring in strong coaches, because they had a lot of old stars that wanted to be in charge. and i say, you know, management 101, put one guy in charge, have him accountable to the president of the university and get everybody else out of the way, they hired saban, and this is a good management lesson. a three-year turnaround, pretty remarkable. >> and what's he lost? one game in the last two years? i don't think anybody's going to be too upset -- >> he hasn't lost a regular season game since 2006. >> it was a weird game, though, because the ball gets knocked out early, alabama takes that lead and you feel like you're waiting for the inevitable for just two hours, for the game to end, and then texas makes it tight. >> mika -- >> i loved every minute of it. >> you didn't watch it. you were in bronxville. >> we were watching the game. >> we were talking about alabama last night, america focused on alabama last night, this morning, everyone focused on mike barnicle's chocolate brown sports jacket. >> the simple e-mail, barnicle's brown jacket is purely and simply ugly. >> if you saw it in person. >> it was a gift from my children. thanks a lot! >> which reminds me, julie's going to be interested in this. i got this breaking news last night from one andrew scarborough. >> your son? >> could you mention on your show this morning that "avatar" is now the number two top grossing movie of all time and has only been out for three weeks. of course, what andrew doesn't say is that half of the ticket receipts actually came from him. he's seen it a few times. he says it's an amazing movie. has julie seen it yet? >> oh, yeah. just five times. she's cutting back. >> a lot of people seeing this movie. >> we have joe conness here. >> they're all hippies. >> people are talking about 2010 maybe overstated. he says, "the tendency to exaggerate republican prospects and democratic woes is among the most consistent biases in american mainstream media. yes. democratic seats are plainly in jeopardy, but most important for now is that republicans remain supremely skilled at hyping their strengths and hiding their weaknesses, while democrats still fumble and mumble, so the republicans almost always control the narrative. joe, tell us about it. >> well, as i mentioned when we were offair, i wanted to do a thought experiment about the height of the senate sweep that had been put forward by a lot in the media after these resignations, dodd and dorgan in north dakota. he's gone. >> tell you the truth, most of the people didn't know his name before. >> so i went and looked at a republican pollster, or republican-leaning pollster, an independent pollster, scott rasmussen, to see what he was finding in some of the key races. >> he certainly leans conservative. >> whether there was a republican trend, and it was not there, in, for example, illinois, the president's home state, where they've had tremendous scandal, had to appoint senator roland burris and have him step down, basically, before the election. there's a popular republican congressman running for that seat in the senate and there are a number of democrats. he's not ahead. he's been falling behind. he was ahead in the summer and he's fallen behind, the main democratic -- mark kirk. >> just like florida, just like other states, which may be an issue for the gop. >> yes. but he's expected to be the nominee, i think, in illinois. and alexi ja noouls is probably going to be the democratic nominee. and kirk has fallen behind him in the last six months. there's no trend there. look at missouri, robin carnahan is running for the open seat there, a republican seat, and it looks like she may beat blunt. it's just, you know, she's ahead. . and in fact, she's moved ahead in the last six months. in ohio, a little more of a mixed picture. i think the republicans have a very good shot there, but still, there's no trend there. i'm looking at these big states and say, hey, you know what, there is no republican tsunami coming yet. and i just wanted to say, hey, it's a contrarian -- >> you're looking at a conservative-leading pollster. >> correct. that's why i picked him, so no one could say, hey, you picked a democratic pollster, you're trying to spin this. >> same with "the new york times"/cbs news poll. so, mike barnicle, there's a difference. i always talk about 1994, but joe and i were talking off air, the big difference right now, i was inspired to run for conference in '93 when i saw john caseick presenting an alternative budget. i said, i want to help that guy. so what the republicans stood for in '93, '94, inspired me, a guy who wasn't thinking about running into running. right now you even have the head of the republican party saying, these guys aren't exactly sure what they believe in, inside of washington. that may be the biggest problem for the gop, just being against barack obama won't be enough. >> i think it affects both parties, joe. and i think there's a tremendous resentment out there among ordinary voters, ordinary people, who work for a living, who are worried about multiple issues, toward people in power, in both parties. and i think the massachusetts senate race, which occurs a week from tuesday, is going to be an interesting race to watch. martha coakley, the incumbent attorney general, huge name recognition, is running against a veritable nobody, a state senator from a very small town south of boston. he's closed within ten points in this race. she should be winning it by 20 to 25 points, in a largely democratic state. it should be an automatic for her. it's not. it's going to be interesting to watch the result in that state. >> you think that's going to be a close race? >> well, the tough thing is it's a special, right? >> yeah. it's a week from tuesday, very low turnout. it's going to be interesting -- >> she's also promised to raise tax. the walter mondell, the 1994 tactic, i promise to raise your taxes. >> sh represents the isolation of incumbency that exists in politics today, in state after state after state. that people, given the burdens that we're all carrying, tax burdens we're all carrying and the worries about the deficits, what does the health plan entail, there's a tremendous resentment out there against incumbency in both parties, i think. >> i think she's going to win, don't you? >> i do think she's going to win. >> the kennedy family is now coalescing behind her finally, and i think she's going to win. but you're right, it's closer than it ought to be. >> and by the way, in a normal year, charlie crist would be 20 points ahead of any challenge canner. >> bingo. >> republicans in florida, democrats in massachusetts, having big problems this year. >> why don't you come on our radio show today. >> would you do that for us? >> i would be happy to do that. >> okay. we can have an elitist like mike barnicle. >> this is cashmere by the way, too. >> is that cashmere? >> yeah. >> so your kids spent that much money on a jacket that -- >> well, day didn't. it wasn't their money. >> there you go. >> oh, no. >> mama goes to bed and they dip into her wallet. >> that's not the color that an elitist would wear, mike, i just want to say, in your defense. >> joe, thank you very much. coming up, it was the charming opening line to the palin/biden debate. >> way to go, t.j.. >> all right, it said -- >> way to go, t.j., the line was, "can i call you joe?" >> now a former mccain adviser is givie ining insight into tha famously scripted line. why doesn't he go bowling with pete, because pete has a bowling ball bag. he is seriously fred flinestone. i always wondered what pete reminded me of. >> wilma! >> we're just minutes away, also, from a big december jobs report. we'll get a check of business before the bell with cnbc's international superstar, who said the longhorns are going to win, erin burnett. but first, a check on your weekend forecast with bullet bill karins. >> maybe if they did that shuffle pass with 15 seconds to go in the half, it would be different. what was that? >> give us the weather now. >> let's talk about the airports. we're doing just fine. chicago o'hare, 15-minute delays, not bad considering we had about 6 to 10 inches of snow. we're also watching snow ending in the big cities in the east. should just be cloud the rest of the day. only had about an inch from d.c. up to new york. check out these temperatures. texas and alabama, one thing in common today, windchills in the single digits, and check out north dakota, very cold. one of the coldest mornings we'll probably see all winter. it gets better by sunday. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. 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(announcer) people with stomach ulcers or other conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, may affect how plavix works. tell your doctor all the medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than two weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. the omb director had a baby with this little, a beautiful shippi inping heiress, just wee before he got engaged to this other beautiful lady that is a news reporter. i guess omb stands for office of managing the booty. ladies, put your husbands to bed and hide the ovaries. >> a share of the economy is projected to be 4.1% of the economy this year. >> good morning. >> this budget is changing course. it's like -- and the gps system is recalculating the light. >> good morning. >> wow. >> wow is right. >> too funny! >> hide your ovaries. >> that was funny. anyway, mika, by the way, tonight, i want to -- there is no good segue here. she is going to be in boston at 6:00 p.m. -- >> so are you! >> -- for a book signing. i've been trying to figure out a segue from that daly show thing. mika and i will be at the harvard bookstore at 40 bratt le street, cambridge, massachusetts, and tomorrow mika will be in providence, and i will be there also having tomatoes thrown at me. 142 providence place, providence, rhode island, 2:00 p.m. two-drink minimum. >> very nice with you. i think the crowds will be very excited to see you. >> no, they won't. at harvard, are you serious? >> absolutely. >> the alabama to have the north. let's take a look at the morning papers. in "the wall street journal," "obama orders a security fix," but avoids blaming any particular agency for the breakdown and the christmas day attempted attack. he said the buck stopped with him. >> all right, "the new york times," "the epa seeks tighter rules to cut down air pollution." agency says health benefits will outweigh costs to industry and government. >> and "the new york times," a big talker this morning, "leno is in talks to return to late night," we will mindlessly speculate about the ramifications of that, and what a beautiful picture of jay leno there. >> and, the birmingham news, "back on top!" nick saban holds the trophy. he has now won two national titles at two schools. >> the first time since 1936. and the "houston chronicle," a painful ending for the houston longhor longhorns, their star quarterback injured on the fifth play of his last college game. >> poor thing. couldn't feel his arm. >> alabama is such a big physical team, every game, we would knock guys out, playing clean, hard football, they are just big, fast guys. >> well, people say this doesn't really count, that was part of the game. our guys are so big and fast, we knocked your guys -- >> lsu is ahead of us until the third quarter. and alabama is so big and fast, they wear people down, just like politico wears people down with the facts. just the fact. >> they nail 'em, every time. mike allen is here with more, if you can stand it, another look at the playbook. >> happy friday. >> a little while ago, the great savannah guthrie explained to us how the white house's press conference got moved back and got moved back again and again. we understand they were declassifying ea ining certain the report. general james jones calling one part of it "shocking." what was he talking about? >> willie, i know you never crammed for a final or never made last-minute fixes to a paper, but the white house was doing that yesterday. as we saw here on "morning joe" yesterday, in "usa today," the homeland security adviser, john brennan -- no, the national security adviser, general jones, was saying that the contents of this report would be shocking. and when we got the report yesterday, it wasn't encouraging, it wasn't great news about hour intelligence system worked, but there was nothing particularly shocking about it. well, it turns out during the 4 1/2 hours when the administration had pushed off the president's speeches, he was going to do it in early afternoon, wound up doing it late afternoon, during those few hours, they redacted some further passages from this report, the good stuff, probably the shocking stuff. various drafts of this report have been passed around to the agencies. they all decided what part of theirs they wanted declassified. so what we got was a little more sanitized than they'd originally expected. >> by the time they got through all the agencies, lots of redactions. i want to talk about another big topic on politico today, and that is what we're calling the debacle. a cbs/"60 minutes" interview, mccain presidential adviser steve schmidt was asked about the debate prep for vice presidential candidate sarah palin against joe biden. let's listen to what he said. >> he told us that the debate was going to be a debacle of historic and epic proportions. he told us she was not focused, she was not engaged. she was really not participating in the prep. i said to her, i said, governor, this doesn't seem to be going very well to me. and she assented, she agreed. she said, you know, i think that's right. >> you know, willie, there are other mccain people who actually liked her who said the same thing, that they were horrified a couple of days out and can't believe that they survived that. >> and mike, it can't be a good thing when the candidate goes to a senior adviser and says, this is going to be a historic debacle. >> well, one of the advisers was saying that, and hide your hardbacks, that's one of the revelations in "game change," the book by friends of "morning joe," mark halperin, "60 minutes" is doing this segment in conjunction with the book rolling out. another little tidbit in the book, when the now-president -- then president-elect came to senator clinton and asked her to be his secretary of state, at first she said no. he asked her again and she said, there's just one problem, my husband! it will be a circus. >> and it was. and it was. mike allen, thanks so much. have a great weekend. we'll be checking you guys out at politico.com. coming up next, all eyes on wall street waiting for the december jobs report due out in just a few minutes. we'll get it from cnbc's international superstar, erin burnett. she's live at the new york stock exchange and eating some crow with that burnt orange this morning. >> i don't see it. >> we'll be right back. 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mm-hmm. >> what'd you have to do to my guy, joe? you had to break his knee or shoulder or whatever it was. head, shoulders, knees, and toes, something. >> you do what you've got to do, erin. >> congratulations, joe. >> thank you, erin. >> jobs numbers are out. guys, there's two headlines you need to know. one, for december, worse than expected, we lost 85,000 jobs. by the end, we were looking for about flat, maybe a loss of 10,000, but about flat, and there were a lot of economists that had started to say we could actually see a big pop of a gain of up to 100,000 in the month of december. so we lost 85,000. the unemployment rate stays unchanged at 10%. we lost jobs in both manufacturing and services. that's your december headline. but here's another headline, november actually was revised. and it was revised to an increase, which means hiring 4,000 people in the month of november. originally reported with a loss of only 11,000. so november's positive number would be the first time the economy's added jobs in two years. however, obviously, in aggregate, we have still lost many jobs and we are still losing jobs, as the december numbers say. the other thing to look at, do you see any change in the work week? when the work week starts to tick up and people are working more hours, you're getting closer to having to hire more people to do the work. so no closer to that. there's one other thing that's worth mentioning. it's called the jolts -- i'm blanking on exactly what it stands before. but it's how many people are hired and fired. it's a month delayed, but it's a really important survey that comes out of the bureau of labor statistics. the numbers that we have there are through october. so they're a bit dated, but this says a lot. there were 3.966 million people hired in america in the month of october, which may shock you, because the jobs number is really just subtraction and addition, right, how many hired and how many are fired. so net, we lost jobs in december, but that 3.966 million hired in october may sound high, but keep in mind, it is only the third time in a decade that fewer than 4 million people have been hired in one month in the united states. so there are still a lot of weakness in the labor market. >> are we in trouble as we move forward into the new year and the effects of the stimulus spending start to wind down? is there concern on wall street that the slight improvement we had last month, we're starting to lose those gains and things might get rougher moving forward? >> people are worried about it, joe. because the stimulus -- the consensus on wall street is that the first half of the year will be maybe okay, because you have all the stimulus money coming in. but then the second half of the year, as that standarrts to res you would see stocks come off and things weaken. but a lot of people on wall street say their biggest concern is back to what it was a few years ago, instead of the economy, back to geopolitical concerns and the risk of terror and instability. >> does wall street want a second stimulus? >> no, they don't. they want to get bailed out, but they're very worried now about the debt and they don't want a second stimulus, because they think it's just too much and would not do enough. they're very, shall we say, displeased with the structure of the first one. >> erin burnett, can you please do me a favor and say, roll, tide, roll. >> roll, tide, roll! is that the thing you do, like this? like a tsunami tide? >> it wasn't quite a tsunami, but they won. >> good enough. >> she's a good sport. >> because i was a contrarian indicator. >> do you remember yesterday, she was so -- look at her, look at her. that was you yesterday. >> that was her yesterday. coming up next, a sneak peek inside the new "new york times" book review with sam tanenhaus. i wonder who's in there. mika! she's so great. national car rental knows i'm picky. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. this is a honda pilot. and this is the chevy traverse. it has more cargo space than pilot. including the most space behind the third row. and traverse beats honda on highway gas mileage too. more fuel efficient and 30% more room. maybe traverse can carry that stuff too. the chevy traverse. america's best crossover. compare us to anyone and may the best car win. tonight's the night we have a brand-new segment. it's called "late show word of the week." take it away. ♪ >> underpants. >> underpants. >> underpants. >> underpants. >> underpants. >> underpants. >> underpants. >> underpants. underpants. >> underpants. underpants. >> underpants. >> underpants? >> underpants. >> all right. with us now, the editor of "the new york times" book review and week in review, sam tanenhaus. sam, i've got to jump right in, "the new york times" book review, this is, let's take this shot. what a great review of mika brzezinski, doing it her way. tell us about this fascinating, riveting new memoir. >> he's making fun of me, isn't he? >> no, i'm not. >> well, prominent media personality mika brzezinski has a story to tell. >> oh, boy. >> it's reviewed by leezel schillinger, one of our best and most prolific critics, and she likes mika's book. what can i say? it's really good. >> it's pretty riveting. >> we don't want to give too much of it waway, but the way this book opens is what clinches it from the start. >> i asked her why she did this, most people write this self-help memoirs, you get the first way down the first page -- >> and you're halfway down a flight of stairs. >> flying down a stairs with a 4-month-old baby and it doesn't end well. what else are you looking at? >> the new book by elizabeth gilbert, it's called "committed," and about the second stage of her life. it's really a sequel. many people loved the first memoir, in which elizabeth gilbert, recently divorced and kind of brutally divorced, traveled the world trying to find herself. well, she ended up with a guy she really liked, but they'd both sworn they'd never get married. then they found out they had to get married because homeland security was not going to let them stay in the united states. he's born in brazil, but an australian citizen. so unless he was going to leave the country every few months, which also raises security questions, the two of them were going to have to get married. so they traveled through southeast asia, trying to p persuade themselves, by talking to locals, that maybe marriage is an okay institution. what do you think, mika? you've got it in your book. >> marriage is a wonderful institution, but it comes with its challenges. >> let's look at the week in review. >> helene cooper is asking the question what obama and the democrats may have to do to establish themselves, or at least the image of being really strong on foreign policy. it doesn't mean democrats aren't as strong as republicans, but sometimes they don't seem to be. so she's going to look at some possible benchmarks over the next year or two. we know this president likes deadlines, even if he doesn't always meet them, and she's going to raise some questions about what it is he might have to do just to gain ownership of that issue. and of course, the report that came out too, came out the other day, is a big step. sure, you know, he's talking about a war on terror and he's looking very closely at intelligence, said the buck stops here. so he's talking a little tougher. >> and that's always been a challenge for democrats. you asked the question who's better on national security, mike, they'll say republicans. you ask who cares more about people like you, they'll say democrats. this is something democrats, mike and joe, democrats have always had to worry about. >> well, it's literally a whole new world now when it comes to the defense of this country, because of the free agency involved in terrorism. in yemen, it's different than it is in afghanistan, as it is different in pakistan or somalia. it's not a thing you can take care of with one military option. and this country, the people in this country are used to the fact that we are a strong country and we can just go bang, and we can't do. >> and the president is starting to talk about it as a war on terror, talking about it as a war. is he stepping in a direction that perhaps "the times" is talking about? >> well, i think, look, the democrats tried to seize on the opportunities that were left to them by bush and his errors and failures. and, for example, have been running veterans for office in congress. i mean, there are more democratic veterans in the congress now than republicans, at least iraq and afghanistan. so there's an attempt to fashion a new foreign policy for democrats that is, if not tough in the bush mode, is realistic. and i think that's what they want to do. >> it is tough to run against a democratic veteran. that is a great point. these are the sort of thing, not really symbolism, but the sort of thing that democrats have been doing that have worked. let's talk about the psychology of terrorists and terror cells. >> this is fascinating. >> we're actually looking at the growing body of information we now have on how these terror networks operate, what it's like to be in a cell, how people are brainwashed, how they go from one side to the other. it's a whole world you need to get inside, in some way. and you know, there's always a danger when you're looking at an issue like that that some will say, well, you want to, you know, psychoanalyze these people and give them therapy. that's not what it's about. we don't understand. >> but we don't always understand. we had a doctor in jordan blow himself up, kill seven cia agents in afghanistan. we have one of the wealthiest people in kenya, his son, a banker's son is the one who tries to blow up a plane in detroit. it is, sometimes, it's middle class, even upper-middle class muslims that are carrying out these attacks. >> bin laden himself. >> bin laden himself, one of the wealthiest families in saudi arabia. >> and then we see that some of the indoctrination actually happens in western europe, you know, nigerian would-be bomber. well, there he is, university college in london, is actually getting radicalized there as well. it's a complicated question. i was thinking today how when president bush made the famous speech about the axis of evil, he mentioned three countries that we never talk about anymore. maybe iran a little bit, we don't talk about iraq, we don't talk about north korea. it's a shifting target, as mike said. so it's old to fight it in the old cold war, superpower, us against them way. >> the reason this research is important, because if you don't want to torture people, you have to figure out how their minds work and how to get them to tell you what you want to know. and to undo the brainwashing once you have a prisoner is very important, but waterboarding may not be the answer. this may be much more promising, to get people to tell you what -- and these are old fbi techniques in a lot of cases. the fbi knows how to do this in a lot of cases, but it's something that's very important to the future of this fight. >> all right. "the new york times'" sam tanenhaus. >> thank you, sam. >> always a pleasure. >> coming up next, a different kind of week in review, the one that, of course, sam ripped off, willie's version. it involves, of course, koala bears having sex and other great high-minded -- >> we're going to have that too. >> we'll be at harvard. >> next week. "morning joe" will be right back. e on t verge of historic reform, a major step forward for america. let's make sure the health care bill is as strong as possible. under the house plan, we'll be offered good coverage at work. and we won't pay a tax on our health benefits. if you're self-employed or between jobs, you'll be able to afford insurance. and you can keep the benefits you have now. we're at the finish line, tell the president and congress, choose wisely, get it right for us. accidents can happen, but with liberty mutual's accident forgiveness, an accident won't cause your price to go up when you renew. if you qualify, you could save an average of $345. and if an accident totals your new car within the first year, our new car replacement means we'll give you the money to buy a brand-new car. these are just two of our valuable features available to all qualifying drivers. plus, those who switch to liberty mutual save an average of 20.6% over their prior policy. because doing the right thing isn't just for responsible drivers. it's for responsible car insurers, too. that's our policy. find out how much you could save. call us directly at... la mus] ♪ fa-diddle-diddle-do-do-do ♪ fa-daddle-daddle-la-da-da ♪ fa-diddle-diddle-leh-dee-dee ♪ fa-daddle-daddle-leh-do-do ♪ fa-daddle-daddle-leh-deh-dee ♪ i need to get out of here ♪ ah-deedle-deedle-leh-deh-do travelocity is your cure for cabin fever. if you find a lower hotel or vacation package price online, we'll match it, right up until the day before check-in. and we'll also guarantee that your booking will be right. travelocity. you'll never roam alone. it's been another week full of real, actual news. botched intelligence, terror plots, democrats running for the exits in the senate. but right now, we give you a break from all that with our top three stories of the week. >> reporter: at number three, big mac attack! >> ah! >> reporter: a dissatisfied customer was shone on tape this week, trashing a kansas city mcdonald's, apparently because the 99 cent hamburger she purchased did not meet the standards of her sophisticated palate. after the mcdonald's manager denied the woman's request for a reimbursement, the customer did what any right-thinking person would do, she heaved a bucket of mop water over the counter. the kansas city mcdonald's tantrum immediately moved into second place on the all-time list of greatest fast food restaurant surveillance video, but it is still a substantiate second to the drag queen who robbed a mcdonald's in new orleans a couple of years ago by climbing into the drive-through window. >> i'm lovin' it! >> reporter: at number two, the birds and the bears. american tennis star andy roddick was upstaged at an animal sanctuary in brisbane, australia, this week by a pair of kinky koalas. >> a 35-mile-an-hour crosswind, so -- >> reporter: the assembled media quickly lost interest in roddick's tennis talk when the frisky koalas started going to town behind him. some puritanical american observers were shocked by the public thrusts of affection. >> stop this! stop it! i can't believe you pushed to put that on again. >> reporter: but no amount of protests could ever come between these two humping koalas. ♪ >> reporter: and the number one story of the week -- >> hey, it's tiger. >> reporter: tiger woods showed up shirtless and sweaty on the cover of "vanity fair." it was the first we'd seen of tiger since his appearance a few weeks ago in the famous taiwanese recreations. annie leibovitz proved her genius once again, this time waving her magic wand and turning golf's smiling corporate creature into a scowling, hard-core badass. >> go on. be a tiger. >> reporter: meanwhile, fox's britt hooum offered tiger some simple advice to help put this whole messy scandal behind him. just abandon your religion. >> tiger, turn to the christian faith and you can make a total kroi recovery. >> reporter: while he takes his spiritual advice under advertisement, we can be thankful that "vanity fair" decided not to run its cover story on the john daly story. >> oh, my, even the great annie leibovitz could not rescue that body. coming up next, what,, if anything, did we learn today. 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