Transcripts For MSNBC Morning Joe 20120417

cars in the house you are planning in la jolla. are you too rich to relate? >> we don't divide america based upon success and wealth and other dimensions of that nature. we are one nation under god. we come together. people with different backgrounds and different experiences come together. >> do you think the fairness question is about envy? is it about envy? >> i think it's unfair this president has been in office for three years and 93% of the people that lost their jobs have been women. >> all righty. >> good morning, it's tuesday, april 17th. of course, that's diane sawyer asking if romney is too rich. he lives in cherry hill, new jersey. >> welcome to "morning joe." we have finance on our show, steve rattner. ceo of deutsche company, donny deutsche. >> time magazine is taking too long. senior political analyst mark halperin. >> hi, halperin. >> along with the great willie geist. >> pinstripes. >> they like mine more than yours otherwise they would have brought yours up, not mine. i have been in the same sweater since early february. >> yes, it just walked away. >> did you see the money you made yesterday? >> i have been told about it. i was actually at work by then. >> really? you weren't lathering? >> yesterday, there was a point in the show where we said there was going to be a tightening of the race. let's not blame hilary rosen for this. >> i'm not talking about that today. >> no, we are not. >> i'm done. >> nugent said something at the nra convention now everybody is talking about it. now we go from hilary rosen not connected to the white house to nugent who is not connected to romney. the race is doing what we said it was going to do. >> a natural tightening. >> that is the phrase we used yesterday. >> you say it like you are selling paper towels or something. >> this is where we said we would end up. we said it from the beginning. a lot of republicans haven't had the most confidence in the world and don't see romney winning in the ends. i don't think nibanybody knows. you remember 1980, as does mika. the friday before the election it was deadlocked between reagan and carter. >> back then, people said to themselves are you better off than you were four years ago? they realized they weren't. >> donny, what's the question? >> if you go back to history, fdr, there's two times an incumbent lost. two things were at play. we were dramatically in the wrong direction and a charismatic alternative. we don't have either of those situations. it will become tight. but if history teaches anything -- >> i don't mean to interpret. does a blue snake exist in nature? can we get a shot of that. >> as they said of john boehner's skin tone, it doesn't exist in nature. i don't think there are blue snakes. >> maybe there are. i stand corrected. >> what is the other stuff. >> these are things my little girls gave me. are you going to mock my children? >> no, that's fine. >> it's to pick up women. >> actually, the children thing, the daughters -- >> this is all my fault. >> the most amazing thing in the world. me and my daughters. i have a grown one and a little one. take them to the craft studio -- >> he's trying to pick up women. >> i'm very sorry. >> i thought we were going to talk about tax rate. what are we doing? >> i thought it was pathetic in college, guys would buy little dogs to walk across the quad at university of alabama to pick up women. donny actually had two children to pick up women. >> can i tell you the move? >> no. >> please. not just the two -- >> we don't need it. >> no, no. my two little girls, they push their babies down fifth avenue and i get one. all three of us. it's the sweetest thing. we don't talk about how we lost mom to leukemia. kidding, kidding. >> i apologize. >> that is the most disturbing way of making humor. >> i can't imagine. i cannot imagine. hold on a second. kathy ireland called. she wants a tweet back. she wants a tweet back. you were discussing -- we are going to pray for you during the break. >> can you be quiet now, too? >> really? >> yes. it's your show. it's called "morning joe." the president, he's the leader. right. "morning joe," this is your table. everyone needs to shut their pie holes and let me talk, okay? >> how about that buffett rule? can you believe that? >> i wish we had a new story on that. >> both democrats and republicans knew the so-called buffett rule wasn't going anywhere. it didn't stop them from setting up a key dividing line. democrats fell nine votes short of the 60 to move forward to enact to 30% tax on millionaires. billionaires argue their secretaries shouldn't pay a higher rate than he does. no taxes should be raised right now and are countering with a plan to cut taxes for businesses. cnn polling shows 72% of americans support taxing the wealthy americans. chuck schumer who pushed the vote said it could be called the buffett rule or romney rule, he's not going to want to have his inequity remain when he's an example of it. romney waited on the issue during a tea party event in philadelphia. >> the american people are struggling and we have a president that doesn't seem to understand he's been part of the problem, not part of the solution. i listen. he's got these ideas. his big idea now is this buffett rule. someone calculated that the taxes he would raise would pay for 11 hours of the government. this is not exactly a grand idea. this man is out of ideas. he's out of excuses. in 2012, we are going to make sure he gets put out of office. >> the house is expected to vote on a bill by majority leader eric cantor to give businesses with less than 500 employees a 20% tax cut. like the bill, it has little chance of passing both chambers. what are they doing? is it symbolic to take it as a flag to hold up down the campaign trail? >> it's symbolism. the president knew the buffett rule wasn't going to create a job. >> it was going to point out something about republicans. >> it was going to make a political comment about republicans. so, he puts it on the senate floor. it doesn't pass. today, of course, the republicans are going to do the same thing with the tax cut. steve, they are just talking past each other now. and the truth is, if you talk to most democrats right now, behind closed doors, even in the white house, they don't want taxes to go upright now. they don't. maybe two years from now. but they understand that, you know, it's funny going back and reading -- reading this book, the president's book that we are having, the president's club. >> nancy gibbs? >> i'm trying to remember the president having trouble with his conservative base. anyway, i can't remember. i'll remember it later. i think it may have been kennedy who was having trouble with his conservative -- no, it was lbj having trouble with his conservative base. he wanted to cut taxes. he wanted to cut taxes and the democrats were saying we are not doing that. it's irresponsible, it's reckless. tax cuts are canes yan. the white house understands tax increases kills the economy. do they want to raise taxes right now? >> i don't think they want to raise taxes right now. there's an election coming. they don't want -- >> it took a long time for me to get there, by the way. i'm still thinking about donny deutsche. >> long night. >> my bigger point is, i'll say this quickly. what we see in washington is a cherade. >> remember, there's an election coming as we were discussing. nobody wants to do anything politically unpopular between now and november. we are heading to the end of 2012 when the bush tax cuts expire. when the see quest is supposed to end. >> bernanke is worried about that and warning. >> everybody is nervous about it and it is heading toward a cliff. the president, whoever he is will have the gumption to pull us back from the cliff. it's going to be a very big game. >> what i said to david axelrod when he was here, the president is going to extend the bush tax cuts for at least another year. they are not going to -- they are not going to dampen the recovery by doing that. republicans, if there's a republican president, they are not going to slash and burn on the spending cuts because right now the economy is in a fragile, fragile state. i'm not sure that they want to throw that much cold water on the economy. >> mark halperin, do you agree, a whole lot of nothing until we get through the election? >> it's hard to do in the lame duck session or hard to do with the new congress. no one is going to add 60 votes in the senate. it's going to require real leadership and compromise. we are going to look back at the moment where john boehner and the president almost made a deal. we'll say that's the closest we came. we are not on a trajectory not just pre-election, but post election. health care. we can't say what's going to happen until we see what the supreme court does. the spending is such a big deal. whether you bring in tax reform, whether you bring in something to stop this. you have to know where health care is going to be. we don't know that until june. >> the one thing that is different, i agree with what mark said. the one thing that is different fwr the dramas is something has to happen at the end of this year. it's not a question. doing nothing is not an option. you have default things that happen. taxes go up. spending gets cut. something has to happen. >> it's great news. >> it is great news. >> that is why i was hopeful when we had the debt ceiling vote coming up. >> they will kick it down the road. >> they actually will need to kick it down the road if they want to get a huge, grand deal. by the way, i remember, for those at home -- >> blurt it out. >> this book, the president's club book -- >> do you love it? >> my god, it's fantastic. it talks about how ex-presidents work with current presidents. kennedy was pushing tax cuts through. they didn't believe in that pointy headed logic. when kennedy was assassinated, the first thing lbj did was work with the conservative southern democrats who at the time, they said if you get spending to below $100 billion a year on the budget, we'll give a year tax cuts. that's what lbj did. >> let's go back to the conversation with barack obama and the buffett rule. this is going to be the theme, two worlds are going to come together. mitt romney is a rich guy. it's the 1% versus the 99. it got turned around yesterday when they found the clip of romney saying stay at home moms, if they are on welfare, they should go to work. obama will continue to paint this guy. that's the rich guy. that's the guy that is unfair. whether right or wrong -- >> it's not going to work. >> of course it will. why won't it? >> because. again, i believe and most people from where i'm from believe that you can still succeed in america and get rich in america, even if you are working class. that sort of class resentment and envy never played out in our household, even when my dad was unemployed. i have to say, it still doesn't play out. in trailer parks across america. i say that as somebody who in the summer went to visit my grandma and we stayed in a trailer and believed we were going to grow up and be successful. >> if i'm in a trailer park and turn to mr. romney and say do you believe you should be paying a lower percentage of tax than your secretary, as a trailer park guy, i'm ruling for that answer. >> he'll say no, i don't. we need tax reform and everybody pay their fair share. i think he can brush that off. i'm telling, democrats who think they are going to win this year on class resentment, i'm just saying -- >> fairness. i call it fairness. fairness. fairness. >> you are going to lose the election if you do that. >> fairness. >> you were the one that pointed out and the white house loves to point out mitt romney is rich. yes, it plays to the progressive base. yes, i understand people think he's rich and evil. i'm telling you, where i'm from, i was born in georgia, i lived in tuscaloosa and northwest florida. that stuff doesn't work. >> it's not the rich. jfk was the fifth wealthiest of the country. he's out of touch and unepithetic. >> to joe's point, do you know what percent of americans think they are in the top 1% now? >> no. >> 12. 12% of americans think they are in the top 1%. obviously, it's not impossible. it's an aspirational society. people believe they can get to the top 1% in their lives. >> mark halperin? >> i think there's three reasons donny is right that it could work. >> are you harold ford jr.? >> i'll do my harold imitation in a minute. it energizes and puts pressure on romney. that is the way romney will lose the election, if he makes a lot of mistakes. they are trying to smoke him out. the more they put pressure on him about what he would cut, the tax plan he wants. the more they can smoke him out, the contrast of what the president is for and what romney is for is to his benefit. it's not class warfare, it's a tactical frame to put pressure on him. >> joe, setting up a contrast and highlighting weakness. >> no, listen. i understand why the white house would do that. if mitt romney, i'm sure ed is doing with this romney every day. if he does what we talked about a couple weeks ago and brace who he is. can you see rattner running for president of the united states? i'm serious. you got a bathtub full of money. tell people why and how you are proud of the fact you worked hard, made difficult choices, took a lot of chances and you succeeded. it's the same thing with mitt romney. if he doesn't apologize for his success like he's sort of been doing, if he doesn't try to play man of the people, he wasn't trying to play man of the people up there in his beautiful italian suit. we want people who are successful. >> americans love to tip the scales. >> donny, i want to know, i'm not missing the point. by the way, i think our society is more inequitable by the day just like most western democracies are becoming less equitable because of technological changes over the past 20 years. but, the thing that you don't understand, if you don't mind me saying this is that at least where i'm from, americans don't trust big government. right? they trust big business. they trust -- >> they trust big business? americans trust big business? >> if you let me finish, ross perot. they trust rich guys like mitt romney a hell of a lot more than big government. >> it's a reality. by the way -- >> trust the rich guys. >> no. i didn't say that. they trust them more than big government. there are polls out there and we have seen this over the past couple years where we put up polls who is to blame for the economic mess? washington, 62%. wall street 25%. something along those lines. there's just something instinctive about americans that they don't trust big government. >> i think it's true. romney is lumped into a club of people perceived as controlling things apart from the rest of us. they give money to political campaigns, the government returns favors. the playing field is not level. at the core, if you strip away the unpleasant things, that's what it's about, creating equitable fairness. if i could play steve rattner for a moment about whether or not the buffett rule is a political stunt. they say it's about money. $47 billion over ten years. the deficit this year is $1.6 trillion. $1.3 trillion. >> it's a start. of course it's a political move. >> it's about fiscal reform. >> of course it's a political move. >> there is a bit of an echo chamber where we have these conversations. it's always good to bring in -- >> me. >> no, you are tapped into areas that we may not be aware of. having said that, even the polls in support of the buffett rule show something. we may be at a turning point. the question is how much people care about how romney made his money let alone how he handles being wealthy. >> that's why it's important he embraces who he is. >> right. >> talk to democrat steve rattner who never voted for a republican presidential candidate in his life. ask him because he knows how mitt romney made his money whether it's something he should be proud of. he created something new. >> i'm with you. i think he should own up and say yes, i'm a wealthy guy. i got it honestly. i did it the american way. i can use the expertise to fix the american economy instead of a natural act like he's a regular guy in his blue jeans. i think americans would appreciate him more if he was who he is. >> we have a lot to get to. coming up -- >> stop screaming at me. >> my lord. you are ornery. you are very ornery. >> when you attack my watch, you attack the man. >> it wasn't an attack. >> i feel alone now. coming up, former white house policy adviser melody barnes will be here. peter king of new york. we'll talk to arianna huffington about her first pulitzer. amazing. there's a little problem in alabama. >> yeah. >> i'm sorry. >> did you hear about that? don cheadle here. coming up, mike allen with the top stories of the politico playbook. first, here is bill karins. did he win a pulitzer? >> emmy. >> for fiction, yes, he did. >> thank you for that. here is bill karins. >> alex is quicker than anybody else here. yesterday was an incredibly warm day out there. today will be cooler, more like spring. yesterday was incredible stuff. 92 in hartford. the boston marathon was run, 87 degrees. as i mentioned, today is cooler. we started in the 60s. it feels like summer out there. in buffalo and pittsburgh, the cool air is coming. breezy this afternoon. temperatures in the 70s. the draught situation is getting worse in southern new england, maryland and delaware. no rain until at least sunday. this morning, southern louisiana travel spots. showers heading for new orleans. it's a nice, mild, quiet, beautiful day. middle of the country looks gorgeous. traveling to the west coast, the pacific northwest is even dry. taking a look, there's lady liberty in the new york harbor. you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. i'm walt gale, i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service. hi, i just switched jobs, and i want to roll over my old 401(k) into a fidelity ira. man: okay, no problem. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork. um...this green line just appeared on my floor. yeah, that's fidelity helping you reach your financial goals. could you hold on a second? it's your money. roll over your old 401(k) into a fidelity ira and take control of your personal economy. this is going to be helpful. call or come in today. fidelity investments. turn here. durn'it, this thing's runnin' slow. bet you think you're pretty quick? yeah, i guess it is pretty quick. jesse?!? jesse? jesse?! much obliged. suddenly, everything else seems old-fashioned. ultrabook. inspired by intel. all right. 28 past the hour. thank you. all right. time to take a look -- >> by the way, we are talking about madmen. we'll talk about it after the papers. >> military officials were surprised by the scale of the attacks in afghanistan on sunday. afghan president karzai says it represents an intelligence failure for the afghan government, especially nato. this morning, australia announced they plan to start withdrawaling troops from the war zone a year earlier than plans. the tuscaloosa news won the 2012 pulitzer prize for the coverage of the devastating tornado that destroyed much of the city nearly one year ago. it knocked out power for more than 48 hours forcing them to use generators to power computers. they also used social media to provide real-time updates to residents. steve, as a newspaper man, that really is -- >> that's the ultimate. >> that's being on the front lines. that's when newspapers are a real service to the community. >> also using modern technology. a number of these this year illustrated what media can bring to the party and how they are making a difference as we move into the electronic age. >> great news from tuscaloosa. also, bad alabama news, mika. >> the university of alabama -- >> that's pretty. that's forever. >> what happened? >> not the same one sabin held up after the championship win. >> it's unbreakable. >> 30,0$30,000. it's that special crystal. it was accidentally knocked off the podium and shattered into a thousand pieces. it happened when a player's father tripped and landed on the display. i think there might have been -- >> step away from the trophy. >> who does that? >> seriously? >> i feel bad for him. >> the university is not making his name public. >> please don't. spare him. >> can they get a new one? maybe waterford crystal could provide them one free of charge. that would be the nice thing to do. it should be replaced. it would be a great pr thing for a company that wants to help out a university. >> "madmen", season five started. you saw it, right? >> yeah. >> the fight scene might have been one of the best scenes. >> that was great. >> i haven't had time to watch any tv. >> great scenes. christina hendricks if she were ever to grace our presence here -- >> i have never done this on the show. >> if we were blessed enough to have her here, there would first be, we would make sure a court issued an injunction to keep her away from you. >> she's married. >> why are you getting in the way of love? are you the guy that storms the store on valentine's day angry. >> your little dogs you can't get off his leg. >> the dog? >> anyway, matthew -- i thought season 4 was incredible. did you see it? >> yeah. i love it. >> fantastic! >> can you stay focused? >> dude, we're talking television. now, i'm making pop culture observations. >> shut up. >> you shut up. stop with the shut up. >> wow. >> mike allen is the white house correspondent. he's got a look at the playbook. congratulations on the pulitzer. >> thank you. so excited, matt went around the news room giving high fives. it was an exciting day for us. the purpose of the pulitzer is to inspire. whether it's politico or "huffington post," it's great to remind journalists what's possible. >> you guys are doing well for yourselves. you have a big story at the top of politico.com about gingrich and santorum. the guys behind the scenes. shelly, foster freeze rallying behind romney a little bit? >> that's right. it's a great relief to republicans who were worried these guys funding the super packs fighting romney would go off for causes that would hurt romney, helping obama. amazing you added, shelly gave $15 million to newt gingrich. he's giving money to a pact run by john boehner. he's going to help republicans, foster freeze who poured money into santorum is going to give money to romney. this gives democrats a new target. it's a huge relief here in washington where ann romney did her first solo fund-raiser last night. it was a huge hit. this is another area she'll be a weapon for that. >> wasn't this inevitable all along? the man has a shot at unseating president obama. >> it wasn't because it got really personal. the gingrich/santorum campaign got nasty against romney. the fact they are backing an established candidate means we are going to have this sort of fiscal evenness they expected. >> all right. mike allen with a look inside the political playbook. thanks so much. we are not even two weeks into the season, red sox manager, bobby valentine started a feud with one of the most beloved players. it's on. with the spark miles card from capital one, thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. 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[ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. welcome back to "morning joe." time for sports. less than two years ago, the fans around the d.c. area were paying big bucks to get into nationals park to watch stephen straussburg. he's back looking good. fortunately, the fans are not. >> really? i was out ott the stadium, he did a great job. >> he's got an arm. he's back after that surgery. 16,000 turned out to see him. strikes out martinez. a blooper to left. two runs score. the nationals win, 6-3. they are in first place. >> okay. you are telling me, after i was forced to watch signs for 30 years bring baseball to d.c., they brought baseball to d.c., they have had the hottest pitching prospect, they are in first place against the charging mets -- the charging mets and nobody is showing up? >> 16,000 and change for the nationals. come on d.c. >> we are going send you bobby valentine if you're not careful. >> speaking on valentine, he's started a feud with one of the team's favorite players. he made comments about third baseman kevin. he called him out for a lack of commitment. >> i don't think he's as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason. he saw the ball well. he got his on-base percentage up which is a good thing. he'll move on from there. >> he had a slow start, for sure. yesterday, he responded to valentine's comments with a little help from a teammate. >> i go out every day, play as hard as i can. take every ground ball in the morning, take every at bat like it's my last. i don't think my game changed at all. >> i don't understand what baby is trying to do. it's not how we go about our stuff here. i'm sure he'll figure it out soon. >> he'll figure it out soon. >> i like it because other than berry and martinez, not martinez, the first baseman, gonzalez, the sox did well last year. they didn't give a damn. i love him, right? this is why valentine was brought in. guess what, every red sox other than those i named, they are guilty until proven innocent. you were at a game last year, in september, remember what you came back and told me? they were lounging around. they acted like they didn't care. >> he's hitting 100. >> by the way, pedroia, with all duh respect, guess what? we don't want the red sox to do -- we don't want the red sox to do how things were done arnds here. we don't want bobby valentine to figure out the way you screwed up last september. you get paid millions and millions of dollars, you are lazy and eat fried chicken and drink beer. no! this is why he was brought in because the red sox last year acted like rich, lazy, fat slobs. they let down all of new england. they let down red sox nation. shut up and listen to your manager. >> isn't it going to be fun to go there on friday? >> you know what? i don't care. we are going to win this year. the players need to follow the coach until you get mad at him. >> see you at fenway on friday. 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ask your doctor if spiriva can help. read it to me. read the tweet. >> it says here, i'm listening to mika, but i can't get the image of the donny dog out of my head. >> a yapping dog. so -- >> no donny, no. >> should i apologize to the red sox players? >> no, it came from the heart. >> i don't think it's nice. your blood pressure is going to go up. >> i listened to boston talk radio in sports. most fans agree with me. they tanked last year. they get paid millions and millions of dollars. hard working families go out to the game. if they have a coach pushing them, players need to shut up. >> pedroia, you work for him. >> by the way, let me defend pedroia in this sense. he's kind of the leader of the club. nobody works harder than pedroia day in and day out. he's incredible. we understand that. >> okay. >> that said, though, bobby v is doing what he needs to do. >> we need to stop calling him a beloved player. one person calling him a pain in the you know what. >> steve rattner? >> i don't know how to transition. >> where are you going to start? >> we talked about the buffett rule. i thought we would talk about obama's taxes. he paid 20.5% in income tax. it's adding to the debate -- >> did that surprise you or not? >> it was lower. he paid 26% to 27% in past years. everybody looks at that saying he's paying less than his secretary, which is true. she's paying 29%. why did obama pay such a low rate? the answer is because he gave away so much to charity. he gave away $170,000 out of his income. if you take away that deduction for charitable giving, he would have paid 27.4% where he's been historically. >> there are three ways. we talk of getting rid of loopholes for the rich, one is charitable deductions. one is the mortgage deduction. what is the third? >> things like the fact you are not taxed on your health care benefits. >> health care benefits. >> that is the single biggest. >> if we decide as a nation to get rid of the tax loopholes, which one? i'm concerned about charitable deductions. >> people are saying obama is paying too little. you want him to pay more, deal with the deductions that are popular. the money is in the health care deduction, the charitable deduction and deduction for state and local incomes as well. romney was overheard saying that in order to offset his $3.4 trillion of tax cuts he would limit the deduction of state and local taxes and also make a couple other changes but only for the rich. that gets you to $300 billion out of $3.4 trillion. >> that brings up a great point. let's put this out on the table. when talking about taxing the rich, taxing the rich, if you are talking about raising taxes to take care of the deficit or the debt, taxing the rich isn't going to do it. if you want to get rid of the bush tax cuts, get rid of all the bush tax cuts if you want to really lower the debt. >> that's the point. if you take the changes and extend it to all the people, it's still $900 billion. not just the rich. the only way to get to the $3.4 trillion is to make major changes in the tax code. romney is not prepared to do it. nobody is prepared to do it. the other interesting thing is the tax debate is in the zone, do you tax the rich more or not? 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[ male announcer ] jetta tdi clean diesel. the turbo that gets 42 miles per gallon. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ we already saw fox news poll that shows the race is tightening. you are going to see all the polls showing the race is tightening. >> totally. >> it's a natural tightening. please, if you are a pundit at home, please do not blame this natural tightening to hilary rosen's comments. just step away from that analysis. it's wrong. >> welcome back to "morning joe." donny deutsche is still with us along can mark halperin in washington. >> what a shot. what a shot. >> okay. >> this is a close race. with us, the host from "the last word" lawrence o'donnell. melody barnes and pulitzer price winner for "the washington post," eugene robinson. donny deutsche is also here. here is the deal. a couple weeks ago, when republicans kept shooting themselves in the foot, lawrence showed there was an 87 point lead. we were sitting around the table going relax. they were getting excited. this thing is going to be like 1980 in the end. it's going to be tied up into the final week. >> only 6% of the vote is in play here. it's going to close at two or three points. it will tighten and, you know, you are watching margin of error movement. some of the movements within four points are margin of error. polls tell you, it's no movement at all. melody, the white house had known for some time. i was talking to david axelrod, he was up by 20 points in virginia. david axelrod was saying that's not real people responding to stupid comments. this is going to be tight. the white house knows that, right? >> has known it all along. david axelrod, plouffe. they know it's going to be a tight race. i was traveling overseas and people were saying there's such a big lead. i said it's going to come down to the wire, key populations and key states. as larry was saying, it's going to be a tight race. >> we use the basketball analogy. you are watching your team do everything wrong. at halftime, you are down by six or eight points. you think, my side is not as weak as i thought it was. mitt romney and the republicans have done everything wrong for the past two months and it's still a tough race. yes, romney is a weaker candidate than usual, but he's going to be there until the very end, isn't he? >> you have to watch the americans to see if there's another candidate that takes votes from romney. he's still got a problem. the national polls are tighter. >> explain that. >> he needs to find states that barack obama won last time that he can be favored in. he needs to play offense, not just hold the mccain states. he needs to put florida or ohio away, if he can to go on offense to win 270. >> you think two states where barack obama has been in the low 40s until the last month or two. florida and ohio are looking more favorable for the republican side than they were four years ago, right? >> they are. right now, you have to say the president is stronger in florida and ohio than romney is in michigan an pennsylvania or wisconsin. he needs to be in a position where he can put together different paths to 270. right now, the president has more ways to get to 270. it's close. they are both going to start with 200 e lek tral votes. it's a more meaningful number. >> eugene robinson, i want to show you what mitt romney said when asked about this. take a look. he's very confident. >> start packing. that's what i would like to say. obviously, we have a very different view. the president, i'm sure wants another four years. the first years didn't go so well. >> you know, i got to know michelle. she's a lovely person. i have never met barack obama. i believe it's mitt's time. i believe the country needs the kind of leadership that he is going to be able to offer and i believe he is the person that can turn around this economy. i think it is our turn now. >> eugene robinson, talk to me. your response? >> i guess it's my turn now. you know, we are all stunned that the romney's believe in romney's candidacy. what they said is right. it's going to be tight. the country is divided. if 6% or 7% of the electorate is up for grabs this time, just like every time. 4753 is what passes for a landslide in american politics these days. we are going to be in that territory. the campaign hasn't really started yet. the real campaign. we'll see how romney does, we'll see what sort of general election candidate he is and see if the president has the mojo from last time. >> you know, melody, day in and day out, we always talk about all these little miniscandals that pop up, whether it's the president's battle with catholic cardinals or romney's car elevator. none of those things are going to matter in the end, are they? it's going to be the economy, stupid. >> i hope what matters is policy. people are paying attention to the issues. it was interesting romney was overheard at a donor fund-raiser. it was interesting to hear hem talk to them. he got a peak at what he wanted to do. dealing the housing issues when before he said we are going to let it play out and let the market take care of it, hit rock bottom. his thoughts around education and whether or not he was going to try to shrink the department of education when it's taking a lead now. secretary duncan and trying to prepare kids for the future and be competitive. i hope people are paying attention to those issues. women's security hannan issue. i think it will be important to a lot of voters. the other thing that is interesting is president obama is willing to put states in play. he's doing it now. there was discussion about arizona being in play. he's able to go out and talk to voters about the issues, economic security and whether or not kids are going to be prepared with a good education. >> what romney said at the fund-raiser is that he also said i won't be saying any of this publicly. i can't tell the voters any of this stuff. you are paying 50 grand a person to hear something special. here are my secrets. >> he didn't say that. >> not those words exactly. we were out on the sidewalk and could hear him and taped it. that's how we know any of this stuff. >> donny, i said earlier, bashing the rich strategy would not work. that said, melody brought up a couple statements romney said about letting the markets crash. i think if you specifically take a lot of these little flubs, you could make 0 seconds. >> it's bashing unfairness. i'm going to say it again. you are saying it's going to be tight, tight, tight. in the last 100 years, there's only twice an incumbent has lost. there was a dynamic opponent, clinton and reagan. the gender gap, the hispanic gap. i don't see how the numbers ever add up. every time romney comes on, we are going to send him packing. you squirm. something so awkward. we all did on this panel. >> i think it's only fair to say every time donny starts talking, we squirm. >> i have been trying to elevate this conversation -- >> and you use your two young girls to pick up girlfriends. >> if you are going to try to elevate a conversation, you must start your day with socks. no socks -- >> no, i'm not wearing socks because the last time i was here you weren't wearing socks. the host of the show wasn't wearing socks. >> just to explain this, lawrence, we had a discussion last sunday. he came in dressed like a wasp. i said you are wearing socks. if you want to complete the outfit don't wear socks. he is so desperate to be in the club. >> is mark wearing socks? >> mark knows who he is. >> mark, then melody barnes. >> time to elevate the conversation. >> i'm going to try. in this attempt to get the women vote, i saw a soundbyte about the percent of jobs that have been casualties were women. is that true? i saw the soundbyte and it looks desperate to me? >> is it true? good question. >> i'm wearing a single sock. >> very disturbing. >> i'm also wearing pajamas with feet. >> all right. >> it's sort of true. statistically more women have lost jobs than men since the president took office. it's in part because before the president took office, the bush portion of the recession, men lost a higher percentage and were cleared out. it is true. i think what joe said before is true. the small things aren't going to matter. the debate over the statistic won't determine who the next president is. >> in the numbers they are putting out there, it's insinuating this administration has been targeting women to ease men out of the work force which is ridiculous. it's stupid. it shows the desperation. >> it's crazy. mika, you have participated and been engaged in the forums that took place at the white house. i think a couple things. >> they are strong on this issue. >> very strong. the 92% number that mitt romney talks about, fact checkers say that number is misleading. when you put it together, it's false. it doesn't come from me or the white house. >> it's mostly false because -- it's unfair to start the month when obama was inaugurated since his policies weren't enacted. the reason is because most men's jobs were lost before obama took office. the suggestion is it may be correct, factually, but the bigger context raises questions. >> right. 1.3 million women lost jobs the day president obama walked in in january, 2009. he's added 1.2 million jobs that went to women since he's been in office. going to your point, joe, a lot of construction jobs, jobs men occupy were lost early. state and local jobs were the jobs women occupy. they fall off further down the road. those are the jobs the president's policies affected. we fought with congress. sometimes congress supporting those initiatives. we went from losing 750,000 jobs a month to an increase of 220,000 jobs. >> lawrence, let's talk pure politics. if you have a number that shows the majority of jobs lost were of women and you were mitt romney and there was a war on it, wouldn't you be talking about it every day? >> you would talk about it and watch to see if it makes any difference in the 20-point lead with women that president obama has. so, you know, if there was a meaningful truth in that statistic, the president wouldn't have a 20-point lead. >> putting your candidate out there to bite on this and hold on to it -- i mean, doesn't he look a little dumb. >> you say it's wrong. factually, it is correct. conte contextually -- >> why would you want to have your hand in it? >> factually, it is correct. contextually -- i'm talking politics. facttually, the numbers are there. don't act like it's the greatest shock you have seen in your life. >> you know what he was insinuating. >> where they totally twisted obama's words in a campaign ad. >> he was quoting john mccain. >> this is quite different, gene, where they have numbers that are factually on their side. contextually, if you started the day the president becomes inaugurated, his policies aren't in place, yet. >> if you can defend it factually, it's fair game, so this is fair game. melody put it in the right context. a lot of jobs women have lost have been government jobs. romney and the republicans have been trying to get rid of it. you kind of, through funding cuts and various ways get rid of the jobs and blame obama for the job loss. hey, if you can defend it factually, you can put it out there. joe, i did want to express solidarity with donnie on the no socks. the sock smear that lawrence came out with is outrageous. >> i want to jump on what gene said. people aren't stupid. the hilary rosen thing wasn't going to sway one voter. people understand, as you said, contextually, people understand those facts. we get so caught up in this, people are idiots. >> i sense you haven't left the island of manhattan in months. >> do you think that's going to swing one voter? >> no doubt about it. >> she doesn't work for the president. >> listen, buddy, pal, should michael dukakis wearing a helmet in a tank swayed a single voter? >> that's imagery of the president. >> we all laughed at michael dukakis in the helmet. there's no evidence it changed a vote. donny has a important point. there's no evidence that the comment will change a vote. she didn't say a single word in what she said that everyone in the country didn't understand. everyone knew exactly what she meant. she didn't mean any kind of insult against women. >> of course not. we like hilary. mike halperin, do you think this moves the meter? >> it allows romney to get the base more quickly. he must do that. he needs intensity on the right and not do things symbolically. as a cultural tribal matter on the right, it's a big deal. >> melody barnes, last word. what is the solution. >> excuse me, i have copyrighted the last solution. >> that's right. solution. >> we have to go forward and what the guide posts are. i was reading your post this morning, joe. are we going to be a serious country and ask these questions in a serious manner? we have challenges ahead. how we are dealing with education and implementation of health care. it's about the opportunity we are going provide the american people. this is going to help decide it. >> while we are on the topic, happy equal payday. >> i was just about to whisper happy equal payday. >> how are your parents doing? >> they are doing great. they say hello and they are watching now. the friends i stayed with last night, some of my closest friends get upset when i come on the show and don't say anything to them because they are fans of the show. >> what are their names? >> john and patrice. >> thank you for watching. >> my friend lola loves the show. >> where does she work? always, always thinking in the gutter. gene robinson, pulitzer prize winner. we are sorry. >> she was a show girl. >> i'm not dumb, but i can't understand. >> lawrence o'donnell, stay with us. >> plus, the woman who walks like a man, lola. >> we'll talk to peter king, arianna huffington. up next, the president's club, a revealing new book. it goes inside the world's most exclusive fraternity. you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. cuban ca jun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo tapas puck chinese takeout taco truck free range chicken pancake stack baked alaska 5% cash back. right now, get 5% cash back at restaurants. it pays to discover. >> i want to thank the president elect for joining the ex-presidents to the extend we can, we look forwards to sharing our experiences with you. all of us who have served in this office understand that the office itself transcends the individual. we wish you all the very best and so does the country. >> thank you, sir. thank you, mr. president. all the gentlemen on this stand know the pressures and responsibilities of this office. for me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary. i'm grateful to all of them. again, thank you mr. president for hosting us. >> president bush hosting president-elect obama. nancy gibbs and executive editor and duffy. i have been reading presidential biographies my entire life since i was a little, little kid. i'm sorry, this is the historical version of crack. no! >> there's your blurb. the scarborough blurb. >> no, we have all heard the stories of eisenhower and truman sitting in the back of the limousine after the inauguration, loathing each other after working together. one of my favorite stories john adams. you have to many stories of president's and ex-presidents. talk about the club. >> it's like a fraternity. it's small and hard to get into. >> they have their own fraternity now. >> they are on la fayette square. nixon created it for johnson to keep him happy. it's a townhouse. it's a couple rooms and a bath. it takes hard work. >> now we revealed it through you. the irony for nixon. >> it's where an ex-president stays or works. >> isn't that amazing? >> they wanted a place for nixon to go. >> johnson was the first to really aggressively work the ex-presidents. he said you need protection, you need a plane, whatever you need. what i've got, you got, right? explain why ex-presidents can be so important to sitting presidents. >> they are the only ones that know what that job does to you. when everyone else treats you differently, they understand. these guys have sat in the chair, know how hard the decisions are. they know what it's like to be in that bubble. there's a bond between them that is so much deeper than their party, personalities and history. they may have fought against each other and hated each other, a lot of them did. then we see a transformation. >> michael, it takes, as you all explained, every time somebody new comes into the white house, i say how long are they going to figure out they are not special. >> right. >> they are just like everybody else. the laws of gravity apply to them. you say, you usually have to get beaten up. they think the guy they replaced was stupid. a year or two into it, they say i'm alone. i need to call the guy i hate. they all do it. >> they all do it. this week, after george bush left washington in 2001, i'm sorry, 2009, he went off the grid. he disappeared. he didn't say a thing. he knew the guy needed some room. he deserves my silence. >> this week, dick cheney said about the disaster. george w. bush said i don't think anyone -- it's not good for our country to criticize our president. he had been there. >> there's a wonderful story, we all know the story of ike and harry truman fighting each other, loathing each other. i didn't realize until i read the book the assassination of jfk got them in such a pointed scene, they go out and have a beer afterwards. you can see them sitting there going nobody understands what this guy went through. >> they were thinking mortality. they literally road home from arlington, from the burial together. went out for a drink and spent the night talking and buried the hatchet. this is after truman had not stepped foot in the white house through the the presidency. they were hostile to each other. they went back to where they had been in the '40s, building the security structure. >> speaking of the 1940s, another part of history americans should understand is how the club began and how truman resurrects the reputation of as you say, the most hated man in america. herbert hoover. hoover was not invited back to the white house while fdr was president. truman gets in. >> it's after world war ii. >> 1946. it's hoover. hoover is practically moved. then in 1953, hoover turns to truman and says let's start a club. i'll be the president, you be the vice president. the secretary, i guess. over 60 years. people of different parties getting on. it's better. >> truman not only having herbert hoover save the lives of millions of europeans in post war europe, making sure they didn't starve to death but reorganizing the entire executive branch. >> for a democrat. >> for a democrat. >> the presidency was a mess after world war ii. it was a mess. it was herbert hoover who knew what it was like. he trusted him to lead a reorganization. >> you spoke with jimmy carter. >> yes. >> let's talk about carter for a second. obviously, carter has been a great ex-president. he's had difficulty with other members of the club during his ex-presidency. yet, we have all talked about the picture. it's amazing, though. as an outside observer, go through his diaries, i will never be critical of him again. reading that, you understand what they have been through. nobody can understand what it's like. >> they all come out with scars, deep ones. different kinds for different reasons. >> as carter said, we all have sorrows. >> this is what pulls them together. for years they didn't get along. carter is a difficult person to deal with as a club member. he doesn't really fit. >> do the other club members think that? >> they do. every club needs a black sheep. it's the way it is with carter. >> carter doesn't care. he is who he is. >> he's taught a lot of them how to be ex-presidents. he set the standard. how do you think clinton came up with the global initiative. >> now, let me ask you about secret advice being passed down. ronald reagan gave some to clinton. what was it? >> they traded presentryes. reagan says to clinton, you know, i have watched you on the campaign, you could work on your salute a little bit. he said you have a whimpy salute. they sit there, clinton and reagan in re gan's office in l.a. practicing their salutes. he's saying here is how you do it. bring it up slow, shake it off fast. the two men sat there. it's an important stage craft. >> acting tips of ronald reagan. >> how to act like a president. >> doesn't get better than that. speaking of bill clinton, remarkable how close he felt to richard nixon and how he compared the death of richard nixon to that of -- >> when his mother died. i wish i could pick up the phone and call. there's a letter nixon sent clinton a couple weeks before he died. he pulls it out and rereads it every year. that's how helpful it was. >> mark halperin in washington has a question. >> if it's not clear from the discussion, great stories, great character. incredible relationships. we have talked about some of them. i want to ask about another one. this club has a legacy, a father/son in the club. what do you say about their relationship in the book. >> it's a great question. of all the relationships, this is the closest. it's closer than any club. what we get out of the book is how bush ii runs his campaign to be very different than his fathers. they get to the gulf war, i'm sorry, iraq war. the old man had one way of looking at the world in containment and security. the younger man said that doesn't work anymore. this had to be, as we say in the book, clearly a point of conflict for them. in some families there are things you just don't talk about. i think in the bush family, one is they have a strong father/son relationship but different ideas of how to cope. >> there are things you don't talk about. when ever the club members get together, they usually don't talk politics. >> they don't. bill clinton said he was out playing golf with obama. he said we didn't talk about politics. truman said it about hoover we talk about what it's like to be president, we talk about kids and how to protect them from the glare of the spotlight. how to manage your time, health and physical well being. it's managing the burden of the job. it's something they all have in common and can help each other. the reason they don't talk policy is they know they are not bred in. once you have all the top secret intelligence, you know how much you don't know. so, they are very reluctant to give advice. i don't know what he has on his desk. i don't know what's shaping his decisions so i'm not offering advice. >> eisenhower, lawrence, is a hero of mine for a lot of reasons. one of the reasons is because of the restraint he showed while president. but he was far less restrained after he was read in giving advice to kennedy and lbj. >> and the perfect person to warn against the rise of the military industrial complex as he did, which was meant as a warning to future presidents. he gave it to the end of his presidency. >> you don't read books you tell me. do you have any questions? so do you have any questions or interest in the book? >> i haven't read the press release in a book. that's normally how i read a book interview. >> so, it is fascinating, looking at barack obama over the past couple years. it's obvious he and bill clinton had serious issues in 2008. bill clinton would tell people without them having to ask him for the first two years of the obama presidency, the guy's never asked me anything about health care or this or that. you just heard that. bill clinton complained about it. yet, when barack obama pushed to the wall, he picked up the phone and said i probably need to start talking to bill clinton. >> he had him to washington to endorse several of the deals he made in 2010. taxes where he adopted a republican platform on that year. picked up the tax cuts of the republicans. clinton is on the videos doing a fund-raiser with obama next week. they are going to do three together. one of the features of the club is even though there are scars between them, try to look past them. there's a human element to this that is not about politics and not about policy. it's men who have come through an almost impossible passages and share things the rest of us can't. >> what is your favorite in the year? what is one thing you learned? >> at one point, the club has souvenirs. at one point johnson gives eisenhower a pair of cuff links with the presidential seal. you notice it doesn't say democrat or republican on them. >> very nice. the book is "the president's club" inside the most excuse live fraternity. happy equal payday. >> michael duffy, we won't have that discussion. coming up, don cheadle is joining us on the set on "morning joe." 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[ male announcer ] jetta tdi clean diesel. the turbo that gets 42 miles per gallon. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ we have republican representative and chairman of the house, congressman, peter king. how you doing, peter? >> hey, joe, how you doing? >> okay. i fly a lot. >> yeah. >> i fly a lot. i'm in washington and they move me to another line. i'm thinking this is bad news. because i flew over 1 million miles with delta, they let me go through this tsa pre-screening thing and man, do we have like a tsa program that for people that fly all the time, businessmen and businesswomen that fly two, three, four times a week, we can put them in these lines, start expediting and move the check points fast sner. >> they are constantly trying to expedite the procedure. they are not always as fast as they should be. there's a balance between security and moving things along. i think you are going to see more and more progress with that. it's something they are working on intently. >> you would support that? you are the chairman of the homeland security. for all the working people that fly, have to leave their home early monday morning, work all week and fly back friday -- >> that would be -- >> i'm not talking guys going from their new york mansion to their washington mansion. >> jfk has this. for high level frequent flyers you can keep your shoes on. you don't have to take your laptop out and you can keep your suit coat on. it's such a thrill. >> it really is. peter, as the guy who is tasked in the house to worry about homeland security, it's not a bad idea, right? >> no, it's not. we have to constantly be working on this. the head of tsa has a book coming out. he goes into all the pros and cons and what seems the easy way to do it is not that easy. lawrence is right. we have to find ways to move it and expedite it. you are going to see progress over the next couple months on that. >> tell us about the secret service scandal. >> oh, that. >> they say it's the worst scandal in the history of the secret service, would you agree with that? >> it's a scandal. i have a tremendous respect for them. they do an outstanding job. 11 men who brought women back to the hotel. it's a violation of security because of the potential dangers. from all i have seen so far, there was no threat to the president. no one was compromised. having said that, they could have been. that's really what this is about. it was irresponsible, the wrong thing to do. i don't want to use it to indict the entire secret an intense investigation and my committee and my direction is conducting their own investigation because we want to find out how it was allowed to happen and how it can be prevented in the future. this is as story as old as mankind and we are using women to obtain secret information. in columbia we are -- you are the president of the united states coming in, it was the height of your responsibility to let anyone in that zone where anybody would be in a compromising position. >> is it safe to assume that you think it's a political gimmick or is that just a guess? >> yes, yes, yes. it's a gimmick, yes. >> joe scarborough is my economic adviser. >> the congressman, do not berate the congressman. it's a gimmick. you concerned given the times we live in with the economy. >> can i answer for the congressman? no. >> the election comes down to people right now have lost confidence in president obama and it's up to mitt romney to show and similar to ronald reagan and jimmy carter. if he can show he is able to do the job, it will be a very tight race and mitt romney can win. >> you always speak your mind and you are always blunt. be honest here. how excited are some of your constituents about -- what's his first name? willard? willard mitt romney. in new york's third, how excited are they about willard mitt romney? >> so far they are not. i can tell you that. there is a lot of dissatisfaction and people are waiting on governor romney. if he can show he can get the job done, he has a good chance of winning with. there is not that excitement level and for that matter, they are able to identify with people. however the guy who is extremely honest and capable. a recent poll on long island where president obama's favorable numbers were much higher than mitt romney's. governor romney was winning because president obama's approval rating was there. people would vote for romney if they think he is comp at the present time. >> there is no amount of republicans on long island that can possibly win the state of new york for mitt romney. all of the electoral votes will be going to president obama. >> exactly, but for a republican district on long island. long island, you have working class americans like in my district in northwest florida. i can't find anybody who is excited about romney. >> the buffett rule, 72% of american presidency want to see it passed, including congressman king. 53% of republicans want to see you vote for the buffett rule. >> the obama policies are not working. that that's what the american people have seen. >> thank you for your courage. >> great to see you. >> do you have to drive through? >> no. i totally agree with you on bobby valentine. great guy. >> he's a great guy and they acted like punks last year. valentine was hired to shake things up. how about the mets? >> the mets are great. 7-3 on the move. buy your world series tickets now. >> we'll be right back. havi ng a n irregular heartbeat havi called atrial fibrillation ng a puts you at 5 times greater risk of stroke. don't wait. go to afibstroke.com for a free discussion guide to help you talk to your doctor about reducing your risk. that's afibstroke.com. 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>> it's just symbolism. the president knew the buffett rule wasn't going to create a job and wasn't going to lower the deficit and make a political comment about republicans. so he puts it on the senate floor and it doesn't pass and today of course the republicans are going to do the same with his tax cut. they are just talking past each other now. tax cuts are canesian. the white house said, the tax increases kill the economy. do they even want to raise taxes right now? >> i don't think they want to because there is an election coming. >> my bigger point is and it's quick, what we see in washington is all a charade. the republicans don't want to slash spending because they know that will hurt the economy. >> there is an election coming so no one wants to do something political le unpopular between now and november, but we are heading for the fiscal cliff, the end of 2012 when all the bush tax cuts expire and the sequestration is going to happen because of the failure of the super committee to get their job done. a bunch of tax things expire. >> bernanke is nervous about that. >> it is heading for a cliff and the question is whether congress and the president will have the gumption to pull us back and it will be a game of chicken at the end of this year. >> this is what i said to david axelr axelrod. the president will extend for at least another year. they are not going to dampen the recovery by doing that. >> mark halpern, do you agree? a lot of nothing until we get through the election? >> it will be hard to do in the lame duck session and wherever the president is. i don't know will have 60 votes in the senate. it will be real leadership and real compromise. we will all look back where they almost made a deal and might say that's the closest we came because we are not on a trajectory. post election. the other big thing is health care. we can't game out what will happen until we see what the supreme court does. the spending is such a big part of what any deal has to involve. you bring in anything to stop the sequestration. you have to know where health care will be and you won't know until june. >> the one thing that's different and agree with everything mark said, but the one thing that is different is that something has to happen at the end of this year. doing nothing is not an option. you have all the default things and taxes go up and spending gets cut. something has to happen. >> by the way, that's great news. that's why i was hopeful when we had the debt ceiling because something big would happen. >> they can kick it down the road for six months and i predict that's what they will do. >> when you start a question about this as far as barack obama and the buffett rule, this is going to be the theme. there two worlds that come for obama from now until november. mitt romney is a rich guy. it's the 1% versus the 90%. even the ann romney thing got turned around when they found the clip of basically mitt romney saying stay at home moms on welfare should go to work. obama will paint this guy that's the rich guy and that's the guy that's unfair. whether right or wrong. >> it's not going to work. >> of course it will. >> no it won't because i believe and most people where i'm from believe that you can still succeed in america and get rich in america even if you are working class. that sort of class resentment and envy never played out in our house even when my dad was unemployed. in trailer parks across america, i say that as somebody who went to visit my grand mom and we stayed in a trailer and we all believed we were going to grow up and be there. >> i'm watching a debate from the trailer park and i say mr. romney, do you believe that you should be paying a lower percentage of tax than your secretary? i'm rooting for that answer. >> he will say no, i don't. everybody should pay their fair share and they can get into the buffett rule and facts like that, but he can brush that off. democrats who think they are going to win on class resentment, do it. you are going to lose the election. fairness. you can talk about fairness, but you pointed out and the white house loves to point out, mitt romney is rich. yes. that plays to the progressive base. yes, i understand a lot of people think he's rich and evil. i'm telling you where i'm from, i was born in georgia and lived in tuscaloosa and mississippi and northwest florida. that stuff doesn't work. >> it's not the rich. jfk was the fifth wealthiest family in the country. he's out of touch. >> just to the point, do you know or anyone want to guess what percentage of americans think they are in the top 1% now? 12% of americans think they are the top 12%. it's an aspirational society. people walk and believe they can get to the top 1%. >> mark halpern? >> there three reasons why donee is write that it could work. it energizes the democratic base. two, it really puts pressure on romney and forces him to mistakes. that is the way romney will lose the election. the third thing, they are trying to smoke him out on the spending choices. the more they put pressure and talk about what he would cut and the tax plan he wants, the more they can smoke him out in the white house and the president thinks and the contrast between what the president or romney is for will be to his benefit. that's not about class warfare and about a tactical frame to put the pressure on him rather than making it about the obama record. >> setting up the contrast and highlighting his weakness. >> i understand why the white house would do that. if mitt romney and i'm sure they are handling this home with mitt every day, if he does what they were talking about and embraces who he is f steve rattner were running, you know what i would say? you have a bathtub full of money. tell people why and how you were proud of the fact that you worked hard and took a lot of chances. he succeeded. it's the same thing with mitt romney. if he doesn't apologize for his success like he sort of did, if he doesn't try to play man of the people up there in his beautiful suit, we want people who were successful. they elect the people who aren't so successful. >> donny, i just wanted to say, by the way our society is becoming more inequitable by the day like most western democracies because of technological changes over the past 20 years. the thing that you don't understand if you don't mind me saying this while we are talking about what we don't understand, at least where i'm from, americans don't trust big government. they trust big business. they trust -- let me finish. >> americans trust big business? >> let me finish. yes, they trust rich guys like mitt romney a hell of a lot more than they trust big government. >> that's just -- >> i have yet to see -- >> where americans trust the rich guys. >> i didn't say that. they trust them more than big government. there were polls out there and we have seen this over the past couple of years, who is to blame for the economic mess. washington 62% and wall street 25%. something along those lines. there is something instinctive about americans that they just don't trust big government. >> i think that's true and that's come up where mitt romney is lumped into a club of people as controlling things apart from the rest of us. they give money to political campaigns and government and returns favors to them. the playing field is not level. that is core if you strip away the unpleasant things that people described about the occupy movement. that's what it's about. creating equitable societies. fairness. if i can play steve rattner about whether or not the buffett rule was a political stunt. they say it's about money. $47 billion over ten years, the deficit this year is $1.6 trillion. >> it's a start. >> i'm just saying, let's not say with a straight face. >> of course it's a political move. >> given there is a little bit of an ecochamber in which we have the conversations. it's good to bring in. you are tapped into areas that we may not be as aware about. having said that, even the polls that show the support show something. we may be at a turning point and the question we have to look at is how much people care about how mitt romney made his money let alone how he handles being so wealthy and whether he can connect with it. >> that's why it's important that he embraces who he is. talk to democrat steve rattner who never voted for a republican candidate in his life and ask him. he knows how mitt romney made his money whether it's something you should be proud of. you said he should. >> i'm with you and i think you should own up and say i'm a wealthy guy and i got it and i worked hard and did it the american way and i can use all that to fix the economy instead of trying to commit this unnatural act like being a regular guy in his blue jeans. americans would appreciate him more if he was who he is. >> celebrating the first pulitzer, aryana huffington and here's bill karens with a look at the forecast. >> so many areas of the forecast. so warm and dry. you are dry long enough, you start to get issues. drought conditions opinioning to get worse. yesterday was incredibly warm. hartford, connecticut was the warmest spot in the country. very warm in upstate new york. we are holing on to that, but the breezy conditions move in. sliding to the east coast during the afternoon. when i say cooler, we are 90. today is mid 70s, nearly where you should be. the drought conditions. severe drought in southern new england. rain for sunday and monday. that helped things at least a little bit. the drought in the southeast and georgia and north florida. we had numerous fires in the spring. as you go throughout saturday and sunday in the southeast, we had significant rain. nothing to talk about on the west coast. a beautiful, beautiful day. you are watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ] [ dog ] it's our favorite. yours and mine. because we found it. together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. a long walk. a walk with you. a walk i smelled squirrels on, but i stayed by your side because i could tell, could feel, that you had a bad day... and me being bad wouldn't make it any better. but being there was already helping a little anyway. and then we found that wonderful thing. waiting there. waiting for you and me. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided right when i picked it up, i would never, ever leave it anywhere. ever. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that had made you smile. [ announcer ] put more play in your day. beneful. play. it's good for you. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. o0 c1 fiona here was just telling me that ford dealers sell a new tire like...every five seconds, how's that possible? well, we purchase 3 million a year. you just sold one right now didn't you? that's correct. major brands. 11 major brands. oop,there goes another one. well we'll beat anybody's advertised price. and you just did it right there, what's that called? the low price tire guarantee. wait for it, there goes another one. get a $100 rebate, plus the low price tire guarantee during the big tire event. look at that. it's happening right there every five seconds. your not going to run out are you? no. >> who is funnier? you or president obama? >> i don't know him in real life and people don't know me with the pranks we play, but most of our dinner table events were involving humor of one kind, most of which can't be repeated on the air. >> occasionally they turn into tom foolery. i would love to find out what his pranks are. you should have seen the look on tag's face when i put all his left shoes on the right side. >> here with us now are columnists for the new york times and cofounder of the "huffington post" and president and editor in chief of the "huffington post" media group. arianna huffington. they are celebrating their first pulitzer prize that severely wounded veterans face after returning home from iraq and afghanistan. congratulations. wow. >> thank you for your work and this past weekend they wrote about the suffering of vets. something that americans need to know about. >> absolutely, but nick and i were talking in the green room about how can we pull afghanistan in the center of the presidential campaign. it's amazing that a war has been going on for over years and going as badly as this one with so many of our returning vets are so severely wounded and facing so many challenges that so many of them are taking their own lives as nick wrote about on sunday. for every one who dies in the battle field, 25 take their own lives. that's a staggering statistic. >> it is staggering and this is what nick wrote in the "new york times." a veteran staff and the nation's shame. here's a window into a tragedy within the american military. for every soldier killed in the battlefield, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands. an american soldier dies every day 1/2. on average iraq and afghanistan veterans kill themselves at a rate of one every 80 minutes. don't much help men and women exercise the demons of war. the president commits troops and don't commit enough dollars to veterans services afterwards. we need soldiers to protect us, but when they come home, wey don't protect them. >> part of the problem is we provide a lot of scrutiny on what is happening on the battlefield and indeed when people are in kandahar, they get extraordinary support. when they come home with some exceptions and arianna's pulitzer is attributed to those, we don't provide enough scrutiny about how they are faring. if you are a vet and especially if you are in montana, idaho and a place where there is not a lot of va support, you are on your own. you have trouble finding a job and you are out of this support and far too often at one every 80 minutes, you kill yourself. >> for too long, this has been the way the united states congress played it. we salute the troops when they go off to war, but when they come back, the health care benefits they were promised and retirement is cut. forget about mental health. they need that more than ever. >> it's unacceptable. we talk about billion and trillions of and we can't carve out a couple more to get the va where it needs to be. they try to do their best, but huge bureaucracies can't process quickly enough. nick points out one million new veterans. that's new veterans that don't exist. we have a huge backlog. there public private partnerships that try to plug the holes, but we need something big and finances and resources. this is as important of a problem as there is. >> the point that they won the pulitzer for the series makes is the impact this is having on families is also underestimated. on parents and children. there these stories of a mother who is living with her son in one room, dressing his wounds and a mother trying to protect her children about what happened to their dad. again and again. what i like about the reports that are written about the issues is he doesn't pretend. he allows himself to empathize and be there and make us feel what it's like to be in the homes after the vets return. >> i don't think they know how damaging it has been to communities and certainly families, these repeat tours of duty they will have breaking up marriages, separating children from their parent, isolating people to the point where they develop depression and other forms of ptsd. it goes on and on and on. it will last far beyond this generation. >> something about this war and previous ones and we are not sure what it was, after vietnam a number of studies that found suicide rates were not higher. it may be that one difference is the repeat tours of duty and a number of people with ptsd or brain injury doubled by the third tour and these concussions and the ieds that leave these brain injuries. we don't understand the impact, but it's clearly associated with suicide. >> a lot of those men and women coming home would not have come home from vietnam. they would have been dead because we didn't have the kevlar technology and the title save them on the battlefield. the good news is we are saving their lives, but the bad news is we are not taking care of them when they come home. >> in vietnam you were shot for the most part. these days very often it's an explosion. >> what are is tragic is the fact that all this is happening in an unnecessary war. without a clear mission. without really knowing what good we are doing. we are in the middle of a war, but we are in shambles. we are only there because there is no political way to leave. >> we have been talking about this for four years. yesterday i had russ fine gold on. the thing is, nobody listens to us. my argument in 2008, 2009 and today is your argument. we are staying there not for military reasons because nobody wants to be blamed with the loss when everybody knows the same effect of us leaving in 2012 will be identical to us leaving in 2022. we are biding time and in the meantime we are allowing more americans to be killed or injured. >> and also the civilian casualties that are turning more and more afghans against americans. the long time impact on our security will be horrible. >> let me push back a little bit. it depends what you are talking about. i think the surge in afghanistan was a disaster and it accentuated that nationalism. the koran incident played far worse because we had so many troops there. to pull every troop out and end our protection in kabul and end training really would be a mistake. >> we obviously, our point of reference is the president is talking about tripling the number of troops and it was time to drawdown. time has proven that to be correct. most americans supported going there after 2001, but we lost our focus and i think we lost the war when we stopped treeing to kill terrorists and dismember al qaeda and instead to rebuild the country in the second century. >> our choices are not keep 100,000 troops there for $100 billion a year versus pull everybody out. there is something in between. >> what is that middle ground for you? >> keep kabul worried much less and the troops in the south and other areas is inflamed. they end up creating support for them. try to keep kabul and the north in government and slowly train security forces in afghanistan and prevent a complete take over. >> when you say train and security forces, they know how to fight. you saw in the latest incident, one of those afghanis killed them and took all the weapons and joined the taliban. on top of it, we are basically protecting a totally corrupt government. >> we are spending over $2 billion. we started talking two years ago. it's more than that to prop up one of the most corrupt governments on the face of the earth. as you said, afghans know how to fight. they have been doing it for a long time. they don't want to fight for corzine. >> it is a civil war and we can't have that reality. >> thank you so much for sharing this with us. congratulations once again and before we went on the air, i said to arianna, happy equal payday. you know what she said? we need more. i think you might be right. oscar nominated actor next on "morning joe." thanks, guys. 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>> really? what are you doing? you are killing me. >> you know it feels good. you know you feel better. >> with us now -- >> i will take it. it's a long one. >> such a kill. with us now, go ahead. try it. >> academy award winner. >> i don't need a copy. >> he doesn't. academy award nominated academior and environment program don cheadle in new york for the 2012 operations summit bring leaders together to find profitable solutions for climate change and the sustainable summit. >> really we want to become good will ambassadors and how much do they pay you to be good will ambassadors? >> i would say a third of what you make doing this show. if you make nothing. >> i just do it because i love america and i won't a poll skriz for that. >> you shouldn't. >> you do great work and here you are talking about an issue that i think a lot of especially younger americans are worried about. >> and focused on. my kids definitely are. i am here in the capacity of the good will ambassador and i take these opportunities to learn more about it. and meet experts on the cause and try to find out what to do and see what we do to try to steer focus a little further away from products and things that are just in straight line consumption to waste and find ways to be more sustainable. >> michael, you are the producer of a sustainable operation summit. bill clinton is opening up and kicking it off. >> bill clinton is the closing speaker on thursday. >> i don't think that's for most of the audience. >> i can tell you -- >> you are working on a cure for cancer now. how do you find the time to do this as well? >> he releases the hair gel. >> for goes straight up. >> it's great. >> so talk about the summit. >> this is the seventh year and we are bringing together the leaders and cost-effective solutions. that's the cost-effective. >> explain that. not just conservative, but out of independents, i'm not going to pay $45,000 for it. talk about what you are doing and how it makes sense economically. >> we look out there for the private sector and the public sector to find case studies. we are utilizing the management and they show that it is cost-effective. >> give us good examples. >> tony from the empire state building. almost about $4.5 million in energy cost savings. i need that with the initiative to show this can be done. >> he's a real leader in this area. has been for a while. >> let's talk big picture for a second. what kind of impact would it have on this country if at some point we got the political will to put a green blip across the united states of america? wouldn't that change the economics? >> it's unfortunate that this is not in the selection site. we work for weeks and months trying to get a conservative viewpoint on the summit to have an honest conversation. it shouldn't be a political conversation. it will hold them back on jobs and something to jump-start the economy. >> you don't think bernstein a conservative voice? >> you are. i know you do panels with james cameron a few years ago. >> that was fun to watch. >> the pay doesn't work. >> people pay. >> a payday. >> what's the frustration level for a guy like you. you put yourself out there and talk about doing good work and you look at polls of what americans are most concerned about and climate change and green technology are way down the list. we are in a time of great economic turmoil, how do you breakthrough with the message and grab people biteu lapels. >> this is not something that will be a job killer. we are trying to explain to people this can be a job grower. if we just contribute a small percentage of gdp towards this problem and try to find solutions for it, we can really jump-start the economy in a way that needs to be done. i think this is the largest growth sector in the world and not the united states. the green economy. you have to start bringing those examples so people understand it's possible. i think you have to keep ringing the bell. >> we have a lot of washington leaders who watch the show. if you were to address them, what would you ask of them? >> talk about it. that's the first step. you look at the bases on the conservative side, it's not even an issue. if you can phrase it a different way and talk about energy security, that's a major issue. we have a presentation on that. i think those are topics that i would like to see in the conversations out there. >> fantastic. >> let's talk about this more. obviously very important. we have to go to break, but quickly, you obviously have done a lot of work with sudan and darfur. what's the status? we have the country split in half. >> it's tenuous right now. the oil fields are being taken over by the south and the cpa really being stretched to their limit and we don't know if that piece will hold. this is taking three steps forward and two steps back. you can't forget that is still a net gain and we still have to continue to keep our eyes on the area and hope we get governmental support. >> slow and steady improvement with the country with two million people killed in the 1990s. a little bit of hope. >> yeah. >> thank you so much. >> business before the bell straight up. we love gardening... yeah, but the feeling wasn't always mutual. i should be arrested for crimes against potted plant-kind. we're armed, and inexperienced. people call me an over-waterer. 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[ laughs ] [ female announcer ] join now and get one month free. hurry offer ends april 21st. weight watchers online. finally, losing weight clicks. weight watchers online. according to the signs, ford is having some sort of big tire event. i just want to confirm a few things with fiona. how would you describe the event? it's big. no,i mean in terms of savings how would you sum it up? big in your own words, with respect to selection, what would you say? big okay, let's talk rebates mike, they're big they're big get $100 rebate, plus the low price tire guarantee during the big tire event. so, in other words, we can agree that ford's tire event is a good size? big big hi, i just switched jobs, and i want to roll over my old 401(k) into a fidelity ira. man: okay, no problem. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork. um...this green line just appeared on my floor. yeah, that's fidelity helping you reach your financial goals. could you hold on a second? it's your money. roll over your old 401(k) into a fidelity ira and take control of your personal economy. this is going to be helpful. call or come in today. fidelity investments. turn here. >> i don't think he's as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past. yesterday it seemed that he got the two walks and the on base percentage higher than the batting average which was a good thing and he will move out of there. >> i will play as hard as i can and take every ground ball in the morning and every at-bat like it's my last. i don't think my game has changed at all. >> i don't understand what he is trying to do, but it's not the way we go about our stuff around here. i'm sure he will figure that out soon. >> i hope that bobby doesn't figure out the way the red sox did things around there last year. that would just not be a good thing. they would be ordering kentucky fried chicken. >> pedroia might be the favorite in my house, but the way they do things around there led to one of the worst collapses in the history of sports. >> if i can correct you, it was the worst collapse. he was the heartbeat and he got to defend the players in your locker room. he has to do it. he was one of the three people that were hustling at the end of the season. that said, bobby v needs to do that every time he sees someone. >> for he wins, boston can be toxic. if you have ever watched, we laughed because he took every at-bat as an assault on his manhood. he obviously cares. he is in a contract year and feeling the pressure. >> actually let me say that's what i love about him, he was hungry. the sox were not hungry last year. other than ellsbury and pedroia and gonzalez, they gave it their all every day. >> if you are having a bad day, google or you tube denis leary's shtick youkilis and dave cap lis. it will turn your frown around. they beat expectations and led goldman down. coke was solid and j and j revenue was light. apple i know you love to talk about it. they are down 10%. disappointing in sales, ipads. is it a chink in the armor of apple. the obama announcement about the manipulation of the oil markets, i will say $52 million, the government would need that to regulate your household. it's not a lot of money to deal with a huge, huge market. there is no monolithic trader to prove manipulation and speculation outside of opec is virtually impossible. >> that are would regulate by indoor gym or the back 40. brian comes on and we love him. he's sparking the clown. turn your frown around. what's that. we don't hear that a lot on cnbc. turn that frown around. >> disturbing. >> great talking to you. until tomorrow, keep your feet planted on the ground and keep reaching for the stars. we'll be right back. 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[ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. and on small business saturday obothey remind a nationsing. of the benefits of shopping small. on just one day, 100 million of us joined a movement... and main street found its might again. and main street found its fight again. and we, the locals, found delight again. that's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. >> per national volunteer week could not have come at a better time for those who were suspended while authorities looked into whether or not they hired prostitutes to come to their hotel rooms in columbia. president obama does not appear to be pleased. before leaving columbia he was forced to address the scandal. >> all the secret service. these men and women perform extraordinary service on a day to day basis protecting me and my family and u.s. officials. they do very hard work under very stressful circumstances and almost invariably do an outstanding job. i bathed it in miracles. director: [ sighs ] cut! sorry to interrupt. when's the show? well, if we don't find an audience, all we'll ever do is rehearse. maybe you should try every door direct mail. just select the zip codes where you want your message to be seen, print it yourself, or we'll help you find a local partner and you find the customers that matter most. brilliant. clifton, show us overjoyed. no, too much. jennessa. ah! a round of applause. 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[ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. >> welcome back to "morning joe." what have we learn? >> we learned so much. where do we begin? >> donny deutsch's watch. there many, many many things in nature and is on his wrist. >> you also learned -- we learned how to accept women on fifth avenue. >> sweet little girls hand in hand and see beautiful women. mommy is not coming back, little girls. she's in heaven and the girl comes in. >> what did you call donny? >> it's not too far. >> you know you walked up to the line because it's donny, you didn't step over it. if you don't learn anything, anybody. >> i never got past that. >> i thought you did a good job today. >> a good one. >> this show. >> we are officially over now. we have done our job

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