Transcripts For MSNBC Morning Joe 20130919

Good morning its thursday, september 19th. On set katty kay. Mike barn cal, Nicole Wallace and visiting professor from nyu, harold ford jr. And in washington columnist, associate editor for the Washington Post David Ignatius. David, you have a piece in the post this morning talking about president obamas syria strategy off the assad interview. Youre giving him more credit than most people have been in the last month mainly reaching for a good outcome however he got there. Ive been puzzled frankly at the very Harsh Criticism of president obama for doing this deal with russia to control syrias chemical weapons. And the reason ive been surprised this is the kind of framework that tu has been looking for for two years. People have said this is a problem from hell. The best outcome people from both parties thought would be some kind of negotiated settlement that would first bring the chemical weapons under control and then move towards real political dialogue about transition and those are the things thats happening now and surprisingly president obama rather than getting credit for what the public in america wants is getting pretty sharp criticism. Do you believe, david, this is the way he intended to get there. There may have been a good outcome. From the outset when he talked about red line and Bashar Al Assad must step aside do you believe he intended for all this meandering this is the way he intended to get there . The meandering has been unfortunate and you could say that president obama pretty consistently has not been a good communicator of his Foreign Policy goals. Even our closest friends end up being confused about what he wants. If you put aside the attacking back and forth, you end up, i think, at an outcome that people think is pretty good from the standpoint of u. S. Interests. David, yesterday in texas, i guess, former secretary of defense bob gates appearing with leon panetta, joint appearance, a discussion, former secretary gates had this to say about the president s strategy, my bottom line is that i believe to blow a bunch stuff up over a couple of days to underscore a point or a principle is not a strategy. If we launch a military attack in the eyes of a lot of people we become the villain instead of assad. Yeah. Bob gates doesnt want to go to war in syria. He made that clear when he was still secretary of defense. His criticism of obama, you could say is from the left. Obama in the end concluded that he didnt have to drop those bombs because he made a convincing show of strength that led the russians and the syrians to move towards declaring their chemical weapons and putting them under control. So you could argue to achieve gates goal of not bombing, obama had to take a tough line. Lets get caught up on the latest on the navy yard shooting. Increasing scrutiny on the security clearance remember mental state of aaron alexis. Theres new signs that there was a breakdown of communication within the military chain of commands. Alexis told new port, Rhode Island Police last month he was hearing voice. Police told local Navy Authorities but the navy says that information was never sent up the chain of command. A spokesman for the Police Department said they couldnt arrest him just because he was hearing voice. Alexis twice sought treatment from the v. A. Hospital for insomnia. He claimed he only had trouble sleeping and said he was not depressed and was not thinking of harming others. Prescribed medication and sent on his way. Top military brass acknowledge shortcomings in the reporting. Men and women should have the wouldnt to overcome their mental disorders or their mental challenges or their Clinical Health challenges and shouldnt be stigmatized. Obviously a lot of red flags. Where there are gaps well close them. Where there are inadequacies well address them. Where there are failure, we will correct them. We owe the victims, their families and all our people nothing less. Some more details this morning. Capitol police are investigating the reports one of their s. W. A. T. Teams blocks away was told to stand down and sent to the capitol instead. Theres new information about alexis arsenal. He scratched the phrases better off this way and my elf weapon. Officials are not sure what elf refers to. He bought the shot brown on saturday. Alexis tried to buy a handgun but handgun sales have special federal guidelines that prevent sales to people that live out of state. The gunmans mother spoke for the first time yesterday saying her sons motives will never be fully known. Dont know why he did what he did and im unable to ask him why. Aaron is now in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone. For that im glad. To the victims and their families im so sorry this has happened. Two shooting victims still in the hospital but good news they have been upgraded to good condition. One has been released. There were three. The navy yard reopens today with the exception of building 197. This story about the Capitol Police is intrigue. This s. W. A. T. Team, a story bbc colleague of mine broke yesterday at lunch time. There was a s. W. A. T. Team who was right there outside the building. They went to the supervisor, this Capitol Hill Police were here, armed, ready to go. They were told by the supervisor to stand down. The Capitol Police are krnds abo concerned about this. I think thats a real concern that they have to find out why were people disputing which team should go in when clearly getting someone in there fast who was qualified and trained. This was a hit team. Do we know yet whether there was another s. W. A. T. Team in the building already prior to the Capitol Police s. W. A. T. Team being outside . You dont want that i dont know. And the Capitol Hill Police are now launching an investigation to find out what happened. Theres this whole component of the Mental Health. We began to talk about it yesterday. Since then weve learned a little bit more there were some flags that should have been sent up the chain of command. This speaks more to the holes of the net just outside of the military. They actually at least have programs for screening people for Mental Health. As a society as a government we have absolutely no system to take care of people with Mental Illnesses until and unless they intersect with law enforcement. So, you know, were at ground zero in terms of providing services or offering help for family members or friends. This is heartbreaking to hear the shooters mother. Shes obviously devastated too. Shes lost something too. And i think that until we take stock of where we are and where we have to arrive at, i dont know that you can take guns out of the hands of people that shouldnt have them. 5 Million People have these security clearances. The prolie feration of outsourcing, allowing outside groups and outside organizations to vet people. Its clear that many people had their clearances invalidated. You can have your clearance invalidated here. There are two issues. The gun issue is very important. How hes loud back in a military installation is beyond me and that has to be investigated and fixed. One point you raise is interesting the growth of contractors in this country is enormous, especially within the pentagon from iraq to afghanistan to washington, d. C. Thats an enormous issue. The other issue is we had best be prepared as a culture, as a society at the conclusion of all the investigations that will take place with regard to this incident to accept the fact that there was very little we could do. If we are going to start, you know, doing something about people who walk around talking to themselves, thats an enormous number of people. I see multiple numbers of people, we aldo, Walking Around new york city. But it doesnt mean you have to give them security clearance. No. Obviously. Harold i want to get your take and we have Brian Shactman up too on the fed action. On the front page of every newspaper, wall street journal, analysts, investors have been looking towards september as the time fed would finally scale back its bondbuying program but the central bank blink eed keeping e Stimulus Program in place. Sending the markets up. Anyone who said they called this is lying to you. Everyone across the board, and the fed themselves actually, they telegraphed it, said a couple of times in the last few months this is something they were strongly considering and everyone assumed they were going to do it. People are some upset at ben bernanke for deceiving the markets in this situation and people didnt just buy stocks they bought bonds. Interest rates went down. They bought gold. They bought everything. In the Macro Economy the easy money will keep going. Ben bernanke scolded people and said listen until the job market is better, until congress is better, until inflation is in line with expectations we wont do anything. We still have one more chance before the end of 2013 to see fit happens. So people bought, stocks went up. Some people are upset at the fed because they think they were deceived. Brian, how much of the decision yesterday has to do with the fed getting political and realizing congress is inept and creeping up to a cataclymic event. Ben bernanke pointed to three things. The jobs report needs to get better. Fiscal policy which is capitol hill needs to be more in line, more consistent and more understandable of which hes referring to the pending issues that were talking about. Then theres inflation which is a little bit below target. Those are the three fact jobs 1 3 of his consideration is exactly that. David what weve learned since 2008 is that what happens in one country doesnt stay in one country and the feds response yesterday was being watched pretty much every where in the world. How important is this for keeping the Global Recovery on track . Well, first i think its always a good thing when the fed catches investors going the wrong way. When investors get too certain when they know what the fed will do thats bad. In this case i cant help think part of what the fed was worrying about is the sign of softness in some global economies particularly in china. The wall street journal is running a fascinating series about the way in which the slow down in chinese growth looks from some locations in china, talking to europeans this week you still have a very soft european economy coming back from its near death experience in the last couple of years. The fed understanding that its the worlds central banker in addition to being the American Central Bank is wanting to maintain conditions that are quite stimulative. When they reduce this buying of long term bonds is there as it was a couple of months ago. I think the softness they are talking about isnt just in the u. S. Its local. What does this move by ben bernanke tell you about the state long term of this economy. They downgraded gdp projections. Not wanting to raise Interest Rates because they dont want to cool off the housing market. What did you learn about the economy yesterday . The uncertainty that grips everything which everybody has touched on from the lack of Income Growth in the country, the lack of hours worked by workers in the country, the number of people participating in the labor market combined with the uncertainty in washington. The fed decided they would inject a certain uncertainty by saying well continue this. Theres uncertainty when we stop this program. I think its likely youll hear this week the president make his choice for the fed chair known late this week early next week. Its been indicated in the press reports. Thats probably good for the markets. But i think david is right, the uncertainty around the globe when you look how intertwined Global Markets is among central bankers, ben bernanke stepped back, took a breather and say people ill go one way. Showed independent willing on his part. Quickly, heres the problem. The world is addicted to low rates. Personally i would like to see what the economy looks like standing on its own two feet. When they talk about pulling back india went into a swoon. Theres an addiction to these low rates and thats a problem here weve not addressed. One question i have this policy has been in place for four or five years and we still have unemployment rates high. People are giving up on trying to find work. You have to start thinking this policy has not done what we need to raise incomes to get people back in the middle class. This is the right policy . I think that it could be far worse if you were ben bernanke. I happen to think the data will drive the path of rates in the country. He is looking at data. Brian, everybody has a point. You got former governors, fed governors making the point brian is make. At the end of the day things would be worse if they werent doing what they were doing. At some point is the spigot will be turned off. When you consider how government has behaved the last year here we are on the brink of another crisis, a crisis we created for ourselves around Government Funding and a debt ceiling increase and until adult physician you can use that word, adults in washington decide to act like adults. Majority leader john boehner announced a house vote tomorrow on a plan that would tie Government Funding to stripping all funding for obama care. The chances of it making out of the senate is slim to none and that put republican lawmakers in both chambers at odds with each other. Ted cruz put pressure on his colleagues in the house saying harry reid will try to strip the defund language and he likely has the votes to do so. At that point House Republicans must stand firm. Republicans in the house shot back at cruz forsetting them up to take the blame. Congressman tim griffin says so far sen rs are good at getting facebook likes and town hauls not much else. Do something. Equal blame is being put on senate shoulders. Nobody votes to shut the government down. They will pass something next week. It will take them a week to get whatever we pass this week. And send it back to us. And either accept it or send it back to them. Nobody will vote to shut the government down. If we get to this last part of back and forth and we agree on everything, they send it back and say no we dont agree, they send it back to us who is shutting the government down. You can make as much an argument that its the senate shutting it down as we are. Thats not the right discussion. How can we compromise and find a middle ground between what the house will do tomorrow and the senate does next week. Nicole, after you watch harolds brain trying process that logic. Walk us through this a little bit. John boehner, obviously made a conscious decision to side with the conservatives in his party and go the route of perhaps forcing a Government Shutdown to defund obama care. Whats the strategy here . Let me go back to the conversation about adults, you have four children. I have a 2yearold. Sometimes when hes on his scooter he wants to cross the street even when the light is red on central park west, cars move very fast, its your job as the parent to hold the child in the scooter from running into traffic. Its the job of the adults in the Republican Party to tell, there is grassroot support in this country among republicans, among conservative, among Tea Party Members to do this the there are people that think the law is a violation of this code the Health Care Law, obamas Health Care Law is incredibly unpopular. Ted cruz is responding to a genuine sentiment. However when republicans run into the street despite the fact theres a flashing red light they will get hit by the cars and killed. This is stupid politically. Stupid at a policy level because as charl they are going to fail. Despite what David Ignatius says most of the country is disillusioned with president obamas leadership on the world stage. Majority of americans dont like his signature domestic achievement which is the Health Care Law. Were at a moment as republicans where even Bernie Sander has described our party on the offense. And now we are going to let our party run into moving traffic against a red light. Its idiotic. You worked for jeb bush who spoke at the National Press club. He said quote, if you control one half of 1 3 of leverage in washington, d. C. Your ability to influence things are also relative to the fact that you have one half of 1 3 of the government. Its a reality. This isnt a hypothetical. So as we get closer to these, there needs an understanding of that. President obamas response in the navy yard. At some point the country has tired, fatigued of hearing this back and forth nonsense between the two. And, again, if you are a hardworking business person or business woman, hardworking laborer at a great company, small or big and you watch that congressman speak, you have to wonder what on earth, where on earth is he living and what so talking about. The metaphor used by my friend, by nicole is spot on. The question comes why cant they just come together and work through a deal here . I dont think theres any doubt about the Health Care Law, congress passioned it, court declared it constitutional, president was reelected. They got to let it go. Republicans are at a moment where they could get a lot of what they want. They could get a delay. The country want as delay. Its appealing to a lot of democrats. Does the country want a delay . Does the country understand the Component Parts of this Health Care Plan . Dont think. Congress doesnt. David ignatius, let me ask you something, are you struck by the fact that rarely political people on either side of this debate when they talk about the back and forth, about were going to exclude it, were going kill obama care, were going keep obama care, they rarely mention the phrase the country. Whats good for the country. Its one of the bigamistryes big mysteries is affecting ordinary americans. Were in a period now where the numbers seem to suggest that Health Care Care costs are finally slowing as a percentage of our total national output. Thats great if Health Care Takes less of a burden. Does obama care that things built into it have to do with that. We have to do in my business a lot more good reporting so we can answer your question and say heres how its affecting folks. Nicole what you said is sensible. The trouble is we hit up time and again against these structural problems within the Republican Party where you have a few dozen members of congress who perfectly well understand the problem that caused their party in the long run, particularly president ial election, problems it might cause the economy in the long run but who are so scared of being putting somebody even further right to them is gumming up whats the democratic system and you have a system built for and on cooperation which is behaving like a parliamentary system. That cant work in america. The more we have gerrymandering and fewer districts thats cooperative youll have this problem where sanity gets thrown out the window in the interest of getting reelected. I dont disagree with you. We have a great speak. John borner is one of the most patient diplomatic politicians of our time. I really do. And hes dealing cruz senator cruz isnt even in his body and being led around by a few rogue senators. Their power arrives from the fact that they have support among the republican grassroots. Its a power play. It involves all of the characters in our shakespearian drama. If is goal is for republicans to retake the white house and i think delaying obama care was a political goal we could have achieved. Im disappointed as a party were not putting points on the board. This is about people, people Getting Health Care and about a majority of people that dont like this bill. So im not talking about playing politics with Peoples Health care, i understand thats not in anyones interest. As a party were making maneuvers that are obviously political. Its obviously political to talk about shutting down the government to achieve something that will never happen. If you look at just their political motives and help us reclaim the white house is far more sensible. As Many Republican members of congress have pointed out the minute the government shuts down and military families stop getting checks, its terrible for those families on its own but politically its terrible. Coming up on morning joe, kormkorm former congressman ron paul. Chris matthews. Lawrence odonnell and David Axelrod. Were watching indiana carefully this morning, thunderstorms have rolled from the northern half of the state to the southern part. Thousands of Lightning Strikes, power outages. The radar tells the story. Theres a Lightning Strike counter. At one point we were at 4,000. So over the last hour those storms are finally heading south of indianapolis. Soon safe for you to go on your merry way and out the door. Later this afternoon large hail and wind damage foin midwest. Spring like day. Kansas city to cedar rapids, des moines, milwaukee late tonight towards chicago youll get some of thunderstorms. Very warm in the middle of the country. Again feels like spring. Were in the 70s to start your morning. 90 in secretary of state. Youre looking at a perfect day in the northeast. As far as air travel goes today, expected weather delays possible chicago this morning with thunderstorms and then later this afternoon minneapolis, detroit, kansas city and st. Louis all the airports on the east coast should be just fine for your travels. Youre watching morning joe. No two people have the same financial goals. Pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. Talk to a pnc investments Financial Advisor today. You said thats a harvest moon . Look at that. Thats beautiful. Is that dock toward video . Thats too beautiful. The sun is up. File video of the moon some years ago. Hope you enjoyed it. Lets look at the morning papers. Lets start with some newspapers. Toronto star, six people dead, 30 injured after a doubledecker bus and a train collided in ottawa, canada. The bus tore through a railing. Crash is under investigation. Second major rail accident in canada in just the last three months following a crash in quebec which killed 47 people in july. Awful image. The wall street journal reports that blackberry is planning to lay off 40 of its workforce before the end of the year. These massive cuts comes as the Company Struggles to compete with android and apple smartphones. Blackberry cut 5,000 jobs last year. The company may be considering a sale similar to the deal between nokia and microsoft that happened earlier this month. Lottery Officials Say the winning Powerball Ticket from wednesdays drawing was sold in lexington, south carolina. The Ticket Holder can claim an annuity or take it in lump sum. Brian says he thinks about what he would do with that ever every day. He says take the lump sum. I would advise you not think about it. The chicago tribune, the creator of plush toys beanie babies is facing tax evasion charges. He failed to report earnings on an offshore account. Hes listed as number 209 on Forbes Magazine as richest americans. He wont notice the fine too much. Why wouldnt he pay his taxes if he had this much money. Beanie babies makes you 2. 6 million. Sales for the widely anticipated video game grand theft auto theft 5 soared past 800 million on its first day launch. Bigger than the Opening Weekend of the film avatar. 13 Million People bought the game when it launched on tuesday. Experts estimate it cost 250 million to develop over a five year stretch. Talk about people playing violent video games. You see the sales that has. It looks real. I thought it was an actual movie. No way desensitize you. Absolutely it does. Katy says its never too early to start thinking about 2016. Guess what . There are polls out of the state of New Hampshire, just for fun here on the rb side kentucky senator rand paul is leading with 20 of the vote but thats within the margin of error tied with new jersey governor Chris Christie. The governor has gained five points since april. Marco rubio saw the biggest slide. Hes fallen 18 points in New Hampshire since april. On the democrat side Hillary Clinton running away with it, 57 of the vote, joe biden has 12 . Cory booker smashed 4 . Elizabeth warren with 11 . What do you make of that rubio stat . In that rand paul and Chris Christie do represent two increasingly divergent philosophical posts in the Republican Party that havent been as stark in a long time. Rand paul is a much more talented politician. Hes much more adept at cultivating media relationships, communicating his message. Hes adept user of social media. He has built enough of a following around his sort of libertarian wing. Chris christie is continuing to be someone that a lot of republicans are hopeful will continue to strike and will continue to stand up for, i think, what you consider some of the more traditional ideals of the Republican Party but somebody who has governed in a very bipartisan state. They do represent the two forces in the Republican Party at this moment. What happens to rand pauls ascene dency in the Libertarian Party when teddy cruz comes crashing in. Rand paul is a threat to ted cruz. Rand paul believes in some of the things that ted cruz believes. He captures the imaginations and passion of the Tea Party Members. They also like rand paul. I think rand paul has an authenticity and depth to his position. Ted cruz is very gifted in ejecting himself in the political debates but im not sure how deep and how long his policy story is. Where rand paul is concern, you may disagree with him. But hes authentic. He has the advantage of having his father created this template so the longevity hes better than his father. His father started. They have the same name. That helped his longevity. Rand paul will be out here in 30 minutes. Rand paul and his wife are about to be in vogue. Big spread next month. If youre running for president in 2016 make sure youre in vogue. Hes skilled at being who he is but not ignoring the benefit of being in front of as many people as possible. Thats crafty. Quickly, nicole, as someone who is on front lines of republican president ial campaign, you look at that list. Lets say youre running against Hillary Clinton. Which one of those guys would you be most excited to work for, has the best chance to win . Joe biden. Im really excited about Chris Christie. I think hes an exciting politician who has done really great and important things in a state thats important not just because i live on the east coast but its important to have republicans who have governed in states where a lot of their citizens and constituents are democrats. Because when you are the president , half the country, these days didnt vote four. Thats just a skill that i find more important than anything else. One warning i would have for Chris Christie fans and the team is that the most, i think the thing that terms your success or failure in the republican primary is the thickness of your skin. I would like to see christie toughen up a little bit. Hes a little bit thin skinned when hes not celebrated. Hes celebrated a lot. Rand paul is really tough and do i think in the end that it will come down to rand paul and hes the one thats capturing the young republicans and somebody like Chris Christie. Fun to watch. Coming up six way race in the American League wild card, six teams still have a chance to get in the playoffs. Two crucial games go to extras last night. Highlights ahead in sports. Helicopthierhis hibuzzing, andk engine humming. Sfx birds chirping sfx birds chirping your Financial Advisor should focus on your longterm goals, not their shortterm agenda. [ woman ] if you have the nerve to believe that cookie cutters should be for cookies, not your investment strategy. If you believe in the sheer brilliance of a simple explanation. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do face time and think time make a difference. Join us. [ male announcer ] at edward jones, its how we make sense of investing. [ male announcer ] at edward jones, nascar is ab. Out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. Thats why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. Hps Technology Helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into realtime Business Insights that help nascar win with our fans. Ng out of pipe. Sfx birds chirping. So, in the space of 11 minutes it went from pitch black with a glowing orange moon to full daylight. You sound suspicious. And it rose. More doctored video from our director t. J. Brought to you he also did the moon landing in burbank. Artistic license. Its thursday. Looks pretty. Even though its fake. Race for al wild card is getting tighter. Orioles and red sox tied in the 12th inning, baltimore slugger chris davis grounds one up the middle, couple runs scored, orioles beat the sox 53. Tampa, rangers and rays also tied in extra innings, 12th inning tampas Desmond Jennings lines one to right. Races around third. Throw not in time. Braves with a walkoff 43 win. Crucial series in the wild card. Up in toronto yankees trailing the jays 32 in the eighth. Vernon wells coming through, double to the left. Couple run score. Marino comes in for the save. Yankees end their four game losing streak. Kansas city indians and royals in the fifth, alex gordon gets caught in a rundown between first and second. But from third, escobar makes a break for home. This takes a little while to develop. Its great. Here we go. The indians. Another pickle. Another rundown. Ducks the tag. The royals win the game 72. Crucial game between a couple of teams fighting for the wild card. The rays now lets look at the standings take over the top spot in the riled card race by a game. Cleveland a half game back. Baltimore one game behind. Kansas city and the yankees 2 1 2 games out. These teams all have between 10 and 11 games left. So any one of those six teams could take the wild card. Except the yankees. Were hanging on hope to. They looked out of question yesterday. 2 1 2 back. Soccer in brazil. A trainer for one soccer team is taking a hands on approach to helping his team win. You can see him hanging on the post. He makes the save. Hes the trainer but not on the team. Wonderful kick save except hes not on the team. Hes a guy standing by the pole. Then he bolts like no one notices. Gets way from security. Runs home. Incident disqualified that team from the playoffs. It was well worth it. How did he get down there. Hes the trainer. Coming up the host of hardball Chris Matthews is here. He has a new book coming out about reagan and tip oneill. Chris youre looking good. Senator john mccain responds to Vladimir Putins New York Times oped with one of his own to the people of russia. Mccain next. Before mike could see his banking and investing accounts on one page. Before he could easily transfer funds between the two in real time. Before he could even think about planning for his daughters future. Mike opened a merrill edge investment account and linked it to his bank of america bank account to help free up plenty of time for the here and now. Thats the wonder of streamlined connections. Thats merrill edge and bank of america. [ ship horn blows ] no, no, no stop humans. One day were coming up with the theory of relativity, the next. Not so much. But thats okay youre covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from Liberty Mutual insurance. Total your car and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. Learn about it at libertymutual. Com. Liberty mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . Make my mark i wawith pride. Ork. Create moments of value. Build character through quality. And earn the right to be called a classic. The lands end no iron dress shirt. Starting at 49 dollars. He was a matted messiley in a small cage. Ng day. So that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. Without angies list, i dont know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. From contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angies list. We found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angies list. Join today at angieslist. Com you really love, what would you do . [ woman ] id be a writer. [ man ] id be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] id be an architect. What if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you . When you think about it, isnt that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love . Welcome back to morning joe. The sun rising over the white house. Not the moon. Or so t. J. Wants to you believe. To some must read oped. Senator john mccain published an oped in russian newspaper that criticizes Vladimir Putins treatment of his own people. This is a response to president putins oped in the New York Times last week. He write, president putin claims his purpose is to restore russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. How has he strengthened russias International Stature . By allying russia with some of the worlds most offensive and threatening tyranties. The plight of million was refugees, the growing prospect of a conflagration that engulfs other countries in its flames. David ignatius, youve written this morning the piece we talked about at the top, you bring up john mccain. You write the mystery is why this outcome, this solution in syria is derided by so many analysts in washington partly you want must be the john mccain factor you write. The arizona senator is in danger of becoming a republican version of Jesse Jackson who shows up at every International Crisis with his own plan for a solution, sometimes through personal mediation as with the Muslim Brotherhood in egypt, other times demanding military intervention as in syria. Because mccain is a distinguished figure, he commands respect even when his proposals have no Political Support at home. Not so obama. He can propose what the country want, succeed at it and still get hammered as failure. Im just he appreciates the comparison to Jesse Jackson. It is a mystery to me why president obama has been drug from every direction over the last two weeks in doing something that if you look at the polls the American People strongly support. The Washington Post abc poll should 79 supported this effort to control Syrian Chemical Weapons as possible posed to launching missile strikes. I do think just looking at the Republican Party own the prospective republican candidates in 2016 you see senator mccain as eminent and respected as he is somewhat out of step with others in his party in calling for these very hawkish positions. I would love to see a situation in which senator mccain and president obama together could work towards some kind of satisfactory outcome in syria, bring their perspectives together. Thats probably too much to dream in todays washington but be nice. David, youre suggesting senator mccains positions dont always have the support of the American People. Do you think his intervention in these policies is helpful for the country . Helpful but we do have to remember that the country as a whole is so sick of entanglement in foreign wars that even senator mccain or i might think its important for the u. S. To intervene or at least threaten to intervene the country isnt there. Thats what president obama got caught up in. Senator mccain is such an imminent figure and his voice is loud in the washington debate that you forget that youre in a country where 79 of the people oppose action to uphold these chemical weapons norms. So, i think theres a bit of a disjunction thats been obvious the last couple of weeks, and people have to understand where america is. I was looking at some International Polling figures in europe. The numbers are almost identical. Syria is a lot closer to europe than the u. S. Same number 72, 75 of europeans in Different Countries do not want any military intervention. You can read davids full piece in the washingtonpost. Com. Obama is criticized for the right result in syria writes David Ignatius. Coming up next a Million Dollar controversy for one contestant on wheel of fortune. The big mistake he made and how much he lost because of it. More on morning joe next. Forty ti mes. Forty ti mes. Thats how often a group of House Republicans have voted against obamacare, just to prove their allegiance to their partys right wing. Okay theyve said their piece. But now theyve gone even further. Threatening to shut down the government if obamacare isnt dismantled. It could disrupt Social Security and veterans benefits, hurt job growth and undermine our economic recovery tell these House Republicans enough already maestro of project management. Baron of the buildout. You need a permit. To be this awesome. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. aaron purrrfect. vo meeeow, business pro. Meeeow. Go national. Go like a pro. How about a c. Theres three of them. You can pick that up. Turn it around. A million bucks right down there. You have 2350. Spin or solve . Im going to solve. All right. Corner curol cabinet. [ buzzer ] lewis your turn. Ill solve. Corner curio cabinet. Yes, thats it. What do you think . He just choked. Designee said corner curiol cabinet. Paul atkinson on wheel of fortune learning the hard way pronunciation counts. Corner curo cabinet. That burns. Theres parts of the country where that sound right. West memphis . I come from the part of the country the guy should have won. Harolds filing a protest. Coming up next look who is here, Chris Matthews, Carl Bernstein will join us and chuck todd chiming from washington. More morning joe when we come back. My customers can shop around see who does good work and compare costs. It doesnt usually work that way with health care. But with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, Treatment Options and estimates for how much ill pay. That helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. I dont like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. Innovations that work for you. Thats health in numbers. Unitedhealthcare. Dont tell mom. Dont tell mom. Dont tell mom dont tell mom. Okay. Dont tell mom. Dont tell mom. Dont tell mom . Yeah. The best stories youll ever tell start with, dont tell. Dont tell dad. Start yours in the new santa fe. From hyundai. When you do what i do, iyou think about risk. I dont like the ups and downs of the market, but i cant just sit on my cash. I want to be prepared for the long haul. Ishares minimum volatility etfs. Investments designed for a smoother ride. Find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. Ishares by blackrock. Call 1800ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Read and consider it carefully before investing. Risk includes possible loss of principal. Now that, you know what t. J. Just said in my ear, this time its a real sunrise at reagan national. Its a beautiful picture if its a real picture. Think its from a calendar, a d. C. Calendar. Welcome back to morning joe. Joining us on set in the flesh, host of msnbcs hardball, Chris Matthews, best selling author, awardwinning journalist Carl Bernstein and host of the daily rundown mr. Chuck todd. Fresh hair cut, buddy . Looking good. It is. Lets get that chair up. We lost you for a second. Well let you regroup. Come back to you in a few minutes. First things first, carl. No sweater vest today. What went into that decision . Im negotiating with a company thats going to make the vest and ill go on qvc and im going to sell them commercially. Well call them reporters vest. I want everybody to order them. Its my new career. Ill sell vests and next time im back here ill be wearing the vests and see me on qvc. Youll be a wealthy man i predict. This is the hard news half hour . This is. Lets see if todd comes back up. Chris, big day for you in about what we got, 11 days until your book comes out. Tip oneill, Ronald Reagan, lets talk about the two of them and their relationship and how it applies to what were seeing not just right now but this morning. It applies a lot and those guys know how to fight. They knew,000 fight with each other. They fought each other. One a liberal, one was a conservative. But they were big enough to work things out in the end. Social security reform, tax reform, northern ireland, ending the cold war. They were supportive of each other on a lot of things, a lot of compromises. You can be a conviction politician but when it comes time to end the fight and get something done you got to be big enough to do it. You got to be able to leave your side. What was great about them both they exelm plm exemplified t partie so i think the key is not giving up on your convictions and not particularly loving the other guy but knowing how to be big enough to make things work out. Was it as much as a personal relationship with reagan and tip oneill because some people say theres this fantasy, romanticized way of the way politics used to be. We thought it was the most partisan thing but by todays standards its romantic. They got along very well. Had those Saint Patrick day parties together, birthday parties together, they talked. They had this wonderful relationship. When i first met Ronald Reagan when he came to give his state of the union, i said mr. President welcome to the room where we plot against you. He said oh, no not after 6 00. So they had that sort of thing, reagan would say is it after 6 00 and then they would deal. Thats key. In 82 they needed to make up the tax cuts of 81 caused too big of a deficit. Raised tacks in 83. Got together on Social Security. The great thing about compromise you dont agree exactly. Tip wanted to tax the rich on Social Security reagan wanted to get it passed. A 28 top rate on taxes. But tip got what he wanted which was equality, earned income on capital gains. You have to work those kinds of things. What changes. How do we reverse this idea thats hardened out in the country. People dont trust congress. I think the premise they had back then is government has to work. We cant hatch shutdowns and defaults. Theres a great scene i came across where reagan needed democratic votes for debt ceiling increase. Tip said okay i want a letter from reagan to all the democrats saying i need your vote for debt ceiling. He got the letter and they all voted for it. If you want to work things out you can work things out. Today theres a lot of revolutionary politics and rejectism in the air. You know how these districts are worked out. 232 districts voted for mitt romney. Most congressional districts voted for mitt romney for president and they are feeling those members of congress when they support opposition to the debt ceiling they feel they are representing their districts. A very difficult time. Do you think if we had a situation today where you had a Ronald Reagan and a tip oneill those characters in todays structures, could they make the system work better . Yes, but its deeper culturally. Im born and raised in washington and never seen anything like the current situation. Lets define what it really is. We have a group of people in and leading the congress of the United States, particularly on the right, and there is some disproportionate responsibility who put the National Interest and common good last. Go back to civil rights, back to dirkson in the senate joining, you know, joining to make the civil rights revolution happen. I went back and read about Social Security last night. To see how it was passed while comparing to it obama care. Peopling worked together to make things work. We now have had 30 years of ideological warfare and cultural warfare in washington and throughout the country thats crippled our system. Were plofg towards plutocracy. Were in a terrible mess. Our constitutional system is not working because of breakdown of one of the three branches of government such as weve never seen in our lifetime. Chuck, nothing grates the white house more than hearing the president hasnt shown leadership. He doesnt reach out to republicans. They feel they are doing that and getting nothing in return. Where do you put the blame between those two parties the white house and capitol hill for the fact that nothing gets done . Well, you know, to go back bin the quoteunquote good old days and identify talked with chris about, i think the biggest difference between the parties that Ronald Reagan and tip oneill were leading then the parents that john boehner and barack obama is leading now there was an ideological diversity in the two parties in the 70s and 80s. You had moderate conservatives and liberal conservatives. What did that mean. It meant tip had multiple constituencies in his own caucus. That he had to worry about. And so ditto with what the republicans did and what reagan was worried about. So it was easier to come sort of i think winwin compromises because both of them needed one part of their own party. Theres maybe ten republicans that need to be seen in their own districts or politically to be middle of the road potential compromisers with the president. 90 of them is a penalty, political suicide for them to think about compromising. It is, you know, im with carl on this. Some of this on the democratic side but most of this right now is on the republican side. And by the way what boehner is setting up its stunning. He said to his own folks this is not a good strategy, this is not a Winning Strategy the idea of tying the budget resolution to repealing health care, and hes having to do it anyway. I mean that is, you know, we can beat up the president hes not comfortable going down, playing back room politic, back slapping all of those things. John boehner cant lead his conference. He knows this is a bad way to go. He knows what they are doing gives the president the best chance he has of actually rallying the country around health care. Read karl rove in the wall street journal today saying this is a suicidal act by the rightwing republicans. Well pick this conversation in just a minute. We got ann curry. She sat down for an exclusive interview with irans new president , first time mr. Hassan rouhani has spoken to a western journalist since his election. Ann got the interview. Good morning. Reporter identify lost audio. I think you tossed to me. Good morning to you and say to you in our interview irans president Hassan Rouhani was clearly reaching out to the west basically saying the time is now to make a deal. But he was also clearly having to walk a fine line between hard line conservatives and reformers in his country when asked about the very touchy subjects of human rights and israel. Mr. President , these are israeli Prime Minister netanyahus words not mine, he has said about you his strategy is to be a wolf in sheeps clothing. Smile and build a bomb. Can you say now categorically then that iran will not build a Nuclear Weapon under any circumstances whatsoever . Translator firstly, an occupier and usurper of government does an injustice to the people of region and brought. Built to region with its war mongering policies shouldnt give speeches about a freely elected government. Were not in pursuit of Nuclear Weapons and will not be. Reporter much of what americans think about iran is influenced by your predecessor and some statements that he has made so let me ask you, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the holocaust is a myth. Do you agree . Translator im not a historian. Im a politician. What is important for us is the countries in the region and the people grow closer to each other and that they are able to prevent aggression and injustice. Reporter president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had people believing that he wanted to wipe israel off the map. Do you agree with this . Translator what we wish for in this region is ruled by the will of the people. We believe in the ballot box. We do not seek war with any country. We seek peace and friendship among the nations of the region. Reporter mr. President upon your election and youve seen these images of young people cheering in the streets looking for change. Youve said that the government should interfere less in the private lives of people. What exactly do you mean . Will the government stop trying to censor the internet in iran . Translator in the near future the government will set up a commission for citizens rights. We want the people and their private lives to be completely free and in todays world having access to information and the right of free dialogue and the right think freely is the right of all people including the people of iran. Reporter does that mean people in iran will have access now twitter and facebook . Translator the viewpoint of the government is that the people must have full access to all information worldwide. Our opinions on this should be based on the protection of our National Identity and on our morals. Reporter while that part about the holocaust, while president Hassan Rouhani did not deny throw coast as his predecessor president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his nonanswer on that question will likely raise eyebrows. Back to you. Ann curry live in teheran for us this morning with the First Western interview of iranian president Hassan Rouhani. Chuck, i want to bring you in on what ann was reporting. Do you think the white house having tried once in president obamas first term to reach out to iran really thinks theres an opportunity now with this new president of iran to actually get some kind of negotiation going on the Nuclear Program . Whats been interesting to me is how skeptical they want to remain. In all the symbolic gestures Hassan Rouhani has done including wishing jewish people around the world a happy new year during rosh hana. They dont believe he calls the shots. You know, they are hopeful that maybe this will continue and see what happens but they dont seem to be they seem to be lot more skeptical about whats coming out of the iranian regime. Frankly they seemed more optimistic about work the iranians three years ago, four years ago than they do right now. Maybe that will change before they go on. I know they were surprised that Hassan Rouhani was allowed to win without a runoff and they have been surprised that southeast people hes appointed pleasantly so but not rushing to say hey were actually going cut a deal with these guys. Chuck, i think a lot of republicans are heartened to hear that. Many see Hassan Rouhani as a spin miester. They have heavy water reactors that are consistent with weapons program. They still have scientists pursuing weaponization of nuclear technology. I wonder if they are aware of and protecting any part of that flank that understands that people see what happened in the outcome of obama drawing a red line on syria and then changing course regardless of where he ended up of putting us in a position where the russians had the upper hand, the syrians got off scott free with their best friend in the world russia now holding their feet to the fire which is laughable to most people. Are they aware coming in unga is a place where leaders run around the same hotels, are they aware of the stakes of looking like they are being spun by or played by Hassan Rouhani . You know, the whole reason why they were looking aggressive for a time on syria, what they said behindthescenes this is important we got to look like we mean what we say because of the iran situation. At the same time one of the reasons why the president was intent on changing course and going to congress to seek the authority is he was concerned that if iran was going to cross a line then they were going to be forced to act then, you know, he was going to have to go back to congress so in many ways he saw the syria vote almost as a test run a little bit to get congress involved in this conversation. Now the whole thing blew up politically blew up in his face. Now well see. You know, it hasnt looked good leadership wise but if they actually get assad to give up 90 of his chemical weapons its a pretty good outcome even if what it looked like was precarious leadership at best. It seems to me politics will be very subtle. That interview with ann curry that was looking at the touchy points. You dont do that in diplomacy. They are not going to agree to some we love israel for energy. The only deal we can do is avoid a war is that if they agree to steer away from weaponization at some point, some red line is to be honored. Easier we make that information the better. We shouldnt make it harder. Simply change their policy away from weaponizing. This guy how represents the more secular people in that country who are also for the prestige that comes with a Nuclear Weapon. Were fighting not just the mullahs and traditional people were fighting people in iran who we normally would like, have a cup of coffee but for iranian pride that they could see come from that weapon. We dont want that weapon because we dont trust them and israel doesnt trust them. To get there will take some good diplomacy and we have to hold this guys hand a little bit. I dont think we should act difficult, ask all the tough questions. I think that interview was looking for all foichbthe point difficulty we have with them. Negotiators have to go you have a right to have a weapon, but we dont feel you need that weapon we dont want to you have it and we cant let you have it. We cant let you have it. My name is obama im a dove and i cant let you do it. Theres a reason iran is the toughest froin world is that they are worried about the future of their very existence. They look to pakistan and they say, they see pakistan has a bomb and its still there. And they realize that if they are a Nuclear Power they are on the map and they are there to stay. So thats why this is such a terrible problem because giving up that weaponry is giving up the guarantee of their future even though, of course, its right for all of us that they give it up for the sake of the world. But this is the largest problem we face diplomatically and internationally in many years. They look to libya which gave up their Nuclear Program. Chris before we let you go. In 11 days potential Government Shutdown. Debt ceiling two weeks after that. John boehner put this deal together. Has a vote tomorrow to hold it up at the expense of obama care. See trouble. I think i look at the debt default as a real problem economically. We can see a 2 though i point drop in the dow. 4001 k shrinking. After an hour or day or a week of debt default how do you find a place important the Republican Party to go. Where do you find a place for boehner to go to get a majority rule in the house. But if the only way to get a debt ceiling through, increase through is to get a majority vote in the house. 218 votes. Democrats will provide maybe a majority of those votes but boehner has to provide the other ones without anything to do with killing obama care. Thats going to be hard problem. They are going to go war with each other. How do we the end war. I dont know if these leaders are big enough to do it. Im not sure the boehner or president or rightwing of the Republican Party we made our point. Now lets deal. Thats the part i worry about. I want to say something. I found a piece of tape the other day from the today show, april 10, 1985, youll thereof. Bipartisan delegation went to moscow carrying a letter from president regan saying he wants to meet with new soviet leader gorbachev. Very much without any comment they said the leader of the delegation was the speaker of the house tip oneill. Can you imagine today boehner representing president obama in dealing with putin . Its how things have changed, the civility, the normal sharing of government by two parties is not the way it works. Obama did call senator mccain and Lindsey Graham down to the white house when he wanted help and borne was willing to suspend the rule. I hope thats where the grown ups get together. Borne did what he did yesterday. The most popular picture, the one thing people like not the debates, its your guy, Chris Christie walking on the beach with the president of the United States of different parties. You ask anybody who is reasonable they will say thats what they think American Government should be when it comes to a crisis or a disaster we work together. Well read more about this in your book october 1st. Good timing. It is. See you tonight at 7 00 p. M. Chuck see you on the daily run down. The markets are up to new highs. One person who is not happy about it. Former congressman ron paul is here. Youre watching morning joe. I love having a free checked bag with my united mileageplus explorer card. Ive saved 75 in checked bag fees. [ delavane ] priority boarding is really important to us. You can just get on the plane and relax. [ julian ] having a card that doesnt charge you foreign transaction fees saves me a ton of money. [ delavane ] we can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u. S. When i spend money on this card, i can see brazil in my future. [ anthony ] i use the explorer card to earn miles in order to go visit my family, which means a lot to me. Vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa Auto Insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. Because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaas commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. Begin your legacy, get an Auto Insurance quote. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. Too small. Too soft. Too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progressos new creamy alfredo soup. Inspired by perfection. Welcome back to morning joe. Here with us now former republican congressman from the state of texas, former president ial Campaign Candidate ron paul. Hes out with a new book the school revolution, a nuance for our breen Education System. Congressman its always good to see you. Lets talk about life on the outside. You retired and got busier. People say have you really retired. Thats not a good term. Ive retired from congress. Youre still working hard. We want to get to your book in a second. But obviously given your position on the fed over the years i want to ask you about the front page news. Fed stays on easy money course, quantitative easing continues. Whats your take . Im not surprised but the markets were certainly surprised yesterday but i think its a major admission by bernake that things havent improved. Hes saying were in bad shapes but the markets didnt interpret it that way. It doesnt help those 99 or at least large middle class and the poor wont help them one bit. Still going to have trouble getting jobs so theres a lot of disconnect here. But i think it was a very, very bad, you know, announcement yesterday that the economy is a lot worse off and i think in time it will prove to be the case. Arent we in the situation where if the fed cut this stimulus had money we would be worse off . It cant get worse. To continue to destroy our currency is always bad. Always bad. It always destroys the middle class and the wealthy get wealthier. This is the prediction of economics for 100 years. This is exactly what were witnessing those predictions that the wealthy get wealthier, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets wiped out. All inflation is bad and this idea that the fed can create money out of thin air to satisfy special interests and the politicians who like to spend money, it always leads to trouble except on the surface a lot of people feel good about it. During the bubble phase a lot of middle class people felt good about it. They were buying houses, and house prices were going up, so the inevitable bust game, the wealthy got bailed out and the average person lost a job and lost their house. So its never good even if you feel good for a while. Right now on italy rich are feeling good and the poor arent doing well neighborhoodle class getting much poorer. Whats the most important thing that can be done in the short term to help raise middle class income and whats the most important thing long term, government Business Combination can to be done . Short term its really very tough. You know, if you want to say on the short term and if you wanted to intervene and had to intervene you should have given the money to the poor people and let them pay off their mortgages. I wouldnt have advised. Short term you could do that. Long term you have to decide whether you want a few men, maybe women involved in secretly deciding what the Interest Rates should be. The Interest Rate if people dont understand how important the Interest Rate is they cant solve this problem. For the middle class or anybody. You have to have savings, Interest Rates thats the message to the Business Community but we dont have Interest Rates other than whats dictated by a few people. And they are always wrong. You know, they are always wrong and always will mislead and thats why even yesterday as more misleading us on whats really happening. Are artificial manipulation of rates. I know your opinion about the Federal Reserve. If you could pull the levers right now because you cant go cold turkey. Specifically how would you get to the point where you could adjust it to a more normal assessment. The cold turkey argument has merit to it because it would be tough. Be a real shock to the short term system. The alternative is a calamity like the bankruptcy of a whole country like a city can go bankrupt like a detroit. So youre not really comparing, you know, an easing down and a smooth transition or having a really tough thing to cutback. So, there is no easy. Theres no political answer. Its addiction. The people are addicted to spending. Politicians are addicted. The markets are addicted. And theres no chance they will wean us. This is what bernanke was saying. What weve been taught for 100 years its stupid to balance the budget because what you want to do is you want people to spend money and borrow money and print money. Thats the thing weve been taught for a long time. No one believes in a populous we can go bankrupt its a reality they dont assess when they look at the economy they dont believe kit happen. Youre absolutely right. Were naive. They are still taking our money. If that were true none of us would ever have to work again we would just have fed print money and we would buy stuff from overseas. That confidence in the dollar, the confidence in our Foreign Policy now is starting to shake a bit and they go together. If they lose confidence in our Foreign Policy, lose confidence in our economy and dollars you will see Interest Rates rising and then thats the big issue because that will be the most significant expenditure and nobody will have control of it and because if you have Interest Rates doubling or something, you cant legislate that down. Long term, how do we repair an Education System that can educate and prepare the next generation of leaders and job creators and innovators in the country . Slowly. Thats the approach. The goal that it have there is to offer an olive branch to sort of what were talking about because weve been taught for so long a school of economics and personal liberty and importance of the individual versus, you know, everybody coming together and managing. I want people to home school their children. Not everybody. This is designed to pick out the leaders that want to and maybe 20 might be interested in doing this. But they would at least see, these would be leaders who then would be talking about running for congress and understand why the Federal Reserve is a problem. Today we have been conditioned in all our schools that its good have a very robust Foreign Policy, to be involved in all these countries. Weve been taught the Federal Reserve is sacred except for the last five years people are questioning the Federal Reserve. Weve been taught deficits are good spend is good. But we have to reverse that. Whats the correlation between home schooling and Getting Better understanding for fed. My whole curriculum and everything i talked about is based on freedom philosophy which is what identify been talking about for 30 years. So the education would be quite different. I want would be something where young people would learn at their own pace, they would pick and they would do it over the internet. It wouldnt cost as much. But they are going be taught different commission. Different perspective on history. For instance every one of us have been taught our greatest president s was Woodrow Wilson. Liberal or conservative if you look at Woodrow Wilson he violated, abused our civil liberties. He was the one who told us we had to march around the world. He changed our Foreign Policy. And i would like to show that some of our president s, the only great president have between war mongers and people who argued for negotiations might be a better president. It will be a different approach. But it will be up front. Freedom philosophy. Based on individual freedom. And not a collectivist approach that the federal government runs everything down. Now were coming up with a core curriculum and just more mandates and more controls and how do you satisfy people who dont like the text books . You know theres no way you can solve that problem other than the fact offer people other choices. If you want to get 20 of children being home schooled thats going mean a vast drop in the number of women in the workforce because it is largely women who are doing the home schooling. A lot of women cant afford to give up their jobs. A lot of families cant afford that. Do went to encouraging women not take part in the workforce because we know how valuable that diversity is. Im concerned about advocating home schooling on this level when women are having such a hard time already staying in the workforce. Of course those are the problems created by what im trying to correct because they have to be in the workforce and have to work and not take care of kids because of the system we have because its survival for them. So you are absolutely right, there is a choice. Matter of fact my wife and i are talking about this even if the conditions would have been bad in our Public School system when we were raising kids we wouldnt have home schooled for various reasons. Its not going to be for everybo everybody. Youre not closing down the schools. Choices need to be made. Some people will go out of their way for their children, but i agree with you. It is not going to be easy because were facing the consequences. I saw an article yesterday of a Woman Working two jobs and she was living in a shelter. She couldnt pay her bills because her cost of living goes up much faster than wages. Thats another characteristic of this monetary system. So that is a consequence why they have to work. But if people really want to get it done, they can, but i grant you, it will not be easy but to continue to do what were doing now, harold remember when washington ever had trouble with their schools they always thought if we gave them more money it would soiflt. The schools that get the most money arent the best schools at all. Money does not solve this problem. And home schooling, the kids are really learning, they are excelling, getting in college when they are 15 and 16. Costs are less. Theres something you have to invest in and that is the parents have to decide whether they will do it or not. Before i let you go, Nicole Wallace was out here touting your son as president. Hes doing well. What conversations have you had with him about running for president . Essentially none, actually. You know when they started talking about the Campaign Last fall i said isnt it a little early. Im still trying to get all my votes counted. Do you think its something he aspires to. I would think so. He wouldnt be doing what hes doing. But i havent had a conversation that went to a plan. Hes been pretty independent. I dont nowhere he got this independence from. Same way in running for the senate. It was something he decided on. I guess my first personal reaction was thats a big job. But he had sort of anticipated what the Tea Party Movement was doing, was able to tap into that. Some surprised me how well he did there. So, no, i think if you look at where hes traveling, which states hes going to, i would think its on his mind but actually i havent any personal conversations with him. But you think hell run as a fathers instinct . I would think that hes weighing it and it depends on the circumstance. Sometimes in politics you can get beat up all of a sudden. But, im sure hes weighing it. I think hes doing a very good job. Congressman ron paul. Thank you very much. Good to see you. Coming up googles latest venture that could add years to your life. Why the search giant wants to get into the lifesaving business. Floodwaters in colorado is rekreegd. Recovery could take years. And the price for rebuilding. And a hurricane slamming mexico could be heading our way next. More morning joe next. Lets get the ball rolling in communities like chicago were coming together with the city and military veterans for the cocacola foundations troops for fitness an Innovative Program thats inspiring hundreds of people with fun ways to move a little more stay active and to see how good a little balance can feel part of our goal is to inspire more than 3 Million People to rediscover the joy of being active this summer. See the difference all of us can make. Together [ male announcer ] staying warm and dry has never been our priority. Our priority is, was and always will be serving you, the American People. So we improved Priority Mail flat rate to give you a more reliable way to ship. Now with tracking up to eleven scans, specified delivery dates, and free insurance up to 50 all for the same low rate. [ woman ] we are the United States postal service. [ man ] we are the United States postal service. [ male announcer ] and our priority is you. Go to usps. Com® and try it today. Welcome back to morning joe. In colorado the first estimate just released on how much damage was done by floodwaters. The numbers are staggering. Total property losses already close to 2 billion. Thats about 900 million for Residential Properties and another bill thrown repair commercial and government property. 112 million important bridge, 40 million for roads. This morning theres fewer than 200 people still missing. Thats a big number. Widespread destruction from flooding in mexico and proven much more deadly. This morning hurricane manuel is moving up the Pacific Coast of mexico. 80 deaths are now being blamed on manuel and hurricane ingrid. Theres dozens of people missing after a massive landslide in a small village there. Lets go up to bill karins. Where is this hurricane headed most the moisture is heading into the u. S. We have our disaster billion dollar weather disaster in colorado. This storm continues to move just along the coast. Not over with yet. The eye of the hurricane is off the mexican coastline and has stalled out. I think the devastation is going to be bad. Take us a day or two to get those images. Some of that rain is starting to spread into west texas and eventually bring additional rains all through areas of the southeast this weekend. Also watching that area of interest in the southern gulf of mexico this could be jerry. Yesterday i was thinking possibility sneaking up to the northern gust or florida in a week now more mexicos problem. In chicago thunderstorm right over the top of you, we are going see probably a start of delays at Ohare Airport there at midway as we start your morning and as we go throughout the morning chicago will clear up. The tropics, mexico seen by far the worst of it this season. Bill karins thanks so much. Coming up next not just a Search Engine any more. Can google figure out how to make us live longer. Radhika jones has the magazines latest issue. Well be right back. Las known definitely for its traffic, congestion, for the smog. But there are a lot of people that do ride the bus. And now that the buses are running on natural gas, they dont throw out as much pollution into the air. So i feel good. I feel like im doing my part to help out the environment. From capital one. Boris earns unlimited rewards for his Small Business. Can i get the smith contract, please . Thank you. Thats three new paper shredders. [ boris ] put em on my spark card. [ garth ] boris Small Business earns 2 cash back on every purchase every day. Great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. Read back the chickens testimony, please. Buk, buk, bukka [ male announcer ] get the spark Business Card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. Choose 2 cash back or double miles on every purchase every day. Told you id get half. Whats in your wallet . Told you id get half. Always go the extra mile. To treat my low testosterone, i did my research. 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Ask your doctor about the only underarm low t treatment, axiron. Welcome back to morning joe. Joining us now time magazines executive editor, Radhika Jones with time magazines article can google solve death. We hope the answer is yes. Whats amazing as we say in the story its like the next question is well who the hell else is going to do it . It tells you something, first of all, about the science of antiageing which has gone from sort of a quack field and, you know, freezing bodies and uploading brains to computers and what have you into something that where Real Research is being done, what makes ourselves and tissues degenerate and whether any of those things can be reversed. The fact google is willing to put money behind a venture to see if this can happens lend it credibility. Google is known for its moonshots. I want has huge long term thinking. Thats the m. O. Of the company and the ceo. They are calling this the project calico. What does it entail . If i knew exactly what they were doing i would be out there patenting it. Sources say they will start small now research technologies. There will not be on the pill next market that says googles immortality pill. They will look at causes for tissues to decline. The venture is being done in conjunction with the founder of genentech which is one of the preeminent biotech firms. These guys have this initiative and this cause. He goes in. Its not about writing a check. They focus laser like. They are serious about fining cures and changing the way we live. Its do. Its important for those of us who arent in the trenches following technology who think of google its the Search Engine the thing on my browser it helps me find cute cats on the internet. Thats a core part of googles business. But they are doing these huge innovates, t initiatives. Driverless cars. In 10, 15 years this may be how were living. Think of the 10, 15 years ago and if you talk about google then which no one was and just in a relatively short time of span 10, 12 years now this. The company is 15 years old. They have a stock cash pile of 54 billion. Is immortality a good look a that were having with an aging problem race that we cant finance because we have so the baby boom bubble is now coming round to cost us quite a lot of money. Is this what, to have People Living for decades longer . I think that probably has to be our next story. He talks about it in a very silly conway. This is a problem. If you throw a lot of data at it and you throw research and really innovative brains at it, lets see if we can solve. So there are huge issues away the idea of People Living forever. But for now, its like their thinking is we want to see where this goes. Do you want to live forever . As long as im not drooling. Sort of my headline, too. There is a clause in there about that. Some we what a fascinating company and guys and what a great piece. Hangs. Appreciate it. The new issue is can google solve death. Coming up, Lawrence Odonnell and David Axelrod join our conversation. I describe myself as a mother, a writer and a performer. Im also a survivor of ovarian and uterine cancers. I even wrote a play about that. My symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. If you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer, be brave, go to the doctor. Ovarian and uterine cancers are gynecologic cancers. Symptoms are not the same for everyone. I got sick. And then i got better. Nascar is ab. Out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. Thats why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. 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There is an anchorman on the bbc, simon mccoy, who always has an ipad in his hand while he does the news like this. Coming up, feeling the heat. A day of special coverage about the cost of energy. And here is another one from another day. Im simon mccoy and all day, well be looking at scotlands future and gauging opinion. So this morning simon did not have his ipad in hand, instead he stood there with this. Good morning and welcome to bbc news. Plans for privately run drunk tappings to tackle alcohol fuel decrease order i dont know if you can tell, but that is a ream of printer payment. So the bbc released a statement saying instead of picking up his tablet to hold, mr. Mccoy mistakenly picked up a ream of paper. What is going on at the bbc . Its an ipad. It really is. He needed something in his hand. I sympathize with that. You dont know what to do with your hands. It doesnt weigh quite the same. Didnt look like one either. No. And it certainly didnt have any of the fun on it. Yeah. Bbc solidarity over there. Coming up next, republicans are scrambling to find the best way to oppose the president s Health Care Plan, but they face major opposition now from fellow republicans. And reports that a s. W. A. T. Team that was right at the navy yard perhaps told to stand down. The potentially massive communication breakdown during mondays shooting response ahead when morning joe comes back. Talking about delicious breakfast choices. Check out walmarts huge selection of cereals. My kids favorite and more than 100 of them are under 130 calories or less per serving. So you can feel great about serving it to your family for breakfast. Walmart has over 100 cereals with 130 calories or less per serving. Backed our low price guarantee. Walmart. I save time, money,st, and i avoid frustration. Youll find reviews on home repair to healthcare, written by people just like you. Find out why more than two million members count on angies list. Angies list reviews you can trust. In communities like chicago were coming together with the city and military veterans for the cocacola foundations troops for fitness an Innovative Program thats inspiring hundreds of people with fun ways to move a little more stay active and to see how good a little balance can feel part of our goal is to inspire more than 3 Million People to rediscover the joy of being active this summer. See the difference all of us can make. Together this man is about to be the millionth customer. Would you mind if i go ahead of you . Instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. Congratulations you are our one millionth customer. Nobody likes to miss out. Thats why ally treats all their customers the same. Whether youre the first or the millionth. If your bank doesnt think youre special anymore, you need an ally. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Thats a live look at new york city. Lets get caught up on the latest in the navy yard shooting. Increasing scrutiny on the security clearance, the mental state of the alleged navy yard shooter, aaron alexis. There are new signs that indicate a breakdown in communication within military chains of command may have had something to do with all this. Alexis told new port, Rhode Island Police last month that he was hearing voices. We told you that yesterday. The police told local Navy Authorities, but the navy says that information was never sent up the chain of command. A spokesman for the Police Department said they could not address him just because he was hearing voices. He twice sought treatment from the va hospital for insomnia, but failed to mention hearing voices to staff there. He claimed he was only having trouble sleeping and said he was not depresseded ed and not thin of harming others. Top military brass acknowledged shortcomings and also said personnel with Mental Health issues should have the opportunity for treatment. Men and women should have the opportunity to overcome their mental disorders or their mental challenges or their Clinical Health challenges and shouldnt be stigmatized. Obviously there were a lot of red flags. Where there are gaps, we will close them. Where there are inadequacies, we will address them. And where there are failures, we will correct them. We owe the victims, their families and all our people nothing less. So more details this morning. Capital police are investigating reports that one of their s. W. A. T. Teams just blocks away from the location was told to stand down and sent to the capital instead. And there is new information about alexis arsenal, he scratched the phrases better off this way and my elf weapon into his remmington gun. Officials not sure what elf refers to. He bought shut gun just two days before the shooting and himself tried to buy a handgun, but there are special federal guidelines that prevent sales to people that live out of state. The gunmans mother spoke for the first time yesterday saying her sons motives would never be fully known. I dont know why he did what he did. And ill never be able to ask him why. Aaron is now in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone and for that, i am glad. To the families of the victims, i am so, so very sorry that this has happened. My heart is broken. Two shooting victims still in the hospital, but good news, they have been upgraded to good condition, one released already. There were three. The navy yard reopens today with the exception of building 197. The story about the Capital Police i find quite disturbing. There was a s. W. A. T. Team, a story actually bchl bbc colleague of mine broke lunchtime yesterday. A s. W. A. T. Team right outside the building. They went to the supervisor and said were here, were armed, were ready to go. They were told by the supervisor to stand down. The Capital Police are concerned about this, they think its a sign of interturf warfare which is quite possible. But theyre convinced that if they had been able to go in, they might have been able to change the outcome and there would have been fewer People Killed by alexis. I think thats a real concern. They have to find out why were people disputing which steam should go this. Clearly getting someone in there fast who was qualified and trained, this was a hit team. Do we know yet whether there was another s. W. A. T. Team in the building already prior to the Capital Police s. W. A. T. Team being outside . Because you dont want multiple that, i dont know. And thats what the Capitol Hill Police are launching an investigation to find out what happened. There is this whole component, too, of the Mental Health. We began to talk about it yesterday, but since then, weve learned a little bit more about there were some flags that probably should have been september up tsent up the chain of command. It speaks more just to the holes in the net outside the military. They have programs where theyre screening people for Mental Health. But as a society, as a government, we have absolutely no system to take care of people with Mental Illnesses until and unless they intersect with law enforcement. So we are at ground zero in terms of doing providing services or offering help for family members or friends. It was heartbreaking to hear the shooters mother. She was obviously devastated, too. Shes lost something, too. And i think that until we take stock of where we are and where we have to arrive at, i dont know that you can take guns out of the hands that shouldnt have them. 5 Million People have the security clearances. The proliferation of outsourcing, department of the defense and other agency, allowing outside groups and organizations to vet people, they have to take a harder look at that. Its clear many people would have had clearances invalidated. You can have it invalidated here at nbc if you have some issue. The fat that steps were not taken sooner to prevent him from going into the building. The gun issue is important, but how he was allowed back on a military installation is beyond me and i think that has to be investigated and has to be fixed. One point thats really interesting, the growth of contractors in this government is enormous especially within the pentagon. Thats an enormous issue. The other issue is we had best be prepared as a culture, as a society, at the conclusion of all the investigations that will take place with regard to this incident to accept the fact that there was very little we could do. If we are going to start doing something about people who walk around talking to themselves, thats an enormous number of people. We all see them becausie i walk new york city. Doesnt mean you have too give them security clearance. Oh, no. I want to get your take on the fedex. Analysts investors looking toward september as the time the fed would scale back the Bond Buying Program but yesterday the central bank decided to keep the program in place. Sent markets soaring. Brian, was this really a big surprise move . Anyone who says they called this is lying to you you. To be frank. Everyone across the board. And the fed themselves actually, they telegraphed it, they said a couple times in the last few months that this is something they were strongly considering and everyone assumed that they were going to do it. People are actually some upset at ben bernanke for deceiving the markets. And people didnt just buy stocks. They bought bonds, they bought gold, they bought everything. Because in the macroeconomy, the easy money will keep going and the big takeaway is that ben bernanke scolded people and said up the jobs market is better, until congress is better, until inflation is in line with expectations, we wont do anything. We still have one more chance before the end of 2013 i believe to see if it happens. So people bought, stocks went up, but some people are upset at the fed because they think they were deceived. So how much of the decision yesterday has to do with the fed getting political and realizing that congress is totally inept and were creeping up to a cataclysmic event so well take some of it out of their hands some. It is a factor because there were three things ben bernanke pointed to. I said the job market, fiscal policy, needs as to be moto be more understandable, and then there is inflation which is below target. So those are the three factors. One third of his consideration is exactly that. What weve learned since 2008 is that what happens in one country doesnt stay in one country and certainly the feds response yesterday was being watched pretty much everywhere in the world. How important is this for keeping the Global Recovery on track . First, i think its always a good thing when the fed catches investors going the wrong way. When investors get too certain that they dont, thats about a. But n. This case i cant help but think part of what the fed was worrying about is the sign of softness in some global economies particularly china. Wall street journal hats a series about the way the slowdown looks from some locations. Talking to europeans this week, you still have a soft european economy coming back from its near death experience over the last couple years. So i think the fed understands that it is the World Central Bank in addition to being the American Central Bank, and is wanting to maintain conditions that are quite stimulative. The question of when they will turn off the spigot, when they will reduce this buying of long term bonds is theirs as it was a couple months ago about that you but i think the softness that theyre talking about isnt just in the u. S. , its global. What does this tell you about the state of the economy long term, not wanting to raise Interest Rates because they dont want to cool off the housing market, what did you learn about the economy yesterday . The uncertainty that grips everything, which everybody has touched on from the lack of Income Growth in the country, the lack of hours worked in the country, the number of people participating in the labor market combined with all the uncertainty in washington, the fed in a lot of ways decided they were going to inject a certain uncertainty. Not saying well continue this, still uncertainty about when we stop the program. I think its likely then that youll hear this week the president make his choice for the fed chair probably known late this week, early next week. Its been indicated in all the press reports. Thats probably good for the markets right away. But i think david is right, the uncertainty around the globe. When you look at how intertwined Global Markets are and Decision Making is amongst central bankers, i think ben bernanke stepped back, took a breather and said i know people think im going to go one way. It showed an i sandependent thinking on on his part and a willingness to do what is right for the global economy. The world is addicted to low rates. Personally id like to see what the economy looks like standing on two feet. But india went into a swoon. There is an addiction worldwide to the low rates and that is a problem here that still we have not addressed. The one question i have is this policy has been in place for now four or five years and we still have unemployment rates high, people are still giving up trying to find work. You have to start at some point thinking this policy has not done what we needed to raisin comes, to get people back into the middle class. Is this the right policy to carry on here . I think that it could be far worse if you were ben bernanke. I happen to think the data will drive the path in the country and i give him credit for making the decision based on the data. You have former governor, fed governors, who matt point bde t brian is make. But at the end of the day, i think it would be worse if theyre not doing what theyre doing and at some point the spigot will turn off and the question becomes are we better educated, can we produce better high paying jobs in the country. I think the answer is no. When you consider how government has behaved the last year, here we are on the brink of another crisis that we created for ourselves around Government Funding and around the debt ceiling increase. And until the adults decide to behave like adults, you have to have one adult like bernanke behaving like an adult. There is a plan that would tie Government Fund to go stripping all funding for obamaca obamacare. Chances of making its way out of the senate slim to none, and that put republican lawmakers at odds with each other. Ted cruz put pressure on his colleagues in the house saying in part harry reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution and right now he likely has the votes to do so. At the that point House Republicans must stand firm. But republicans in the house shot back at cruz for setting them up to take the blame. Congressman tim griffin tweeting so far senators are good at getting facebook likes and town halls. Not much also. Do something. Senate republicans he was talking about. Last night there was equal blame on the senate shoulders for how this is all playing out. Nobody votes to shut the government down. Thats not how it works. They will pass something next week. It will take for some reason a week to get to whatever we pass and they will send it back to us and well either accept it or send it back. So the question is we get to the last part of the back and forth and we send them something and say we agree on everything except obamacare. And they say we dont agree on obama care. They send it back to us. Who is shutting the government down . You could makes a much as strong an argument its the senate as much as we are. The right discussion to be having is how can we find a middle ground between what the house will do tomorrow and the senate will do next week that allows the government to stay open. After watching trying to process the logic on there. Walk us through will this a little bit. John boehner obviously made a conscious decision to side with the conservatives and go the route of perhaps forcing the Government Shutdown to defund obamacare. Whats the strategy here . I go back to the conversation about adults. You have young children, youre about to, i have a 2yearold. And sometimes when hes on his scooter, he wants to cross the street even when the light is red. Cars move very fast. It is your job as the parent to hold the child in the scooter from running into traffic because he would get squished. It is the job of the adults in the Republican Party to tell there is grass root support in this country among republicans, among conservatives, Tea Party Members, to do this will. There are people the law is a sligs Health Care Law is incredibly unpopular. To ted cruz is responding to what is a genuine sentiment out there. However, when republicans run into the street, despite the fact that there is a flashing red light, they will get hit by the cars and killed. So this is stupid politically. This is stupid at a policy level because as the great charles krautheimer, it has no chance to succeed. So they will fail. So were at a moment where most of the country is pretty disillusioned with president obamas leadership on the world stage. But a majority of americans do not like his signature domestic achievement which is the Health Care Law. Were actually at a moment as republicans where even Bernie Sanders has described our party has on the offense and now well let our party run into moving traffic against a red light. Its idiotic. Coming up, americas students are falling behind the rest of the world in subjects like math and science. Could High School Sports be to blame . The author of the new piece in the atlantic. And up next, our political round table. About f30 mipnutesing go, i showed you a thunderstorm and now we found out theyre causing two hour delays at the ohare. So definitely causing a Ripple Effect in the midwest and east. So chicago ohare, two hour delays. Its the worst right now. The thunderstorms are moving out and away over the top of lake michigan. So it will get a little better here shortly. You can already see there looking down towards the miracle mile and lake shore of chicago, it is clearing ever so slowly. So thats good. But other areas still have problems. Thunderstorms are widespread this morning all through the great lakes. And as far as what well deal with out there in the midwest, late this afternoon, additional storms. If youre in yellow, you have a chance of large hail or damaging winds today. That includes kansas city, wichita, quad city, milwaukee, green bay, and a little portion of minneapolis. As far as the east coast and west coast, today is about as beautiful as it gets out there for late summer. Enjoy a fantastic afternoon from new york city to atlanta and all through areas of the west. California looks gorgeous and the pacific northwest. Tomorrow doesnt look as night. So take your lunch outdoors while you can. We leave with you a shot, we call this a 10 out of 10 in washington, d. C. Enjoy. [ female announcer ] we lowered her fever. You raise her spirits. We tackled your shoulder pain. You make him rookie of the year. We took care of your cold symptoms. You take him on an adventure. Tylenol® has been the number 1 doctor recommended brand of pain reliever for over 20 years. But for everything we do, we know you do so much more. Tylenol®. I got this. [thinking] is it that time . The son picks up the check . [thinking] im still working. Hes retired. I hope hes saving. I hope he saved enough. Who matters most to you says the most about you. At massmutual were owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. Whether youre just starting your 401 k or you are ready for retirement, well help you get there. This is the creamy chicken corn chowder. I mean, look at it. So indulgent. Did i tell you i am on the. [ both ] Chicken Pot Pie diet me too [ male announcer ] so indulgent, youll never believe theyre light. 100calorie progresso light soups. Welcome back to morning joe. We have Lawrence Odonnell with us and in chicago, former Senior Adviser to president obama, and msnbc contributor David Axelrod. Has an awful lot of titles. Thats what happens when you get old. Institute to advanced studies of sports. Of the boston red sox. How do i get that . I want to be the director of an institution. How do you do that . Im sure you you could. Just create one. Is it Senior Adviser or former Senior Adviser . This week id say former Senior Adviser. Why, david . Lets talk about that. I mean, the criticism of the white house Decision Making, a lack of Decision Making, policy, the seemingly back and forth. Why are you sort of oosh you never as smart as you are or dumb as you look when things go badly. Butss bean a tough period. I think well end up in a bad place in syria as a result of the path taken, but its not clean. Its obviously a source of great debate and discussion. So and when you get into these kind of periods where the narrative is difficult, everything is seen through that prism. So i know nicole has experienced this, as well. Sitting in that building is a pressureful time. But if youre will for a long time, you realize that there are periods like this and you have to work your way through them. And i believe they will work their way through this. Obviously the other discussion youre having today is tough, too, which is what congress is doing and not doing. And thats going to make this next month or six weeks very volatile. David, who in the white house can walk into the oval office and tell the president he just screwed something up or his plan for the day should be changed because its not such a good plan, it isnt look good to go give this speech for example . Governor rendell yesterday said that theyre missing your influence in that west wing. But tell me who it is in the west wing that can walk in there this morning and say what you have planned for the day is a crummy idea, mr. President , based on the way events are unfolding. Thats one of the advantages of not being there is people say i wish he were there. If i were there, they would say what an idiot. But i think there are people who can do that. I know Dennis Mcdonough very well. Hes a very tough character. Cares a lot about the president , respects the president. But i dont think hed hesitate to go in and say i think this is a mistake. Dan feifer has been with him seven years. I think he can tell him things that he needs to hear. Obviously Valerie Jarrett has known him for 20 years. She has that ability. There are people around who can do that. Its not easy to go into the president of the United States, the ora of the office and everything, and say, you know what, that was a bone head play or a mistake or we shouldnt do what you want to do. But it has to be done and i think there are people, nicole, who are there who can do that. Lawrence, youve gone into several offices on both the senate and house side of the capitol i was a yemen. I always said, yes, thats great. Thats brilliant. David referenced the continuing issue of the house of representatives with regard to our country and national policy. John boehner. Do you think that in his wildest nightmares he would have imagined that he would be leading a Suicide Mission at this point . Yeah, i think he listen, when he became speaker, the night of that election when they took over the house, i said in our coverage how is he going to raise the debt ceiling . People didnt quite know what i was talking about at that point. But im sure it crossed boehners night that nigmind th because he knows its coming. So this is just a continuation what have hes been through from the start with the tea party. And i am not a john boehner critic. I have never seen a situation in which i can say to you here is how john boehner could have done a better job leading, this crazy word speed use now about House Republicans. Leading the House Republicans. No one can lead the House Republicans. Will is not tip oneills house of representatives. I mean, ive read Chris Matthews book, by the way. Twill is not te of representatives. I mean, ive read Chris Matthews book, by the way. Hiwill is not house of representatives. I mean, ive read Chris Matthews book, by the way. Swill is not t house of representatives. I mean, ive read Chris Matthews book, by the way. Ill is not tip house of representatives. I mean, ive read Chris Matthews book, by the way. Ll is not tip house of representatives. I mean, ive read Chris Matthews book, by the way. Is not tip oe of representatives. I mean, ive read Chris Matthews book, by the way. Is not tip o of representatives. I mean, ive read Chris Matthews book, by the way. It is a great story about exactly this situation. Because hes talking about tip oneill running onehalf of onethird of the government which is the position boehner is in. And doing a brilliant job of about with reagan who he kind of didnt like and then kind of liked. You know, there was a lot of human tension in it. But its the real story of how you do this. And i just think boehner has an impossible job and it looks impossible all the time. What makes it impossible is the lack of concern for the National Interests. And the common goodbye people who think that ideology and partisanship is more important than what the hell happens to the world and the United States. And what impresses me with all of the talk about the inside baseball narrative that david is referring to, and with all of the fact that perhaps president obama is too reactive as the narrative would have it and i might agree, nonetheless, what has happened in syria is a good thing because the president of the United States put the National Interests first. Were not going to war in syria. Whatever the appearance of it, were not going to have the deficit of the arab street as it were erupting because of a military action that brings no help to us militarily. So once again the president has said im responsible for the National Interests. The thenarrative of obamacare a this supposedly hellish thing, we now have a Health Care System for the future in america to build on if these people in washington allow themselves to build on it the way republicans help build on Social Security in the 1930s. Were seeing now with david e ignatius piece the second stage i think of media analysis of whats happened in syria. David ignatius in his piece he checks off beautifully all the accomplishments that the obama carried policy has produced in syria, more than you possibly could have expected at the outset. And this comes after a week of everybody complaining about the zigzag. And David Axelrod, when the presidency is dealing with something as seriously as syria policy, and that outcome, and all youre getting in the media is theater review of what the president said instead of what the president accomplished today, how does the white house react to that in trying to turn the discussion back for look at what we did . You know, its a great question, lawrence. And i think one of the strengths of the president is he is a long term player. Hes concerned about how it turns out at the end. And he has encull indicated the staff with that same attitude which is this isnt a game, you know, that you win in the fifth inning. Were playing all the way to the ninth. And dont worry about the crowd right now. Lets keep focused on what doing. Id make one other point as i hear karl talking about obama. Lets remember why this man was elected. He was elected because people had tired of a policy that was black and white, it saw everything in those terms. In a world that had a lot of gray and a lot of nuance. And they wanted a president who was thoughtful, who was not reactive, would act on facts and not on impulse. And thats what theyve got. And i think as karl mentioned, well end up in a better place in in instance because of that. But we have a pend uhe lar nature in our politics. People say i wish he saw more in black and white, i wish he was more impulsive. Thats not who he is. I thought one of the most impressive things the president did was to call down john mccain and lindsay gram whham when the policy appeared to be one of garnering support for enforcing his red line and i wonder if you have any insight into what their personal relationship is like. John mccain still has a lot of credibility on the world stage on Foreign Policy and he was someone the white house called in when they were looking for that bipartisan support for what they wanted to do. So what do you hear from your white house colleagues about how that relationship has obviously improved . My sense is that theyre working together on a number of things. Obviously Immigration Reform is another issue. So they have had and i think they have had discussions on other issues, as well, including budgetary issues. I wouldnt suggest that theyre best buddies. I think that there is some history there and we all know what it is. But senator mccain it seems to me has tried to work with the white house where he can of late and hes been a very constructive force in that regard. Hes more than happy to filet the president at times as weve seen and thats to be expected. Theyre different parties and so on. But i think this is a much improved relationship. I think part of it is senator mccain is watching whats going on in your party and he looks over his right shoulder at people like ted cruz and he says do i want to hang with these people or do i want to solve problems . And i think thats to the benefit of their relationship and the country. Okay. David axelrod, thanks for joining us. Lawrence will stay with us. And coming up, why are American Students falling behind . Are High School Sports to blame. Forty ti mes. Forty ti mes. Thats how often a group of House Republicans have voted against obamacare, just to prove their allegiance to their partys right wing. Okay theyve said their piece. But now theyve gone even further. Threatening to shut down the government if obamacare isnt dismantled. It could disrupt Social Security and veterans benefits, hurt job growth and undermine our economic recovery tell these House Republicans enough already make my mark i wawith pride. Ork. Create moments of value. Build character through quality. And earn the right to be called a classic. The lands end no iron dress shirt. Starting at 49 dollars. Your Financial Advisor should be thinking about your retirement at least as much as you do. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do. Face time and think time make a difference. At edward jones, its how we make sense of investing. You have to attempt to do this in front of your father, your mother, your sisters. Hey. So that, get up. Youre making up look weak. One person fumbles the ball, we all fumble. Mahate him. 20. Is th this is business. Aint got time. We got a game to win. Get up, son. Get up. Wow. That was a clip from friday night lights, the hit show that glorified the world of High School Football of course. Here with us now to make her case against High School Sports is amanda ripley, she wrote the cover story in the atlantic entitled how sports are ruining high school. The real reason your students are falling behind which reads in part when i surveyed about 200 former Exchange Students last year, nine out of ten foreign students who had arrived lived in the u. S. Said kids care more about sporpts thts than th peers back home. Education budgets are slashed as more teams play on traveling teams outside of school and the economy demands children learn higher order skills so they compete, its worth reevaluating. I played about one game of net ball and that was on a wednesday when i was 10. But there is evidence that playing sports particularly for i was going to say, what is that . Well talk about that. But actually girls play High School Sports and competitive sports, they do better in college, they earn higher wages. Since title ix, youve seen improvement this Girls Education because of playing High School Sports. I played soccer my whole life. I love it. Im not saying that we shouldnt play sports. Im saying it shouldnt be part of school. This is the only country in the world where sports are such a centr Central Mission of high schools. They make hires because who can coach, not who can teach. And were spending two to four times per High School Football player versus the High School Math student. So having the conversation is important. For athletes themselves, sports can be very valuable, but thats a minority of high school students. The question is what about everybody else. Lets talk about everybody else. Lets talk about if you have a child and the child is 12 or 16 or whatever, in eighth grade or senior in high school or junior, would you rather have your child playing an organized sport where they meet other people and form some sorts of bonds with their teammates doing that in high school or constantly looking a at these things . Look, its not either or. Let me give an example. It is. Finland, top of the world this education outcomes. Kids do less homework than we do. Kids watch the same amount of tv and facebook and whatever cell phones. But sports are something that kids play on their own after school, maybe in the neighborhood, rec center. Its not part of school. When i went to for the book i was working on, i followed a student from oak what to fin land and i couldnt find the trophies. I finally did find them, i was very excited, oh, theres a trophy case and i looked and they were ten years old, they were covered with dust. No one had really thought about them because in finland as you get older, the opposite of here, the idea is you pull back from sports and focus on academics because as much as we like to we love to cheer and we love the idea of sports. 2 of our College Students get college scholarships. There is no doubt its an issue, but i dont think its the issue. Its specialization that is the bigger problem when kids are maybe playing for their School Soccer team, or all the travel teams. I went to Public School my whole life up the final two years. For the two years at boarding school, when i was an athlete, it disciplined my day. I think kids are not playing enough different sports to make the positive concept work. Theyre just focused on the one thing, to hit that home run, no run intended. And i think that is a bigger issue. Thats interesting. Actually Spellman College is a great example of the opposite. They were spending a Million Dollars a year on 4 of their students who were actually athletes when half of their incoming students had diseases and Health Conditions that could be improved through exercise. So the president of spellman realized this is nuts. Lets flip it. So now she spends a Million Dollars on wellness and health and 5 ks and doing like sports for everybody to try to get everybody involved, everybody more active. Which we can all agree leads to more learning and all kinds of great things. Were talking about intensity levels here, arent we . I played three sports in high school. But no one in the high school thought that that was more important than you were doing with grades. In fact if the grades went below a certain level, you couldnt play the sport. And you have a great line, imagine for a moment if americans transferred our obsessive intensity about High School Sports to high school academics. Right. And thats exactly what korea does. Korea is a crazy model to the other extreme. No one in korea would tell you to follow. But that is the exact same intensity. Parents feel like theyre at home coaching, coachincoaching,g their kid on math. And if they fail, what they do is they he will them to practice more and get more help. Exact same thing as in sports. You played three sports, you didnt play net ball . Amanda ripley, thank you. Cover story in the new issue of the atlantic, how sports are ruining high school. Her book is out now. Up next, investors were giddy yesterday after the fed surprised wall street. You work. And you want to get an mba. But going back to school is hard. Because you work. Now, Capella University offers a revolutionary new way to get your degree. Its called flexpath and its the most direct path, leveraging what youve learned on the job and focusing on what you need to know so you can get a degree at your pace. And graduate at the speed of you. 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Basically the fed keeping its foot on the gas pedal of economic stimulus by trying to keep Interest Rates down. That was a big day. The stock market continuing to soar to new and you new and new highs. Check out your 401 k plan. Unless youre invested it n. Something obscure, youre probably up fairly nicely this year. I upgraded to ios 7 last night. Im a pandora subscriber p. Watch apple, watch pandora. The new itunes radio was very good. Could be tough for pandora if this catches on. I saw a lot of positive feedback on twitter. If youre going know tie, at least have color in the shirt. Coming up next, finale of americas got talent. If there was a red carpet, lewisburg door of was there mucking it up. Arent getting s. The trucks are going farther. The 2013 ram 1500 with bestinclass fuel economy. Engineered to move heaven and earth. Guts. Glory. Ram. The new ram 1500. Motor trends 2013 truck of the year. Thats not much, you think. Except its 2 every year. 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Radio city music hall and its all about america having talent. Who do you want to win tonight . The winner of the 1 million s i congratulation everyone who competed. I said at the beginning lets find a superstar. He is a superstar. Were here with the Million Dollar man. Very surprising. You can show me a Little Something . That is why he just won americas got talent. How can at the taste . It tasted of cherry chap stick. Once you kiss howie, hes forever on your lips. I dont wear chap stick. Thats so weird. I dont know what thats from. Im a hypo condriaac. I want to kiss morning joe. Pucker up, my friend. Where is my morning joe . You sexy devil. Thank you for laughing at my jokes. You you got second place. What was your talent again . Look like we got two comedians over here. Hi heidi. K event nichi may have a Million Dollar, but i got to kiss heidi klum several times. I dont know which one allows me to have health insurance, but you and heidi with the card in between your teeth, what was that like . She wants me. She said that you wanted her. Is that the truth . Not really. Anytime heidi klum is looking at you, you have to be putting out the vibe. I think my taste is almonds. Almonds. Which you have down there. Where do you keep your nuts . I dont have them hanging out. It was an incredible night. Up next, what if anything have we learned today. [ male announcer ] these days, a Small Business can save by sharing. Like carpools. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Its great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share . A data plan. At t mobile share for business. One bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. Now, everyones in the spirit of sharing. Hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend . 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