Transcripts For MSNBCW Melissa Harris-Perry 20130908

Good morning, im melissa harrisperry. Today politics of war. Our deeply divided congress will soon decide whether to give its blessing to American Military strikes against the syrian government. When president obama threw the decision to Congress Last week, he made a point of saying he was having the peoples representatives weigh in on whether to use military force. Now, we dont know what congress will do. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed its version wednesday. But we wont get a sense of how congress, the full congress, will vote until they return to washington this week. We do know what the American People want. They do not want this war. A Pew Research Center poll conducted last week found only 29 favor military airstrikes and 48 are opposed. A new gallop poll found more opposition. 51 said they oppose strikes. The public is opposed to war. A substantial argument against the strikes. But the thing is this. If we look back over our history, well see the public is often wrong about whether or not to go to war. As world war ii flared in europe, the American Public desperately wanted the United States to keep to itself. The u. S. Suffered more than 300,000 casualties in the horrifying trench warfare of world war i and the country was in the midst of the great depression. President Franklin Roosevelt ran for a third term in 1940 he prompted voters he would do everything he could to keep the u. S. Out of the war vowing he would not send their sons to, quote, any foreign war. He won in a landslide. Of course, after the attack on pearl harbor a year later, that were sentiment of isolation dissipated. Some might call world war ii a mistake, we call the fighters part of the great eimmigration, launched an economic boom and established the United States as a world superpower. Most important our involvement was decisive in defeating the evil of the nazi regime. My point is the public, as history sees it, was wrong to oppose war. Now, lets look at more recent history. In the spring of 2003, 70 of americans supported the war in iraq but we were wrong. Now, iraq is struggling, sectarian violence increasing even as the country takes in hundreds of thousands of syrian war refugees. Now, only 46 believe the iraq war succeeded. Even support among republicans dropped dramatically. 2003, 90 of republicans thought it was the right decision to invade. In september it hit an alltime low of 58 . My point is not that the public opposition to this war should be discounted or that the public is ever just automatically wrong, members of congress will, as they should, take their constituents will into account when deciding how to vote. But we shouldnt assume what the people want the government should do is unquestionably what the government should do on the question of Foreign Policy. When president obama tossed the syrian question to congress he brought Public Opinion and its impact on the next round of elections into this process. He brought us into it. And that makes all of us complicit in whatever happens next. Joining me now is syndicated columnist bob franken, professor and the first iraq war veteran to serve in the u. S. Congress and political strategist michelle bernard. Thats melissa. Michelle is over there. Former congressman, i want to ask you this question as a former congressman. One of the most difficult places for Public Opinion to guide a member of congress is on the question of war, on the question of Foreign Policy. Sometimes were absolutely right. Sometimes history demonstrates we have been absolutely wrong. What would you do if you had to cast a vote on the syrian question today. No. It breaks my hard, its a tough call. At the end of the day we should not insert ourselves in the middle of the syrian civil war. Those casualties, those children being killed, 1400 women, children, and men have been killed by chemical weapons, it breaks my heart. But lobbing tomahawk missiles, number one, is an askt war. Number two, does it mean that its going to solve that solution. He could continue to use it, that means what does that mean next . Does that mean we have boots on the ground . Very clear path to mission creep. We need to exhaust our remedies. We need a vote in the u. N. Security council, those 15 nations that compromise Security Council havent voted, report will syrian nations which will tie the assad regime using them. Do it that month. Exhaust our remedies, go to the u. N. Let international focus. Can i say one last thing, a lot of the argument and debate, we cant ignore this. Thats a false choice. We are doing a lot on the ground. We need to make sure those million children and women refugees from syria, our allies in jordan. We need to make sure we ramp up and make this a robust effort humanitarian effort. Its not that youre against intervention of some kind, its that youre against military intervention. In part you say it is an act of war. Even when we talk about a limited strike, we have to have a recognition of that. As a military guy when they say, just some missiles. Those things go 500 miles an hour and blow things up and frankly there will be more civilian casualties even though we try to limit Collateral Damage. Obviously the biggest news of the day are the new videos we have. Appalling images of this chemical attack and appalling images of children suffering. You saw them yesterday. Where are you on this question right now . I feel that when you look at the videos you cannot help but think to yourself we have to do something. Number one priority is absolutely peace. Peace in the middle east, peace in syria. There is a huge problem. Syria is undergoing an enormous rape crisis. Women are raped as a tool of war. You look at the videos you see men, women, children gasping for air, frothing at the mouth. You cant help but say to yourself as the world superpower, dont we have a moral obligation to look and say what can we do to help those people. Bill clinton will tell you to this day he regrets not going to rwanda, regretted not doing more in the sudan. I think although we want peace and dont want to wage war, we have a moral obligation to do something. They are right. President obama with that same history, clinton era history about genocide. I want to ask you about this question of Public Opinion and how through our elected representatives. When we look at the current whip count, the current whip count seems to suggest at this moment, at least, president obama does not have the numbers he needs to get an approval between republicans and democrats who are either no or leaning no. You see there are 226 members of the house of representatives, no or leaning no. 182 moving in that direction. First do these whip counts meaning neg, secondly how does it start moving. As the congressman will tell you, were still in a key area. What was different about this issue and was also different in 1991 and 95 when we had similar votes in congress. The difference is the leaders say vote your conscious. There is not a party position. However, while nancy pelosi says that, nancy pelosi would love to shape the conscience, i think, of many people who work for her. We have a hobbs choice. When people come up to me now, as they oftentimes do on issues, they are extremely puzzled. They say, what do we do . They adopt have an opinion because there are lousy choices. Every argument you are making is certainly an arguable point, every one you are making is arguable. Just to go on the record as horrifying as they were yesterday, they didnt advance the knowledge. Weve already seen that kind of thing. But for every argument people make that were not the worlds policeman, you can counter it by saying, yes, if we give up that role, were giving up the role as the preeminent nation that controls various issues, including the economy. The other side of that, and i dont mean to go on too long. The other side is that if the president is rejected by congress on this, his presidency and the nations stature in the world suffers. Secondly you have the debt ceiling vote. If that fails, the United States is probably irrevocably knocked down a notch or two in the world, it will be a deadbeat nation economically and will not have a leadership role in the world. These are all tough issues. Just to echo what you were saying, i put together a blog post on my own blog about the different moral choices. One person i noted was representative chris gibson, a republican from new york. Basically hes a former army colonel. Hes against intervening. He talks about it as americanization of the civil war in syria and also bring up that ceiling appoint, brings up were not doing our own housekeeping. How can we take care of the world when were not taking care of ourselves. That particular thing can be read two ways. One can be, look, whatever we do internationally this will turn into a quagmire on the debt ceiling. At least were accomplishing something. Thats frances decision. Part of why they want to engage, feels to me, is because of the absolute economic crisis in france. Kind of like, nothing to see here, look over there instead. The other argue, of course, is that we must we have this kind of isolationist position that says we have to take care of own house first. I dont think i could do this all day but we have to get to commercial. Look, if its sunday time for message manage it, so far this message has been muddled, well talk when we come back. My mother made the best toffee in the world. Its delicious. So now weve turned her toffee into a business. My goal was to take an idea and make it happen. Im janet long and i formed my Toffee Company through legalzoom. I never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. Go to legalzoom. Com today and make your business dream a reality. At legalzoom. Com we put the law on your side. We go, go, we dont have to go solo fire, fire, you can take me higher take me to the mountains, start a revolution hold my hand, we can make, we can make a contribution brandnew season, keep it in motion cause the rhyme is the reason break through, man, it doesnt matter who youre talking to [ male announcer ] completely redesigned for whatever you love to do. The allnew nissan versa note. Your door to more. Your door to more. I asked my husband to pay our bill, and he forgot. You have the it card and its your first time missing a payment, so theres no late fee. Really . Yep so is your husband off the hook . No. He went out for milk last week and came back with a puppy. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. At discover, we treat you like youd treat you. Get the it card with late payment forgiveness. Nbc news has obtained a series of youtube videos of the chemical weapon attack in syria, shown members of senate in a classified meeting this week. The administration has verified the videos were recorded in several locations in syria after last months attack. Nbc news hasnt confirmed authenticity. Its graphic showing women, children, convulsing, frothing at the mouth. The pictures are so disturbing we on this program decided not to show very much of it, only selected images from some video. In a News Conference secretary of state john kerry made it clear that images like these are meant to help bomb sister the case for military strikes against syria. Those videos are for people to measure for themselves whether we want to unleash these weapons to potentially fall into the hands of terrible actors to potentially become used on a daily basis by anybody, anywhere because we didnt stand up. Thats whats at stake here. I dont think this case has been made enough to enough people and thats exactly why videos are posted and im glad they are. The administration is making an allout effort to move congress and American People in favor. Monday president obama will give interviews to anchors from six networks including nbc that will air during the evening news broadcast. Just as secretary kerry and on five sunday morning shows last week, white house chief of staff is appearing on five sunday morning programs today. Here he is on nbcs meet the press reiterating the administrations position. I hope that every member of congress before he or she decides how they will cast their vote will look at those pictures. Not a Single Member of congress rebutted the intelligence as i questioned them. The question thing becomes what are the consequences for him for having done this and what does the world read from how we react to it. The appearances are all part of the white houses effort to control the new cycle on the syria story on the key day ahead of congresss return. Secretary of state kerry is also trying to win overseas support. He met with the Arab League Foreign ministers in paris as part of a european tour. Nbcs Foreign Affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell traveling with the secretary and joins us live from paris. Andrea, whats the latest news from the secretarys travels this morning . He just completed his News Conference, his meetings with the arab league. Importantly he said that all of the Arab League Members here, melissa, all of them condemned the use of chemical weapons as deplorable and crossing an international and global red line. Beyond that he had saudis have endorsed airstrikes. He said that but the saudis do not. They did not appear on camera. Hes had no public pledges of support, privately several have been arming the opposition. The only country that has probably endorsed military strikes by the United States are, of course, the french. They are facing, though they negative Public Opinion just as the Public Opinion has been negative back in the states. Now the president in the last 48 hours said he wants a u. N. Report from the u. N. Inspectors on the chemical weapons before the u. S. Acts. Now they want a Security Council resolution or at least for u. S. To go back to the Security Council, russia has vetoed anything and push for another action by the Security Council. This would be presumably to show the last best effort similar to what happened a decade ago with iraq. This is what they will not countenance, kerry said ill listen to you, ill relay to obama, not clear whether they will go back to the u. N. Im wondering in that push for you and reports for Security Council approval, given this does seem to be the path dependency out of the last decade of engagement in iraq, there was u. N. Support. How does that sort of response affect what is clearly the credibility gap here or concern here . Its difficult for the United States to go it alone. The president indicated they might go alone, considered that. The french might, that would give some cover of legitimacy but the frempl says they dont want to do that without the u. N. Or fwak to the u. N. Thats wobbly, if i could use that term when we talked about the french war. French have gone soft publicly supportive but not on the timing. Plus youve got congress, a real question Dennis Mcdonough tried to address. David axelrod said it would be unlikely that the president would take action now that he asked for Authority Without approval. They do think they will get it from the senate. Now kerry will fly back and press hard on the senate and house. Hes considered to be one of the better advocates up there because he did spend almost 30 years in the senate. He knows players, house members. The house really is turned against this. The question is whether its potentially a senate vote will the president still take military action . That is very politically dangerous. Final question for you here. Messaging seems so not be working either domestically or internationally. Is there one message, one set of images, one clear piece of intelligence that would change Public Opinion . Well, they think these videos are really very, very compelling. Kerry, you saw him a week ago friday when he made that passionate speech, had no idea, none of the top officials, chief of staff, none had an idea the president would suggest that night going and asking for congresss authority. They all thought they were moving toward a final decision. That said, kerry has been passionately speaking about this and did it inch french here in paris yesterday. That was pretty impressive by the french, they are wowed by that they dont expect to see that from secretary of state. They make the holocaust comparison. Bill clinton has publicly said, ive heard him saying it, not doing anything about rwanda was the worst mistake of his eight years in the oval office. They are making the genocide argument, that once chemical weapons are used this broadly and devastatingly with the evidence that everyone seems to be accepting, there was no demure from the arab league it was done by assad and devastating. They think they can make this case and offering to do this as well with the russians. Andrea mitchell joining us from paris. Thank you so much. Were going to take a short break. When we come back the campaign component of the vote on syria. S 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 . No. [ male announcer ] share more. Save more. At t mobile share for business. One thing to be said for the politics of war, its not politics as usual. We cannot predict, for once, what congress will do when it debates the resolution authorizing the president to use military force against syria. A test vote in the Senate Wednesday revealed we cant expect the vote to fall along Traditional Party lines. Senate Foreign Relations approved in a vote 107, 7 voted to approve it but two broke away and voted no. Thr pfeifer voted against it but three voted aye. Ed markey voted present. How do we look at a moment like this, that is finally the bipartisanship were hoping for in congress but doesnt move us toward a fundamental agreement but a dividing line. We do have more than two sides. First of all i love how everybody is embracing the road to damascus. I hate to get biblical, the whole story is about converging on the road to damascus. I think what were going to see in the next couple of days is a full court effort to try and convert some of the votes. But i think that probably most of them are cast in concrete right now. What is so interesting bonlg, you have this coalition of democrats from vietnam, besides which they opposed bush administrations plural forays into iraq and afghanistan. They are inclined to vote against Something Like this. You have republicans who basically look for ways to embarrass president obama to put it bluntly. As serious as this, with all the implications, i dont think they will get away from this. You have, i hope youre not offended by this former congressman, but these days people in politics lead from behind. So the polls mean more than they ever did. When we look at the polls, part of this notion, cant determine it partisanship also seen in Public Opinion. When you look at Public Opinion polls, report by ideology shows conservatives, moderates, liberals are equally split on this. Moderates split, liberals more likely to oppose it but not more likely to oppose it than conservatives. You just cant sort of you couldnt follow Public Opinion polls here. Have you to lead on this one. I think part of the problem the obama administration, i have to point out because i think its fascinating. In 2008, barack obama was the dove, Hillary Clinton was the hawk. If you look at everything not the dove he just said not iraq, should have been afghanistan. That was the Public Perception. Everything hes done since hes been elected, i dont say this in terms of disparaging at all but a continuation of bush policies. Have you to let me i love you but that couldnt be further from the truth. One thing when he got in iraq, he said well bling them home. No, weve got to stay. I told American People im going to bring them home. He did that. Im going to hunt down bin laden, tripled troops in afghanistan, now saying bring them home. Thats what hes always said. The reason why i dont like the notion he was the dove, he never said im the dove. He said i have a specific policy and doctrine. The policy isnt the notion of intervention or not, the question of unilateralism of it. That was the thing the president believed he would not have to do, build global support. Part of it is the hand president obama and john kerry was dealt, our credibility as a country was completely diminished. It was one of the worst strategic blunders in American History was the iraq war. Were suffering from our intelligence, no weapons of mass destruction in iraq, no connection to 9 11. The reality is what were seeing now. Thats why the global world is saying not only the one that he was dealt. I think there have been some credibility issues that have come up because of the nsa matter. You and i probably disagree on that, but a lot of americans feel they have lied to in matters of national security. I will say nsa is gathering intelligence. Its not like the debate is we dont have enough information. Also were during iraq. Here is the problem in terms of this campaign and what we do in syria. Theres no doubt we have to do something. I dont know if its a military strike but we have to do something. Regardless of what he did, the Public Perception was that he was the dove. He has been muscular on Foreign Policy since he came into office. I dont think anyone is complaining about it. Were a nation that has finally come to understand that there is no such thing as a virtuous war. We dont want to refer to civilian deaths as Collateral Damage any longer. Thats the difficulty. Part of why i wanted to bring initially at the top of the hour the war weariness, the trench war of world war i, the war that was meant to end all wars was similar to where we were. I dont think syria is world war ii. But i do think the notion of the war weary nation of this nation than the Syrian People in the context of a civil war that displaced 7 Million People from their nation is a little bit of a kind of global egoism. Im going straight to you as soon as we come back. A quick break and well come back on this topic. We go, go, we dont have to go solo fire, fire, you can take me higher take me to the mountains, start a revolution hold my hand, we can make, we can make a contribution brandnew season, keep it in motion cause the rhyme is the reason break through, man, it doesnt matter who youre talking to [ male announcer ] completely redesigned for whatever you love to do. The allnew nissan versa note. Your door to more. I get out a lot. Except when its too cold. Like the last three weekends. Asthma doesnt affect my job. You missed the meeting again last week it doesnt affect my family. Your coughing woke me up again. I wish youd take me to the park. I dont use my rescue inhaler a lot. Depends on what you mean by a lot. Coping with asthma isnt controlling it. Test your level of control at asthma. Com, then talk to your doctor. There may be more you could do for your asthma. Were back and talking about the politics of the syria decision. The point you were making on the break is this might not be about intelligence as it was in the context of iraq but instead whether or not we can effectively make any difference if we do go in. Absolutely. Theres been good analysis, strat 4, basically an intelligence think tank that produces analytics that are depressing about our chance for success. Its very difficult for a nation like the United States, which is used to be a Problem Solver to realize we may not be able to solve everything. Afghanistan is a classic example. Afghanistan we may have done some good but that country is virtually ungovernable in and of itself. With or without u. S. Intervention its factional ayized. Syria, post colonial hangover, state cobbled together by colonial powers. People there dont like each other because they didnt intend to be one country. I feel the soldier emerging over here. Youre right. Our military did a great job in afghanistan, now a solution, not military might, the same with syria. Thats because the lobbing our tomahawk missiles does not mean they wont use chemical weapons. Thats why the end game is so murky. We need organic solutions within this country. It cant be inorganic. We cant impose our will. Thats the arrogance we moved away for in the bush regime. I thought there was a will to impose, the will of the International Community on the use of certain kinds of weapons. I still havent quite figured out where i stand on all this but im not quite sure i buy when theres some sorts of atrocities even if we cant be fully effective, you still have the responsibility to demonstrate the World Community is against this. Theres also the problem theres no perception these guys missouri what they are doing, they are going to lob a few missiles. For what . Nobody seems to answer that question. Weve had that problem before. Im about to go for three times i potentially offend you here. The military when it went into iraq had absolutely no idea what it was going to do if shock and awe didnt work in a coupleof days. I was on the ground, i watched that, watched them fumbling around dealing with a culture they didnt understand and really had no idea what they were doing. Can i pose a question to the military person. This is what ive been grappling with and i dont know what to do. I feel we have a moral obligation to do something. We didnt lob any kind of missiles against south africa but the world sat back, United States sat back and said the system of apartheid is an absolute atrocity. Outside of military intervention, what is it we can do . Several things. We could really address the refugee issue because there are millions of syrians in jordan and lebanon. They need help. Those two countries are bursting at the seams. They are desperate. We helped a little bit. We could rally that and affect millions of people versus the thousand that were killed, which is tragic. Yet those are not mutually exclusive options. They are not as sexy. Apartheid is evil at its core but also not chemical weapon warfare. Let me ask this question that seems to be at the table here. Lets talk about john kerry for a moment who came out so strong. We dont care what the u. N. Says, were going. Then the president comes out and says were going to wait for a minute and talk to congress. I feel like ive seen strain on kerrys face since that moment. How much politics in the administration not only just everybody is celebrating john kerry for being so passionate. Some people, however, and im one of them, think he may have gone over the top when he made the speech telling World Leaders this is munich, appeasement involved here, if you dont support United States mission, youre that could offend those World Leaders. I have to disagree. I think every statement kerry has given since this whole thing erupted has been very important showing just exactly what is at stake. I would venture to guess what were seeing in his face is that someone in the administration has said to him it is your job to build International Support for this. We cant go in alone. I have to say i thought his speech was the speech of his life. You were like, oh, man, where were you when you ran for president. I think its john kerry and Samantha Power in the white house really pushing. And susan wright. But i would just say just because dont confuse more restraint on lack of compassion or lack of courage. It was the american forces. I served in bosnia where you cant walk in the grass because of land mines. I was in egypt where they were killing muslims. This wasnt black, white thing. It wasnt until bill clinton went in to send the troops in to stop that. For me its tough to moderate the conversation about either they didnt know what they were doing or they were because i recognize what is happening on the battlefield and strategy of world is something far beyond my sort of horizon of knowledge. But i appreciate your point its not about lack of courage. Potentially world weariness question. I want to be sure when we talk about world weariness, whatever our reality is its not the realities youve talked about. I want to say to other folks youre leaving us. Both of you have talked about what else can we do. Theres more than 7 Million People who have fled their homes, a third of the population. If you want to answer the question both patrick and michelle asked, what else can we do, United States refugee agencies is raising money for them. You, if you want to do something that is not lobbing a missile, donate on the rebz. We sent it out on our link, twitter feed, mhp show. Information on our website, mhp. Com. A little thing but there is something can you do this morning. One of our favorite nerdland guests to the studio. Everything he comes on he brings doughnuts but i suspect this time he brought something a little extra. Unh hey lets go [ male announcer ] you can choose to blend in. Yeah yeah yeah or you can choose to blend out. Oh, yeaheah the allnew 2014 lexus is. Its your move. [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. Some are giant. Some not so giant. When managing your weight, bigger is always better. Ho ho ho green giant hes one of our favorite nerdland guests. Not just because he always brings us mouth watering doughnuts or the occasionally locally brewed sixpack. Allentown pennsylvania mayor helped turn around a financially struggling city. After inheriting an 8 million deficit in 2006 he transformed coffers into a 14 million cash reserve to help the city weather the economic downturn. Now he has Something Special to announcement were pleased nerdland gets to hear it first. Good morning, mayor, how are you . Good morning, how are you . Whats the big announcement. Im here to tell you, the first time, i think, that tomorrow in the city of allentown im going to be announcing ill be running for governor of the state of pennsylvania in 2014. Governor of pennsylvania is not a small job. It is not a small job. When i think about pennsylvania i think about the realities of an urban space and rural space. Talk to me about what you see about the characteristics of pennsylvania. Why youre running here. Pennsylvania is a diverse state as you pointed out. We have very rural areas, urban areas, pittsburgh on one side, philadelphia on the other. Allentown, of course. Allentown is the Third Largest in the city of pennsylvania. We have a very diverse set of problems. We have issues affecting our urban cores, affecting rural areas, issues of fracking happening and natural gas throughout the state. Its a diverse set of issues, big state, fifth most populace in the country. I have to tell you having driven back and forth its a long state as well. Youre going to be driving around in a bus. An rv. We have an rv weve had wrapped. We will be hitting 20 cancer in nine days. So tell me, you have a background in urban planning and Public Policy when you say theres these diversion things. What do you have for the core planned for urban part, well talk about the other. Philadelphia has had economic crisis. What have you learned from allentown you will put into play. Allin town is a great story, like every other rust belt city in the northeast and midwest. We were on the verge of collapse when i came in eight years ago. Our economy was failing. We didnt have jobs, economic growth. We were really on the brink of bankruptcy. In eight years we turned that around. We now have a solid Fiscal Foundation to build upon. We turn multimillion dollar deficits, we solved our pension problem through aw newsweek solution we came up with. Were the only municipality in the state that has a fully funded pen, maybe one of the few in the country. We have a billion dollars of new Economic Development coming into our city because of really unique Economic Development zone, bipartisan effort we developed in the city of allentown. Over 4,000 jobs coming in. This year in 2014 for the 9th Straight Year in a row our citizens are not going to see a property tax. Theres not many cities that can say that, not only in pennsylvania but across the country. I think what ive learned in being mayor is that, you know let me back up. One of the problems i cant let you back up, only because they are going to calm my time. That said, youre going to hang out with us. Im going to hang out with you. Stay with us. Well talk more about mayors, what we learned from this, leadership. Well have doughnuts. The mayor always brings doughnuts. What else do you want from somebody who is going to be governor. More when we come back. On. Give them the basics, you know. 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. The middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom. Im fed up with always having to put my bladders needs ahead of my daughter. So today, im finally talking to my doctor about Overactive Bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know that gotta go feeling . Ask your doctor about prescription toviaz. One toviaz pill a day significantly reduces sudden urges and accidents, for 24 hours. If you have certain stomach problems or glaucoma, or can not empty your bladder, you should not take toviaz. Get emergency medical help right away if your face, lips, throat or tongue swells. Toviaz can cause blurred vision, dizziness, drowsiness and decreased sweating. Do not drive, operate machinery or do unsafe tasks until you know how toviaz affects you. The most common side effects are dry mouth and constipation. Talk to your doctor about toviaz. Primary will take place tuesday september 190. Yesterday new York Magazine published an interview with outgoing third term mayor Michael Bloomberg that revealed a great deal about him and frontrunner bill de blasio who has served with his stances. The campaign may be popular with voters but mayor bloomberg doesnt care much for it, his ads featuring his black wife and biracial children called his Campaign Class warfare and racist in the interview in new York Magazine. Bloom beryl tried to qualify immediately afterwards saying no, no, making an appeal using his family to gain support. I think its pretty obvious to anyone watching what hes doing. I dont think he himself is racist, comparable to me pointing out im jewish and attracting the jewish vote. Did he blass i don de blasio with this. Inappropriate. I hope hell realize it was inappropriate. I think the people of this city are ready to move forward together. David george and back again syndicated columnist and journalism professor. What do you make of bloombergs p comments. Bloom bido. One of the nicknames on the twitter feed. What strikes me as fascinating, when you look at this interview by mayor bloomberg, who im not against. It reveals achilles heel on class. Why poor and working class people should be happy to be poor and working class. Im more worried about his class comment. What he did, he said that hes in favor of the New York Times endorsing Christine Quinn. He essentially forced Christine Quinn to denounce his remarks about race. How does that help your candidate . Its an achilles heelorama. He knows how important the word race is. He should be ashamed of himself for using it and then trying to get out of it. Hes the oligarc. All these rationalizations for the unsavory acts of the people in his club. I know, robert, you and i will disagree on that. The last thing is people who use the term class warfare are the very people who conducted class warfare against everybody but the super rich class, that kind of thing. It was an amazing interview. It was. I want to ask you, if i were to give bloomberg on the race question alone the kind of broadest, i think most generous reading i can, its really there are sort of two ways of using and pelg the word racist. I know it seems a little academic. Thats why were here. I want to present an idea, one is the idea of raceist, someone who thinks about race, puts it at the top, thinks of it as a meaningful category, uses it to understand and persuade. The other is racist, believing some particular race is superior to another and acting on it. In the most generous reading i have, what hes saying is de blasio is racist, thinking about it and activating it as a category, which i dont think of as necessary problematic. I think you may have given bloomberg one of the most fair most generous reading. But politically speaking if its possible for a candidate not running to create a career killing gaffe, this was basically it. The people most furious about what bloomberg did are chris quinn and Bill Thompson. Dependent do them any good. They are running behind de blasio right now, trying to close the gap in the next couple of days. Bloomberg created a whole public sympathy towards de blasio and his family. That ad we saw a little about of bill de blasios son dante, everybody saw it as one of the best ad of the last 20 or 30 years. Showing your family and showing how the fact of certain policies impact your family, thats certainly fair game. Look, i think i virulently disagree with de blasio on stop and frisk. What bloomberg did was blow up the campaign very poorly for people he actually would support. Were going to take a quick break and come right back. I think this point is an important one, this idea to show you have a family is sort of politics 101. The fact that his family happens to be an interracial family is simply and identity. Whats key here for me is de blasio does not say vote for me in this base identity way because i love a black woman and raised black children, its not identity but policy. He says support me because im against stop and frisk. I was early out of the gate against stop and frisk which is the exact opposite of identity politics. Bill de blasio is running a Similar Campaign against quinn that barack obama ran against Hillary Clinton. That is fascinating. I want to play with that a little more. New york is not the only city where race is playing a factor in mayoral campaigns, new york to boston, detroit, race is very much a factor in the race for mayor. Plus the color of the catwalk. Were going to talk bouse diversity in fashion with an allstar panel, including the fabulous j. Alexander. There is always more nerdland at the top of the hour. With the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his Small Business. Take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorns Small Business earns double miles on every purchase every day. Produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less . Ahh, oh [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. Heres your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark Business Card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. Choose double miles or 2 cash back on every purchase every day. Whats in your wallet . [ crows ] now wheres the Snooze Button . [ crows ] peace of mind is important when so we provide it services you bucan rely on. With centurylink as your trusted it partner, youll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. Multilayered Security Solutions keep your information safe, and secure. And responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. Centurylink. Your link to whats next. Im melissa harrisperry. A very poorly behaved nerdland table at the commercial break. Xxxxrace has hardly ever not been in massachusetts, where riots, other disturb answers from mid 1970s through 1980s. Boston has never had a mayor who wasnt white. On the flip side detroit, michigan, 80 black and only black mayors since 1974, both boston and detroit could be on the verge of a big change. This week detroit certified the results of its mayoral primary. The winner writein candidate mike duggan who heads in to become the first white mayor. In boston, the mayor told the New York Times if he were the mayor of detroit hed blow up the place and start all over, a comment that has drawn shame from the current mayor. In boston right now since of the 12 contenders to replace the retiring mayor are people of color. Theres been outcry about an announced nonwhites only candidates foreign scheduled for tuesday. Of course here in new york city weve seen big victories in the last month for civil rights in the court where stop and frisk was ruled unconstitutional and city council which overruled mayor bloombergs veto of the law adding protections against police profiling. Not a surprise that the socalled bill de blasio surged to lead over Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson leading up to tuesdays democratic primary. Joining us are allentown mayor ed pawlowski, bob franken and farai. Im the only mayor at the table. Youre seeking higher office, seeking to be governor. In both cases, being a mayor of a diverse state, how do you governor for all the people . I think its a very good question. You know, allentown i think is pretty much a melting pot like a lot of other cities are. 50 minority population, 40 latino, 12 africanamerican, large syrian population, turkish, indian population, caucasian population. And i am definitely the minority in my city. Yet ive been elected two terms. Im running for my third term, hope to be elected there. When you look at the issues affecting urban areas, have you to look at that people just want to see some change. They dont want gridlock, republican way, democratic way, they want to make sure whoever is in charge actually cares about them. They want good sales, safe streets. It doesnt matter what race you are as long as youre being able to give them solutions to those problems affecting them on a daily basis. Thats what they want to see at the end of the day. Thats an interesting question in the context of new york. Bloomberg is not a democrat, a republican, he defies the narrow constraints of what conservative or liberal would be. He is a rich guy. Not that rich guy would necessarily mean one is an oligarc. This article, you get the sense he doesnt get the experience and reflection of diversity. The language in the article is consistent with what he said any number of times in his opposition to the people, the occupy wall street people, that kind of thing. By the way, i have to say ive been a bit distressed were having this conversation about mayors races and have not talked about Anthony Weiner and i wanted to, in fact, make sure that did you actually hear me say in the makeup room how excited i was i no longer have to say that. How could we have a discussion that was just cheap shots. Back to the point, bloomberg style has been one of top down, sort of the corporate style. That doesnt necessarily work as im sure you can argue when youre working in a democratic government. Its an entirely different ball game. Let me bring up practical points about new york that echo the larger discussions were going to have. I live in a neighborhood, Crown Heights brooklyn, predominantly west indian, Anthony Weiner, aka carlos danger tried to do some jamaican postings. Goldman sachs is now investing in the neighborhood, white hipsters who got priced out of williamsburg are coming down a certain avenue, bedford into Crown Heights. What ear seeing are classic gentrification. Overall in america across mayoralties, how can you treat everyone with respect. A lot of my neighbors work two full time jobs to pay to live in new york. They are not free loaders. They are not coasting. They are the backbone of this city. What bloombergs interview did was disrespect the people. There is a great photo series humans of new york, a woman, dominican american talks about having to shower and go to her next job. Underline the respect point for just a moment. Bill de blasio was christine mccrayon twitter, mike bloomberg, enough of pat remarkable thinking im not a property or tool to be used or control, stop the sexism. What she did was not go to race but acting as if she was deployed as a tool constitute sexism. Theres a kind of its kind of interesting how we play these games. It was just a couple weeks ago where people were wondering whether de blasios wife in her interview with maureen dowd was playing im married and i have kids, chris quinn, who is gay, does not have kids, whether they were trying to play the family card there. So its kind of interesting how these different kinds of identities play out. Respectability and queer politics. Everyone is going to take advantage of these kinds of gaffes when they pop up. Keep in mind, they are all politicians and none of them a very long article. Its certainly easy to go in, thats why i wanted to do racist. I wasnt a gaffe, its a world view going on there. Its completely and totally indefensible. One thing the politicians often have in common with the mafia is that families are off limits. Mike bloomberg seriously crossed that line. To farais point, the neighborhood she was talking about, that was a site 20 years ago of the riots between blacks and jews and so forth. The fact we are talking about the different kinds of tensions going on there, a little more class based and its not just about race, that shows how much new york has improved. Absolutely. Mike bloomberg can take some credit for that. The fact he doesnt recognize that pause for me. Stay right there. Up next bostons mayoral race and the candidate trying to make history who will join us right here in nerdland. [ crashing ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. Heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. Tum, tum tum tum tums we go, go, we dont have to go solo fire, fire, you can take me higher take me to the mountains, start a revolution hold my hand, we can make, we can make a contribution brandnew season, keep it in motion cause the rhyme is the reason break through, man, it doesnt matter who youre talking to [ male announcer ] completely redesigned for whatever you love to do. The allnew nissan versa note. Your door to more. Your door to more. How can i help you . Oh, youre real . You know im real at discover, were always here to talk. Good, cause i dont have time for machines. Some Companies Just dont appreciate the power of conversation you know, i like you i like you too at discover, we treat you like youd treat you. Get the it card and talk to a real person. 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 . No. [ male announcer ] share more. Save more. At t mobile share for business. The race to replace longtime boston mayor tom menino is wide open with 12 candidates vying for the job. Menino held for 20 years. Its a crowded field by one stands out in particular, state representative charlotte richie. The only one in the race. If elected, the first africanamerican mayor and first woman to lead the city. She joins us from boston. So nice to have you with us. Its a pleasure to be here, melissa. Thank you. Let me ask you a question. 12 people is a lot. Six nonwhites are running. Now, normally theres sort of a pregame process often in minority communities, you build consensus, end up with one or two running. How did you end up with a crowded field . I have no problem with the fact we have 12 candidates running and half the candidates are from communities of color. I think its invigorating, inspiring, history making. Im happy to be among them. Ive known many of them, worked with many of them and everybody wants to do right by the city of boston. They want us to move the city. Of course i think im uniquely qualified for this position. I have a unique set of experiences and perspective that puts me in a particular advantageous position, i believe. I have served as a legislator and i also was chief of housing for city of boston working with mayor menino for eight years, helped build much of the city strengthening Small Businesses, bringing neighborhoods across boston. Obviously im excited about the respect. Housing issues in boston are fraught with concerns around race as they are in many cities. Talk to me, then, in a race that has campaign that has six nonwhite candidates in it, six people from communities of color how people are navigating the question of race at this moment. Race, interesting. I would say this. First of all ive been in politics for two decades and government for two decades at least. We see boston as a worldclass city. It is more open, more accessible than it has ever been probably in its history. People from all over the country, the world flock to this city to attend our worldclass universities, to receive medical care at worldclass hospitals. This is the place to be. Race is still an issue that rares its i dont want to say ugly head but its head very often. We saw that last week. The Candidates Forum that only invited the six candidates who come from communities of color. Are you planning to take part of this kind of no whites allowed debate . Ive made it very clear, melissa, that i am going to respectfully bow out of that. I think the organizers have decided to expand the invitation list and allow for all the candidates to attend a forum. So the situation has changed. Early on when the forum was conceived it was intended for candidates of color. I dont think the intention was to, you know, sort of say to the white candidates they have noing to say but to shine a light on the fact that we are making history if we are able to elect a candidate of color in boston. I want to bring you in. That was the challenge. I was reading this notion Candidates Forum only candidates of color. I understand. I understand the impulse of it but i also retracted a little bit in part because i feel like white candidates must theres a difference who is at the table ie only candidates of color and what issues are on the table. If you threw a forum and said lets face issues facing white, brown, caucasian american bostonians thats different. Thats a topic debate. Hopefully this will weve had those forums you speak to a community about concerns. How would you do that in new york . Would bill de blasio be allowed to come . He could send his wife. Thats the kind of world were in right now. Trying to do Something Like blacks only or communities of color seems so 60s or 70s. What i dont want to miss, as much as on the one hand there are issues that face communities and i want white candidates to speak to communities of color, thats why we wanted you here, there is something history making about identity, doesnt mean your candidacy would be better or worse for women or people of color but is different, something embodied in a candidate from those communities. No doubt about it. Here in boston, people of color make up about 53 of the population. Women are about 52 and probably the majority of the electorate. So i understand the historical significance of collecting a woman and a woman of color. That will be big in the city of boston. Its not just people of color or women excited about that notion. A lot of people, men and women and plaques and latinos and asians and whites are all excited about the notion we might be able to make history. The question is, this is a short race. If im successful i can write a book on how to become mayor in five months. Mayor decided rubbingantly he was not going to seek reelection so we had to all pull this sort of out of a hat. I will say i had run for Legislature Since 1998, didnt have a war chest sitting there, an organization in place. Were able to hit the ground running, gaining momentum every day. Thank you all at the table. Thank you so much. Up next, were going to take race to a different place, the runway. Were talking fashion and diversity with the one and only j. Alexander. Im going to walk and im a nerd and its really something when we come back. Man sometimes its like were still in college. But with a mortgage. And the furnitures a lot nicer. And suddenly, the most important person in my life is someone i havent even met yet. Who matters most to you says the most about you. At massmutual were owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. As you plan your next step, well help you get there. Its about to get fierce up in nerdland, fashionably fierce. Were smackdab in the middle of new yorks fashion week where top designers come for 2014. Jason wu if you have any extras with a generous cut in the hips, send them to 30 rock for me. As fabulous as all this is, theres one thing about this week thats not fashion forward, the continued lack of diversity on the runway. According to jezebel. Com during fall winter 2013 shows this week, 82. 7 were white, 9. 1 asian, 6 black and 2 latina,. 3 other. Reflecting only one portion of society is neither fashionable or fierce. Joining me is the fiercist fashion insider model and runway coach j. Alexander who you may remember as a successful run on americas top model. Im excited youre here. Good morning. Why do we care about fashion, 32 million comes to new york as a result of fashion week but why do we care about fashion . Fashion is about diversity, melting pot america or new york city. Many people of many different races and shades and colors wear fashion winter, spring, summer and fall. Talk to me about the role of the runway. It feels to me on the question of diversity. On the one hand i look at colors of magazines we have, except for karen washington on the glamour, there isnt a woman of color, particularly september issues around fashion week. Yet if i start flipping through, it feels like on the pages in print there is some diversity. But the runways, extraordinarily homogeneous. Whats the difference between the runway, what is the role the runway plays . The role the runway plays is to get the ideas, fantasy, marketing out. You get women to buy and to dream and fantasize about being these girls on the runway. When we see Fashion Shows as people of color, i think we tend to look for someone we can identify with. If we dont see it, were almost feel as though were forgotten in that sense that we dont buy clothes, were not interested in fashion. Many, many blacks, females, spend millions on clothes yearly. Is whiteness aspirational . Is that why in other words, do we not aspire to be the brownskinned girl with wide features and short hair. Do we only aspire to be this . We can aspire to be that girl, that black girl thats not so ethnic in her features. If youre going to look at leia, first black face of estee lauder. She can relate to a black girl, a latina girl, dominican girl. She can relate, if you get someone moret nick, full lips and wide nose, that may not translate to their audience they feel they would like to sell clothing to, if it makes sense. Is there a stereotype or assumption we dont have money, africanamericans dont have money to spend on fashion, therefore thats why it doesnt matter . I dont know if thats the assumption. As we all know, thats completely false. Theres so much money running around and black people spending so much money on not only clothes but many other things as well. I think when people are casting shows, or the designer gets inspired and does an inspiration board, i dont think he thinks of race in it. He just thinking of his own inspiration, idea, how to translate that to the catwalk unless they are thinking about a show thats sort of like ethnic, like african prints, you know, very exotic. At one point you had girls who would be put in a catwalk as that one black girl because we complained. We had issues with it. So you would get one black girl. But that one black girl was always that one black girl you wasnt sure what she was. Let me ask you about one black woman critical to shaping the world over the last five years, Michelle Obama. So many people love her style. I wanted to show you the image of Michelle Obama walking. How would you judge the first ladys walk . As i look michelles walk, she has that walk that shes just doing her thing. Shes moving. If i had to really get into her walk, id have her stand up a little straighter. Sometimes i think tall girls. She has that complex, taller than her husband, wont wear a really high heel. She just tries to sort of lay back, let him be the person thats in the forefront and shes just going to sit back a bit. Id spend some time, she could be sort of like a little hidden in the back. You inject just an ounce more fierceness. Michelle, before you get out of that white house, call me, girl. Weve got some walking to do. Stay with me, were going to add a couple more terrific voices to the table when we come back. The lack of diversity in fashion is nothing new. Five years ago vogue published the article, is fashion racist. Former friend and model bethany hardson sent letters to major Design Councils which said, no matter the intention, the result is racism, whether the decision of the designer, stylist, casting director, the decision to use basically all white models reveals a trait that is unbecoming to modern society. At the table, im beside myself model and runway coach j. Alexander, took a plus sized supermodel, contestant on cycle three of americas top model, editor in chief of essence and a plus size body advocate. Thank you all for being here. I want to start with you. Lets go into it. I feel like on the one hand were saying, okay, we need more women of color in this space. Then i hear so many critiques of the space. Should i want more girls here or change the whole space all together on modeling. Plus. I am a plus size model. Were talking about black models on the runway. Its a double whammy. Not only am i black but im full figured. We need all models, yes. What difference does it make . I have an 11. 5yearold daughter. What difference does it make when she looks at the cover of the magazines there are images like her. If we dont see us, how do we know what to aspire to do. We need the exposure, so we know we can continue to grow. Putting one here and there is not going to do it. It frustrates me. Very frustrating. I was just in a show on monday. Not only was i the only plus black girl but i was a plus girl, too. The agency calls are you the only plus girls there . Are there any plus girls there . Even bloggers said, toccara, we want to know who the plus girl was. Its a big thing. It was just me. We need to see more faces. The thing is when we speak about it is when they toss one or two of us in the show. Then after that it gets quiet. Then somebody brings it up again i dont know. I get kind of scared. It is my business. Then i talk about it, its like im talking about my business i want to be in. Youve got to be careful. I want you to put me in your runway shows. I want to be seen. If im steady saying youre not showing me, not representing me, its turning them off because i have a voice and im not afraid to say something. Thats why its critical for essence magazine to exist. Weve been here for years, in the beginning it was very difficult to find anyone. Literally susan taylor, the beauty director at the time would look for women on the street. She discovered oppose her on a city bus. We would go to College Campus looking for models because there wasnt enough diversity to choose from. Its still a challenge today. Interesting. The existence of a space like essence gives live to the notion there arent exquisite beautiful women of color that can do this work, there is. July essence, the body issue, i interviewed my 11yearold daughter and she told me how she felt about her body. I dont know i would have done it in a space other than essence. I knew black women readers would have a kindness, softness towards reading about my daughter that im not sure if readers of other magazines might have. Weve embraced diversity for 43 years. Its very important to us to show the range of sizes, shapes, and you do a good job of that. There is such a dearth. Im shocked were still talking about this, that were still having this conversation. Its amazing in this day and age we dont have ceos and designers and people around the Conference Room tables taking it beyond just the designers choosing or the minions of the people choosing the models but really the brothers, the fathers, the mothers, the sisters, the aunts. Whether its an africanamerican issue or a size issue, quite frankly, we need to take more responsibility of what were projecting out into the world. Its no longer the haute couture exclusive places buyers interested in fashion were there to choose and to pick, its nour everywhere. So when our children, i, too, share a beautiful 12yearold, and 11yearold, were all blossoming. We blossomed in this exclusive place. We need to remember when we book models and shows, not only are we doing it for buyers but the way women see themselves around the world. J. , if the world of fashion becomes more democratic, little d, does it take aspirational part away. Of friend that looks like this. You have to have top models, youre not going to have just any full figured woman or africanAmerican Woman. You have to choose what is right for your show, right for your image. I say when it comes down to signing those contracts up in the beauty department, i think the man who is white is sort of like signing a contract p to a com his wife can look up to, if that makes sense. I can only imagine at the boardroom or table when leah signed onto estee lauder. Were going to stay on this. Im going to come right back to you. I dont have any friends that look like you. Its bizarre to be setting to you and have the level of gorgeousness coming off of her right now. J. Alexander tries to teach me how to walk the runway. People, nerd, its real when we come back. We go, go, we dont have to go solo fire, fire, you can take me higher take me to the mountains, start a revolution hold my hand, we can make, we can make a contribution brandnew season, keep it in motion cause the rhyme is the reason break through, man, it doesnt matter who youre talking to [ male announcer ] completely redesigned for whatever you love to do. The allnew nissan versa note. Your door to more. I dont miss out. You sat out most of our game yesterday asthma doesnt affect my job. You were out sick last week. My asthma doesnt bother my family. You coughed all through our date night i hardly use my rescue inhaler at all. What did you say . How about every day . Coping with asthma isnt controlling it. Test your level of control at asthma. Com, then talk to your doctor. There may be more you could do for your asthma. Women who model they have to walk the catwalk in six inch heels and not fall. Here i am with j. Who tried to teach me to get my model walk on earlier. Youre so light on your feet. Here we go. Were going to try nerd walking. Here we go. Shoulder back. Relax. Feels very tense. Youre like this. That was lovely. Thank you. In all seriousness, in addition to walking and not falling models face the constant scrutiny around their bodies and their size. The average American Woman size 12 to 14, the pressure to be thin can be down right dangerous. This the moment we were just having when i was saying the idea of you as a plus size is bizarre. Im sitting next to you. You look like a human size human to me. Whats a human sized human. Human sized american. Youre tiny. I look like an average sized american, we were talking during the break. I say im a plus size model because thats what they call me. Thats what im labeled at. Woman with a figure. I call myself a woman with a figure. I am the average sized american. Like j. Said were in this business where you do have to fit measurements, a certain within guidelines for your job position. So they do have their regulations. They divide them. Thats the title they gave them. I embraced it because i am plus, more, fabulous, nothing negative about me. But i do embrace what emme told me, so many are stuck its a bad word. Even though plus is a positive word, they made it a negative word. Since i do have a voice i have to now be able to say, lets keep that there and lets keep a new word. Want to call it curvy, whats going to empower us, make us feel good onabout ourselves. If you feel better saying curvaceous, lets do that. This has been your work, your campaign. Theres a spraying, straight size versus curvy girl. Always. I think if we dont keep using our voices on vehicles like this, thank you so much, melissa and ebony, thank you so much, as well as a couple of other magazines that work on having diversified body shape. We could always use more diversity in color as well. If we dont keep using our voices and actually maybe playing do a game changer. Possibly let the individuals who are making the decisions know about the problems with eating disorders that are hurting the country and talk about their own children. They are making these decisions no longer just a very small few seeing whatever they are reflecting out there. The images of beauty is a much wider j. , go. The thing is, education starts at home. Thats right. I always say if you walk up to the door and a super person answers the door, a super person in the house. Its up to you two women to let girls know who are a little sexier with a little bit of weight how to dress that weight. I saw a tv show, dress the fat. I saw a young girl sat next to me, across from me. I took a picture of her. First time i ever stopped someone in public and put her on the stop. She was walking trying to keep her skirt down, dress down. I took her, took a picture of the front and back. She cant find clothes, j. Instructional moment here. Im sensitive. So im going to take that dress, i know its too damn short. Tight but cute looking. Took the picture on my phone. When i was top model, i had to get dressed you put me in this store century 21, i had to wear a muumuu or something its not fair. Safety pins and tape on my back. There really needs to be a reality check. When you look at what the predominant majority says, they are very comfortable, especially our readers if they are thick, curvy, embrace it. They have not a problem with it. The people at the table making the decisions have to be very deliberate and comfortable with the fact that we, the public, are fine with our curves. Its not about not being healthy. You look at Digital Health scorecard, bmi, you can be healthy with curves. You dont have to be pencil thin. Black women carry a higher bmi with similar body measurements. I think this point is such an important one. We say, okay, these folks at the top arent comfortable with it, so it must be filtered to the bottom. The other piece is part of what black and brown women bring to the table is a preference for a little behind and a Little Something happening. Other cultures are referring a little more behind, too. They always have. I think they always have. Its just that in the fashion world it is its very much one way. Does first lady obama make any difference here . Shes not only africanAmerican Woman style icon, tall, muscular, she certainly has a figure, shes not a pencil. Does it make a difference to have that woman as first lady represent the diversity. A huge difference. We did a survey for our july body issue. 2500 black women responded. One of their icons, body image icon Michelle Obama, the other one beyonce, the other angela bassett. What about my girl carrie. There we go, all of it. Embracing all of it. I so appreciate you being here. Maybe well come back again. I cant tell you, im beside myself with all of you here. Thank you so much. Up next we are taking another turn here. The author whose books could be all over your home without you even knowing it, 60 million already sold and more to come. By the way, my executive producer is currently jumping up and down and clapping about our desk of the executive producer is the tall one, not the little one. Okay ladies, whenever youre ready. Thank you. Thank you. I got this. Oh, no, ill get it let me get it. Uhuhuh. I dont want you to pay for this. Its not happening, honey. Let her get it. She got her safe driving bonus check from allstate last week. And its her treat. What about a tip . Oh, heres one. Get an allstate agent. Nice [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. Only from allstate. Call 8669056500 now. Here we go hold on man. Is that a leak up there . Thats a drip. Whoo. Okay. Aah. Now thats a leak. That is a leak and if you dont have allstate renters insurance. Game over. [ female announcer ] protect your valuables from things like water damage for as low as 4 a month when you add renters insurance to your allstate auto policy. Call 8669056500 now. Plus, drivers who switched saved an average of 498 a year. Just a few more ways allstate is changing Car Insurance for good. [ female announcer ] call an allstate agent and get a quote now. [ female announcer ] call an allstate agent theyre the days to take care of business. When possibilities become reality. With centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary Cloud Infrastructure and Global Broadband network free you to focus on what matters. With Custom Communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. Every day of the week. Centurylink® your link to whats next. Pop quiz. Can you name this artist . Fourtime New York Times best seller with one book reaching number one and staying on the list for an entire year. This person, here is another hint, is a she. She has sold more than 60 million books. Wait, theres more. In addition to books she has been creating greeting cards for the past 40 years. With 300 million of those sold. But wait, theres more. In addition to writing and illustrating books shes written songs, directed and produced five musical albums, one of which landed her a grammy nomination. Wait, theres more this person collaborated with performers like meryl streep, blues traveler, kate winslet to name a few. Can you guess who it is yet . Look around your house and youll find her name, hippos go alert. Frog or turtle or cow, if they are not male or female or fat or skinny or black or white. Or young or old. They can just be themselves. They sort of are the essence of qualities rather than some sort of divisive place or hyper identified place. They are just themselves. Do you write for children . I write for everyone. I love to write for children. To me the best childrens work is for everyone and meant to be shared by everyone. This latest project, ages one to older than dirt because that seems to be the right demographic for it. Part of it is as parents especially when our kids are this age, we read to them. If this story engage us, feel happy, excited, sad melancholy about it, it helps of we put more into the reading. Kids are delighted to share their Favorite Book with their parents. If their parents love what they are reading to them, thats exciting for the child as well. Why the music . Books and ability to hand and feel is a great sufficient for a child. Why the music as well . I do the music with a book, partly stands on its own. Selfindulgence. I love music. I have four kids. I got to the point when they were little, i didnt think the music made for children in general was complex enough. I thought there shouldnt be a distinction. You shouldnt know if youre hearing it remotely is that a childrens or adult song, you shouldnt know. Its the subject matter. I wanted to produce music, write and produce the kind of music i wanted to listen to with my children. Talk about the new project. Its my fifth book cd combination, first Country Music album. People kept asking me because of the other albums ive done, why havent you done a Country Music album. I thought, its not a question im from philadelphia. Then i thought, wait, it actually does make sense to me. Anyone growing up in my era, especially Country Music permeated the culture. Im the same age as rock and roll. Being in philadelphia with american bandstand youre surrounded by rock and role and energy and ingenuity that was happening in recording. Thats my first love. Its roots are in country. I guess im really coming back home with this album. I love childrens books for what we can learn for them that are life lessons. I can be distressed how they are meant to teach a moral and weve got to bang kids over the head with it. I dont feel that in your book. Im glad to hear you say that. Do you teach lessons . Thats not the intention per se. I hope obviously my books are going to embody my own values. I guess overall that has to do with a kind of optimism about living, about whats wonderful about living. My favorite one from the new project is the summer with me hh the storm pass. What a different way to approach it. You and i share a love of weather. Of course we do. The song actually comes out of my older son keith always preferred stormy days to sunny days. I thought, what an interesting thing. Hes a very young child oh, what a nice day this is. Hed go, i like the day yesterday when we had the storms. Thats interesting. Blah she lends ulg and this is our show for today. It was quite a show. Thanks now at home for watching. Ill sl you next saturday at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. Right now, weekend with alex witt. Back on her feet. [ all gasp ] oj, veggies youre cool. Mayo . Corn dogs . You are so outta here aah cause im reworkin the menu, keeping her healthy and you on your toes. [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of greattasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. I see you, cupcake uhoh [ bottle ] the number one doctor recommended brand. Ensure®. Nutrition in charge™. [ bottle ] the number one doctor recommended brand. 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. Its delicious. So now weve turned her toffee into a business. My goal was to take an idea and make it happen. Im janet long and i formed my Toffee Company through legalzoom. I never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. Go to legalzoom. Com today and make your business dream a reality. At legalzoom. Com we put the law on your side. 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 . No. [ male announcer ] share more. Save more. At t mobile share for business. Bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his Small Business. Take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorns Small Business earns double miles on every purchase every day. Produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less . Ahh, oh [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. Heres your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark Business Card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. Choose double miles or 2 cash back on every purchase every day. Whats in your wallet . [ crows ] now wheres the Snooze Button . Gruesome video from you syria. Making his case, the president will blitz the airwaves trying to convince the public and congress to get on board. Will it be enough . The pros and cons of tokyo, japans capital wins the Olympic Games for 2020. One big matter is looming over that choice. It is one of literatures biggest mysteries. Why did the author of kwath