Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20110818

think if they are -- the mistrust that is there today, if they would simply open up and be transparent with the american people, i think it would go a long way toward either finding out whether or not there is some activities that are improper or that they have been handling themselves quite well. >> the governor, i can't remember his name, coming in to -- he realizes talking about it too. he makes me look like a moderate. i have never once said bernanke committed treason. i have suggested very strongly that the federal reserve system and all the members have been counterfeiters for a long time. >> ron paul says rick perry makes me look moderate. good morning. with us on set, senior political panel cyst, mark halperin. president of the council and foreign relations, richard haass, host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. thanks for being us with early this morning. >> great to be here. >> joe and mika have time off this week so you are stuck with me. today is vacation day for the president. there's a lot of hand wringing of whether or not he should go. talk about what he did over the last three days and what he will do when he gets back. what is the strategy between the bus tour and the speech? >> the white house is trying to, for the next act, trying to train the debate in a different way, come in, give the president a stronger hand. the bus tour was a place holder to try to tell people he's out of there, listening to the american people, trying to position himself to be outside washington candidate and comes back and lays down the big marker talking about a speech of job creation and deficit reduction. republicans were aggressive yesterday, showing the change in how fierce the battle has become over the issues. it's the middle of august. the president talks about the plan coming. the republican leaders come out and put out statements to put out markers of what they want to see in the deal. >> andrea, this morning we could go through a few of them. the president has a stimulus spending to spur job growth, tax cuts for companies hiring new workers and new spending for roads and construction. can the president do something big here given the struggles he's had with a republican house of representatives that have shown they are not willing to play ball with him? >> i don't see how they are going to go along with any kind of stimulus. it's going to become a huge issue, a big divide in the campaign with the republicans, those running and those running from the house. i think it's a marker where he's putting it out there. it will really excite and satisfy the base. you are going to talk to maxine waters and those in the congressional black caucus who are really angry. we saw that in detroit. it will make democrats happy and concern some independents that he's creating a bigger deficit to propose a big reduction package down the road. you could justify it economically, willie, but big argument to the politics of it. >> richard, you are shaking your head. i want to show a new gallup poll. only 26%, a quarter of the country approves of the way the president is handling the economy. it's down 11 points since the same poll was taken in may. the numbers say he has to do something big. how can he do it? >> the short answer is he can't. that's the danger of hyping the speech in september. even if he could get it approved by congress, it would have only a modest impact on the economy and employment picture. the president and the united states and the world, look at the futures market this morning, the world is in a situation where the normal is low growth in the united states, europe, japan and other parts of asia. the emerging world is slowing down a bit. we are not going to have massive growth. we are not going to have big gains in employment. the things he's talking about are niche things. they are not bad ideas if you can get them through. the politics are working through them. if you got them through -- >> this conversation is depressing. we know we need to do big things. unemployment is over 9%. we have a system in washington that doesn't allow for it. >> it is depressing. it's interesting. it's intentional the president lay this out during the time line he has already. the president, once he puts together the jobs plan, he wants to be out of washington. he wants to be out in the country, presenting the claim and pitching the claim to people while congress stays in washington and debates the details of it. i couldn't agree more, the challenge is, what the president said yesterday, had to do with the housing market. it will not recover not this year, not until the end of next year. that is going to be this cast that's over the entire country. >> president obama was talking with cbs news discussing the state of the economy. here is what he said. >> i don't think we are in danger of another recession, but we are in danger of not having another recovery fast enough deal with a genuine unemployment crisis for a lot of folks out there. it's why we need to be doing more. i wish the speaker took me up on a grand bargain to deal with the debt and deficit. we have the opportunity to fix that. it's not too late. i will be putting forward a plan that will be similar to a plan that i put forward to the speaker. >> did the president put forward something to institute a bargain? what is the big plan? >> it involves some tax reform. >> why don't we know the details of it? >> don't put out a specific list? he's going to put it out, it will be similar. the republicans are going to have a choice about how they react. they don't like the president's attitude or the notion of tax increases. those two things are going to have to be addressed for a grand bargain. you can do it, as he talked about with speaker boehner, with an eye toward lower rates, getting rid of deductions and loopholes and bring in more revenue. he's doing the proposal in two parts, one is on jobs. that's where the white house is hoping they can have more pressure and put more pressure on the republicans and say how can you stand in the way of the jobs bill when there's economic problems in the united states. >> you can say it, but i don't think you are going to get more stimulus to create jobs. the other question, how do you get american corporations sitting on large amounts of cash to spend it here in the united states. that gets into question regulatory reform, immigration reform and tax reform. the debate needs to broaden. we can't cut our way out of this or grow our way out of it. the growth is american corporations. we need a broader conversation rather than returning to the question of how much we cut from domestic defense or revenue increases. we have to expand the debate or we are not going to grow. >> the republicans are not big on stimulus, we know that. democrats are not big on deficit reduction. we know that. where does that leave us? >> a stalemate. the one argument the president can make, i'm not sure he wants to make it in this frame, but the economy slowed enough they can argue it should be back loaded on the deficit reduction side. the gang of six, the commission and that's what the bowles-simpson was talking about, but down the road. nobody was talking short term, even the initial agreements they accepted is only $22 billion, mostly moving the pieces around on the chess board a little bit. it is back loaded. there is an argument for short term stimulus and the jobs package. there's no proof economically that that will work. as richard haass says, you can't make that case to congress right now. >> an economy front and center on the campaign trail in new hampshire. mitt romney was critical of president obama's upcoming jobs pitch in a speech saying what the president has done in the past three years hasn't worked. >> hopefully he'll listen to people who worked in the private sector and understand how the economy works. because he and his academic and political friends don't understand what it takes to get this economy going again. too little, too late, but we appreciate the fact that he's trying to devote some time to it. not just on the bus tour or vacationing in martha's vineyard. >> mitt romney, man of the people. he's repeatedly slammed president obama for taking a vacation during the jobs crisis. the former massachusetts governor will be there at the end of the trip. >> he promises not to enjoy it. >> like romney, texas governor rick perry speaking yesterday morning at the politics event in bedford. he responded to president obama's recent campaign advice. >> the president said i needed to watch what i say. i just want to respond back, if i may, mr. president actions speak louder than words. my actions as governor are helping create jobs in this country. the president's actions are killing jobs in this country. it's time to get america working again. >> wes, as far as we know, what is rick perry's plan to get america working again? we have seen a lot of rhetoric. do we know the plan? >> we don't. a lot of people are curious about it with rick perry. the texas jobs story is interesting. once you pull it apart, there are issues when you look at the amount of children uninsured. the fact is, when he says 44% of jobs from june of 2009 to now will be created in texas, he's right. part of the frustration republicans have with rick perry is the lack of discipline. it's the argument they want to hear and hear it over and over and over again. when he's talking global warming, i think that's what frustrates people and has them thinking, is this the guy the republican party wants to put everything on? >> what do we know about his jobs plan for the country? rightfully or wrongly taking credit for 37% of the jobs created. what is the plan for the country? >> he's not been specific. mitt romney has not given a major address or laid out his platform. a six-month moratorium on regulation, lower tax rates, all sorts for less regulation and torte reform and less spending. he's not been specific, but the lot of people in congress and the presidential campaign trail, he continues to talk about changing social security, making it a state by state program rather than federal program. he's got radical ideas. i suspect in the fall he's going to give a big address or two about some of the more specific things he's proposing. >> andrea, there's been a lot of back and forth about whether to call it a miracle in texas. paul krugman has been calling it the texas unmiracle. what's the truth. as always, it lies somewhere in the middle. does he deserve as much credit he's been taking for the jobs in texas? >> clearly the numbers are there. the jobs have been created. it's largely because of the oil and gas, increased trade with mexico, state and local government jobs and low-wage jobs. he's tied with 26 with mississippi for low-wage jobs. the number of people with health insurance is terrible. the big education, the school cuts in texas have been profound. it's a mixed record in terms of social services. the jobs are there. another big factor there are toward defense spending in texas. it's not a national picture. the jobs have come to texas, many of them from california. it's the migration that's beneficial to texas. it's not a model for a program. the triggers that will aif he could spending. >> andrea mentions the two wars. it's probably the first time it's been mentioned this week. it's remarkable. at the debate, when they get together, it's an hour and a half before afghanistan comes up. >> running for governor-in-chief rather than -- from the campaign you wouldn't know that at all. whoever is elected has to the about the pace of reductions from afghanistan, may have problems elsewhere in the middle east including iran which continues to inch toward nuclear weapons. who knows what else they are going to face. at the moment, there's not a good idea of who we are voting for. >> three wars absent from the campaign trail. maxine waters has tough words for the president on jobs. also dan seymour and joe klein with a look at the new issue of "time" magazine. after the break, we turn to the top stories of the morning, the gop presidential field isn't quite settled, but buzz about possible vice presidential running mates. first, bill karins has a look at the forecast. >> we have rain in some of our big cities. philadelphia will probably be the worst of it. new york city, downpours, too. circled two areas of rain and thunderstorms. one is philly is larger and more concentrated. then through trenton, a small area of showers through new york city an hour from now. as far as the forecast for today, on and off showers and storms. it's not going to rain all day. temperatures mild once again. hot in d.c. near 90. the big story around the country continues to be the drought in texas. some saying it could cost $5 billion just in the state of texas alone. today is going to be dry and hot. 106 today in dallas. should be 100 in houston. san antonio, great weather in minneapolis and chicago. should be a great thursday. showers in new york city. "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the jetta, awarded a top safety pick by the iihs. that's the power of german engineering. hurry in and lease the jetta s for just $179 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today. a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. welcome back to "morning joe." little tease to a future segment on this program. someone on this show right now, who is on the cover of this week's "time" magazine. look around and guess. >> i'm betting on willie geist. >> with us now, mike allen, the chief white house correspondent for politico. he's got a look at the play book. good morning. >> good morning. >> great green tie. looking good. chris christie said over and over again he's not running for president this time around. you are reporting he may be on a short list for vice president. what is the latest there? >> he's a fit that a nominee wants. the vice president does the attack dog. governor christie relishes that and they want somebody to appeal to conservative thinkers that can reach out to the party. chris christie would be good at that as well. there's been more buzz about new people getting in. there are at least three very strong candidates now. i think the buzz is going to decrease. now that brings up the talk and chris christie is at the top of the list. >> mark halperin, there was talk last month. he said can you imagine me as the number two guy? >> denial, denial, denial. he's not built to be a number two guy. depending on who the number who is, i think he would consider it. >> bob, want to throw another name in there? >> virginia governor. there are attractive reasons to pick him. i think you are better off picking somebody to help you in ohio and florida rather than virginia. >> okay. michele bachmann getting slack for the bouncers. i guess security she has around her. what are you reporting there? >> this is the dilemma. she has crowds that rush around her. she's not able to get from one place to another without security, but her security is unusually aggressive and they wear neon yellow shirts that say security. some of the people don't care for that. it reminds me of when major giuliani rolled into a diner with an nypd decal. people don't like that. she needs to find a way to get around, protect herself without seeming to have them come between her and the voters she's going after. >> she had the big security entranlg. they said it's for her personal safety. there are a lot of people that don't agree with what she believes in. sarah palin was walking around at the same event with no security. mike allen, thanks so much. coming up, this is the miami football program we all came to know and love. they are back. allegations of payoff for the students down there. how about a bounce on the head of tim tebow. sports is next. christine o'donnell walks out of an interview after one cnn host has the nerve to ask her a policy question. we'll show you that when we come back. 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[ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. let's take a look at a couple of the morning papers. "the new york times" reports the justice department opened an investigation into standard and poor. the probe that started before the agencies downgrade before the united states downgrading. do we need an investigation into that? those who wanted to give low ratings was overruled. climate change. romney believes the world is getting warmer and humans are contributing to that. perry called global warming a scientific theory that has not been proven. here is perry speaking on that yesterday. >> i do believe the issue of global warming has been politicized. there are a substantial number of scientists who manipulated data to have dollars rolling into their projects. we are seeing it almost weekly or daily, scientists coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change. i don't think, from my perspective that i want america to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory that has not been proven. from my perspective is more and more being put into question. >> what? your thoughts? >> none. >> no, i tell you, when you talk to most scientists who are fair and impartial on this, i haven't heard many argue there has been no form that humans have had involvement. where he's getting his information is beyond me. >> it's a theory of yours. crack pot theory of yours. syria says government troops shot and killed nine people as they claim military operations against civilians has ended. assad says they ended from pressure demanding an end to a crackdown and credible process of reform. the secretary general is especially concerned about violence in a city that sustained a brutal four-day land and sea assault from the government. richard, what can the united states do beyond what it's done already? >> not a lot. look for a way to increase the sanctions which might have real rep recushions. the rest of the arab world is isolated him. on the other hand, he can't institute a credible policy of reform. it's too late. he's got a real dilemma. i don't think ultimately he has an answer. >> do you agree that assad's days are numbered? if so, how does it end? >> we are going to hear more on that today. they are going to take the final step saying he should step down and the european union will follow. a quick word about what you were talking about, rick perry and manmade climate change. remember the killer trees with ronald reagan who said the trees were causing carbon dioxide. it's a time people are turning to jobs and against proving what climate change means. >> the bigger argument is what you do about it and what the remedies are. we are coming up on a big debate. the gasoline tax is about to expire. it falls into the tax thing. if we roll the tax back, that means more americans driving more, using more gasoline, more money going to russia, iran, saudi arabia as well as bad things for the environment. we are about to have a conflict on climate change and the rest. energy security issues and tax issues. i think that's going to be one of the most interesting debates. >> dealing with climate change is a big promise the president made. he did not make progress. cap and trade going down. this is another political battle where he and the house republicans will not see eye-to-eye. he may have to go to the expiration on the gas tax. he's got to get public opinion on his side and put pressure on congress. >> going to sneak in a little sports here. we begin with the scandal at the university of miami. allegations of improper player benefits. the ncaa says for five months now, they have been investigating the relationship between shapiro and the university. he's serving 20 years in prison for running a ponzi scheme claims he provided benefits to 72 football players and other athletes at miami from 2002 to 2010. those benefits, he says, include sex parties, prostitution, yacht cruises, cash and other gifts. other stars named, the new york giants roll, vince received $50,000 and star kick returner devin hester received cash and jewelry including an engagement ring. the article says shapiro, who some nicknamed lil luke. shapiro started a bounty system against florida and florida state. that's money to take out players on the other team. he put a bounty on tim tebow and offered $5,000 to any player who knocked ricks out of the game. that offer stood for three years. miami new head coach, al goaden who just took over the program said the university should have told him about the investigation if it knew about it, obviously. they open their season september 5th against maryland. that's an ugly story. again, these are allegations. if it is true, miami is in a lot of trouble. bottom of the third, nobody out. billy butler hits off the top of the wall. comes back on to the field. umpires rule it a home run. they go inside to reveal. it bounced off the top of the black padding but under the padding. should have been a double. they leave it as a home run. joe girardi thinks it should have been a double. that is the deciding run of the game. the royals win, 5-4. yankees are a half game ahead of boston. >> we was robbed. >> we was robbed. >> we are sitting better than predicted. >> rangers and angels, lines one deep to right center, off the wall. torre hunter off first base. he guns one to the plate. hunter, the veteran flies in with one hand, sneaks in, he scores to take a 2-0 lead. game tied at two in the eighth. two runs for the rangers. they are on fire. they win 4-3. texas won nine of the last ten now seven games ahead of anaheim. jays and mariners, scary, scary moment in the sixth. watch this. >> oh! >> taking a 97-mile-an-hour fastball from morrow off the bridge of his nose. he left the game, believe it or not, this is the part i don't get. x-rays came back negative. 97 miles per hour in the honker. top of the fourth. wright makes a diving play. instead of first, backyard baseball here. throws to first, catches cameron rounding third. he says i'm taking a stroll home. wright had the ball. that's good stuff. nets go on to win, 7-3. coming up next, the must read opinion pages. we'll be right back on "morning joe." 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[ male announcer ] get everything you need for back to college, like the latest smartphones with video chat starting at $48.88. save money. live better. walmart. starting at $48.88. luck? i don't trade on luck. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. ♪ now my superpack is legally forbidden from coordinating with his campaign. i think he likes me back. exhibit a, the governor of texas announced his candidacy in charleston, south carolina, right around the corner from my childhood home, obviously trying to get my attention. he might as well have stood on my drive way with a boom box over his head. ♪ in your eyes ♪ i am complete ♪ in your eyes i see the doors >> say anything. time for some must read op-eds here. karl rove has a piece in. he writes because primaries twend to become binary contests they will compete to be the not romney candidates. they can attack each other, romney or mr. obama while hyping their own records or values. twice since saturday, mr. obama's approval rating hit 39%. his lowest mark so far. no president, in more than 50 years has been reelected with approval ratings so lou. the odds are harry truman came from behind victory in 1948 won't be matched anytime soon. >> that's karl rove who won two presidential elections for george bush. he's got a regular column on the wall street journal and appears on the fox news channel. he calls this the most fluid. he's got a history with rick perry dating back to 1998. there's tension. >> what's the story? we hear off camera, the bush people do not like the perry people. what is the story on that? >> it's not every level. karl rove, when he brought in dave carney to help him in perry's race in 1998 there was essential in that race. disagreements about tactics and strategy. perry thought he needed to go more negative. that tension exists, without a doubt. for a lot of insiders, it's fascinating to watch karl weigh in on the race. he's not a huge associate of romney's. i don't think he thinks michele bachmann is a strong nominee. every time karl talks about the race because of that history, people look for the nuance. he's favorable to perry. the advice he gives to all of them is right. it's what he told all his clients to do. don't focus on battling each other in a primary. >> karl rove says go after the incumbent, go after president obama. don't attack each other, even in the primary. what do you think? >> he's right. karl rove nailed it. they should be going after president obama if they are a republican candidate, not devouring each other. what you are seeing is more and more bachmann and perry going after each other, battling for that part. ron paul was there first and staked out the anti-fed situation, criticizing perry for that. it's not good strategy, if you are managing the campaign and want to defeat the president. he's pointing out the president's vulnerability. >> wes, you can see the back and forth, perry and mitt romney in iowa when they ask questions of each other, they are not fond of one another. >> romney is nervous. how well he did in the new hampshire poll, we'll make a point though. karl rove, the president takes comfort in the fact the op-ed there's a fact he's wrong. no president more than 50 years has been reelected with an approval rating so low, it's true with the exception of one, ronald reagan. in 1983, he had a low approval rating. he wins 49 of the 50 states. at that point, the country was different. >> the economy was totally different then. fareed writing, think jobs, not debt. having despaired that obama gave into the tea party on the debt deal, they criticize him. obama should present a distinction in the face of a national employment crisis. perhaps obama realizes the most important factor to help his re-election is a rise in employment. to have any impact on the economy, obama needs proposals to get through congress, not ones that look good on the tv. you can put a lot of things on paper. you have to focus on what he can get through congress. >> it's not clear to me he can do that. it puts them in position of running against congress. you mentioned truman running against the do nothing congress. but, if the back job is 16% unemployment, it may not help him. at the end of the day, incup pents rise and fall with what they see. >> i doubt it will work. we need economic growth. again, the encouragement of american firms to start hiring. that means move on tax reform. >> any package big enough to help the economy and reduce the debt is going to require different dynamic than we had in washington. i don't see anything that happened since then that made it more favorable. i think just the opposite. the hope is the supercommittee, people on that are, for the most part mature and serious people trying to come up with the solution. they are going to have to break the dynamic. i don't think they are currently on a trajectory, a new dynamic. >> why would house republicans, particularly tea party republicans want to change their strategy? >> i think the only way it happens, if there's so much deficit reduction in it, some of them, not all of them, go for a compromi compromise. in the house, they passed the grand bargain. no real revenue. a tougher vote, more democrats, fewer republicans. john boehner and eric cantor standing up saying this is a great deal for us. it's not a perfect deal. >> if you marry short term stimulus, it might work. that's the package the white house has to concoct. maxine waters had strong words for president obama. we'll talk to her. up next, news you can't use. why christine o'donnell walked out in the middle of an interview. we'll tell you why when we come back. introducing the schwab mobile app. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the jetta, awarded a top safety pick by the iihs. that's the power of german engineering. hurry in and lease the jetta s for just $179 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today. it is time for news you can't use. we are going to start with an interview from last night with christine o'donnell. remember her? he went on tv to declare she was not a witch when running for senator for the state of delaware. she's got a new book out. she was pushing it on cnn. she didn't like the line of questioning and decided it was time to leave. >> right now, i'm curious about whether or not you support gay marriage. >> you are borderlining being rude. >> really? >> i want to talk about the issues i choose to talk about in the book. >> would you agree we should repeal don't ask, don't tell? >> i'm not talking policies. i'm not running for office. ask michele bachmann what she thinks. >> why are you being so weird about this? >> i'm not being weird about this. i'm not running for office. i'm not being weird, you are being a little bit rude. don't you think as a host, if i say this is what i want to talk about, this is what we would addre address. >> no, you are a politician. >> i was supposed to be speaking at a republican women's club at 6:00. i chose to be a little late for that, not to be, you know, yeah, not to endure a rude talk show host. to talk about the issues i addressed. have you read the book? are we off? are we done? >> i'm not. i'm still here. >> he still wants to talk to you. >> well -- >> it would appear the interview has been ended. >> yeah. >> so ended the interview with christine o'donnell. i didn't go to journalism school but listen is that the way it works? >> maybe at a dinner party. >> it's walk out central. the great larry king with kerry prejean. remember miss california. >> you are being inappropriate. okay? >> okay. inappropriate king live continues. >> yes. >> detroit, hello. >> i'm calling from detroit. i'm a gay man. >> did you hear the question? >> no, i can't hear you. >> you took the mic off. if you put it on, we can hear you. >> i think we are being extremely inappropriate now and i am about to leave your show. >> some interviewers like to walk out. >> it's helpful. >> i would be lonely here without you this week. >> one story from the campaign trail, newt gingrich is still running for president. republican candidate. he's going to the crucial state of hawaii to do campaigning this week. part of the campaign tour probably going to work in an anniversary vacation. he's going hawaii. we should point out that in 2008, president obama won 72% of the vote. so, it's going to be an up hill climb. >> this is either a terrible, terrible mistake or the beginning of the greatest comeback in history. >> time will tell. two weeks in greece, a week in hawaii. it all comes together in the end, somehow. coming up next, the counselor on foreign relations and the new cover of "time" magazine with mr. joe klein when we come back. confidence. available in color. depend for women is now peach. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend. good morning. great day. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. 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[ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. i started getting hooked up with deals all over the place. ♪ now i get the star treatment everywhere i go. ♪ suprise yourself at livingsocial.com. sign up for free to save at least 50% on the best of your town. you think this is a field or we are waiting for paul ryan. >> are we going to see people like paul ryan? >> somebody that appeals to moderate voters. >> he's young. >> i hope he runs. why is that? it's never enough for the media. they are like children. mom, can i get a paul ryan? i just got a rick perry. i have already broken michele bachmann. before i get you anything else what is ron paul? don't tell me he's no fun to play with. >> welcome back to "morning joe." 7:00 in the morning here on the east coast. mark halperin is still here with us. andrea mitchell, the star from that clip. dan senor, great to see you, again. and reporter alex wagner. hello. >> hi, willie. >> andrea, are you obsessed with paul ryan? >> obsessed. i wake up thinking of him. i think it is late in the game. i think this is the field and we are kind of getting caught up in our own, you know, the media process. jon stewart wasn't right about that. >> dan is not so sure. between ryan and chris christie, do you see one of them getting in? >> this's room in the race for one more person to get in. there's still time to do it. there's enough energy and enough fund raising capacity still sitting on the sidelines to quickly mobilize. it's not going to be easy. it's hard to put together these national organizations quickly. one reason romney is the front-runner is because he's done it before. he never shut down his doors. we are in a unique moment. there are a lot of people standing around saying is this it? september will be interesting. if no one else gets in in september, three debates, perry with romney and bachman and the others. voters are going to say is this it? there's one more window after that. one more window before the earliest filing, the michigan primary, they have a couple weeks to get in. >> wasn't rick perry supposed to be the guy to energize the republican field? we had the last debate, then perry got in. >> then capping the fed chair. rick perry has been in the race for a handful of days. it's too soon to say this guy isn't the guy. the president wants to give him more rope to hang himself with. he's got a lot going for him. a lot of messages he's going to run is muddied by the texas swagger, the news he shoots snakes when he goes jogging. >> coyotes. >> sorry. that's different. >> you know, i still think we haven't seen rick perry yet. this is the beginning stages. i disagree here. i think the idea, is this it, something on a lot of gops minds. i don't see paul ryan or chris christie running. >> they are not going to find their solution in rick perry. i'm not suggesting they compete. perry has not occupied the political space they would play in. romney is occupying some of that space, but not all that space. >> all the conditions dan listed of why there's a vacuum still, a lot of donors, politicians, governors. people on capitol hill. someone who seems conservative. the reality is, rick perry was right at the edge of the time frame. even if you have, like chris christie would, if you have access to a lot of donors and backers, you have to come pain in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, florida. you have to go to cities where you can raise money. people aren't going to send a check without them showing up. i don't think there's enough. you wait until september. there's not enough days on the calendar. i don't think they want to run. it takes a lot of fire in the belly to run, to get in late, to get past perry and romney. i do not see it. i think they would have a hard time running as much as people are yearning for them, the minute they get in, there's a lot of scrutiny. paul ryan, chris christie, someone who's never been on that level or stage. i think both of them recognize the long shot it would be. every day that passes, it's less and less probable to do it. >> one of the reasons romney is the front-runner, no energy there or lack of passion. he's done there before. that means there are no surprises. he's been through a national campaign. republicans want the election to be about obama. they don't want to pick someone that is going to distract from that. in many respects, romney accomplishes that. in the case of christie, i believe having run for governor against john corzine, who was spending $1 million a week in the new york media markets trashing him for an extended period of time, he lives under a new york media bubble, not the national media scrutiny but more comparable than being a congressman. i think he's actually been under a lot of heat and, again, it's not a presidential campaign, but it's not just any old governor or congressman. >> he is a warrior and is not afraid of things. he's not interested in doing it. take him at his word, he's not interested in doing it. >> andrea, what do you think? >> christie does not want to do it, i agree on that. when it was reported he had focus groups being organized, his staff got in touch with us that no, no, no, he isn't doing that. paul ryan might like to. a lot of his supporters would like him to. there's more desire there but less ability. ability to tap into the money. when was the last time a house member successfully moupted a national campaign and was elected president. >> we have to mention the name sarah palin. is that dream over? >> i think the dream is over. i don't think it means she's not going to be on the national stage chasing everybody else's bus. up until halloween 2012, she's going to say i'm considering a run. it's been lucrative for her, but not resulting in a candidacy. we have michele bachmann and rick perry, what is she going to fill. >> tim pawlenty's i'll come make you dinner or mow your lawn. >> he suggests the schedule around labor day suggests he might run. i think there's room for her in this race. very popular in iowa. >> let's talk about the man they are running against. president obama is leaving today for his ten-day vacation in martha's vineyards. the trip to the white house gives new detail on the upcoming jobs speech, the one that will happen after labor day. "the washington post" reporting the plan includes a new round of stimulus spending. proposal expected to include tax cuts for companies that hire new workers and new spending for roads and construction. the president plans to announce a push for deficit reduction and the supercommittee to identify more than the $1.5 trillion in cuts it's been assigned. speaking with cbs news yesterday, president obama discussed the state of the economy. >> i don't think we are in danger of another recession, but we are in danger of not having a recovery that's fast enough deal with ha is a genuine unemployment crisis for a lot of folks out there. it's why we need to be doing more. i wish the speaker took me up on a grand bargain to deal with the long-term debt and deficit. we have the opportunity to fix that. it's not too late. i will put forward a plan that is very similar to the plan i put forward to the speaker. >> the president's job push comes against the job push against this number in the gallup. 26% of americans approve of president obama's handling of the economy. it's down a full 11% since the last poll in may. dan senor, looking ahead to the speech. if you believe the reports, there's something for everybody. stimulus on one hand, deficit reduction on the other. where does it leave us in the middle? >> many around the president are fatalists at this point and recognize even with the speech and announcement, they have little impact on economic recovery, even if much of the program is successfully implemented. little impact between now and next year. look at last year and the past year. $600 billion of liquidity. there's a quarter of growth. it was like a caffeine high for a quarter, then disappeared. it could affect psychology and project a sense of momentum if it goes through. it won't have much impact between now and november. events are actually out of control and out of the hands of the people running for office, including the president. >> as a republican, what would you like to see him do? >> it sets up a strong man. this is the question posted to republicans. i don't believe there's much that can be done in the short term. if you asked me that question two years ago when we had right after the economic crisis, the first dip, if there was time to do a lot, i would have done things like zeroing out capital gains on certain investments, doing the payroll tax stuff. i think there were a number of tax oriented initiatives that could have been implemented early in the crisis to get it off the sidelines. trillions of dollars off the sidelines, not investing. that would have made a difference with longer lead time. here we are during this short term period. i'm not hopeful. >> andrea, dan says it appears that events have gotten away from the president. what can he do and what is actually possible? he can put a plan on paper, but what is possible here? >> put a plan on paper. it's not going to get through congress, then make it his argument, his fight, taking the fight to congress and shift the blame for the bad situation we are in. nothing short term is going to produce the jobs he needs by election day. >> alex, we are going to shift blame. that's the plan. >> blame shifting. dan brings up an important point. obama had an opportunity to make an argument there's a difference between short-term spending and long-term investment. he didn't do it. now he's forced to talk about it. the american people are tired of it. they don't believe anything is going to work. he has 14 months to go where he's throwing out paper. it's bleak. >> it doesn't anticipate other events. the one hand, the euro is on crisis. on the other hand, look at why they are injecting more money into the euro zone, into the weak economy and buying up the debt from europe and spain because a lot of the debt from those countries sits on the balance sheets of german and french banks. if they default, they explode. some of them have branches in the united states. is that a u.s. problem or a euro zone problem? if it's a euro zone problem, do we bail out the banks again? you can get why injected into the system. it makes the discussions seem obsolete. >> let's talk about the strategy. the president announced his big speech three weeks before he's going to do it. does he risk the speeches becoming white noise? jobs are number one priority. >> this time, it's going to be different. >> how so? >> a lot is going on in the fall. when the president gives a speech, mitt romney is going to give his in september. perry will before too long. the debates are going to be a lot of bad in the economy. the president has to find a way to give a good speech. if congress doesn't pass them, he was explicit in talking his political strategy. he's got to have good ideas. one of the things is not one of them came up with a good, original idea. they have broad policy notion. >> they have a fed strategy. >> that's true. the president has a chance to be the leader in the national discussion about some ideas. they say some new ideas about how to create jobs. it's difficult. some people tuned him out and made the decision he does not have the right ideas about how to turn the economy around. the comparison about bill clinton is stark. they thought bill clinton got up every day fighting for them on the economy. p president's ratings on the economy are horrible. at a minimum, to give him a stronger hand, he's got to get people to think yes, he's got the right idea. >> put the plan on paper and dare the republicans to vote against it. >> or come up with their own ideas. >> joe klein is going to be here to unveil the "time" magazine cover. plus, "die hard 2" producer will join us. could president obama be losing some of his most loyal supporters? we'll talk to maxine waters making news this week. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> who has a better job than me? there's nothing to talk about. showers and storms otherwise it looks nice around the country. the exception philadelphia, that's where you see showers and storms. nothing that lasts too long. here is the forecast in the northeast. a nice day. don't let the thunderstorms ruin your plans. it's only going to rain ten to 15 minutes in each location. 106 in dallas. chicago, up to the great lakes and the southeast, looking at a nice day today. even d.c., not bad, upper 80s, the slight chance for a shower. you are watching morning show brewed by starbucks. 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>> to show what he can do and what he's prepared to lead on. unemployment is unconsciousable. we don't know what the strategy is. we don't know that. when you let us know it is time to let go, we'll let go. >> california congresswoman maxine waters of the black caucus jobs fair tuesday expressing frustration with the president and the jobs climate. joining us now is the representative of california, maxine waters a leading voice in the black caucus. great to have you with us this morning. >> thank you. good morning. delighted to be with you. >> 16% unemployment with african-americans in this country. tell us why you are frustrated with the president as you have shown in detroit this week. >> we are not just frustrated with the president. 16% unemployment. it's for a long time. we have people who have not been counted. in some areas 35% to 40%. we have to get in this discussion. not only are we hurting from unemployment, the home foreclosure has hit hard in the black community. the economy, the loss of jobs, the pain is real. we are talking indisputable facts. we have to be in the discussion. we want to be part of the solution. we cannot continue to go on watching everybody talk about what the solutions are without us being included in it. >> congresswoman, we have wes moore with us with a question. >> good morning. >> wes, good morning. >> good morning. how much is the bus tour. he spent time in minnesota. they have 6.7% unemployment. iowa 6.7% unemployment, michigan 10.9% unemployment. the rate in detroit is almost 15%. he didn't get to michigan. >> of course that caught our attention. as you know, we are holding these job fairs all over the country. you are right, we have been in cleveland, wie were in detroit, going to miami and los angeles. the lines are long. thousands of african-americans, in particular and others are coming out to get connected with a job. we have encouraged the businesses of america, the corporations to join with us and try and connection people with opportunity. the black caucus decided to get out of washington. enough with the rhetoric. while we do our policy work, we do the job fairs. the tour you are talking about, take a look at this headline in the wall street journal. obama aims to keep white voters on board. we want to be on board, too. you are right. you talked about the lower unemployment rate in the states where he went. it does not compare with the high unemployment in the cities we are going into. that's why it's so important for us now to join the discussion, to come up with ideas to be a part of the solution and let african-americans and minorities and others know we feel their pain. they are not being dropped off the agenda. the long term unemployment that's devastating our community is going to be dealt with. the black caucus is committed to that. we are in now. we are in this discussion. >> andrea mitchell. >> do you think, congresswoman we have been following the tour and interviewing your members along the way. do you think the president is taking the black caucus and the larger scale of black communities for granted in the fact he has not gone to inner city, detroit, to african-american or hispanic communities and traveling through mostly white mid western america. >> well, we don't know what the strategies are. again, we are not in a discussion. we have not been privy to which way the president is going and why he's doing it. it's time for us to step up and note that our communities are not being dealt with and to make sure that this administration understands that we cannot continue to go on this way. that while this devastating unemployment is in our communities, we cannot be quiet. we have to speak up. we are being challenged. the black caucus is being challenged and asking us what are we doing and why are we speaking up? are we in communication with the president? we have decided not only are we going to remind the administration about the devastation and the pain that we are experiencing but we want to be a part of helping develop the solution. whatever the plan is that is going to be unveiled in september, we intend to be a part of that. we have ideas. we want to include those in the plan that the president unveils. here we are. it's not personal. we are not even pointing fingers. we are saying it's our responsibility. we represent areas that expect us to represent. that's why they sent us to congress. it's what we are doing. >> congresswoman, the rapid-fire continues with alex wagner. >> good morning, congresswoman. >> good morning. >> good morning. i was talking to the chair of the cbc, congressman cleaver. he was saying one of the problems was the jobs package and the jobs proposal and strategy the president put up is around innovation, renewable green jobs. it's not resinated with the black community. they don't understand how they fit in. we are three weeks away, a couple weeks away from a new jobs plan. what would you like to see from that? how does it resignation with the african-american community? >> i think the african-american community is looking at all opportunities not only the things i have tried to encourage the members of congress and the administration to look at is how do we bring jobs offshore? we have many call centers used by the banks and some of our communications companies where when you call, for example, bank of america, you are talking with somebody in india. it doesn't take a lot to train people for the call centers. there are thousands of jobs that are offshore. we want to bring those back in. we agree with the president that there should be an infrastructure and we should repair our roads and bridges and water systems. it's job intensive. we want to be a part of the new innovation and green jobs. the green jobs are about a lot of talk. not a lot has been happening on that. the training has not been going on. we want to develop solar panels and alternative sources of energy and we want to connection with those opportunities. i don't mind more tax credit. we are ready to be engaged at every level for every opportunity whether it's the new innovation, just plain old jobs like the wpa when this country was in trouble. our unemployment is at depression levels now. this is why we are speaking up. >> all right. congresswoman maxine waters, the tour continues today in atlanta, then miami and los angeles. keep up the good work out there. >> we think there will be thousands out here in atlanta technical college just like we have seen all over the country where we have been operating. we encourage people to come. come and try to get this opportunity. we are doing everything we can. >> atlanta technical college today. congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. andrea mitchell, thanks to you. what do you have coming up at 1:00 today? >> i'm going on jury duty. savannah guthrie is my great colleague and friend. we have john lewis and howard dean and wes moore, joe klein. it's going to be a great show. >> i think that would be a great reality show, andrea mitchell on jury duty. good luck out there. thanks so much. coming up, police stop a high school bomb plot that could have been worse than column bir. details, next. 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"morning joe" coming right back. well cobb come back to "morning joe." joe klein reveals the new magazine issue. not just any issue. we took bets who, currently seated at this table is on the cover of this week's magazine. >> i said halperin. >> you said me. >> who else could it be? >> it's wes. >> what? >> wes moore. it's with a bunch of his fellow returning veterans. most about iraq and afghanistan have been bad news, domestic violence, unemployment, homelessness. there's another side of the story that i learned when i was with the troops in iraq and afghanistan. they are bringing back amazing skills. skills unlike any that other soldiers brought back because they have had to be the mayors of the towns where they have been fighting. they have had to work with the local council of elders. they have had to dispurse development funds and do development projects. i's like being the mayor of the town. the leadership skills people like wes are bringing back are considerable. i think they are going to the next generation of american leaders. >> wes, apparently, you are a member of this. congratulations. this is great. talk about what joe is saying here. what did you learn serving overseas that you have applied back at home. >> first, i say what an honor this is. this is shedding light on a whole generation coming back that had not been shed before. look at a lot of the skills. how do you deal with adversity. there's not an obstacle they are going to face. they are going to be shaken or rattled by. when you look at the veterans, it's not about helping them as a charity, but an investment in our society, how to organize thoughts, piece together a team, think about worst case scenarios before best case scenarios. whether political, nonprofit or for profit. >> i was struck by this, when you talk about what a great job israel does of using military skill, when a 25-year-old finished service in the military, the leadership experience, developed skills wes talked about. they go to college. business idea, the first question they are asked is not what university you went to or what was your major, it's what unit did you serve in. almost every person has a deep level of discourse about the skills one can develop in the battlefields and how they transfer it. >> i think this is doing an enormous service in the country. can i speak to you as a military. they are saying thank you for making the point. there's a disconnect between the corporate culture and the business world. there's a disconnection. there's a lack of discourse. i think this sort of focus is extremely important in bridging that. >> there's a difference. in israel, everybody serves. here, the military is a foreign country. most people don't know people in the military and don't know what military life is like. they think it's yes, sir, no, sir, i'll take that hill, sir. it's become very different during the counter insurgency warfare period. these people have to be incredibly entrepreneurial and createtive on the jobs. they are talking to people on the streets. general petraeus told me, they don't know if they will get a handshake or hand grenade. i think those qualities, the ability to do serious complicated work under extreme pressure is something that not only will work in the business community but will work in the public sector as well. one of two or three of these people are going to be president of the united states some day, i can tell you that. look at wes. >> we often talk, as joe said about the returning veterans as though they are a charity case, we owe them or have a responsibility to take care of them. this focuses on what wes talks about, we need them. the economic problems we are going through, the need for innovation and cutting into leadership and disciplinary skills and nonprofits and businesses. we need these people who have gone through this literal battlefield training. >> the other thing i should point out is this ranges from sergeants and corporals like the people who started purple heart homes in north carolina to the very elite. wes is a road scholar. there are people from the top of their classes in west point. there's a guy who was a harvard valedictorian who has come back and is doing interesting work. these are the new elite in a lot of ways, new leadership elite. >> do you find the business community gets this now? are they starting to get it? they do a lot of work integrating veterans in the business world. do ceos understand how valuable our veterans are from a business point of view? >> not yet. look at what dan -- this article here. you are hoping it helps to change the climate. what we have, as joe was talking ability, the up employment we have is hovering around 16% for iraq and afghanistan veterans. when you think about the challenges they face, every day where businesses are hit with bad news and you have people who just don't know how to handle the pressure then you have someone who spends 18 months in baghdad or someone who spent 12 months in afghanistan. you ask them, how do they respond to pressure or a down day on the stock market. it's comical. it's not pressure. >> this is my way. i have been in afghanistan four times in the last two years and iraq before that. it's my way of saying thank you to the troops i met there who are so remarkably impressive and went about their business in controversial wars in difficult circumstances with a great american can do spirit and optimism. >> let's talk a little bit about the wounded. those who come back and are not able to perform at the level wes is able to physically. how are we doing taking care of those guys on another question? >> not so good. some of the best programs are run by veterans who find that helping others is a way to push your way through ptsd. if you are focused on someone else, you are not so worried about yourself. the ptsd rates are very high. last month, we saw the highest number of suicides, army suicides in american history. 32 people. so, there are significant challenges. those challenges were made. we have to -- we can't lose sight of the fact there are a lot of success stories and a lot of people coming back who have a lot to offer our society. >> why aren't we doing a better job taking care of those guys? >> it's hard and subtle. there's a guy -- there's a group called team rubicon. it's disaster relief. one of the leaders of team rubicon committed suicide much to the amazement and shock of not only his family, but the people he was working alongside. these are deep difficult problems that many of them have but there are also some deep and very impressive qualities that they are bringing back. >> talk team rubicon, it's the team that saw what was happening on the ground in haiti, instantly mobilized and got a group down there. >> the leaders of the group said a lot of other humanitarian organizations when they go in is chaos. they don't know how to deal with chaos. we are marines. we do chaos. >> the biggest question out of this, i guess, wes, are we allowed to make eye contact with you? >> you have to ask permission first. >> we have to ask permission. >> he's changed. here is the video of his photo shoot. >> the coolest thing about wes moore is his daughter's name. mia. mia moore. it means my love. >> she is exactly that. >> i know her. she's a beautiful little girl. >> great work, joe. thank you. a lot of people to do this cover. congratulation to you and all five on the cover. >> the new greatest generation. joe klein, thank you so much. coming up, acclaimed action movie director and his new thriller. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪ barack obama was interviewed during his midwest trip by cnn's wolf blitzer. interesting. they talked about how being president can take a real physical toll. here's the interview. >> these past three years or so -- you have a little bit more gray hair. >> people who, old friends have reminded me that when i was a young senator, traveled through iowa, that i looked a little younger than i do now. >> we're going to show our viewers a picture of has you looked like at the end of des moines and at 2004 at the democratic convention. >> wow. put it that way. >> a little sports now. hear about this miami scandal? university of miami, allegations of improper benefits with that football program. the ncaa says for five months now it's been investigating the relationship between a former booster, nevin shapiro and the school. in prison, shapiro, for running a ponzi scheme. he provided improper benefits for 72 football players and other athletes at miami from 2002 to 2010. those benefits included, shapiro says, sex parties, prostitution, cruises on yachts, cars, cash and a bunch of other stuff. current nfl stars are among the dozens of former players named in the yahoo! article. the new york giants antrel roelle and vince wilfork received item. and named "lil luke" after rapper luther campbell, and a longtime supporter of the miami program, compared him to lil luke because they say shapiro started a bounty system for robbery games against florida and florida state, that means putting out hits to take guys out of the game including one on tim tebow of florida and $5,000 to any player who knocks florida state quarterback chris rick out of a game. that offer apparently stood for three years. meanwhile, miami's brand new coach, al golden who just took over the program in december says, obviously, the university should have told him about this investigation, if it, in deed you knew about it. the hurricanes open their season against maryland. i have to direct everyone to an op-ed. "miami news times" responding to the nevin shapiro. entitled "nevin shapiro can kiss my ass." that's from luther. >> surprised you missed this. >> a real shame the news from miami is detracting from all the good work being done at programs at alabama and vanderbilt. >> thank you very much. we're winning the right way at vanderbilt, the right way with these games. coming up, andrea mitchell rejoins our conversation. we'll be right back. 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>> the white house is trying to, for this next act, in the budget showdown, trying to train the debate in a different way. to come in, give the president a stronger hand. like the bus tour, i said yesterday, was a bit of a place holder. to tell people he's out there, listening to the american people, trying to position himself to be the outside washington candidate, even as an incumbent president, and then comes back and lays out his big marker with a speech talking about both job creation and deficit reduction, and the republicans were very aggressive yesterday. which shows you the change in just how fierce the battle is going -- has become over these issues. it's the middle of august. the president goes out and talks about his plan coming and the republican leaders, boehner and cantor, put out statements, putting out their oh markers what they want to see in a deal. >> andrea mitchell, go through a few. the president's plan we're told where include a round of stimulus spending to spur job growth, tax cuts for companies to hire new workers and new spending for roads and construction. can the president do something big here, given the struggles he's had with a republican house of representatives that's shown it's not willing to play ball with him? >> i don't see how the republican house is going to go along with any kind of stimulus. stimulus is going to become a huge issue, a big divide in this campaign with the republicans, both those running and those running from the house, and i think this is just a marker where he's putting us out there. it will excite and satisfy the base and make democrats happy. it will concern some independents, that he's creating a bigger deficit short term in order to propose a big reduction package down the road. so you could justify it economically, really, but the big argument, the politics of it. >> richard haass, you're shaking your head. i want to show you a new gallup poll, remarkable, shows only 26%, just a quarter of the country, approves of the way the president is handling the economy. that's down 11 points since that same poll was taken last may. those numbers tell you he's got to do something big. the question, as andrea said, can he do it? >> he can't. that's the danger in hyping the speech in september. even if he could get everything approved by the congress, as andrea said, he can't, even if he could, it would have a modest impact on the american economy and employment picture. the president and the united states, and the world, look at the futures markets this morning, the world is in a situation with a new normal, it's extraordinarily low growth. the united states, in europe, in japan and other parts of asia, even the emerging world, the engine is beginning to slow down a bit. we are not going to have massive growth, as result we're not going to have big gains in employment. the things he's talking about, they're not bad ideas if you could get them through. again, the politics are probably working against them. even if you got them through, it would barely make a dent. >> if i'm watching at home, this conversation's pretty depressing. we need to do big things. unemployment over 9% and a system in wug that wonashington allow for this? >> we've seen this before. it's interesting. it's actually intentional the president laid this outline with the timeline he has already. the president come fall once he puts together this jobs plan and presents it, he wants to be out of washington. he wants to be out in the country, presenting his plan, pitching his plan to the american people while he let's congress stay in washington and debate the details of it to try to rise above the fray. i couldn't agree more. i think the challenge, the most important thing the president said yesterday actually had to do with the housing market, when the president at town hall says the housing market will not recover probably not this year, probably not until the end of nebs year. that is going to be a cast over the entire conversation about recovery. >> president obama was talking last night with cbs "this morning" discussing t morning" -- cbs news talking about the state of the economy. >> we're not in danger of another recession but in danger of not having a recovery fast enough to deal with what is a genuine unemployment crisis for a whole lot of folks out there. that's why we need to be doing nor. i wish that the speaker had taken me up on a grand barge ton deal with our long-term debt and deficit. we still have the opportunity to fix that. it's not too late. i will be putting forward a plan that will be very similar to the plan i put forward to the speaker. >> mark, did the president put forward something that constituted a grand bargain that john boehner walked away from? what was the big plan? >> we don't know all the details. some tax reform -- >> why don't we know the details of it? >> the white house had not put out a specific list of what he proposed. as he said there, he's going to put it out there, pretty similar. the republicans will have a choice, how do they react. they don't like the president's attitude and they don't like the notion of tax increases. those two things will have to be addressed if there's a grand bargain. there's no grand barge than will pass the senate without new revenue, but can you do it as he talked about with speaker boehner, with an eye towards lower rates, getting rid of deductions and loopholes and trying to bring in more revenue. remember, he's doing his proposal in two parts. one is on jobs, and that's where i think the white house is hoping they can have more pressure. that they can put more pressure on republicans to say, how can you stand in the way of a jobs bill at this time when there's so much economic problems in the united states? >> you can say it, but i don't think you're going to get new stimulus. one of the ways to create other job, another question, how do you get american corporations sitting on large amounts of cash to spend it here in the united states? that's with regulatory reform, regional reform and tax reform. the debate needs to broaden. you can't openly cut or tax our way out of this. we have to grow our way out of this. the principle engine of growth out there is american corporations. actually, much broader conversation rather than simply returning to this question of how much we cut from domestic or defense or whether we have revenue increases or what have you. we've got to extend the debate or we're not going to grow. >> andrea, the republicans are not big on stimulus. we know that. democrats are not big on deficit reduction. we know that. so where does that leave us? what's left in the middle? >> well, it leaves us with stalemate. the one argument the president can make now is that -- not sure he wants to make it in this frame -- but the economy slowed enough in the last couple of months they can argue everything should be backloaded on the deficit reduction side. in fact, that's what the gang of six, that's what the domenici commission and what the bowles-simpson commission were all talking about, was serious, big deficit reduction, but down the road. nobody was really talking about it short term. even the agreement that they accepted is only $2 billion mostly moving the pieces around on the chessboard a little bit in the near term. so it is backloaded, and there san argument for short-term stimulus and for the jobs package, but there's no proof economically that that will really work, and as richard haass said, you can't really make that case to congress right now. >> and an economy front and center on the campaign trail yesterday. up in new hampshire, mitt romney w critical of president obama's upcoming jobs speech. saying what the president has done the past three years just hasn't worked. >> hopefully he'll listen to people who actually work in the private sector. he'll understand how the economy works, because he and his academic and political friends don't understand what it takes to get this economy going again. and it's a little -- too little too late, but we appreciate the fact that he's -- he's trying to devote some time to it, not just going to be on a bus tour or vacationing in martha's vineyard but giving some thought to the american people. >> the american people. how dare he -- romney repeatedly slammed president obama for taking a vacation to martha's vineyard, but point out the governor will be there for the end of the president's trip for a campaign fund-raiser and promises not to enjoy it. >> okay. >> so like romney, texas governor rick perry up in new hampshire speaking yesterday morning at the politics and eggs event in bedford. he responded to president obama's recent campaign advice. >> the president said i needed to watch what i say. i just want to respond back, if i may. mr. president, actions speak louder than words. my actions as governor are helping create jobs in this country. the president's actions are killing jobs in this country. it's time to get america working again. >> wes, as far as we know, what is rick perry's plan to get america working again? we've seen a lot of rhetoric, but do we know what kind of plan he's got? >> we don't. i think that's what a lot of people are curious about with rick perry. the fact is, the texas job story is an interesting one. once you pull it apart, i think there are issues with it had you look at the amount of children who are uninsured, the amount of minimum wages created. the fact is, when se says 44% of jobs from june of 2009 until now have been created in texas he's absolutely right. some of the frustration republicans have with rick perry, a lack of discipline. that's the argument they want to hear and hear it over and over and over again. had he's making statements about global warming or whether el paso is safer now than a year ago, that frustrates people and has people thinking, is this the guy that the republican party really wants to put everything on? >> mark halperin what do we know about his jobs plans for the country? rightfully or wrongfully, everyone's taking credit for the jobs created over the last two and a half years. what's the plan for the country? >> not specific. mitt romney who's been in much longer still has not given a major economic address or laid out his platform. the one thing perry's called for, a six-month moratorium on regulation, for lower tax rates of all sorts, and for less regulation and for tort reform. and less spending. so he has not been specific, but that is -- that is the case with a lot of the people in congress, and the presidential campaign trail, he's talked and continues to talk about changing social security. maybe making it a state-by-state program rather than a federal program. so he's got some pretty radical ideas in the sense that they fundamentally change the way the country's big national programs are organized, but i suspect in the fall he's going to give a big address or two about some of the more specific legislative things he'd propose as president. >> andrea, a lot of back and forth this week whether or not we should call rick perry's economic record a miracle in texas, and caothers calling it e texas unmiracle. clever. you've didn't a lot of reporting. what's the truth? as always, it lies somewhere in the middle. >> right. >> does he deserve as much credit as he's taking for the jobs that have been created in texas? >> clearly the numbers are there. jobs created, but it is largely because of the oil and gas sector. it's because of increased trade with mexico, population growth, state and local government jobs and low wage jobs, very important, he's tied i think 26 with mississippi for low-wage jobs. last in the nation in terms of the number of people who actually have health insurance. has a terrible record of high school graduation. so the big education, the school cuts in texas have been pretty profound. so a very mixed record in terms of social services, but the jobs are there, and another big factor there are two wars in texas. it's not a national picture, because the jobs have come to texas, many of them from california. so it's a migration that is beneficial to texas, yes, but certainly could not be a model for a national program. defense spending is a big part of that. that's one of the first big hits come whatever happens over either a negotiated end or thanksgiving or the triggers that will affect defense spending, very, very importantly, in january. >> richard, andrea mentioned the two wars. probably the first time mentioned in the context of this campaign this week, which is pretty remarkable thing. even at the debate last week, whenever they get together on these, it's an hour and a half before the word afghanistan comes up. >> yeah. people running for governor in chief rather than president and commander in chief. we know whoever's elected, a big chunk of his or her time will be devoted to national and foreign policy. from the campaign, you wouldn't know that. whoever's going to be elected has to think about the pace reef ductions from afghanistan. may have all sorts of other problems elsewhere, in the middle east, including iran, which continues to inch towards the nuclear weapons threshold and who knows what other crises he's going to face. at the moment it doesn't look like we'll have a good idea of exactly who we're going for. coming up, our next guest directed action packed films like "die hard 2" and "cliffhanger." renny harlin takes us inside his new thriller inspired by russia's five-day war with the republic of georgia. looks good. and the weekly jobless claims due out in a few minutes. we'll go live to the new york stock exchange. first, bill karnts way look at the forecast. >> willie, good morning. we have wet weather dealing with in areas of new york city. philadelphia reported hour delays at philadelphia airport because of those storms. that's by far the worse travel spot in the country this morning. mostly the state of new jersey. as far as the forecast goes, chance of showers and storms on and off during the day. probably a round this morning, a brace, and another round later through the mid-atlantic and new england. also definitely looking at storms in florida this afternoon. really hot in dallas, houston and san antonio. everyone above 100 in texas. oklahoma's also very hot. waking up on the west coast, more of the same. beautiful, nice and not too warm. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ jim ] i need to push out a software upgrade. build a new app for the sales team in beijing. and convince the c.e.o. his email will find him... wherever he is. i need to see my family while they're still awake. [ male announcer ] with global services from dell, jim can address his company's i.t. needs through custom built applications, cloud solutions and ongoing support in over 100 countries. so his company sees results. and jim sees his family. dell. the power to do more. mow. hope this still works. >> go, go, go! >> what are you doing? go! run! >> almost there. >> gotta go. >> come on! [ bleep ] come on! [ bleep ] get out! come on! >> we're not going to make it. >> get down! get out of there! that was a scene from "five days of war." a new international thriller from the claimed director renny harlin inspired from the five-day war between russia and the republic of georgia. why did you tackle this subject matter three years on after the war? >> this was a unique situation, completely different from wars in iraq and afghanistan. here's a knt of georgia, which is a poster child for the kind of democracy america wants in the world. they are one of the oldest christianitys in the world, thriving economy, beautiful m mediterranean country about to join nato, building a pipeline and on the first day of the olympics s in 2008, rush invad the country. the reason, it's that the telling the world about this war. i felt it was time to tell the world about what happened there and what kind of abuse the civilians went through. >> and you tell the story in an interesting way, because you do it through journalists. why did you choose that method? >> i went to georgia to research the movie less than a year after the war and i met with other journalists who will been there and heard about frustrations and realized this was the animal to really put this on a human level and really tell the awed yauudi what these unsung heroes go through. not only do they risk their lives for the story, there are a lot of complications that come out before the story. the news is so fast. i come from los angeles. i feel many times when watching the evening news i see more stories about the three-way car chase or the store robbery on tape than i hear on the world. >> you actually use georgians in testimony closing the film. what was the psychology like? did you have any hesitation, thing was too new, too fresh? were people excited about this kind of project? >> when i went to the country and saw the physical scars and the fear in think eyes and frustration they were going through, not being able to tell their stories, i went on a mission. i was so passionate about this project, and the same thing with the whole cast and crew. this was not a hollywood project where we stay in five-star hotels. we were on trains, farm house, shared bathrooms. in the kitchen together with the actors. it was a passion project for everybody, and seeing how thankful the georgians were for the fact we were telling the story really made it worthwhile. >> in putin and medvedev russia, i suspect they would be doing more of these intervention in the region, comparable to what they did in georgia. what has been the reaction to the film in moscow? have you gotten any blowback? >> i haven't had any real personal confrontations with anybody there, but from the internet and from stories i've heard, the russians are not happy with the movie, and it is not going to be distributed in russia. so, obviously, this type of a story is not exactly what they want to project. >> not a surprise there, nestle. they' you present a one-sided version of the story, they say, that all the russians are bloodthirsty grizzlies and the georgians are sort of fresh-faced victims. do you worry about telling one side of the story? >> you have to choose a point of view for your story and my story is not pro-georgia or pro-russia. it's pro-truth. and i did a lot of research, and on human rights sites about the facts of this war, and i based it on the facts and i stand by it. >> stand by the film. how does it fit in the scope of your career? you look at your resume. "die hard 2." got to give you props for "die hard 2." i understand you and bruce willis were not sleeping on trains. probably more five-star hotels involved. how does that fit into your career ark of a political movie like this? >> i feel that my career of making action movies and thrillers really prepared me for this, and i came to a point where i was, i think, a little more mature and i really had a need to tell a story that touches my heart, and it's about something. so while this is action-packed and dramatic and suspenseful and there's even romance in it, it's about something important. and i think it's going to make people talk and think and participate. >> how has this film, if at all, shaped your impression of war? of the scars of war? of what the reality of war really is? >> it blew my mind. i went to georgia. i talked to those, went to homes, went to hospitals. i saw videotape from the actual war, because i was re-creating actual scenes, where it took place. it's dangerous, barbarian. when we think of war, we tend to think of second world war movies, where the germans are shoot up the french and that's war. but so much in today's world is, it's swilling. it's bombs being dropped right where the civilians are. and this war was lasted only five days, and so many lost their lives. >> there's a big debate in the geopolitical war who should we be betting on? on our relations with medvedev in russia? what are your personal views having done all this research? >> i think he's an amazing man. educated in harvard. he's not at all what people picture when they picture e country's leaders. the country is skyrocketing forward. he loves culture. he loves architecture. and those kind of leaders are the people we should be supporting and that's how wire going to promote democracy and forward momentum in the world, and, of course, we need to have good relations with russians as well. >> where do you think we are on that question? >> i think the u.s. government right now is tilting the scales in favor of medvedev and putin against -- it's not deliberately against leaders, like the government of georgia, but certainly we have placed our bet with larger global powers at the expense of many of the regional partners who we have stood by in the past, and we've moved away from some of those smaller countries that are democracies, pledges democracies with courageous leaders and they are under siege, as captured clearly in this film, by russia, and we have moved away from standing by those smaller countries, those smaller democracies. i think it's a big mistake. i'm actually excited about the film, because i think it will remind people, sort of hats at stake. and i think the rise of russia, the medvedev-putin era is one of the great under reported stories of this period in global affairs, and hopefully this movie can shed some light on what this is. >> it's not secret. it's not a secret putin has said publicly in his view the greatest geopolitical disaster of our century was the falling apart of the soviet union. so he would like to bring all of those little countries with oil and gold and -- >> absolutely. >> -- back intoed fold. >> he faced an international backlash during that war in 2008. i said earlier if left unimhibted, if he didn't deal with international backlash and pressure i suspect he would try to dominate a number of those former soviet republics much like he tried to do and is actually doing in some degree in georgia today. >> still occupying the areas which are part of georgia and nobody's doing anything about it. >> right. >> illustrated that to the audience. i'd like to compare. if mexico invaded california, i think we would do something about it. >> right. >> on a slightly lighter note, renny -- >> this is, like, really light stuff. >> i'm watching curb your enthusiasm the other night and i hear your name. let's watch this clip. >> renny harlin, director. >> no. >> used to be married to geena davis. i would like to spend the next couple of months doing an off-broadway thing, but renny said, look, if you need a place in new york, it's on 66th and broadway, beautiful place. why don't i just let you have the place? he offered it to me. i had to say no. >> what? he just wanted to give you hess apartment? >> sitting at -- >> why didn't he offer it to me? i don't feel like at that. >> you need a place to stay, larry. >> surely you have some deep, old relationship with larry david. >> we go way back, yeah. >> you didn't know about this? >> no, no. >> learned about it on "morning joe." >> and he doesn't live in new york. >> i think the producer -- >> you should be on. renny, thank you so much. the film is "five days of war," it hits theaters tomorrow. renny harlin. thanks very much. up next, market futures down sharply at the moment. business before the bell with simon hobbs next on "morning joe." every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the cc. and every volkswagen includes scheduled carefree maintenance. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the volkswagen cc sport for just $289 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. welcome back to "morning joe." two senior administration officials are confirming just now to nbc news that secretary of state hillary clinton will today ask syrian president al assad to step down, as andrea mitchell suggested earlier this morning. until now the white house has walked up to the edge but not actually call on assad to leave. this comes as syrian activists say government officials shot and killed nine people after claiming military operations had ended in this country. pressure from u.n. secretary of state ban ki-moon, reportedly demanding an end to the crackdown as well as a "credible process of reform." a u.n. spokesman says the secretary-general was especially concerned about violence in a key port city that recently sustained a brutal four-day land and sea assault. secretary clintons's announcement today is coordinated with a parallel step by the european union. the treasury department expected to announce new sanctions against the regime today. mark halperin a big step. >> it is. great to be on the side of freedom. it puts the united states' credibility on the line. good to do it with other countries. interesting to see how other leaders, in the region, northern africa, react to this. >> why strategically did we wait to do it until now? after months -- >> exactly where, no way we going to unilaterally come out and ask for al assad's resignation from office, simply because, what if it doesn't happen? put a lot of credibility on that. what's important about this statement isn't necessarily secretary clinton is making the statement, all the pieces in place to make this statement. turkey, you now have assurance from turkey they're onboard. from king abdullah from saudi arabia. so all of these contacters play into why we now decided this is the right time to call for his resignation. >> secretary clinton walked up to the line several times. two days ago she said i can come out and say it, he should leave, but it doesn't mean anything unless these other parties are lined up. apparently they are. >> he has been in confrontation with regional leaders, we have that from the white house. why now? to a certain degree with libya. interesting that foreign policy has been largely ignored in terms of the national debate about obama the performance, obviously, focusing on jobs and the economy, but i think if we're looking forward to 2012, we are going to see this riveted and the white house will have to have some kind of clear, explanation as to why they did what they did when they did it. >> absent from the presidential discussion. yeah. >> another element to this. in egypt, the united states had some degree of confidence that the military which has long been associated with the american military, a bridge to a different government and stability. it's not clear who will go into power and that could be great for the united states, or horrible for the united states as well as israel. >> libya on the screen. a top u.s. official says libyan leader moammar gadhafi's days are numbered. heard that before. rebels claim they're making significant gains against gadhafi's forces. this comes as refugees flee the cities, four days of fighting where opposition have taken control of about 70% of the city, including, according to reuters, the last functioning oil refinery in that country. it sits on a road in the transportation of goods from tunisia to tripoli is seen as critical in the march towards the libyan capital. new word this morning rebels are also now in control of gar yon, controlling the southern highway into tripoli and reports of food shortages and lack of electricity in tripoli. rebels trying to isolate gadhafi in his capital stronghold, which could now be the next front in the war. vice president joe biden is meeting with chinese counterpart toes as the two begin talks focusing on global trade, currency and, of course, the global economy. common responsibilities shared by the two nations. back here in the u.s., opening an investigation into st standard & poor's and it's business. improperly rating mortgage securities, specifically of analysts who wanted to give low ratings to those bonds overruled by the managers. back to biden. what's the idea on that trip? >> as much focus on the economy and the short term, america's role around the world continues. a huge presence in foreign policy all over the world. in china trying to stay on message, almost every photo opportunity, he talks about jobs. it's clear that with slow growth in most of the world, the chinese economy, if america can do more work with china is an engine to bring things back in terms of selling them manufactured goods as well as being an engine of growth around the world. it's an important relationship, and this administration has basically had continuity for the most part in terms of how to deal with china. let's turn to the markets now. the u.s. stocks look like they might tumble here at the open. a check on business before the bell with cnbc's simon hobbs, live at the new york stock exchange. simon what do you have? >> willie, i wish i had better news. may be we're back to the volatility today we had last week. looking at 230 points on the dow jones industrial in the open. the weekly jobless come through. 408,000 people trying for benefits last week, up 9,000. another great sign, but the far bigger issue is this which is a note that's come out from morgan stanley downgrading world growth this year and next year. saying that the united states and european union are now dangerously close to recession. they don't believe that in that is the scenario, saying there are other reasons why that might not happen. if we get another shock, it clearly could push us over. more importantly in some people's eyes, we heard in "the journal," asking european banks to rely on access funding in the u.s. markets on a day-to-day basis, that the fed here in new york is very concerned. "very concerned" about banks funding problems with the debt crisis. so slowing growth, obviously, stocks might go. that's why the stock market will fall and we are halted by the same argument of last week. because some of the european banks and european debt, that some of the u.s. banks are not as willing to lend to them in the money markets. join from specific names it is believed. therefore it's difficult to roll over debt. the central banks will be in there, no question, bigger than the european central bank but back to the concerns last week. the french franc, fallen 6% in paris, and you have what they call a naked short sell at the moment pap rough open, i'm afraid. >> down 230 at the open. jobless claims up 9,000 to 408,000. s&p, simon, an investigation with practices leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. has should re look for there? >> a lot of people believe the -- not calling it s&p in particular. in general most believe the ratings agencies are absolutely culpable along with a nubble of other people for the subprime crisis we had. it was their ratings that were completely wrong. the toxic assets were sold around the world to all of those banks and that isn't right. something's gone horribly wrong. what the justice department is attempting to do here is to show there was deliberate wrongdoing and that actually the business managers, two people said, look, we should downgrade these aaa rated subprime mortgage packages, were told by business managerers don't kill the golden goose. i.e., we're making such a lot of money from these banks comes to us asking us to rate their own, pay fees to rate their instruments, we have to keep on doing it. that's the allegations apened if the just it department can pin that to s&p that would be an important moment i think for a lot of people. >> and that's the point? you have companies paying a ratings agency to give them a rating. we'll pay you a little more for another rating and it had calamitous impact in 2008? >> right. in fact, if you sort of look at s&p trajectory in terms of calling defaults, it's been really bad. there's a huge amount of emphasis placed on their ratings and historically, they really haven't been that good. in some sense, any inquiry into sort of think practices and the broader trajectory of their work is, i think, probably a good thing. >> simon hobbs, thanks so much. looks like a rocky start to the day, but we'll hope it gets better. up next, in a city nearly blown off the map by a devastating tornado, the will to rebuild is bringing life very slowly back. that story, when we return. i know you're worried about making your savings last and having enough income when you retire. that's why i'm here -- to help come up with a plan and get you on the right path. i have more than a thousand fidelity experts working with me so that i can work one-on-one with you. it's your green line. but i'll be there every step of the way. call or come in and talk with us today. there's so much to learn. i just shut down. but liberty walked me through it all... like when i test... at night or after i eat... makes a big difference. a good diet and testing your blood sugar regularly can help you manage even reduce the risk of complications. that's why liberty offers a wide selection of most brand meters and all the help you need to understand your meter. if you're over 65, have diabetes and are on medicare... call now and we'll send you a free meter. it offers alternate site testing, so you can test on your arm. no more pricking your fingers. so it's less painful. it makes a big difference. and to make it even less painful, the cost of your diabetes testing supplies may be covered by medicare. join over a million others who have chosen liberty medical. call now and get your free meter. plus for a limited time get a free cookbook when you join. call the number on your screen. nearly three months since the devastating tornado in joplin. now in the cleanup, reopening schools to the city's 7, 800 students. kevin tibbles reports from the city of joplin. >> reporter: in a badly bruised joplin, missouri, they were determined to open the schools on time. >> how are you? >> reporter: and they did, thanks to teamwork and creativity. >> there's not a book out there on how to deal with an f-5 tc d tornado and how to get your school started again. >> reporter: that tornado stole the lives of 160 people, smashed 8,000 homes and businesses and left eight joplin schools in shambles. this surveillance individual grow inside joplin high school shows the monstrous funnel demolishing it. the new high school echoes with the sound of 1,000 bustling juniors and seniors. now inside a vacant big box store at a local mall, transformed into a modern place of learning. >> we're not looking back. we can't look back. we owe it to the legacy of the people that lost their lives in the storm. looking back, reliving the past would not honor them in the way they needed to be honored. >> reporter: each student received a new laptop. the first presented to a young man who lost both his parents in the tornado. all donated by the united arab emirates some 8,000 miles away. >> overvoi joyed. grateful. extremely grateful. >> reporter: at nearby elementary, teachers want the children to feel safe here. >> forget because we're going to have fun here. >> if they're upset -- so i spent a lot of time praying about it. >> reporter: behind the schools, concrete shelters should the tornado sirens ever sound again. real reminders of what kids in joplin are still dealing with. >> where are you living? >> at motel 6. >> reporter: back it school in a city that has suffered so much, where hugs are a vital part of the curriculum. >> nbc's kevin tibbles from joplin, missouri. we'll be right back. [ woman ] welcome back, jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage, while my sneezing and my itchy eyes took refuge from the dust in here and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. it's the brand allergists recommend most. ♪ lily and i are back on the road again. where we belong. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. barack obama was interviewed during his midwest trip by cnn's wolf blitzer, and it was interesting. they talked about how being president can take a real physical toll. here's the interview. >> you know, you've aged these past three years or so. a little more gray hair. >> people, old friends who i haven't seen around here reminded me when i was young senator traveling through iowa, that i looked a little younger than i do now. >> we're going to show our viewers a picture what you looked like in des moines at the end of 2002. here's 2004. now, my super pac is legally forbidden from coordinating from the campaign. i think he likes me best. exhibit a. the governor of texas, announced his candidacy in charleston, south carolina, right around the corner from my childhood home! obviously trying to get my attention. he might as well have showed up on my driveway with a boom box over his head! ♪ in your eyes i am complete, your eyes ♪ i see the door ♪ ♪ 2,000 churches, your eyes >> you think this is the field or are we waiting for paul ryan? >> will we see other people, like a paul ryan? >> someone who could appeal to moderate voters? i don't know. paul ryan. >> very young at 41. >> but he has ideas. >> i hope he runs. >> that was awesome. why is that? it's never enough for the media. they're like children. mom! paul ryan! i just saw rick perry? and you already broke your michele bachmann! oh. and before i get you anything else, what the [ bleep ] is wrong with your ron paul! and don't tell me he's not fun to play with. 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[ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network... a network of possibilities... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. ♪ livingsocial, and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. i started getting hooked up with deals all over the place. ♪ now i get the star treatment everywhere i go. ♪ suprise yourself at livingsocial.com. sign up for free to save at least 50% on the best of your town. time top say has he learned today. start at the end with mr. mark halperin. >> this wes clark as opposed to the other wes clark. >> wes moore. >> sorry. wes moore. personal as well as handsome. the other guy, wrote a book. >> and a magazine. he tried. >> what you learned today? >> a big moment for me, and america. i know that someone that likes dogs and cats i should have been playing football for the university of miami. >> what did you learn, buddy? >> two thing. first of all, very good as what you learned for the very first time. >> not at bad. >> and from joe klein, really best -- >> no question about it. i've learned wes 3450r has changed. walked in here at 6:00. a humble man a good friend. we are the new man. on the cover of "time" magazine. >> taking over! taking over. >> put a guy on the cover of "time" magazine, look what happens. wes, congrats. very proud of you. great story. and send our best to lawrence o'donnell. and his family. his mother's funeral planned up in massachusetts. we're certainly thinking about lawrence today. that's going to do it for "morning joe" this morning. we'll be back here tomorrow. stick around for "the daily rundown" with a guest host. as ratings for president obama's han

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