Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20120724

i'm so flattered but please don't do that. i don't want that on my head. "morning joe" starts right now. good morning, everyone. it's tuesday, july 24th. welcome to "morning joe." look at the live shot from the top of the rock at new york city. and look who's here. with us on set we have national affairs editor for new york magazine john heilemann. >> excited to have you on set. >> no, i'm not talking about him. nice having campbell on. she was fantastic. >> joe missed that. >> can you believe campbell is married to a guy that wants the united states to collect muslim countries like little kids collect breaking ball cards? >> wow. >> it is not even 6:01. >> she must be a very patient woman. >> patient. >> don't you think campbell should be back on tv. >> she was. >> but all the time. >> we have former foreign policy adviser to the bush administration and current adviser to the romney administration. and willie geist is in london for the olympics. we're going to be talking about the opening ceremony of the olympic games, willie geist. first we talked about penn state just taking the players off the field for a year when this all happened and say just send a message to the ncaa, send a message to america and most importantly send it to your student body and don't play football next year. and given the infractions that would have made a lot of sense. they didn't do it, they dragged their feet and it looks like the ncaa slapped them with something they won't recover from for a decade. >> if penn state had done this to themselves, they probably could have mitigated what happened yesterday but this is the death penalty by another day. this is de facto death penalty. the $60 million will go to sex offense groups. the four year postseason ban, no great football player will want to go to penn state because you can't compete for a national title. we just talked to mike lombardi from the nfl network and he says this effectively reduces pen state to a division 2 program. it's remarkable when you consider where penn state was. it was at the upper echelon of four or five perhaps, always winning, what they thought was a great man leading their program. it turned out to be otherwise in many respects. >> the winningest coach, paterno is the winningest coach in division i football. they've erased all of their win prs 1998 to 2011, wiped them out. i bet you there's not a football fan around this table or watching that didn't have great respect for joe paterno. >> but this is really -- >> it's amazing how things turn so quickly. when we found out what was going on behind the scene. >> can you think of anything else that could have been done, though? would a lesser punishment have been better? >> no. i would have given them the death penalty. and i say that, richard oz, i say it and i said it as a guy who loves penn state. i'm an alabama guy but i've always loved penn state. they're a class program. >> that's the word, class. you would have said notre dame, penn state. it seemed to have football in perspective. it was good on the field and good off the field. that's the irony here. it was all done in the name of protecting the school and what they did was in some ways destroyed it for a decade. it's beyond ironic. it is a treasure. >> it's protecting not only the school but the football program. they didn't have the balance right at all. >> they had the balance all wrong. >> no doubt about it. >> all right. let's go and talk about syria. >> i'm not in power. i don't have control over any policy. >> but you are in control of mitt romney's campaign. >> officials in damascus have seemed to confirm that the regime does possess a stockpile of questichemical weapons. syria is believed to to have one of the largest stock piles of never agents and mustard gas in the middle east. president obama addressed this yesterday from reno. >> today we're working for a transition so the syrian people can have a better future, free of the assad regime and given the stockpile of chemical weapons, we'll make it sure they'll be held accountable should they use those chemical wello weapons. >> if we ever saw them preparing to use the weapons, and if they ever used them, they would not just be held accountable. we should do what jim bake der to the iraqi government and let them know if they were to prepare or use these weapons, they would face the utmost consequences. ie, that would be the basis for regime change. they should understand, not only is there not only a green light, there is no yellow light. any preparation will cross the line. it's pushing back against any outside intervention. he's trying to basically say outsiders stay out, which is also way i think he's signaling if left to his own devices, he still thinks he can win the game, if you will, if it's just him against this fractured syrian opposition. maybe he's bluffing. he doesn't seem to be that worried about that balance. >> you heard john mccain on our show last week also saying president obama is not doing enough. what should president obama be doing that he's not doing? >> and what can he do? >> sure, look, obviously this is a very complicated issue, no one disagrees with that. governor romney and others across the partisan divide, we've heard complaints as well as democrats, we have allies in the region that want to be doing more, funding insurge engentins getting the necessary resources and arms. and there has been a reticence by the obama administration to truly get in there and build channels with opposition, with responsible actors in the opposition. we stand there are bad actors in the opposition like the islamists. tharp already getting arms and funding. they should be getting them what they need, training them, building them up. >> isn't president obama being a bit more aggressive now? >> they claim to be doing a little more. for the longest time they've said it's a bad idea and explicitly said funding the opposition is a bad idea. >> so you salute president obama. >> in your words. >> and our men and which in uniform. >> we should always salute our men and women in uniform. assad will fall. the question is how long will it take. >> do you agree with that? >> it's a question of when. >> and it wh it happens, will it be 14,000 dead, 18,000 dead, 25,000 dead? my experience in iraq -- >> how did that work out for you? >> the longer the sectarian violence plays out, the longer the post reconciliation process plays on. >> and it keeps going, iraq, by the way, is realing from its bloodiest day in more than two years. >> at the hands of the sunni extremist groups, more than 100 people were killed in a wave of coordinated bombings and shootings on monday. it happened days after they vowed to make a comeback and reclaim territory they previously owned. here we are. here we are. >> egypt, we don't know how that's going to end up. syria, we could be looking at news reels like this for the next decade. >> yeah. i mean, the gentlemen around the table here know it's not a playground there. and there's -- you're constantly it seems to me testing the limits. every one of these instances shows what the limits are to some extent. when you think about syria, you can draw almost the opposite. people would draw different lessons from what happened in iraq. this administration drew some of the opposite lessons to dan's. they looked at syria and try to think was there a way to not militarize this conflict, there was a way that it wouldn't produce further military conflict in the region. if you had been able to find some way for this to end with assad falling, it would have been ideal. >> that was never in the cards. you mentioned egypt. egypt is a largely homogenous society. places like iraq and syria are fundly n fundamentally not. the number of people who could lose their lives o could be greater after assad goes. this is not going to be neat or smot or quick. all the arms in there to get rid of assad will be used against one another. this is the way revolutions goes. just like we're seeing the latest chapter in iraq. these things never quite settle. >> this is not a political point, even though it's going to sign like it. when president obama ran for office, he talked about increasing american influence in this part of the world and others. he improved our relations with the arab world and with russia. look at this region right now. you'd be hard pressed to find one country in the arab world today with who our relationship and ability influence has increased. >> being able to love and influence are different things. i don't see anyone burning the american flag. they'll be burning the russian flag soon enough. are we hated the way we were hated over the past generation? probably not. on the other side of it now, do we have as much interest that we had four years from now? no. will we have less four years from now even if mitt romney is president? yes. we just don't have the influence. >> how valuable is that love when mr. there's human catastrophe on the scale of a balkan-type situation, countries are developing nuclear capabilities like iran. >> love is not valuable. people are always going to do what's in their best interest. what we need is a commander in chief that's shrewd enough to cobble together a coalition ligs from turkey, saudi arabia, somebody who can do what george bush did. >> it's proving to be out of reach now pop how would he change that? >> you're on to something birk the american era of dominating the middle east, which followed the end of the cold war and went for two decades. that was almost done natural. the way we were able to put together the coalition against saddam hussein 20 some years ago was a special moment but a passing moments. our interests are greater than our influence in the middle east. in the energy area we've reduced our vulnerability and dependence on the middle east. but islam is filling the political space, violent sectarian conflicts are taking the place of the top-heavy regimes. for the next year the middle east is going to go through transition. local realities counts. the united states sitting in washington, we cannot impose our visions, our dreams, our image in the middle east. we can play a role but the era where the united states was essentially calling the shots in the middle east is over. doesn't mean we have no influence but it does mean we have less. >> and we're going to be seeing less influence, we've had a series of strong men able to tamp down sectarian violence, the object spring and many other things. just the sweep of history of moving them to the side one by one by one and it's going to be messy just like it was when tita left yugoslavia. >> it's impressive the tito reference. >> are you talking about terry francona? >> no, this is a tito that was so frightened that even the soviets wouldn't mess with him. >> impressive guy. >> quick politics before we go to break. can we handle it? >> no, he's in his moment now. >> no, i'm just thinking though, man. you think about what he did in the balkans. but anyway, though tyrants get swept to the side. >> tyrants do get swept to the side. >> the obama campaign is rolling out a new ad -- >> this will no longer be "morning joe." >> she's taking control. i go with a couple kids to nantucket for a couple weeks -- >> next thing you know your statue is being taken away and carted away. >> it was in front of 30 rock. it's not there anymore. what's happening? violence is going to break out in the streets by the lego store. >> skating rink. >> exactly. >> so what's going on in the campaign right now? >> let's take a look at this new obama campaign ad, which takes a tad bit of a different tone from the ads we've seen so far. >> over the next four months, you have a choice to make. not just between two political parties or two people, it's a choice between two very different plans for our country. governor romney's plan would cut taxes for folks at the very top, roll back regular layitions for big banks. but we tried that top-down approach. i believe the only way is to strengthen the middle class, asking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can afford to invest in education, manufacture and home grown energy for good middle-class jobs. sometimes politics can seem very small. but the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> that shows that attacking romney on his business record may not be working by more than 2-1. those surveyed said romney's background in business, including his tenure at bain capital would cause him to make good decisions in dealing with the nation's chick problems over the next four years. according to gallup's tracking poll, president obama leads by just 1%, 46 to 45. >> so we've been saying that these bain attacks just weren't going to work for a month or two. they're not working. the class warfare stuff doesn't work. but you know what does work? barack obama being barack obama. instead of his "mitt romney is rich --" barack obama barack obama coming out and showing the barack obama that excited so many people in 2008 and won over independent voters, right there, that's the guy. and even the message, forward. that's the message. and they have so bungled his brand over the past through three months. barack obama's brand is hope and change. >> they've still got a long way to go. >> a long way to go. >> this ad is a seminal ad in a lot of ways. they're saying they're going to run this ad in virtually every swing state. it's going to cost a lot, which tells you they're continuing on their spending spree of the summer. it's a comparative ad. it's not just a negative ad. there's no scary music, no unflattering pictures of romney. and all of the key phrases they want to drive, balancing the debt in a responsible way, an economy built to last, and forward at the end. and the ad is called "the choice", which is exactly how they want to frame the whole election. i don't know whether this ad will work or not but i think it's going to be an ad tha you're going to look back on as having been an important ad in the course of the whole election because it does sum up where they want to be and has a real change of tone. >> and he is so good in that pocket, in that tone. and also i loved just as an observer what he said at the end, which is something about the smallness of these campaigns, that these campaigns can be small. >> politics can be very small, this is a big choice. >> right. politics can be very small but this is a big choice. he also -- his people are giving him lines that feed into what you were talking about, the seen feld campaign, that this cap pain seems smaller by the minute. >> the tone of it almost seemed like a relief, compared to everything that we've soon. it has a nice message to it, it has a nice tone to it, it's positive and rye eaffirming. >> is it a pause or a departure in. >> we don't know. >> they have spent so much money -- >> on bain. >> on bain. they have spent so much money on his massachusetts record. they have spent soap money trying to trash mitt romney. they've admitted as much. our guy is not going to went by 53%. >> they have to destroy mitt romney. >> they've said as much. yet you look at the latest round of ads that cbs/"new york times" tracking poll, they're not touching romney. the only thing they're doing is bringing down his approval ratings because of the negativity. these elections are not about the challenger, they're about the president. i thought the tone of that ad reminded us that it was hopefully but he wasn't just talking about hope and change. he was talking about issues. i didn't great on a lot of things he was saying but independent voters, sweng voters, will stop and listen to that. they'll listen to think it was consistent with the class theme that is through a lot of the obama messages, that the key here was getting the rich to pay a little bit more. therefore you'd have the money for investment. it's positive but it reinforces the big problem in america is the rich aren't doing their share. the substance hasn't changed. >> the substance hasn't changed but there a lot of americans, a lot of voters who think the tax system is unfair. >> taxing the rich is very popular. >> i know that's bad news for you and all your country club buddies but let me tell you, those of you us in the 99% are coming on to you. >> those non-profits. . >> coming up, olympia snow and larry kudlow will be here. "the washington post's" jew jeanne robinson. up next politico has exclusive new details on mitt romney's speech today. let get to bill karins with the forecast. >> a storm right over the top of rockford heading to chicago probably in the next half hour to 60ments. it's moving at 60 miles per hour. also strong thunderstorms around minneapolis this morning and a lot of beneficial rain there in southern minnesota. speaking of nantucket, thunderstorms heading through martha's vineyard now, severe storms and possibly rolling through nantucket shortly and the rest of kcape cod. warm and dry through much of new england. washington, d.c. chance of thunderstorms late today. and this morning in chicago, another strong line of thundershowers. and we continue with our amazing heat, kansas city yesterday at 105. today we'll cool you off down to 102. that's it. you're watching "morning joe." we're brewed by starbucks. ♪ take the long way home, take the long way home ♪ building pass, corporate card, verizon 4g lte phone. the global ready one ? yeah, but you won't need... ♪ hajimemashite. hajimemashite. hajimemashite. you guys like football ? thank you so much. i'm stoked. you stoked ? totally. ... and he says, "under the mattress." souse le matelas. ( laughter ) why's the new guy sending me emails from paris ? paris, france ? verizon's 4g lte devices are global-ready. plus, global data for just $25. only from verizon. it's okay to unplug for a while. companies like google, facebook and twitter. are you listening? face the challenge of balancing what's best for their bottom line against what's best for the consumer's well being. >> i think i'm going to tweet that. >> unplug once in a while. >> 140 characters or less. take my daughter, one of the most exciting developments is she's picked up reading. and she is just obsessed about reading. >> how old? >> 8 years old. >> the biggest problem is sometimes she's brings books to the table. >> that won't be your buggest problem for long. >> i know. but the difference between being k connected to the computer and picking up and reading a book. makes a huge difference. >> the wall street journal, home prices you a their year-over-year increase since 2007, a strong indication the housing mash mrket may be on th road to recovery. phoenix, investor demand has been up. home values in chicago saw the largest decline, dropping near live 6% from a year ago. the economy is not going to recover until housing recovers. >> absolutely. >> if we've hit the bottom and we're slowly starting to go up, that is a very good sign for at least -- >> hopeful. "new york post," mayor bloomberg's ban heads to -- mayor bloomberg is confident the proposal will pass because he hired everyone on the board. heap said "compared to smoking, this is an easy battle to win. nothing is going to stop this thing. we were talking yesterday. -- >> the soup test. >> you give someone a normal bowl of soup and they eat it. you give them a bowl with a special tube at the bottom that consistently refills without knowing and they'll eat for half an hour. >> are you going to be supportive to cut off the size of the popcorn buckets at the movie theaters? >> there's those big buckets at the movie theater? >> what would bloomberg think if we tried to ban golf? people have been hit with golf balls before. >> the soda thing is a slippery slope. it begins with the soda. >> i want one of those soup things at my house, now i have a perpetual soup thing. >> we could ban soda because it's poison. >> it's not poison. >> i'm dead serious. >> mike allen is here with the political playbook. great tie. i love that tie. top of the morning to you. >> a highlighter. >> politico has the exclusive first look at a foreign policy speech that was probably written by dan seymour that mitt romney is going to be talking about on his day-to-day trips across overseas. tell us about it. >> that's right, joe. the romney campaign says when romney is overseas on his trip to poland, england and israel, these could be respectful of the commander in chief. today he's on reno nevada soil and he's going at him hammer and tongs. he's going to say president obama has set out to appease or adversaries and as a result of this perceived weakness has been taken advantage of. they'll say that mitt romney today plans to say in these remarks whether it's iran, whether it's china that we're -- whether it's russia, the united states has seen foreign policy setback after foreign policy se setback. yesterday the obama campaign had retch ard gibbs out with reporters saying judge mitt romney's trip on its substance or whether it's one long photo-op. >> what's this reno, this vfw in reno? sounds like a place where billy ray cyrus would play. and i love billy ray cyrus. but is he -- like what's the reno vfw? is this a new stop they all have to go to in. >> i think it's a big hole in reno. nevada is obviously a swing state. up there in the northern part of the state is where the election is won or lost. las vegas very democratic because of all the restaurant owners, big union town in vegas. you got to win in reno. both campaigns will spend a lot of time in the northern part of the city. >> oh, look, the big apple is a low cancer zone. the american cancer society in new york and new jersey found lower cancer rates in the city than in the rest of the state or the nation. >> thank you so much. >> mika is not pushing for a bloomberg fourth term. >> don't tread on me. >> willie is standing by live in london. willie, good god, help me here, help me. >> joe, i love that recovery on the billy ray cyrus. you said, "oh, i love billy ray cyrus." i didn't realize you were such a fan. >> huge fan. billy ray played on scarborough country one time for the troops. >> that's all it takes to win your heart. i love it, i love it. >> we're going to talk a little olympics. you've been studying, for some people just tuning in, we'll give you a little briefing on the olympic games. and the yankees do have the best record in baseball and now they have the best player ever to come out of japan. a surprise trade yesterday. the yankees picked up ichiro. he just moved over a locker room in seattle. sports is next. 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[ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org. welcome back to "morning joe" here in london where it's 11:38 in the morning. they're getting ready for opening ceremonies right behind me here in olympic park. it's true that most of us don't follow olympic sports year round until the moment we see them on tv during the olympics, until you have the rhythmic gymnastic pack and on tv, which most don't. we're going to arm you what we call cocktail party knowledge, just enough to have something to say when the olympics come up. when somebody says this phelps this lochti rivalry is something. or when they say we hope the women beat china this year. >> that's right, they lost in beijing. they will battle for the individual title. the team picked by most experts to win gold. and you might hear about the south african runner with two protestic legs. his name is oscar pistorious. he lost his legs when he was 11 years old and he'll race in the relay here in london. tomorrow the olympic coverage starts at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. i'm be kicking that off right before the first women's soccer game. that's 10:30 a.m. eastern time on msnbc. >> after spending he is entire 11 careers with the seattle mariners, ichiro suzuki was traded to new york. with cash consideration and exchange for two minor league pitchi pitching prospects. ichiro moved from one locker room to the other in a stadium he's called home for 11 1/2 seasons. he'll play some left field for the yanes who lost bret gardner for the season. so in the game last night, ichiro wearing number 31, the number of the hall of famer, the gramm dave w-- great dave winfield. and his only hit in the game in four trips to the plate, and then he promptly stole second base. in the eighth inning, another former mariner, a-rod, a solo shot to left center. ichiro on board, they snap a four-game losing streak. coming up, we'll send it back to new york city. will farrell got himself in the spirit last night putting on a hand s handsome beret. 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"my own guess is what the romney tax returns would lay bare is the extent of his donations to his church. charitable donations are something to be proud of, an entirely honorable thing. but for a candidate who has taken extravagant pains to avoid discussion of his supremely prominent role in contemporary mormonism, the idea of a wave of news stories detailing the tens of millions of dollars that he has given to the church of jesus christ of latter day saints surely making him among its most generous funders in the modern day era but what he evidently regards as a strict no-go zone. that is an interesting concept because he's given a lot of money to charity that we know of so far. >> he obviously -- i think one of romney's biggest problems is he has a hard time talking about the two things that matter most to him. he's an incredibly successful person at making money and an incredibly important important in mormonism, whether he's being attacked or trying to make a positive case. people ask what's in the tax returns that's so bad that we haven't already seenfrom the one year that we have, i just think if you release ten years you would suddenly have a very large amount of money he's given to the mormon church. i don't think there's anything wrong with that -- >> i think that's a problem. he's got to be good with who he is. he's gone a long way to not want to talk about that issue. it would get talked about a lot if we looked at ten years or eight years, or seven years of tax returns because the numbers would be very large. >> so why doesn't he want to talk about his mormonism? >> he does. he gave a big speech -- >> that was in 2008. >> he talks very openly. even things that are very special in his life, he tends to be not a look at me exhibitionist look how good i am kind of guy. everybody in his community talks about how unbelievable he was during ann's ms. he doesn't talk about it that much. his wife talks about it, his kids talk about it. he talked about his business partner whose kid went missing, he should down the firm, everybody went looking for it. he doesn't say look how great i am, look at what i've done. it just not who he is. >> we heard this about george h.w. bush, his move telling him stop talking about himself and he still drives his wife crazy because he won't talk about himself enough. is it fair to say romney is a bit the same way? >> i think it's very fair to say it's the same way. it a political problem because we don't know, to go back to a topic we had earlier, how much has the obama campaign defined romney successfully in a negative way. one of the things that defines you to be defined in a negative way is if you can't talk about yourself in a positive way. he's a blank canvas to people. not many americans know him. instead of filling in that picture for the electorate, he's allowed to some extent have the obama campaign do it for him in a way that is not favorable to him. >> rick haass, going overseas, what should he avoid and what should he accomplish? >> he wants to keep the focus on the economy. that's the main theme of the campaign. this is a little off message. it's always tricky for someone to go overseas and talk about the president's foreign policy. it looks a little disloyal or wrong. parts of the obama foreign policy are not easy to criticize. afghanistan obama did a lot. can you either criticize it from the right and say we should keep doing more, i'm not sure what the political mileage is there. are you prepared to say we should do less? it's hard to go after the osama bin laden thing, you can't. and americans don't care that much about it. if he goes overseas, he ought to be large and principled about what the purposes of american foreign policy are, less a critique of obama and more of a statement of what his foreign policy is. >> what richard just said, that is exactly what you will see while he's abroad. >> mika, how would siding for poland, i don't know what the laugh is about. a polish joke now? poland has done extraordinarily well if you look at the arc of that country since 1989 and the collapse of the iron curtain, poland has been a great success. >> an economic success. >> a great economic success. they've been really one of most stalwart allies and we're very fortunate to have them as a friend. >> yes, we are. >> it's been a remarkable 20 something years. >> people used to make jones about talking about the new europe. po poland is the new europe. >> mika specific loves it. >> ahead this morning, larry kudlow joins us on set. >> polish pronunciation of kudlow. >> "morning joe" back in a moment. st fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf. this year we are out to do even better... and now is a great time to start. our beatches are even more relaxing... the fishing's great. so pick your favorite spot on the gulf... and come on down. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? 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[ cheers and applause ] over the next four months you have a choice to make. it's a choice between two very different plans for our country. governor romney's plan would cut taxes for folks very very top, roll bag regulations on big banks. but we tried that top-down approach. it's what caused the mess in the first place. i believe the only way to create an economy built to last is to strengthen the middle class, asking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way. sometimes politics can seem very small. but the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger. >> welcome back to "morning joe." joining the table, editor in chief of "newsweek" magazine and the "daily beast" and eugene robinson. >> earlier we assad that obama add may be a turning point. what do you think about it? >> i think it's refreshing. i liked it. i don't know if it's a turning point but i really liked it. it righted the ship a little bit. >> you get a hope of that sense and change thing. even though he was talking about issues and it was a comparison ad, it want just grainy pictures of mitt romney going back to 1999. >> the whole bain stuff, they kept say it was working but to me it was just death. it was so kind of small and these were like warring ants. i think this finally takes him back to being a leader, a statesman, which is something he has to be because romney is failing so terribly in my view, in that direction. romney keeps playing it small, doing the small ball stuff. >> they're both playing small ball. what was the last line? >> he said sometimes politics seems really small but this is a really big choice. >> that really taps them. >> and obviously they do a huge amount of focus grouping and testing. >> and spend a lot of money doing it. >> this phrase "an economy built to last," a lot of voters think the boom and bust cycles they attribute to wall street is an attack on wall street in some way. they are trying to drive the motion that the old republican politics are part of this boom-bust cycle americans don't trust. when they talk about paying down the debt in a balanced way, they're saying they want to talk about the wealthy. and this thing about a choice, they believe that if you raise the stakes on the election, that benefits them because it gets to where this big contrast, the choice they're trying to highlight here, that that's something that benefits them. this may not be a turning point but it's seminal because it goes to how they frame the entire election and talk to the voters in the big swing states. >> they haven't been doing that. it's a self-correcting moment for them to get back ton track and do that. >> obviously they can't just talk about making big choices. they're going to have to follow up with big choices. he can do that well in the future but at least it seems like they're riding the track p. they're getting away from the small ball, as we've heard. we'll talk to you in a second, dan. >> poor dan. >> let's go gene in. >> he's been so patient. >> i'm patient. >> let's have one more jump on the train and then we'll let you make your opinion. gene, going negative and ripping the bark of another candidate, off your opponent, that does work for some politicians. i don't think it works well for president obama. i think this works better for president obama. >> the campaign sees phases. the phase that maybe they're now moving out of was mess up romney a bit. and disturb that perfect hair and make him not the sort of iconic business guy who fixed the olympics and who is upright and who is going to fix everything but raise some questions about him and kind of muddy him up a bit with the bain stuff. and i think they believed they were successful in that. >> but, gene, the numbers suggest it had the opposite effect. >> well -- >> the numbers suggest they wasted a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of goodwill trying to mess up that stiff, moused hair and it's even stiffer and better than before. a hurricane wouldn't move that hair. >> that may be true. i know those numbers and i think that's a good argument. i don't think they would buy it actually. i think they believe they did have some effect, that they had to make a few things stick. so even if bain hasn't taken romney's numbers down, i don't think they regret the bain phase of this campaign. i do think they believe perhaps it's time to move to the next phase. >> i'm sure bep we just don't understand. >> exactly. >> look at the gap up/"usa today" poll says it may not be working. romney is back in business. according to gal gup's tracking prol, president obama leads by just one% -- particularly among independent voters. it means people have a high personal opinion of obama but he has not met expectations. they think he's a good man, not up to the job. outmatched. with all these bain attacks, you're watching and voters are saying how does this change my view that he is up to the job, barack obama? how should it chang my view that he didn't get outmatched. there may be an issue which i huge hopes pore obama that have been met at a time of great economic security for a majority of americans. >> this election is not, tina, about a former massachusetts governor. it's about the past four years and the next four years. >> we'll my not resent that romney was successful in business. it like do you want to be rich like him or poor by us. i any mitt has shown himself to be very poor in this battle the last couple of months. he's been very unnimble in his responses. the whole question of not be, why so prepared. >> when you think back to 2004 and the swift boats attacked john kerrey on his perceived strengths, the number didn't move in two weeks or three weeks. it wasn't until the fall that stuff sunk in, doubts about kerrey and his character and history did not manifest themselves until some time later. we just don't know if it worked or not. it may be have they wasted all this time and money. it may also be come fall the undecided voters who are going to stay undecided probably until the fall, we may start to see change then. you just don't know the answer. >> the swift boat ads didn't beat johnson kerrey. it didn't really move the numbers. the numbers did start moving i voted for the war, before i voted against the war. he fed into a flip-flopping narrative. >> some of that jet ski stuff hurt, some of that imagery. >> and gene robinson, that was a harsh, hateful attack. you know, i mean, what people do, as i've always said in nantucket sound stays in tubt sound. >> if you look at these debate about tax returnsoned bain, what you didn't have in 2004 and suddenly you have jobs numbers come out and then you have manufacturing numbers come out. you have these distractions into the sillyland debate and suddenly you get real world news, boom! >> which, gene, by the way, on to that point, if the secretaryian attacks and it begin in 2004, let's say they'd blown up the musk in -- sometimes events just overwhelm all these smaller things and these job numbers month in and month out may be why obama's attacks aren't sinking in. >> look, if i were running the obama campaign, i would have to assume that mediocre was the best we were going to get with economic numbers and work from there, right? we don't think the economy is going to turn around between now and november. so given that there's going to be economic news, given that there's events out there that can't predict and that could play either way, you know, have you succeeded on any level in raising some questions about mitt romney because you said this election is about the past four years. the obama campaign would love this election to be about mitt romney. and whether or not he's qualified to be president. to the extent they've made any progress on that, they would be pleased with it. if they haven't, trail try something else i guess. >> so following the attacks david action xex -- axelrod "ta returns, bundlers, bain. many internal documents from when romney presided over the olympics and were likely destroyed by olympics officials, which may have offered insight into how romney operated as president and ceo. last night on "the kudlow report," romney deend fended himself. >> what's come from the president's campaign have been a series of attacks on me for the olympics, which i'm very proud of and my leadership of massachusetts. and i was able to by virtue of having a great team, able to achieve great thing there is as well. >> mika, what do you think? now they're going after the olympics. >> i think the tax returns, i'd like to see them. that element of mystery, i hate to use this tv term, fair game. >> not so sure. not so sure. >> is it keeping you up at night? >> not really, not really. >> you haven't worked for three years, are you going to be reading david axelrod's tweet and go you know what, you know what? that's it! i am voting for obama. >> there is an element of who is he. i think when he's got to define who he is, what his economic plan is. >> he's a father, he's a husband, he's a successful father, a successful businessman, a successful husband, a successful member of his church, a successful governor, was successful in turning around the liolympics, succeeded in everything he's done, he's lived the american dream and the thing he's the proudest of is he's got five great kid. every one of those things is the truth. who is he? he's a success ses at everything he does, september he's not as good at being a politician as he was at being a businessmans, as being a father, being a hurst, being a church member. >> he's always wanted to be president it seems and yet we're not really sure why he wants to be president. if you ask me why mitt romney wants to be president, i really don't know why mitt romney want to be president. >> dan, why does mitt romney want to be president? >> he believes he's had a number of experiences in his life, he's had some amazing on-the-job training to trackle big messy management and leadership problems. he thinks the united states is in a management leadership mess and thinks his background and experience are a good match for the moment. why does barack obama want a second term? what's his explanation for his first second and -- i guess he would feel he came in to such an unbelievable -- >> he had the first years of his first term. he had a democratic house and senate. he pushed through big stuff. if i were in this position, i would have started this campaign on september 15th, talking about september 15th forward and talking about how they stabilize the economy and do what fdr did in 1936. things weren't great after four years of the new deal. but they're not doing that. i wonder if this is the sort of thing in october if they start falling behind in some swing states that they'll desperately do at the end. >> i, too, have wondered why they haven't talked more about the record. i think they have a lot to talk about. so why aren't they talking every single day, especially in the swing honor. about health care. they're going to have to to talk about mout mitt, thoughin venting it opinion certainlier that going to get attacked owe so i think they should go out and take the office. >> in every single state. in florida, unemployment got up to 12%. it's down to 8%, 9% now. we cut unemployment by 33%. the banking sector was here, we're here. like john kerrey, who in 2004 was for the war, before he was against the war, he was afraid to go there on what he believed in some of these issues and al gore, the same way with the environment in 2000. democrats make this mistake a lot. barack obama owns his record. he should embrace it and every swing state he goes to, he should be talking about thing this is how things i came in and have the guns to tell people what's he's going to do i think that's where the link seems to be missing here on this narrative, gene. >> well, you know, joe, i remember talking on this program months ago and agreeing that the candidate who makes a compelling case about the economy, who talks about the economy and jobs and the future in a way that connects with people is going to win this election. and i still think that's true. and i don't think either candidate is really doing it at this point in a way that you would say is, you know, is a home run. i mean, so we'll see if the obama campaign in its sort of systemic phases of the campaign approach mitt romney in what is his harvard business school approach to campaigning, we'll see whether one or the other can do that. if you can do that, you went. >> i do wonder if the electorate is looking to either of these candidates, people, do it a a bigger,ger issue now because i think people understand there are these giant head winds in this economy. it would chang the issue of the financial melt down has been cosmic. the i i think the people -- i don't know how naive people are thinking one guy can fix it. i do think to joe's point that this ad where obama is talking about the economy built to last, i i do think that's going to have resonance. people are looking for some kind of a big, long game plan as opposed to a fix-it. >> yeah. national service or it's good to be on a ho built to last. >> we'll look for your comments. tina brown stick around if you can. we'll talk to republican senator olympia snow who has some ideas on how to fix congress. well that, would be nice. >> and we'll talk to one of the main players whose job it was to oversee how taxpayer dollars are to be spent. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ i was on the inside when they pulled the walls down ♪ i take insulin, so i test... a lot. do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood. yeah, and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. yep. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? so testing is one less thing i have to worry about today. great. call or click today and get strips and a meter free. test easy. in the in the ♪ ♪ >> i believe that both our firm and our industry is far to go to regain the trust of taxpayers, investors and public officials. >> but we understand that taxpayers are angry. they deserve to know how their funds are being used. >> we're americans first and bankers second. so we see this taxpayer inve investmeinves investment as a future investment in our country. >> 24 past the hour. more than three years ago the ceos of banks that benefited from the troubled asset relief programs, also known as tarp, testified before congress to explain how the funds were getting used. joining us the former inspector general in charge of tarp and senior fellow at the nyu school of law, neal oversaw the several hundred billion dollar bailout. he's out with a new book now. he writes "i now realize that the american people should lose faith in their government. thech should deplore the captured politicians and regulators who took their taxpayer dollars and distributed them to the banks without insisting that they be accountable for how they were spent. they should be revolted by a financial system that rewards failure and protects the fortunes of those who drove the system to the point of clams and will undoubtedly do so again. they should be enraged by the broken promises to main street and the unending protection of wall street. because only with this appropriate and justified rage can we sew the seeds for the types of reform that will one day break our system free from the corrupting grasp of the mega banks. it is my own ranger that caused my to write this book. great stuff. >> i was shocked when i came to washington. was a federal prosecutor for eight years when i got tapped to come down to washington. i really was shocked when i came to learn just how captured, just how much a handful of wall street banks do control our economy. >> explain. >> the ideology has been so adopted by our government, whether it's treasury officials or regulators, they put the interests of wall street above those of main street. in tarp you saw a program that was supposed to help main street, reinvigorate the economy and help struggling homeowners. that never happened. when i first got down there i started making recommendations. my job was to protect tarp from fraud, to protect people from ripping it off. i would point out here's a loophole, a lack of condition, a concern. i would hear over and over, you don't get it, these banks would never risk their reputation by putting profit over the interest of government, they would never embarrass themselves in this way and just ignoring what happened in the financial crisis where the banks prove they would put profit over everything, including their reputation. >> there was a response to your book by the treasury. it's not very long. "we haven't seen the book but we wish mr. barofsky well. >> secretary geithner struck back last night. >> it is fascinating. he took a section of the book when i talk about the misleading responses, he followed that play book almost perfectly. we saw some faux outrage about how deeply disturbed he was and upset and then set up a series of straw men, suggested i said he worked at goldman sachs, which i never said. it's very disappointing instead of engaging these very important issues, which have not resolved, we'll create another financial cries, possibly worse than what we saw in 2008, we saw this juvenile misleading. it's very disappointing. >> so how could things have been done differently? what should have been done to make sure that these billions and billions of dollars that went to rebuild the banks and wall street, what could be done to make sure that more would have gone to main street? >> when they first put the money out, they announced they were going to do this for the purpose of increasing lending and reinvigorating the economy. but when the rubber hit the road, they didn't put any conditions or incentives in doling out the funds. and when i was won fronting them and insisting on this level of transparency and these types of reforms, against i was told i didn't know what i was talking about, that i was stupid, that i would bring down the banking system. >> mika, do you remember back when house republicans voted down tarp and official washington, all the people in the networks and editorial pages went crazy and said they were barbarians and they wanted to wreck the congressman. and weep had a former representative from arizona on. do you remember what he said? >> he kind of always cut right through everything. >> he said they want to us give them $700 billion. he said do you know how many loopholes are in these three pages? they hand as you three-page document and say give us $700 billion and they wonder why we vote no? and they were told, just like you were told, just like the american people were told trust us. trust us. and what has that trust gotten us? was john shattuck and those who voted against tarp the first time, were they right about being skeptical about a three-page document? >> they certainly were skeptical. and promises made by treasury about maintaining homeownership that were later abandoned. a housing program supposed supposed to spend $50 million to maintain homeownership and it was about foaming the banks. >> the treasury secretary admitted -- >> foaming the runway for the the banks. >> he said the banks can handle a scertain number of millions i foreclosures, and this would help foam the runway, stretch out the foreclosure process. more money went to american express than went to the homeowners. >> how do you break that capture? where everybody has been captured by the banks? how do you break that capture? >> there's two parts to it. >> in fairness, on tina's point, has dodd-frank attempted to do that or has it fallen short or it never was serious in the first place? >> there's two things. with respect to dodd-frank, it's fallen short. you need to break up the big bank ps we have to reeducate and reimagine our regulatory system. i was told point blank by a treasury official that if i didn't change my tone because my tone was critical of the administration and wall street that i was going to do real harm to myself but if i changed and improved my tone, perhaps good things could happen like a judgeship or something like that. >> wow. >> what's amazing is it was said explicitly. that is said to every regulator, play ball, go through the resolving door, get a big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. stand up and -- >> do you think some of the charges we're reading and hearing about in geithner's role at the new york fed regarding the libor investigation are fair? >> absolutely. at the time he was president of the new york fed is presented with nothing short of a global conspiracy to fix the rate of one of the most important interest rates imaginable. and the response wasn't to go to the department of justice and say here's this giant global international conspiracy, it was spend an e-mail to the bank of gland and have a meeting among regulators. you didn't see that rage. incorporated into the bailout probably was this libor rate, thereby sending the message to the market, here are we the government putting our imprimatur on this rate. and sending the message nothing to worry about here. this is when the banks started using homeowners in the mortgage modification program. it wasn't to bring the banks in and saying you have to stop this action. it was excuse not to pun ush them for running rough shod over the american people that -- >> we have one thing in common. i'm reading right here you're a life long democrat. you offer an account into your growing disillusionment with obama's administration as you realize they were no more committed to protecting the public interest than the bush team had been. when i figured out that republicans who were big government spenders when they were in power as much as democrats were, it was really a -- it was -- i became very disillusioned but you've become very disillusioned with the obama team. >> it's not about democrats or republicans. those make for nice talking points and sound bites but this is a problem with government. i saw no meaningful change between democrats and republicans. afs bush appointee. maybe it got a little nastier, tactics a little more brutal under the geithner-led treasury department. >> both sides owned by wall street? >> absolutely. >> okay. the book is "bailout," an inside account of how washington abandoned main street while rescuing wall street. thank you, neil. >> thank you for this book. >> it's so juicy to hear the truth. >> still ahead, larry kudlow joins us here on set. "morning joe" is back in a moment. ♪ ♪ this man is about to be the millionth customer. would you mind if i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. ♪ don't our dogs deserve to eat fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido welcome back to "morning joe." meteorologist bill karins here with a quick weather update. new york city, you're fine, airports are great. same cannot be said for chicago. chicago o'hare, no airplanes are taking off or landing because of a severe thunderstorm rolling through. that's going to cause trouble all through the midwest as we go throughout this morning. just had a wind gust of 58 miles per hour in chicago as the severe thunderstorms are rolling through downtown as i speak. they'll be out of here in about 15 minutes or so but in the chicago area, just stay inside until these storms are all said and done. we have numerous thousands of power outages through illinois and southern wisconsin. later today these storms will continue to roll to the south. so pay attention in indianapolis about three hours from now. eventually into kentucky this afternoon and all of the mid-atlantic from d.c. to richmond, through the carolinas, including raleigh and charlotte, you also have a chance of severe storms. very hot in the middle of the nation but when that cold front is trying to cool us off, we have numerous strom thunderstorms through chicago and the mid-atlantic. chicago o'hare airport, no airplanes are taking or or landing. it will be about a half hour before they get back up to speed. that's going to cause major problems and a ripple effect all across this country. more updates here on "morning joe." coming up next, from the great state of maine, i lived there for four years and loved every minute of it, senator olympia snowe. i don't spend money on gasoline. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. ♪ [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we understand that commitment. and always have. so does aarp, an organization serving the needs of americans 50 and over for generations. so it's no surprise millions have chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, medicare doesn't p. and save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to find out more, request your free decision guide. call or go online today. after all, when you're going the distance, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. welcome back to "morning joe." here with us now republican senator from maine, senator olympia snowe. welcome back to the show. nice to see you. >> nice to be on the program,mika. thank you. >> it's good to have you here. >> hi, joe. >> you are talking about the need for the senate, well, to do some clean-up and start by cleaning up some of the procedural rules. how do we make the senate work better than it has over the past several years? >> obviously it's going to require collaboration between the majority and minority leaders and let the senate be the senate. what's transpired is we've seen on the floor of the senate we're not having the ability to have the amendment process so that we can consider the major issues of the day. these bills aren't even going through a committee. so we're bypassing all of the regular procedures that are so traditional and inherent in the institution of the united states senate. and unfortunately what we're addressing today are more party platform positions up or down and not having the ability to get beyond that and work stthroh decisions and have an agenda that works for the country given what's coming is the fiscal cliff in this lame duck session. we're not addressing it now. >> you have the republicans that are filibustering more than usual, harry reid is using the senate as a pocket veto to kill ideas coming out of the house but then you have the senate bringing up bills that will never pass to set up people in the next election. it's not working. the senate is not working. >> i want to ask you about a certain vote to filibuster the disclose act. but first you wrote a letter to senator reid and mcconnell and you write in part this, "regrettably the current dramatic departure from the normal processes of the past which has been the subject of recent discussions between you on the senate floor is handcuffing the senate's ability to respond to the most profound issues of the nation. including filibustering? >> obviously filibustering does. first of all, we don't have bills going through the committee process anymore, the disclose act. so it comes to the floor, clotures in vote on the motion to proceed. and ordinarily it wasn't be necessary to have a cloture on the motion to proceed and it shouldn't. on the other hand we have to make sure we have an open amendment process rather than filling by a minority leader that denies any amendment and he preselects them on behalf of the minority we can vote on. everything has been destroyed. and there's responsibility shared by both sides. the question is how do we get beyond this given what we're facing in the future. i don't want to see a repeat of the debacle of the debt ceiling. again, that could have been averted and it wasn't until the 11th hour on august 2nd and we lost our triple a sterling credit rating. >> i wouldn't agree more with what you're saying but let's dig into the weeds here. the disclose act would have required disclosure of anyone who donates to independent groups that spent more than $10,000 on campaign ads or their functional equivalent. why would you vote to filibuster that? >> the key is could we have the ability to have amendments to address some of those issues. i'm not here just to vote on somebody designing a package behind closed doors by a few people and saying take it or leave it up or down when you're in the united states senate and the ability of the united states senate is to have unlimited ability to debate and power to amend. i would like to have my voice. it was my provision struck down by the supreme court in citizens united. that was a fundamental issue as part of mccain-feingold. i would want to see more campaign finance reform and i'm sorry what happened in terms of what came out of the supreme court. nevertheless you have to have it fair on both sides. in that case it was a $10,000 threshold disclosure that will require private sector to make those disclosures because they're more in that category, but not those who contribute to unions. so we have to make it balanced. that's what i propose to do in my decision, which was struck down by the court because i think it drew a bright line in fairness, in making showure we have transparency. >> they aren't the only obstacle to progress. you had the congressional, democrat democratic majorities and big things were passed. there was big stuff that was done and procedural measures didn't really hold those things up. >> it's an interesting point on the health care measure. to a point. we marked up the tax provisions in the finance committee and, you know, obviously this bill went to the floor with the health care bill but then we never had an open amendment process. one it was reported to the floor at the end of november, we didn't start voting on the health care measure until right before christmas and another 1,200 pages approximately were added to the bill, again behind closed doors with no ability to amend, to address, to build i w urging the leadership to provide the majority leadership, and to have an open amendment process which i was promises at the time during the finance committee proceedings and regrettably, that didn't take place. the ability to be able to debate and amend the united states, it's a financial of the senate. what's interesting, there were 20 rules at beginning and creation of the united states senate and 16 of the original rules remain. so there is flexibility in these rules. it's the question of the practice and the norm and the human behavior, that has to change. the process dictates policy, and we're not dealing with the big issues that are looming in lame duck session of 36 days to deal with all of the major issues, with the tax cut expiration, with the debt ceilingen crease, with the automatic cuts across the board, with the 12 annual appropriations we have not addressed. i mean the list goes on. we haven't done anything in the last two years to address all of these mighty issues that could put us in a very different place and not impairle our fiscal future. >> senator olympia snowe, thank you very much. tomorrow's show, we'll talk to governor scott walker, former governor tom ridge and hall of fame musician graham nash of crosby, stills, nash and young. let's take a paint project from "that looks hard" to "that didn't take long". let's break out behr ultra... ...the number one selling paint and primer in one, now with stain blocker. each coat works three times harder, priming, covering, and blocking stains. let's go where no paint has gone before, and end up some place beautiful. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. behr ultra. now with advanced stain blocking, only at the home depot, and only $31.98 a gallon. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. the wife. hey, babe. got the jetta. i wiped the floor with the guy! not really. i would've been fine with 0% for 36 months, but i demanded 60. no...i didn't do that. it was like taking candy from a baby. you're a grown man. alright, see you at home. 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"morning joe" is back in a moment. you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... ...as you thought. ♪ ♪ good morning. it's 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. time to wake up, everybody. >> wake up. >> a live look at new york city. >> get up. >> it's hard to wake up that early. back with us on set, john heilemann, dan senior, richard haas and willie geist with us from london. >> you know, we talked about penn state just taking the players off the field for a year when this all happened and say, just send a message to the ncaa, send a message to america, importantly, to your student body, and don't play football next year. and given the infractions, that would have made a lot of sense. they didn't do it. they dragged their feet. and it look like the ncaa slapped them with something, willie, they won't recover from for a decade. >> right. if penn state had done this four months ago to themselves we're not playing for one year they probably could have mitigated what happened yesterday. this is a death penalty for another name, de facto penalty. $60 million to child sex groups. four-year poef season ban ensures no athlete new york great high school football player wants to go to penn state. half as many scholarships, probation, it's four year of no postseason but it means about ten years in the wilderness before you turn this around. it's remarkable, when you consider where penn state was. it was at the upper echelon of four, five programs, always the greatest, always winning and with what they thought was a great man leading their program that turned out to be otherwise in many respects. and now that program will be done for about a decade. >> you know the winningest coach, paterno was the winningest coach in division i football. they've erased all win from 1998 to 2011. wiped them out. and i bet you there's not a football fan around this table or watching that didn't have great respect for joe paterno. >> but this is really -- >> it's amazing how things turn to quickly when we found out what was going on behind the scenes. >> can you think of anything else that could have been done, though? i mean would you -- would a lesser punishment have been bet. >> no, i would have given the death penalty. i would have given the death penalty. i say it, and i said it before all of this came out, as a guy who loves penn state. i'm an alabama guy, but i've always loved penn state. they've always -- they're a class program. >> that's the word, class. you would have said notre dame, stanford, penn state one of the institutions that seemed to have pittsburgh in perspective, both good on the field and off the field. that's the irony. it was all done in the name of protecting the school which -- what they did in some ways destroyed it for a decade. it's beyond ironic, it is tragic. >> destroyed. >> protecting not just the school but specifically the football program and it points to the fact they didn't have the balance right at all. >> in a deep, deep, way they had the balance all wrong. >> no doubt about it. >> well, let's go on to syria. let's let dan talk about which divisions we move in and where they come from. >> i'm not in power. i don't have control over influence over any policy. >> you are running mitt romney's campaign. we'll hold you accountable for that. >> good lord. >> let's go to syria now, where officials in damascus seem to confirm what has long been suspected that the regime does in fact possess a stockpile of chemical weapons. the spokesman for the foreign ministry said the government would never use that arsenal against its own people but would use them in the case of a foreign attack, syria's believed to have one of the largest stockpiles of nerve agents and mustard gas in the middle east. president obama addressed the claims yesterday from the vfw convention in reno. >> today, we're also working for a transition so the syrian people can have a better future, free of the assad regime, and given the regime's stockpile of chemical weapons we will continue to make it clear to assad and those around him that the world is watching and they will be held accountable by the international community and the united states should they make the tragic mistake of using those weapons. >> what does this announcement signal to us? sheer desperation on assad's part. >> pushing back against any outside intervention. it's not clear, it could be american, it could be israeli, also the forces from other countries. what he's trying to basically say, outsiders stay out, which is also a way i think he's signaling if he's left to his own devices he still thinks he can win the game if you will, if it's just him against this fractured syrian opposition. he's not so worried, maybe he's bluffing, he doesn't seem to be that worried about that bal hance. he wants to keep outsiders out. >> you heard john mccain last week also saying he's not doing enough. what should president obama be doing that he's not doing? >> there's a -- >> what can he do? >> sure. look, obvious list this is a very complicated issue, no one disagrees with that. governor romney and others across the partisan divide, we've heard from complaints from republicans as well as democrats we have allies in the region from saudi arabia, turkey, other countries that want to do more, funding insurgents, training opposition, building channels of communication with opposition, getting necessary resources in arms and there's a reticence by the obama administration to truly get in there and build channels with opposition, with responsible actors in the opposition. we understand there are bad actors in the opposition like the islamists that are already getting arms in funding but there are responsible actors who should be establishing lines of communication, training them, building them up if there's a post-assad regime they have the upper hand first of all. >> isn't president obama being a bit more aggressive now? >> they claim to be doing more. for the longest time they've been saying that's a bad idea. they've explicitly said funding and arming the opposition is a bad idea. >> but they're doing it now? >> we hear reports there's more of it in you salute president obama. >> your words not mine. we should always salute our men and women in uniform. we should have be doing it sooner and we should be doing more now. the point, assad will fall. how long will it take? we have 14,000 syrians dead right now. >> do you agree, will assad question? >> it's a question of when. >> and when it happens will it be 14,000 dead, 18,000 dead, 25,000 dead? my experience in iraq which i think quite a bit when evaluating this -- >> how long did work out. >> the longer the sectarian works out the longer the process drags on. the bloodshed is on such a scale, the reconciliation process after assad will be more complicated. >> it keeps going. iraq is reeling from its bloodiest day in nearly two years, sectarian violence continues. >> the hand of the sunni extremist group, al qaeda in iraq, more than 100 people killed in a wave of coordinated bombings and shootings on monday across nearly two dozen towns. the attacks aimed at shiite targets happened days after the terror affiliate vowed to make a comeback and reclaim territory once controlled. here we are now. >> the middle east, we've got -- we are looking at iraq, what happens happening in egypt, we don't know how that's going to end up. syria, could be looking at newsreels leak this for the next decade. >> yeah. i mean, the gentlemen here know, it's not a playground there. you're constantly, it seems to me, testing limits of the -- of every one of these instances shows what limits are to american power to some extent. think about syria, you can draw almost the opposite, some of lessons, people draw different less sons from what happened in iraq. this administration drew the opposite lessons to dan's. they've looked at syria and tried to think, was there a way to not militarize this conflict? was there a way to play out so it doesn't further produce further military conflict in the region? seems like there's obviously a cost in lives. but that's not -- it's just a very fine calculus, right? if you had been able to find some way for this to end in a -- with assad falling, without having a -- they were trying to get there but it seems like it's increasingly receding as a possibility. >> i think you mentioned egypt. egypt's a ho modhom modgistic s. they are sectarian based. as bad as it's been up to now, i would predict that the numbers of people who potentially lose lives could be greater after assad goes. what we're seeing is setting of the stage for something like we saw in iraq. this is not going to be neat or smooth or quick. all of the arms in there, to get rid of 15 15 sad will be used. it's a prolonged effort in syria, in a funny sort of way, not funny at all, the latest chapter in iraq, these things never quite settle. >> i will add, not a political point, though it will sound like it, when president obama ran for office he talked about increasing american influence in this part of the world. improve our relations with the arab world, improve relationship with russia. just look at this region we're talking about right now. you'd be hard pressed to find one country in the arab world today with whom our ability to influence and shape events has increases over the last 3 1/2 years. >> being loved and being able to influence are two different things. i don't see people across -- in egypt burning the american flag. i don't see people in syria burning the american flag. they'll be burning the russian flag soon enough. are we -- are we -- are we hated the way we were waited over the past generation? probably not. on the other side of it though, do we have as much influence as we had four years from now? no. will we have less influence, even if mitt romney's president? yes. we don't have the influence we once had, that's the world we live in. >> how valuable is that love when the place is going up in flames, when there's human catastrophe on a scale of a balkans-type situation, when countries are developing nuclear capabilities like iran? >> the love's never valuable. people are always -- no, love is not valuable. people are always going to do what's in their best interests. what we need is a commander in chief that's shrewd enough to cobble together a coalition from turkey, saudi arabia, other countries, who have the same interest as ours. somebody that can do what george h.w. bush in the leadup to the first gulf war, and president obama right now hasn't been able to put the pieces of that puzzle together. >> out of reach at least for now. how would they change that? >> all things being equal, the american era of dominating the middle east, which followed the end of the cold war and went for two decades, that was an atypical historic period. almost unnatural. >> right. >> the way we were able to put together the coalition against saddam hussein 20-plus years ago was a special moment but a passing moment. right now we're facing a future where our interests are greater than our influence in the middle east. never a comfortable situation. in the energy area we've reduced vulnerability and dependent on the middle east. islam is filling the political space, violent sectarian conflicts taking place of the top-heavy regimes for the next era, the middle east is going to go through transition. we have to understand, local realities count. the united states sitting in washington, we cannot impose our visions, our dreams, our image of the middle east. we can play a role. the era where the united states was essentially calling shots in the middle east is over. it doesn't mean we have no influence but it does mean we have less. >> we're going to be seeing chaos over the next decade and seeing chaos because over the past 30 years we've had a series of strong men running countries in the meiddle east able to tam down sectarian violence. the arab spring and many other things, and just the sweep of history are moving them to the side, one by one by one and it's going to be messy like when tito left yugoslavia. >> tito, that's a guy who knew how to hold sectarian violence. >> can we -- >> tito reference. >> talking about terry francona? >> a different tito. this is a tito that would -- it wasn't tito jackson, either. so frightening that even the soviets wouldn't, like, mess with him. impressive guy. >> quick politics before break. can we handle it? >> no, he's in his moment now. he's in his tito history lesson. >> no, i'm just thinking, man, think about what he did in the balkans. but anyway, those tyrants get swept to the side and, of course, chaos naturally breaks out. >> tyrants do get swept to the side. the obama campaign is rolling out a new ad -- >> this will no longer be "morning joe." >> she's taking control. help a couple of kids in nantucket for a week, next thing i know -- >> your statue's going down and carted away. >> take the statue away. taking the cup of coffee. in front of 30 rock. it's not there anymore. it's not there anymore. so sad. >> undisclosed location. >> what's happening? i'll break -- violence break out in the streets by the lego store. >> the skating rink. >> exactly. mika, what's going on in the campaign right now? >> let's take a look at the new obama campaign ad which takes a tad bit of a different tone from the ads we've seen so far. >> over the next four months you have a choice to make. not just between two political parties or even two people. it's a choice between two very different plans for our country. governor romney's plan would cut taxes for the folks at very top, roll back regulations on big banks and he says if we do our economy will grow and everyone will benefit. but you know what? we tried that top-down approach. it's what caused the mess in the first place. i believe the only way to create an economy built to last is to strengthen the middle class, asking the wealthy to pay a little more to so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way, afford to invest in education, manufacturing, and homegrown american energy for good middle class jobs. sometimes politics can seem very small. but the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> that ad comes as a new gallup/"usa today" poll shows attacking romney on his business record may not be working. by more than 2-1. those surveyed said romney's background in business including tenure at bain capital would cause him to make good decisions in dealing with the nation's economic problems over the next four years. according to gallup's tracking poll president obama leads by just 1%. 46-45. that's close. >> so we've been saying that these bain attacks weren't going to work for a month or two. they're not working. the class warfare stuff doesn't work. but you know what does work? barack obama being barack obama. instead of having mitt romney he's rich and he's -- i mean, barack obama coming out and showing the barack obama, john, that excited so many people in 2008 and won over independent voters, that's the guy right there. that's the guy. and even the message, forward. that's the message. and they have so bungled his brand over the past three months. barack obama's brand is hope and change. >> still got a long way to go. >> a long way to go. >> look, the this ad, i think, is a seminole add in a lot of ways. they're saying they're going to run the ad in every swing state. if they do, it's going to cost a lot. continuing on the spending spree of the summer. it's a comparative ad. it's not just a negative ad. it's an add where he says this is what romney says, this is what i say, there's no scary music, no unflattering pictures of mitt romney. it's obama, it's all -- >> it's -- >> it's obama make the case. >> this is what i believe. >> all of the key phrases to drive, balancing the debt in a responsible way, economy built to last, all of the things that -- and then forward at the end. and the ad's called the choice, which is exactly how they want to frame the whole election. i don't know whether the ad will work or not, but it's a -- i think it's an ad that you'll look back on as having been an important ad in the election because it sums up where they want to be and has a change of tone. >> a great change of tonight. he's so good in that pocket, in that tone and also i loved, just as an observer what he said at the end, something about the smallness of these campaigns, that these campaigns can be small. >> politics can be very small but this is a big choice. >> right, politics can be very small but this is a big choice. he also or his people are also giving him lines that feed into what you were talking about, the seinfeld campaign, and that what more and more americans are being disgusted by the campaign seems smaller by the minute. that's the type of ad he needs to run. >> the tone seemed like a relief compared to everything we've seen, like okay, at least -- it has a nice message to it, it has a nice tone to it, it's positive and reaffirming. >> and it's issue based. >> as opposed to the garbage we've seen. >> is it a pause or a departure? >> i don't know. >> that's the question. we don't know the answer to that question. i mean, as we said it's a long campaign. >> coming up, larry kudlow. he'll discuss his -- the former massachusetts governor defends his record at bain and the salt lake olympics. >> he's got laugher curves on his boxer. >> a gold and green and navy and -- >> is that a nice -- >> i thought you were going to say cuff links or tie. go for the boxers. >> mental image erasing it now. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> good morning, everyone. continuing to watch chicago and the o'hare airport of course. we've had a ground stop for a good portion of last hour. no planes able to fly or to land at airport because of thunderstorms. 60-mile-per-hour wind gusts rolled through chicago. downed trees in numerous areas and power outages. those strong storms are exiting chicago. but now rolling through the northwest corner of indiana from gary to hammond, approaching south bend. these will push through northern indiana. other areas of storms out there, too, today. we have some strong storms near pittsburgh and north of cincinnati around dayton. everywhere in yellow a chance of strong thunderstorms. a huge portion of our country including washington, d.c., baltimore, all the way down through charlotte, raleigh, richmond. we'll watch this for you today. wind damage will be the biggest threat. and the heat continues in the middle of the country. 105 yesterday in kansas city, today 102. very warm around dallas. watch out for afternoon storms in florida. on the west coast, it's felt like early spring in seattle for the last two or three days. finally warming up a little bit today, right around 73 degrees. we leave you with a shot of chicago. looks like the storms, the worst of it, is now exiting. just clouds and light rain left over. o'hare airport a lot of catch up to be done. ♪ [ jennifer ] better. stronger. believe. happier. healthier. i believe weight watchers made me more powerful. it's time to believe again. stand up and take charge. i believe if you want to change your life, you can. ♪ believe in yourself [ female announcer ] weight watchers -- rated number one best plan for weight loss by u.s. news and world report, again. 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[ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! ♪ i'm very proud of my experience at bain capital. i hope people understand that i was investing other people's money for them and was compensated if we were highly successful and the returns came to group that will included charities and college endowments, those are the people who received the greatest rewards from our successes. we were also able, i saw a report by the current partners of bain capital, over the history of the firm, which i helped start they made some 350 investments 80% of which grew. that's the kind of record which i'm pretty proud of. i'm afraid of what's primarily come from the president's serie me by the private sector work which i'm very proud, recently the olympics which i'm very proud of and my leadership of massachusetts. i think i was able to, by virtue of having a great team, able to achieve wonderful things there as well. >> that was mitt romney speaking with cnbc's larry kudlow last night in an exclusive interview for the kudlow report. and larry joins us now on the set. >> this is big. let's take note at 8:24 in the morning. >> eastern. >> and what's today? >> what are we doing? >> july 24th. this is the first time in almost five-year history of "morning joe," dan senor we've had a conservative majority on set. took us five years to get here. >> it's big. >> a guy who wants to cut all taxes, a guy who wants to invade all muslim countries here and a guy here who just wants everybody to get along. >> this is a big moment for the show. we've got to honor it in some way. >> ratings are going to drop. >> historians will look back at this period -- >> a brief shining moment. >> brief shining moment. >> your long national nightmare is over. >> for five minutes. >> on that question, just that question alone, i just kind of tossed it out there, obvious thing, are you being demonized. >> on romney. >> yeah. and the second half of the question, which is what triggered that response, i said, do you have more work to do to defend your bain capital experience? that was really the thrust of my question and he just went whoosh, took two minutes, 2 1/2 minutes of my interview time and it's clear that he does have some more work to do. but it's also clear that he's going to fight back on it. >> you look at the polls, though, the recent polls, whether it's a gallup poll or "the new york times," cbs/"new york times" poll the obama attacks are not sticking right now. >> right. and i think you take that plus the deteriorating economy, you're in a lot of trouble on the economy. >> yeah. >> you saw the hill poll that came out yesterday. >> you're an optimistic guy on the economy. i keep waiting for it to turn around. >> i don't see it. i don't see it. i mean i want to be on mystic but i don't see it. what's happening the last three, four, five months the economy's going south not north. >> why is it doing that? >> a bunch of reasons for it. one is the strong dollar and the weak euro, the european situation weighs heavily the dollar's shooting up, that's hurting businesses. >> isn't that crazy? here we are in our own debt crisis and by the standards of europe and other countries the dollar seems like the safest investment on the plan. safest investment. >> usa. >> we are growing, if only 1%, they're not growing at all. >> right. >> and the other thing, though, here, big problem, you talk to people, men and women in business, they are worried about the so-called fiscal cliff, worried about their tax situation, they're worried about their regulatory situation, they're worried about a lot of things, including our deficits, that mean they won't make long-term investments. i had a long interview with alan greenspan 10, 12 days ago. he said, look, take a look at statistics. investments, long term, factories, buildings, even houses, people do not want to make those investments and that's where the jobs come from and we're not getting any job creation. >> john? >> larry, you talked about governor romney defending his time at bain. another side of e coin, right, on offense, you know? making an argument for what his experience at bain taught him that would make him a good president and good for the american economy. i've heard a lot of conservatives say he hasn't articulated that. do you have a sense of what the argument is, not just citing, i'm a business guy, i was in the real economy, but making a proactive argument saying here what happens i learned, here's how it applies to the national economy, the job a presidents does. >> a great question. i don't think he's made enough of that not enough hay. a private equity guy is a guy who turns around business, okay? you take a lousy business, you change it, you make some firings, you make some hirings, do some technology, all of this stuff. i don't think he's done the turnaround thing. there's this business, and it's called usa government inc and it's a bankrupt business, face it okay. you need somebody that knows how to turn it around and make deals to turn it around. he had an interesting thing yesterday i was asking him about gun controls and so forth, i was asking about the automatic, semiautomatic rifles and he passed a law in massachusetts. you'll see where i'm going in a seb second. i said, did it work? he said i had people on both sides pro-gun, anti-gun, and they came together to make a deal and deals are part of what we need to do. i think what he needs to do is make that argument writ large, i can make a deal with both sides that will be satisfactory, that will both have common ground victories in order to turn around this usa bankrupt inc. i agree with you he has not made that case clearly, not yet anyway, not yet. >> after your depressing assessment of the -- where the economy's going, what was he able to tell you about his plans to fix the economy? >> actually, on that one, he's picking up some steam because i've been one of the guys who said, look, mitt, 59-point plan, that's a little hard. i read it but i'm not sure i absorbed it 59 points. >> not a lot to absorb. >> reagan had four or five points. i worked for reagan years ago. he's starting to bhooil this do into four or five points. i first heard from tim pawlenty in an interview and i heard it yesterday from mitt, energy, trade, balance budget, taxes and regulations, and education. i think he can even be more specific and precise. but we're getting to the point where you can go here's my plan. he didn't have the -- he said 59 points. >> he said it. he's down to six, energy, trade, balance of budget -- >> tell us what his plan is. >> that can make a big difference. reagan had, for example, domestic spending cuts, lower taxes, deregulation, beef up defense, boom, boom, boom, boom. looks like romney's moving in exactly that direction, as many both his critics and supporters want him to do. >> why do you think it's been hard to demonize mitt romney? a lot of efforts to demonize him, and as joe said earlier, the polls so far at least don't seem to be validating that strategy. that could change. but what about him? >> i don't think there's much to demonize. i think people respect the fact they went into business and that he had a successful business career. i saw a gallup poll to that extent. i don't think the goods are there for president obama. >> it's like demonizing ward cleaver. >> really. who would do that? >> i mean -- >> i hated that guy. >> you did not hate ward. you are so -- >> it's a sidebar issue. bain, bain was a successful venture, legal. it's a sidebar issue. the key bar issue is the economy. >> okay. what's his plan? >> the very thing that drives a conservative like me crazy, that he done have the plan to transform the government. >> he's getting there. >> he doesn't have it, that's what also makes it so hard to lay a glove on him. >> because he hasn't stuck his neck out on a lot of issues. and i think it's very frustrating for the obama people. but i agree with the question and the answer, if i were in mitt romney's place, i'd say, listen, i turned around businesses. i changed the way operations like bain work. >> right. >> i turned -- i turned around bain. i turned around all of these companies. i saved the olympics. >> that's right. >> i turned around massachusetts, i did this, i did that. >> it's a saving thing. >> guess what? this is how we're going to turn around the united states of america. we're going take care of long-term debt, invest wisely short term, grow the economy, invest in r&d, invest in education, invest in energy, and we are going to own the next century, let's go. >> you didn't say how you're going do that. >> we're not going to be hostile to business. he took off yesterday in the interview on obama saying if you start a business you didn't really start your own business, this idea that government is necessary to start a business or that you don't own your own business. i mean romney -- you could see him, feel him, in the interview, pick up his whole pace. this is something he deeply believes in. somebody starts a business, you started a business. you get credit for it. you get credit for the success for it. and my opponent is not going to give you credit and he's wrong and he's got the wrong plodle, and that's a good growth message. you have a lot of people, not just fat cats, you've got little people, electricians, little bakers, you're got little financial planners that started small business and they are proud of it and they don't want some president to tell them they didn't really do it. >> look at this, romney has new graphic out. it says, "we did built it." mika doesn't understand this. she talked about collectivism last week. >> oh, no. hold on one second. >> really? he's going to go after that statement taken out of context? >> out of context? what are you talking about? >> the whole speech was -- the whole speech was in context. >> can i tell you what i see here in your assessment of the interview that you did with mitt romney? i see a very frustrated man in larry. >> me or him? >> larry. there i'm not running. >> he's getting there. >> it's the boxer shorts joe was talking about. >> he's getting there. >> yeah, he's getting there. >> he's getting there on knowing exactly how to explain how he would fix the economy. >> he's pacing himself. >> are you telling me, larry, you're getting nothing? >> no, i think he's done rather well. i think he's fighting in the polls against an incumbent who is in the mid-40s. that's a problem for any incumbent inned mid-40s . i've interviewed mitt romney, he's been very kind to me, this is our fourth or fifth interview this year. in the beginning not so good. >> hold on. four, five? >> the middle, getting better. now he's getting more precise. and i asked him the serious stuff and the hezbollah stuff and iranian stuff and he's getting strong on that, before his trip to israel. i see a guy who's more confident and pounding back at obama's cheap shots. look, the economy is going to decide this. >> yeah. >> that's the issue. i don't see how president obama gets out of that unless literally there's a burning bush miracle, immaculate conception in the next couple of months, i don't see that happening. i don't see it happening. >> your point at beginning one of the key points. if you think there's 8% of the electorate undecided, we've seen months where they are within a margin of error in national polls, 8% will sit on their hands until debates, then the question's going to be, well, what's the future? joe you talked about the president needs to lay out what he needs to do going forward. first question i asked you, and your answer, seems to be key because the president, as he started to the ad is going to say, here's the difference between mitt romney and about where we want to go forward. if romney can make a convincing argument for how his history in the private sector will help transform america, he can win those people. but if he can't make that argument the president will do a good job laying out the contrast and win that argument. >> i agree, he has to connect, he has to make that connection. here's my private achievement, here's how i apply it to the problem at hand. >> that resume's what he's got. >> he oi think he's gaining on t but he's not there. >> he has benefit to say what president obama -- >> i'm not running the campaign. i'm observing. >> what he's going to do in a second term, romney can say how do you have credibility on the subject, you've had four years. you want to do tax reform in the second term, you want to deal with entitlements in the second term, visit israel, all these things you want to do in a second term, why do you have credibility on the subject matter? you have had four years. >> there's that 8% undecide. they've had 3 1/2 years. right now they haven't rejected the president and they haven't embraces the president. they are waiting to hear about the future. 45% of the country decided after 3 1/2 years they don't like president obama's economic stewardship. 8% undecided wants to know about the future. >> this is a great like ratio. >> this experiment. >> yeah. we've got to do this once every five years. >> we will do this again. >> larry, did you enjoy being here with us today? >> i loved being here with you. i hope you have me back. >> the kudlow report airs week nights 7:00 eastern time on cnbc. larry kudlow, thank you so much. >> thank you. next, we continue our cnbc love fest with brian sullivan. [ male announcer ] for making cupcakes and deposits at the same time. for paying your friend back for lunch...from your tablet. for 26 paydays triggered with a single tap. for checking your line, then checking your portfolio. for making atms and branches appear out of thin air. simple to use websites, tools, and apps. for making your financial life a little bit easier. simple to use websites, tools, and apps. welcome to hotels.com. summer road trip, huh? as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com. ♪ well, it continues. now moody's has lowered its outlook on germany's economy. that's a surprise. let's go to business before the bell with cnbc's brian sullivan. germany's been the foundation, the rock, on which the eu's built. how's this going to affect the markets this morning? >> well, it's not going to affect them positively. you're right, germany's the fourth largest economy in the world, the bedrock of financial stability or at least perceived that way in europe so listen, we had a hit to spain. you've got new data out that shows eurozone output contracted for six straight months. the viewers often say why do i care about europe? remember the european nations outside of germany, relatively small economically but bundled together, the eurozone combined, is larger in total output than the united states. so if they slow down, that's a big hit to global gdp. >> the netherlands on a negative watch. turn to some positive news. we talked earlier this morning about the possibility that the u.s. housing market may finally be seeing glimmers, just small glimmers of hope. obviously our economy's not going to recover until the housing market recovers. >> it won't. and i'm nervous talking about it because you don't want to jinx it, right? don't worry, there's no cops on this road, that's how it work. zillow data shows nationwide, home prices in zillow real estate tracking prices, ro rose .2%. not a lot granted and a lot of people are struggling, a lot of houses still under water but overall, positive signs, the most positive sign that we've seen in five years. phoenix was the biggest market. of course one the hardest hit as well. it's coming off a low bottom, up 12% year over year. some markets expect it to decline a bit, according to zillow including new york city, chicago, and atlanta, guys. overall, positive. as we've talked about before, according to some realtor data from coldwell banker, every time a home is sold 58,000 goes into economy through realty fees, furniture purchases, move, et cetera. it's a big stimulative effect. that's good news there. the best news we've seen in a while. >> news corp. this morning, why? >> yeah. you have covered this as well. it's hitting headlines 30 minutes ago, seven former news of the world journalists and one former investigator, so eight in total, being charged over the phone hacking scandal, including rebekah brooks. there were prosecutions being made and announced as of this morning. on a lighter note about the brits, i must say the olympics are about the love fest and bringing people together. >> love great britain. >> i found this tote bag last night sold in london. does this say global harmony to you? i've rented my flat to a fat american family. that's a big seller in england. brits are getting a little big. don't make us throw your tea overboard. >> uppity, i'd say. >> take it easy, london. >> well. >> i rented my flat to a fat american family. >> the transatlantic relationship is really strong. >> special. >> improving. >> it's a suppression relationship. >> since mika feels that way about americans as well, you can't pin that on the uk. >> is that -- >> it's going to get better. it's going to get better. the soda ban is going to kick in. >> it's going to take care of us. then ban french fries. >> and they'll stop with the bags. >> they'll stop hamburgs are and then golf. >> kill the popcorn at the movies. >> hit with a golf ball. >> next, the west coast newspapers, including remembering the first american woman to fly in space. back in a minute. i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. ovider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. 48 past. let's take a look at morning papers. we'll start with the los angeles times. mitt romney raised an impressive $10 million over the past two days campaigning in california. the republican nominee held several small business round tables and fund-raisers in the golden state, telling supporters it's critical to flip voters who back the president during the 2008 election. >> and the seattle times after spending his entire 11-year american baseball career with the seattle mariners, ichiro has a new home in the bronx after being traded to the new york yankees. the ten-time all-star outfielder suited up for the first time as a yankee last night against the mariners in seattle where he went 1 for 4 and stole second base. >> and from our parade of papers the "miami herald," salary ride the first american woman to fly in space has died after a 17-month battle with pancreatic paper. she was a physicist seeking an add for the space program. age 32, ride became not only the first woman in the country to head into space, but the youngest american astronaut as well. president obama called sally ride a national hero and powerful role model. she was 61 years old. coming up, will ferrell shows off olympic pride. brave ! as you can clearly see from this attractive graph that our sales have increased by... sorry, my liege. honestly. our sales have increased by 20%. what is this mystical device i see before me? 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[ jennifer ] join for $1. weight watchers. believe. because it works. so you've joined the guardian angels? >> i was kicked out. >> yeah? >> no. this -- i got this down in chinatown. >> yeah. that's the new olympic uniform hat. >> i don't know. >> yeah. >> yes, it is. >> looks great. >> looks great. and, you know, am i wearing it correctly? >> i -- i think it -- >> i think so. >> i think that's the beauty of a beret, you can't make mistakes. >> yeah. and, you know, i thought that, you know, it looked a bit frenchy. >> yeah. but it's the american olympic theme. >> nothing says god bless the usa like a beret. hold on. one second. >> yeah. >> paul can you hit? >> yeah. >> what? what? what? ♪ one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. the wife. hey, babe. got the jetta. i wiped the floor with the guy! not really. i would've been fine with 0% for 36 months, but i demanded 60. no...i didn't do that. it was like taking candy from a baby. you're a grown man. alright, see you at home. 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[ male announcer ] at 0% apr for 60 months, no one needs to know how easy it was to get your new volkswagen. that's the power of german engineering. to get your new volkswagen. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. here what happens i've learned, on tomorrow's show, talk to governor scott walker, former governor tom ridge and graham nash of crosby, stills, nash and young. >> graham nash, that's exciting. >> it's cool. >> not that scott walker and tom ridge aren't exciting either. graham nash, man. >> it's a very, very fine house. >> always loved graham nash. that's going to be very great. wonder what he's coming to talk about. we shall see. what did you learn today? >> i learned, for the first time what it feels like to be a member of an oppressed minority. >> what minority? >> that moment, that one block. >> that was it? >> that one block i was part of like the oppressed liberal minority. >> one time? one time in five years. what have you learned? >> you have a deep affection, admiration, interest, for tito. >> yeah. >> it's called history, my man. >> not talking about terry fran cone na. >> did you learn anything? >> not really. >> fascination. >> it's a fascination with a guy who is able

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