Transcripts For MSNBCW Weekends With Alex Witt 20140907

To hurt us, wherever they are. The president in a wideranging interview. He talks immigration, the fight against isis, midterm elections and reaction and analysis to all, up next. Overseas, new air strikes in iraq. The u. S. Is trying to stop militants from overtaking a site in that country. New polls for the u. S. Senate with a key number coming out of the bluegrass state. Is the challenger ready to knock off the incumbent . Why are scientists saying its going to pass awfully close to earth . Hey there, everybody. Hi noon out east. 9 00 a. M. Out west. Welcome to weekends with alex witt. President obama held nothing back in an interview with chuck todd of meet the press. The strategy for iraq and syria is we will hunt down isil members and assets wherever they are. I will reserve the right to protect the American People and go after folks that are trying to hurt us wherever they are. If democrats hold the senate, i think that should get republicans to, once again keep that i think what it does is send a message to republicans that people want to get stuff done. That their strategy of just obstructing and saying no to every piece of legislation that might help middle class families, that might create ladders of opportunity for people, that that is an agenda that the American People reject. In terms of these unaccompanied children, weve worked through the problem so the surge in june dropped in july and then in august. I want to make sure that its sustainable. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is at the white house for us. Great to see you. Lets talk about the reaction of the Immigration Reform executive action until after the november elections. Reporter were about eight weeks away from the midterm elections where democrats in some key states are at risk of losing races that might turn control of the u. S. Senate over to republicans. Thats the backdrop. And so weve heard from Many Democrats who did not want the president to take this action and risk some of those races. At the same time, many of the allies of the president want the president to take this action because hes promised it a number of times, using his executive authority to reshape the state of the Immigration Law and with respect to deportations. So its a really critical issue and the president has, on one hand, told chuck todd that this is not a political decision to delay it beyond the midterm elections and on the other hand acknowledging that politics has changed when the hear the president talking about many unamericans unclear about what it meant with so many children arriving at the border. Heres the interview with chuck todd. Im going to act because its the right thing for the country but its going to be more sustainable and effective if the public understands what the facts are on immigration, what weve done on unaccompanied children and why its necessary. And the truth of the matter is, the politics did shift midsummer because of that problem. I want to spend some time, even as were getting all of our ducks in a row for the executive action, i want to make sure that the public understands why we are doing this, why its the right thing for the American People and the economy. Reporter it will still be a very volatile issue because the president still intends to do this and kind of a couple of different positions depending on where they are in terms of their own elections but it is a hot topic that will remain in the background and one of the foundational issues of this midterm race. Alex . Kelly, i want to ask you about Something Else. The president , as you know, set to deliver a speech on wednesday on the isis threats. What can you tell us about that . Reporter well, he is really going to ramp up his communication with the public about the isis threat. First we know that congressional leaders will be here at the white house tuesday afternoon for a private meeting with the president to talk about these issues. And then in an address to the nation on wednesday to lay out what his plans are in terms of trying to build a coalition, what the u. S. Action will and will not be. He explained to chuck todd, this will not be a case of announcing the sort of big footprint that the u. S. Had in its original intervention in iraq when that war began. Nothing like that. The boots on the ground phrase that we hear so much. But trying to outline more about how the u. S. Can build air power and build a coalition. The president saying sunni states need to do more to tamp down this isis threat. He describes how it can be degraded, managed, and hopefully decimated at some point. Its a change because only days ago the president said he did not have a strategy yet. Were now beginning to see a more aggressive step to put forth, at least a public strategy, on what to do about this problem. Kelly, thank you. Other new reaction to president obamas delay of Immigration Reform, the National Council of raza said president obama gave in to the fears of Democratic Political operate iv crushing the hopes of the immigrants. Let me go to attorney raul reyes and viviana. The president said its going to be more effective if the public understands the issues. Is this a short delay for a longterm gain . Theres a lot of mistrust in the Latino Community. President obama made the promise that he was going to deliver Immigration Reform, one of his First Priority items back in 2008 when he was a candidate and then, of course, there has been the deportations that have led to the highest deportation levels. And so all of a sudden this is the latest in a string of distrust and undelivered promises. The problem, of course, now is that its the political operatives as janet said who really pressed the president on this issue because of the midterm elections that are coming up and then, of course, the obstruction in the republicanled congress. Okay. Raul, how do you see this . Is it a legitimate argument from the president or a cover for a political move . Its sure hard not to see it as a political move. One of the things thats so distressing to the latino communities is we heard Kelly Odonnell mention the backdrop of the senate races and theres elections that are in play here. For so many latino communities is this relentless immigration activities, meaning deportation. We saw Something Like 97,000 deportations and right now were looking at 70,000. People are going home and they dont know if their parents are going to be there. We have siblings that are citizens and some are undocumented and theres real anguish in the community over this. One thing we have seen, also as we read this statement from the nclr, ive been reading the statements from the different Latino Advocacy organizations and theres often disunity and questions about which path to go on. Pretty uniformly, they have come out talking about now disillusioned and how unhappy they are with this delay. Viviana, i wathe reality is the republicans have done little for immigration rights. Where do you turn . Thats actually the big question for a lot of the Latino Community and i would like to say that the Latino Community has the numbers because, as raul mentioned, a lot of the families, not just latino but asianamerican which makes up a big part of the community is big status. When youre looking at the key vulnerable races, you have seen an incredible amount of just latino growth. This is not even taking into account asianamerican growth. People who are qualified and eligible because they are u. S. Citizens to register and vote and they didnt. We saw in 2012 that the latino vote was 11. 2 million nationwide but 12. 1 million didnt vote. So its absolutely incredible its absolutely i guess urgent that the Latino Community look at registering latinos to vote and making sure that they show up for the midterm elections and, again, think about north carolina, think about arkansas, colorado. Those are states that did see latino population growth. But they also have to expand the population to make sure that older white voters realize that immigration is an issue that is important for them and for their communities. That hasnt happened. Recall, factoring in a big picture here, if the president s decision to delay executive action on immigration, couldnt it help push Immigration Reform forward on a more permanent basis . Im not sure on a permanent basis, given this congress, but it could certainly help with the executive action. Executive action by the president would absolutely be harder if both chambers of congress were republican. But remember, its only temporary. What he can do is going to be constrained by the remainder of time he has in office. The real challenge for many of these advocacy groups now is to put aside the frustration, anger, and to really mobilize, register to vote, and turn out. One thing that were seeing again and again, latinos do not turn out in the appropriate numbers. Were doing better in the president ial elections but not in these off years. Thats the way for people really to vent their frustration. How quickly do you expect the president to i wish i could tell you. I know personally im going to have a date and i think all of the Latino Community, the Asian American community, anybody, white older voters, suburban moms, anybody who cares are immigration and realizes that immigration touches absolutely every part of american society, whether its a local economy, our global econocompetitiveness National Security, anybody who believes in immigration and in pushing this forward they need to have a date with the president , the day after the midterm elections and not just with him, with Senate Democrats and also with House Republicans. Hold them accountable to do something thats going to be good for america. Okay. I appreciate the conversation, viviana, raul, thank you. Thanks, alex. The ceasefire in ukraine is under threat. Strong explosions were heard in the city of donetsk and one civilian was killed in the port city. The ceasefire was reached all in an effort to end five months of bloodshed in the region. Some hopeful news for richard sacra who contracted the ebola virus. Hes very weak and sick but is slightly improved since arriving in the United States on friday. Check out this time lapse video. The winds reaching up to 40 miles an hour. Thunderstorms followed and they are expected to soak that area into monday as hurricane norbert pushes moisture through to arizona. And the weather channels alex wallace has more along with the nations forecast. Hi, alex . Good sunday morning to you. Moistu moisture streams its way on in. Tropical storm norbert is stuck in place and its going to enhance our chances for the moisture into sunday, monday, and tuesday. Some of the moisture will sneak on in and increase heavy rain threat and lead to potential for some flooding. Well watch out here in the southwest that could lead to flash flooding. The peak of heaviest rain is going to be on monday. Through tuesday, good 1 to 2 or 2 to 3 inches. Wet in the southwest. The southeast for us, weve got a frontal boundary trying to move on through but it doesnt move quite through all the way. There is more storms and moisture in place. More active weather in the southeast. Back to you, alex. Alex, thanks very much. Ahead, more from chucks interview and what the president had to say about the decision to go golfing after the announcement of the killing of james foley by isis. Well, thats kid number three. vo the copilots. All sitting. Trusting. Waiting. For a safe arrival. Introducing the allnew subaru legacy. Designed to help the driver in you. Care for the passenger in them. The subaru legacy. Its not just a sedan. Its a subaru. Fill their bowl with the meaty tastes theyre looking for, with friskies grillers. Tender meaty pieces and crunchy bites. In delicious chicken, beef, turkey, and garden veggie flavors. Friskies grillers. Easy like monday morning. S sundays are the warriors day to unplug and recharge. What if this feeling could last all week . 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But anyone can help a foster child. Weve got to have a more sustainable strategy which means boots on the ground have got to be iraqi and boots on the ground in syria have to be syrian. Who . Well, we have a Free Syrian Army and a moderate operation that we have been steadily been working with, that we have vetted. That was president obama on this mornings meet the press. Joining me now is robert mcfadden. Hes now a Senior Vice President at the supan group. A good morning to you, robert. You heard president obamas response to boots on the grounds. Peoples reaction are, who . Does this opposition really exist in any capacity . Well, according to the president and the administration in the pentagon, there is a viable socalled moderate opposition led by the Free Syrian Army. The president in the interview referred to the Free Syrian Army. Im looking at something written by patrick in the london review of books and basically, among the things that he says, the allies have been responding by into fantasy with Syrian Rebels to fight both assad and isis though in private western diplomats admit this group doesnt really exist outside of a few beleaguered pockets. Is that enough to take on syria . When referring to syria, its referring to a complicated situation when youre talking about the different opposition groups and its allies, such as hezbollah and other shia fighters. There is a lot of skepticism about the longer term viability of the socalled moderate opposition. Part of the issue of the complicated nature going back to 2011 when the war kicked off are the fleeting alliances. Some of the most extreme, of course, this thing called Islamic State, the more secular fsa. So i think what that referred to is it might be more aspirational than anything else at this point to put up a fight to the Islamic State. I want to pick up on that. The president s strategy assumes that this moderate opposition still wants to work with the u. S. After three months of being disappointed. If you know anything about american history, its a problem. Lots of promises get made to a rebel group and then nothing really happens. Will it be different this time . The United States government, the strongest ally such as the uk, are the only game in town when it comes to this type of support that will be so critical at the end. The second thing to consider is that after after these terrible videos of the killings of the u. S. Journalists, that would lead to a much more bold action by those opposed to it. So thats the thing right now that is the missing ingredient of u. S. Resolve for an fsa. The president went on to say saudi ar saudi arabia, jordan and to work with the uae. He said the United States with foremost go after the Islamic State. Next in the hierarchy of priorities, he talked about the ste stakeholders saying, you need to set aside the sectarian did i individual, the sunni divide because you have a much more present threat. Robert, what is the likelihood of that happening . Having spent a good part of my working life in the middle east, its going to be exceptionally challenging. Politically its hard for us sometimes in the west to understand how deep and long those sectarian divides are and whats going on in not so much the background but the forefront between saudi arabia and iran vying for that area. Again, this is different. This is nothing like the countries like jordan have faced as a viable threat. Many of the experts with whom ive spoke recently have said that air strikes will not be effective until there are people on the ground, americans essentially providing specific targets. Whats your take . Well, the president , the white house, the pentagon have been consistent in that regard. Air strikes are not designed to kill a threat like the Islamic State. Its got to be going back to what was said earlier, a coalition of those who have most at stake at the end of the day, whether its the syrian viable opposition and the iraqi troops support from jordanians and saudi arabia. In isis most recent map of where it lists all of the states that it claims, there are big dark arrows going into jordan and saudi arabia. Those are the things that should work to galvanize those that have most at stake. We will see what happens. Thank you. My pleasure. A breaking story in atlanta. The owner of a Basketball Team there says hes selling his share of the team and he said it has to do with an offensive email he sent two years ago. Prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, so your body can stay in motion. Because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. 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Basically, the email is quite its very offensive in regards to black people, even going so far as saying that the black crowd scares away white people from the arena and that the bars in and around the arena are surrounded by mostly blacks and thats affecting the attendance. Theres a number of other items in the email that i obtained and posted on ajc. Com. Those are the most offensive remarks. I was about to ask why, after sending this email two years ago, this is coming out now. But is it because of your posting there and publicizing this email that you got a hold of . Oh, no. It was you know, a statement that the Team Released obviously quite abruptly this morning. I believe theres probably more to this story that needs to be investigated and reported out. But do you think it has anything to do with the finances . Because what im just now being handed and reading, it talks about the grappling with low attendance at the games, the need for the hawks to attract more season ticket holders. Are there financial problems here . Is that the incentive to get this out now . I dont think so. Attendance has always been an issue with the hawks. This is a team that has made the playoffs for seven straight years but oftentimes the arena is empty and often more filled with fans from the opposing team. Its an issue that they have been grappling with. This email was written two years ago. Im trying to figure out why he puts that out there now, chris. Do you think this has anything to do with the Donald Sterling l. A. Clippers controversy . Theres certainly an element there. Ive got to do more reporting and investigating but certainly Donald Sterling made it no secret that he was going to go at each other team owner and see if there was anything in their past and there was a League Investigation into this with the hawks. So whether it was about to come to light and they are trying to get ahead of it, whether it goes deeper than that, i think well find out in the coming weeks. As im getting through this, it appears that he went to the nba and selfreported, which doesnt usually happen. Right. Unless they know the nba is investigating them and at some point this is going to come out from the nba standpoint. Does that mean that the nba would actually be forcing him out . Do you think thats part of this . It could be. Certainly they did with Donald Sterling. They had no tolerance for what he said and you might say, you know, what was i this email is on much of the same lines and maybe hes trying to get out in front of it now. But, you know, the email is out there. Theyve provided it. People can read it for themselves. What kind of an owner is Bruce Levinson. How do you think the community in atlanta views him . Hes a very interesting situation here because this Ownership Group came in a number ofrs ago, about sten years ago and they own the hawks and atlanta flashers. They were not very popular with the Community Soon after that. They sold the thrashers and made a lot of money selling them and that impacted their image in the Community Pretty negatively, too. Also, Bruce Levenson is out of washington. Some of the partners are. There are seven or eight. They are kind of scattered. There are two here that take the brunt of the criticism from the fans. Thats also an issue, that they are not locally based. Okay. Chris with this breaking news, thank you for joining us. No problem, alex. Well, they came to pay their last respects and hundreds have lined the roads. The joan rivers funeral, next. Ugh. Heartburn. 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Sent fighter bombs and took out five humvees and also a bunker used by the militants was damaged. A paramilitary fighting said that they completely wiped out that isis patrol. Haditha dam provides water to millions and losing would have put baghdad at risk. This is the closest yet to syria. I think the strikes that the United States took are in line with the guiding principles. First, the Iraqi Government asked us for their support in the strike and the iraqi forces on the ground who conceived of the operation. Defense secretary chuck hagel there. Government forces and local sunni militias in anbar have been fighting since january and isis took over a dam in falluja and flooded baghdad and pushed thousands from their homes that time around. Isis is still threatening mosul dam, alex, the country largest. The Defense Department carried out another air strike there overnight in addition to the strikes in western iraq. Alex . Exactly. Because if mosul dam were to go, it could be potentially way more catastrophic. Republicans are in a strong position to take over the midterm elections in november according to the marist poll. Republicans are in the lead in kentucky and arkansas. Just how close is it . Joining me now is john harwood, chief correspondent for cnbc and a Political Writer for the New York Times. Have where you been . Ive been around. Glad to be with you. Lets talk about the close numbers of this poll, john. The main event in november is going to be kentucky. You have Mitch Mcconnell squaring off with Alison Grimes. Alison grimes has been in a Competitive Position but Mitch Mcconnell is very deeply rooted in republican politics. Hes put together a very ambitious and aggressive campaign. I think that hes in a strong position. If Alison Grimes can come back and make that race even, that will be a tribute to her campaign and how she does in debates. But i dont think democrats are betting too much money on that. They are really hoping on other races like arkansas, mark pryor who is down in this race. That Mary Landrieu will hold on and mark begich. But they all have trouble. Can i ask you quickly, with Alison Grimes, she was only about four points behind Mitch Mcconnell as of a poll last weekend. Is there anything that you can attribute the change to from week to week . No. Polls bounce around a little bit. They have different methodologies and you dont know what you are comparing in terms of the size of the sample and how the poll was conducted but, look, we know its a close race. We know that mcconnell has an advantage. That has been consistent throughout and i think that if Alison Lundegran Grimes can reverse that, that will be a change but it hasnt happened yet. What is driving the race from pryor and cotton . Well, in mark pryor, you have a very familiar brand in the state. His father was senator and governor. Hes been a moderate to conservative democrat. But this is a very conservative state. Youve got a credible looking candidate in tom cotton who is mounting an aggressive campaign. Again, hes got tom cotton may have an advantage now. This race isnt over. Mark pryor and the pryor name has been very resilient in the arkansas politics. That one is going to go down to the end. The advantage that he has, this senate race is being conducted in red states at a time that president obama is unpopular. The democrats are back on their heels and theyve got to figure out ways to localize these races and help the local incumbents hang on. Lets listen to meet the press. Hes talking about the importance of the midterms. Us having a Democratic Senate that can present those issues and put them forward like they did on immigration, even if the House Republicans fail to act, means that were debating the right stuff for the country. Im not sure how i interpret the way hes looking at his last two years there in office, that nothing is going to get done in congress but at least well have a debate. Yes. I mean, look, legislatively its not likely that hes going to get some of the major accomplishments that he had sought earlier in his presidency and thats why hes trying to use his executive authority on Climate Change and immigration. But there are some differences that the president actually didnt talk about there. You know, the party that controls the senate determines which legislation goes to the floor, when it gets brought to the floor. That has political consequences. It also has Supreme Court nominees. After Ronald Reagan lost the senate in 1986 and the last two years of his not just the concrete legacy of the president is affected by this but also his ability to seat the federal benches that will outlast his presidency. All of that comes into doubt. John harwood, come see me again soon. 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Her long day of Outdoor Adventure starts with knee pain. And a choice. Take 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. Onward developing now, 200,000 people are still without power due to one of the most damaging storms to hit michigan in the last 100 years. Storm storms rolled through southeast michigan causing massive power outages. Dte energy says at one point 175,000 people were impacted by the storms. One of the residents describes the moment when the power went out. It got darker and then i looked across the street and saw the tree waving like crazy and then my tree was waving and then, leike i said, the lights flashed out. Joining us is Vice President of distribution for dte energy. Trevor, a welcome. Can you give us your latest numbers . How many people are without power right now . At this point, there are approximately 200,000 customers without power but of that we have about 130,000 of those customers that are on crews in the restoration process today. Thats good. How soon do you think youll have them all back up with their power running . We hope to have the vast majority up by monday. Thats the goal. Thats good. Some of the hardest hit areas were where . The western part of wayne county was the hardest hit area that we had. They took the brunt of the outages that we had. We have broadly across our Service Territory we had outages but west of detroit took the brunt of it. What can do you to prevent such a power outage in the future . Is there anything to be done in this case . Well, an organization like dte, we always want to get better. So i think the things we look at is our preparedness. We knew a storm was coming and we were prepared. We had worked locally with a lot of the other utilities. One of the great things about our industry is the way we support each other. And then the last thing is trees. You have to be very diligent about trimming trees. They end up turning into kites when the wind blows very hard. It sounds like a communal effort. Trevor, thank you. Thank you, alex. Sure. Lets go back to president obamas wideranging interview with nbcs chuck todd. At one point he asked him about the decision to go golfing after the announcement of the killing of james foley. The possibility of a jarring contrast given the worlds news is always theres always going to be some tough news somewhere, its going to be there. But theres no doubt that after having talked to the families where it was hard for me to hold back tears listening to the pain that they were going through after the statement that i made, that, you know, i should have anticipated the optics. You know, thats part of the job. Joining me now, karen finney, msnbc political analyst and former Dnc Communications director. Youre exactly the person i want to talk to about this. Okay. Optics. Youve worked with this. Whats your reaction after hearing that from the president . Unwione, when it happened, t hair on the back of my neck stood up. Oh, i just wouldnt have done that. I was glad he was sort of aware of it and at the same time, though, i do think that sometimes we forget that a president has to kind of switch gears all day long. I mean, weve seen him in these situations when weve had tragedy and crisis and he has to, you know, be very present and it is emotional and then he may have to go into another meeting thats about something totally different and kind of put that aside and move on to Something Else. So i take his point. I still sort of wish that someone would have said, hey, how about instead of golfing today, go hang out with your kids or Something Else. Because the optics do matter in Something Like that. And im trying to figure out how that would go down. Would that be the chief of staff . Someone who had your position . Is it the president himself . Is do you have to put that on himself and say, lets feel this out . You know, its interesting, for the president and the first lady that i worked for, the clintons, there was always a little bit of a lag. So youre going to tell them . No, youre going to tell them. Usually its the chief of staff or the Communications Director or someone like that who will say, you broach it in the context of, what if we dont do it this way today . And honestly, the other piece of it is, alex, part of the responsibility of the staff person is to say, im just going to tell you what i think. Obviously youre the president. You can do what you want. But in case after the fact we see there were some consequences, weve at least had the conversation on the front end. I was kind of thinking it might be c. J. Craig if it was the west wing. Heres Something Else the president said. It is always a challenge when youre supposed to be on vacation because what youre followed everywhere, and part of what i love is a vacation from the press and because i promise you, in 2 1 2 years i think that happens. Do you interpret that perhaps the president conveying that its fatigue with the job . Its not been easy. No, not ever. This is something ive heard from many president s of both parties. Think about what it is like its almost like reality television, to live every aspect of your life under such an intense media spotlight. Obviously when you campaign for president you know thats part of the deal but president s dont really have many places that they can go where they can get away from secret service and reporters for a whole host of reasons, actually golfing. One of the reasons that a lot of president s take up golf is one of the few opportunities that they have to be free generally to walk around the greens and not have a secret Service Agent too close by and reporters too close by and actually just gets a feel like, okay, im alone with my thoughts and with my friends and were enjoying our time. All right. Doesnt happen often. Karen finney, come see me again soon. Ahead, a Close Encounter of an astronomical kind. An asteroid hurling past earth this weekend. Im randy and i quit smoking with chantix. For 33 years i chose to keep smoking. Because it was easier to smoke than it was to quit. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Its a nonnicotine pill. Chantix reduced the urge for me to smoke. It actually caught me by surprise. Some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. If you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of Mental Health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. Dont take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. If you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away as some could be life threatening. Tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, or if you develop new or worse symptoms. Get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. Common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. I did not know what it was like to be a nonsmoker. But i do now. Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. Its a bird, its a plane, its an asteroid the size of a house expected to whip past earth this afternoon at 40 miles an hour. While it wont be viewable with the naked eye, folks with an amateur telescope should be able to see it. And while nasa assures us it will not make impact, its a reminder of how vulnerable we are to space junk. A huge showbiz affair, thats what legendary comedian joan rivers said she wanted for her funeral. A private studstudded service wrapped up moments ago and it appears to have been just that. Nbcs ron mott is there and he has billy bush with him. Hi to both of you. Reporter it has a feeling of a hollywood premier. The red carpets, which weve been talking about for the last two days, was not outside but inside. What was it like . The first word that comes to mind is irreverent. I didnt see it at the beginning. It was somber. It was a heartfelt beautiful song and then they kind of kicked it up a little bit. They went into hey big spender and i made so many notes. It got funnier and funnier. The rabbi did a beautiful job. He talked about her generosity and great sense of humor and practical jokes. And then, unannounced, in the program came howard stern. He i dont think i can repeat his opening line. It was such a gamble, it was so big, so wrong, so wrong it was right. It killed the room and from that point on it was all bets off, man. Cindy adams got up there and joan rivers and they were saying stuff, the poor rabbi the theme was, everybody would turn around and look at the rabbi and hed be like, i give up. What can i do . The ship sailed. It was unbelievable. But al roker, cindy adams had a line about al roker. Youve already heard about it. Its hysterical. Any tears at all . She entertained us for years and years. She would want us laughing today. Theres of course tears in the front row. Her daughter spoke beautifully, wrote a letter that she wrote to her mom for an upcoming publication and her mom said it was the nicest thing she ever got it from melissa and she read it to the audience and she kept it tight. But in the end, the closing prayers, the rabbi got back up and he brought the necessary tone back to finish it about this wonderful life and i started thinking about the roker line again. Were in the middle of this beautiful moment, its quiet, your head is down and i just started laughing and i couldnt stop. I had to excuse myself into the hallway and i think joan would have liked it that way. Joan went for bust. So people in there went for bust. Lights, cameras, action, thats what she wanted. Billy, thank you so much. I felt like we were just there with that description. Really good job, both of you. Thank you so much. I am not afraid to talk. We know that. All right, guys, appreciate it. 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Heres what is happening right now. A big announcement from president obama on meet the press. He will combat the threat from isis militants during a speech to the American People on wednesday. And republicans are already reacting. This speech will allow congress, i think, to understand very clearly and specifically what it is that we are doing but also what we are not doing. We are not looking at sending in 100,000 american troops. We are going to be as part of an International Coalition carrying out air strikes in support of work on the ground by iraqi troops, kurdish troops. I want to hear what he should have said months ago, weeks ago. That is first, clearly explain to the American People what our National Security regions are in syria and iraq. Accurately describe to the risk that isil poses for us short term and long term and why they matter. Kelly odonnell is joining us from the white house with another welcome to you. Kelly, what have you learned about the president s speech and what is the reaction to what you are hearing . Reporter first, the president will meet with congressional leaders on tuesday and hell explain some of what is to be expected in the plan to lay the groundwork politically. And what we learned through chuck todds reporting on meet the press today, this isnt a return to an iraqstyle war and talked about an International Coalition. Coming right off the nato summit, hes describing some partnerships for that area and also saying that the sunni nations around iraq and around syria, were talking about jordan and saudi arabia, need to do more. The arab league is saying that it will do more in support of this. Its an important thing for the president to lay this out to the court in part because, as you remember, just before the labor day holiday, he said the u. S. Did not have a strategy yet on how to deal with isis. The reaction is coming fiercely from republicans, including ted cruz of texas, who appeared on abcs this week and his interpretation of what the president needs to do. What we ought to have is a direct air campaign to take them out. In iraq and syria . The real focus should be on isis. It should not be our objective to resolve the civil war in syria. He a one of the questions for congress will be, is the president going to ask for Additional Resources to fund any kind of air campaign or military action to take out these isis strongholds. We did see that there was Additional Air strikes today in an area known as haditha dam which provides electric power to iraq. Taking out some of the concerns around that because iraqi forces still hold that. Its one of the essential sort of landmarks in fighting against isis and protecting iraq. That was one of the latest developments. Alex . Kelly odonnell at the white house, thank you for that. On the heels of that report, joining me from capitol hill is senator bob casey, member of joint economic committee. Id like to hear your thoughts on what you want to hear from the president , what you think you need to hear from the president. Im going to assume, based on a letter you wrote to the president , that you want the president to go after the finances that isis has. Alex, i think thats a big part of the effort here and that has to be one of the Component Parts of the strategy. If we cut off their finances, which by some estimates, just the oil revenue they are getting per year could be north of 700 million. If were able to cut that off in concert with Coalition Partners here, you can dampen the recruiting efforts and undermine the operational effectiveness. What i want to hear from the president , i think what well hear, is that the overall strategy. I think youve seen in the last couple of weeks a very capable and determined commander in chief. Hes made the objectives known about why we are doing certain things in iraq, all of the air strikes were under guarded by intelligence. He didnt start going in and shooting like some have proposed that he do. I think what youll see is an outline of the iraq part of the strategy or the continuing of that strategy and then maybe more detail about what can be done when you get to the syria part, which is much more complicated because there we dont have a willing partner, a government that is allowing us in. There you have a dictator who has slaughtered 200,000 of his own people. So you believe the president in the last ten days has shored up that strategy and made a Firm Decision on what hes doing and thats what hell announce on wednesday . I think he will. There will probably be more detail and especially about the effort by the i should say his efforts with other nations in the region and the european nations as well. Now youre talking about Nine Countries that will be helpful. What i hope we hear is that some of the other countries in the region, as Kelly Odonnell outlined, the jordanians, qataris and uae as well, nations that have a large sunni population which is what the main component force in isis, or i should say the main group within isis, we need to have nations that have some commonality with the region and sunnis to speak up, as many have already done, but we need to have their full participation. Senator, the pentagon announced that they had expanded their campaign to haditha in the anbar province. Lets listen to this mornings meet the press. The strategy both for iraq and syria is that we will hunt down isil members and assets wherever they are. I will reserve the right to protect the American People and go after folks who are trying to hurt us wherever they are. Should he have already consulted if not held a vote already on the intervention . I dont think so at this point, alex. I think at some point, in the not so distant future, it will be beneficial to have a debate on further military action but i think at this stage the president has made the right steps and has made prudent steps and very effective. We dont talk about the results. The results when it comes to preventing a disaster at the dam at mosul and the horrific tragedy to the yazidis at mt. Sinjar. Still a long way to go. To defeat isis or isil as they are sometimes referred to, in my judgment its not going to take months but years. Just like it took years to degrade and defeat al qaeda, or at least the main authority there and just like it took youres to find osama bin laden. But some in washington want screaming and threatening and thats not what you do as commander in kmeef. Some said that the plan of the president puts the onus on the Free Syrian Army which are not respective militaries right now. So is he being realistic . Well, i had hoped, going back a couple of years ago, that we would have given more support to the syrian opposition, direct support if not with just military support but the kind of intel that we would have given earlier. I think we have an opportunity now to strengthen the syrian opposition. Not just as it relates to assad being one way to put pressure on isis going forward. I think thats going to be the strategy and i hope that is the case going forward. The president got a lot of push back from republicans regarding the immigration decision. Was this the right political move . I think it was the right decision for the issue because what we saw throughout the summer, to say it was politicized and to say that children at the border were demonized by some politicians in washington is an understatement. We need to have a discussion about whatever the president will make a determination about, whatever executive action he can take. We need to have that debate free of the politics of the election. The next couple of weeks are going to be very difficult for the country because of the election. I think its better and more prudent to announce what he plans to do free of the ranker and the atmosphere that you have right before an election. It would be better for the country as well as those who are impacted by immigration policies. By the way, the house should pass right now the Senate Bipartisan bill. Republicans left, right, middle, democrats, independents and the house has been sitting on that since the spring of 2013. I can let the political scientists do the analysis but right now they could act this week and pass the Senate Bipartisan bill which is a comprehensive approach to immigration. It would deal with the issues that were concerned about when it comes to immigration and when the tea Party Controls the Republican Party, you have a breakdown in the ability of the Republican Party to come to the commonsense center on immigration policy and finally, finally begin to wrestle this very difficult problem to the ground. Lets see if what youre calling them to do happens. Well see. Thank you so much. Democratic senator bob casey, always a pleasure. Hurricane norbert is pounding mexicos coast and then to the north, searchers off Redondo Beach recovered the body of a missing swimmer who drowned in the waters. A high surf warning has been in effect since friday. Will Tropical Storm put a small dent in the worst drought on record . The latest numbers from the u. S. Drought number are staggering. Check this map out. More than 80 of california is grappling with extreme or exceptional Drought Conditions the melody is joining us. Do you think this storm might have a Silver Lining to it, bringing rain to the west . Certainly any and all rain will be welcomed in california but it wont have any significant impacts in terms of this drought. Okay. How about, we have sf gate reporting what it call as surprise bonanza since the napa quake. Creeks that were once dry are now flowing. What is behind that . Right. Soon after the earthquake the 6. 0 earthquake in the napa area, residents started noticing creeks that were dry or almost dry started filling up with water and obviously the initial concern was that there were cracks in dams. So those were checked out. But what they noticed was that it was actually fractures in rock pushing groundwater up and that water is now flowing into some creeks, about five of them. So melody, i was told by my executive producer, the creek that were looking at now, it used to be dry and just in the last couple of weeks has looked plentiful at this point. Is this common after earthquakes . It is. And there were some creeks one creek particularly that saw a 20fold increase in the amount of water. It was it is significant. And it has been studied and it has been shown that after some earthquakes, particularly in this area, that this does happen, that the water is pushed up from Shallow Water tables and it goes into the different watersheds. So in a practical sense, how does that help . In a practical sense it does help. Particularly for places like vallejo. They have been having water issues, one of their Water Supplies was cut off. They had to put in an emergency pipeline from lake bariesa. When they noticed that the water was going into 1500 acres of their watershed, that they had exclusive water rights to, thats a welcome surprise certainly. Okay. Thank you so much, melody gutierrez. Appreciate your time. Former president clinton rallies a political comeback. But how much does the visit help Charlie Crist. . Im the proud dad of three beautiful, awesome, messy kids. 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Typically, in nonpresident ial years, republicans know better than democrats and were not going to let that happen, are we . That is, of course, former president bill clinton stopping in the Sunshine State for Charlie Crist turned independent. Now a democratic nominee for the very same office which might seem extreme and confused on the political spectrum. The big question, whether that sort of contortionism finds enough of a voting audience. Perhaps not. In a new poll from florida, rick scott still with a 2point lead over christ right now. Joining me now is perry bacon. Can i correct myself, i call california the Sunshine State just a moment ago. Its a golden state. I should know. It is what it is. Lets talk about the numbers and your tame on them. I thought Governor Scott was in real trouble but the numbers dont reflect that. This is a really close race. Chris, the former governor who is a republican and now a democrat, was ahead by five to seven points in march or so. Since then, rick scott has flooded the airways about 20 million in campaign ads. He has much more money than k crist does and so far they have worked very well and they have closed the margin. The big question now, in the next two months, spending will be more equalized so will that help crist . How much did florida voters help that given the trip from one Political Party to the neutral and another one in pretty short order . You know, what i found was that a lot of democrats have liked him for a while. He was a pretty moderate republican and the shift from moderate republican to democrat is not that shocking. People thought he was not a very strong conservative. That said, rick scott, the opponent calls Charlie Crist the slick politician and thats to suggest that crist is not someone that you can trust. Even though hes running a campaign right now so democrats like him, hes for minimum wage and for obama. He would like to have President Obama Campaign for him in florida. Not a lot saying that. He certainly had president clinton with him. Talk about the mood at that rally. What was it like . People have liked bill clinton a lot more than when he was president. Crist is famous for, he hugged president obama in 2009 during the stimulus and that made a lot of republicans really angry at him. But a lot of africanamerican voters like crist because he was proobama. Thats a big factor here, can he get the black turnout he needs to win and i thought from being down there, he may be able to do that. Sounds like he might have the reaction that Chris Christie had during the wake of hurricane sandy. Lets talk about Mitch Mcconnells leading Alison Grimes, 47 to 39 . What do you think is driving that mcconnell lead . It was closer a few days ago . Alison lundergan is a democrat, probably going to support president obama more often than night. The other thing that could be that mcconnell has run a very aggressive campaign. He says that Alison Grimes is going to vote with harry reid and obama all the time. Perry, what is your gut telling you . Does lundergan have a chance . Its a chance but very small. I think mcconnell has to make some kind of a mistake or theres a debate and theres a moment. Kentucky has had, for the last two decades, republicans. I think its going to be really challenging for grimes to win this race and thats going to make it difficult but democrats to control congress, because if mcconnell wins this race and we saw the poll mark pryor in trouble. Perry bacon, appreciate it. Thank you, elecalex, appreci it. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. While a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Staying active can ease arthritis symptoms but if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. Prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, so your body can stay in motion. Because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. 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The must anticipated iwatch. Im excited about this. This watch. You are . I am. It may be a new piece of jewelry, too, if it works. The hackers broke into the healthcare. Gov website. What did they do . The government found that it was called malware, a virus placed into the computer servers housing the testing site for healthcare. Gov. It wasnt the actual site but the teit was where they test co. What they found with this breach it was set up to be a denial of service attacks. What that means is essentially other websites that that particular computer was housing would eventually have been attacked and a lot of traffic would have hit that site so much so it would have overwhelmed. Its really tough. Look at home depot, morgan chase, companies and banks and financial places go through this consistently. So this is a very, very hard job to do. Look, this database or website costs a gazillion dollars, which i think is way over spending on what we need to have. This is also adding into the debate from the republican side saying, hey, look, this might actually be more fuel for their fire as elections coming up, especially when were looking at the second round of enrollment that is going to start happening on november 15th. Okay. Tuesdays big apple new gadget event. Can you separate fact from fiction . I can do the best i can by being looking into my crystal ball. The iphone 6 should be announced. Theres a 4. 7 inch and 5. 5 inch. Finally getting the much larger screen that many people have been asking for. They are talking about classresistant glass, a faster processor. Im still waiting for my r2d2. I dont think the iwatch will be available for a while. Well find out what apple is talking about with the first wearable device, which is a big deal, since they have the health app and health kit. Can i ask you before we let you go, after the Michael Brown shooting in ferguson, were hearing about these Police Uniforms that have body cameras on them the size of a card. What is the sophistication with this technology . They are not sophisticated at all but you can wear them on a hat or as a little llapell pin and then theres a dvr type of unit grabbing those footage and then the piece reports back to the database itself where they send that video footage. So is that live . No, its not live. Okay. What they are finding, d. C. Is about to launch it october 1st. Its being used in maryland. They have seen the chief of police has said they have seen a significant reduction in both lawsuits from civilians wanting to sue Police Officers as well as Police Officers not having as much behavioral problems or abuse in situations. So people are saying, hey, is this a way that we can resolve some conflict and bring more civility to Police Encounters . I think its the way of the future. Mario armstrong, thank you so much. Cram session, Congress Returns with a lot to do with little time. What needs to get done with capitol hill. And remembering joan rivers. Driver 1 you ready . Yeah go [sfx] roaring altima engine woah ahhhha we told people they were riding nissans most advanced altima race car. We lied. About the race car part. Altima, with 270 horsepower and active understeer control. How did you . What i dont even, im speechless. Innovation that excites. Theyre about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. Polident kills 99. 99 of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains. Thats why i recommend polident. [ male announcer ] cleaner, fresher, brighter every day. Thereyou can do anything. Ily. If you keep a good head on your shoulders. Thats why we use head shoulders shampoo and conditioners. It keeps us 100 flake free. So i just have gorgeous hair. Head shoulders. The worlds 1 dandruff shampoo. [ male announcer ] this man has an Accomplished Research and Analytical Group at his disposal. But even more impressive is how he puts it to work for his clients. Morning. Morning. Thanks for meeting so early. Oh, its not a big deal at all. Come on in. [ male announcer ] its how edward jones makes sense of investing. Welcome back to weekends with alex witt. Hollywood all the way. Thats how joan rivers described her ideal funeral. It wrapped up a short time ago and the starstudded event seemed to be exactly that. Nbcs ron mott is there. Talk about the Services Today and all of the celebrities that were there. Reporter hi, alex. A lot of alist celebrities. This was the type of farewell that joan rivers wrote about and joked about. She didnt want a sombertype ceremony. She wanted something very brash and hollywood and she got it. We saw howard stern go in. It was a mix of the lighthearted and mostly a formal gathering. He let loose with a raunchy joke and apparently the house lit up. Just the type of thing that joan rivers would like, throwing caution to the wind. There were tears, of course, but a lot of laughter and folks had tears coming down their cheeks. It was a great sendoff. It was a Great Service here at emanuel. Very quickly, ron, anything new from her daughter melissa . Reporter no, we saw her come out. She didnt speak to anybody, that we can tell, officially from a media standpoint. We have not seen any more comments for her since she sent the announce notice about her mothers passing. Once we get into the start of the week, the investigation into what actually caused her moms death is going to continue. Dont know how long its going to take before officials are able to come up with the cause and manner of death but thats pending and the family would absolutely love to get some answers there. Absolutely. Thank you so much. The third american aide worker who is fighting for his life and dr. Rick sacra interacted with his wife and son for 25 minutes. Is he showing signs of improvement . Reporter he is, alex, slowly but surely. However, he is not out of the woods yet. His wife and oldest son spoke with him. He was weak and asked for something to eat. He doesnt remember most of the flight from africa here to omaha or his arrival and transfer here to the bio containment movement. The focus is on getting him better and more than 2,000 people in africa have died and thousands more sickened by the ebola crisis. The World Health Organization is recommending that patients in africa be given blood transfusions from survival ebola victims. Its actually one of the treatments that doctors here have considered for dr. Sacra. Theres no timeline on his recovery. It could be up to three weeks. We thank you for the update from omaha. New today, president obama is defending his decision of delaying immigration in a meet the press exclusive. I want to make sure that its sustainable. If the public is not behind you, youre not taking it . No. You were concerned that the public wouldnt support what you did. No. What im saying is im going to act because its the right thing for the country. Let me bring in dana milbank. The president says his decision is not a political tactic. What do you think . Is this politics . Is it policy . Is it both . Well, alex, it will shock you to know that there is politics going on here in washington a couple of months before the election. Well, of course it is. The president put himself in a bad spot by promising to take action so he had to say, sorry, im just going to punt this until november. So hes managed to infuriate his own liberal base, at least those pushing for some sort of an immigration action. At the expense of the vulnerable democratic candidate. It now appears that hes trying to help some of these senate incumbent democrats who are vulnerable but hes taking a lot of enthusiasm and wind out of the sail out of the democratic base. How much pressure is on him to act . Are you confident hes going to do it . Yes, i would say wednesday morning after the tuesday election. He really has to get moving on that because its very clear that this congress, the new congress isnt going to become any more friendly towards a comprehensive immigration overhaul. Hes antagonized his base quite a bit here. Is the criticism of the president on the immigration advocates and is it premature because he says im going to act from a political standpoint to make sure we have the best possible outcome to put together something more permanent in the long run . Its not necessarily fair but the very reason hes taking these executive actions, which are, by definition, temporary, is because he couldnt get the kind of legislative action he wanted. So it is a bit unfair but from the point of view of the immigration activists, theyve been waiting years and years for this and each year it becomes, well, well wait until next year and its reached a point where they want something to happen. And if its not going to be legislation, they want to put their signature on something. The schedule for lawmakers who return for summer recesses busy fall for them. They are going to have as few as seven legislative days before they head home for the november midterm elections. I mean, seven. And then you have the New York Times who want to keep the door of the federal import bank open and a moratorium on internet taxes. So seven legislative days . What are your expectations for that . Good luck to them on that. Yeah. The thing congress does best now is nothing and the second thing they do next to that is next to nothing. They have to keep the government open for a while so it doesnt shut down this fall before the election. Its not at all clear that they can get the export import deal together before it closes by the end of the month. These are things that they have to deal with one way or the other to avoid a calamity and anything else is a luxury that is probably not going to happen in those seven days. Deep sigh. Thank you very much, dana milbank. Thank you, alex. A fascinating survey on eating in the u. S. The five foods that americans eat more of and eat less of. Elt. They work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. Mmm. Amazing. Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. At a moment like this, im glad i use new tampax pearl active [ female announcer ] new tampax pearl active is 20 slimmer, totally comfortable and 100 as absorbent as regular pearl [ cheering ] new tampax pearl active. [ cheering ] carmax is the best place to start your car search. E, great for frank, whos quite particular. Russian jazz funk . Next to swedish hip hop. 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What if this feeling could last all week . With centurylink as your trusted partner, it can. Our visionary Cloud Infrastructure and Global Broadband network free you to focus on what matters. With Custom Communications solutions and dedicated support, your business can shine all week long. Fill their bowl with the meaty tastes theyre looking for, with friskies grillers. Tender meaty pieces and crunchy bites. In delicious chicken, beef, turkey, and garden veggie flavors. Friskies grillers. Isis is a major threat and to the entirety of syria and iraq and the expanding caliphate. I think where they are going is so baghdad. It is my belief they will try to attack our embassy. Its not just iraq and syria, its both of those. But they want lebanon. They want israel. They want jordan. Well, that was Senate Intelligence chair Dianne Feinstein and mike rodgers talking about the threat of isis. Joining me, peter, a welcome to you, as well as the u. S. Embassy in baghdad mentioned by the senator, is this a situation of imminent danger or is isis bogged down now . They would like to take all of these countries. They would like to create a local caliphate. The question is, are they capable of doing it . And what has happened is their advance has been stopped. So whats happened in terms of americas air strikes, its intelligence, its support in terms of military advisers, to some extent on the iraqi side is working. Isis is no longer making advances. The kurds are winning battles where a month ago they were losing them. So in that sense, yes, they would like to take all of these territories. Right now, they can not. How about israel . What role, if any, do you suspect they will have in fighting isis . A lot of people have become involved in fighting isis, especially the foreign fighters. The ultimate battle is for jerusalem. Thats what they are dreaming of. That is sort of their vision, that they are taking jordan, they are taking lebanon, they are taking iraq and ultimately they are closing in on israel. Israel is watching very, very closely because they are bordering with syria and they know that will step in as soon as there is the slightest danger to them and their territory. There was a very interesting question that was put to the president in that interview. The u. S. Gives a lot of military aid to saudi arabia. Is it time they used it . Are they ever going to have boots on the ground operation or do they operate best behind the scenes delivering weapons, providing intelligence, stuff like that . I think they should step up. A lot of people, a lot of km commentators have said, why do you buy billions and billions of equipment from the u. S. When you are never using it and thats really a tough question for all of these monarchies to confront. I think right now the most likely candidates who have become involved is turkey. They have been watching this situation very closely. They are not at all happy that the kurds are getting so much attention that they are being empowered and that at the end of this they could emerge as the only reliable partner of the United States and probably want to pay back. So i think its time for turkey to step up but also for the other arab countries. Can i ask you about the security concerns every year with 9 11 and how high is the threat . The threat is always high. Its not like terrorists want to attack specifically on 9 11, perhaps that would make sense. But they have been trying for years and years and years. If they managed to do it on 9 11, that would be good for them from their point of view, of course, catastrophic from o own point of view but they are trying all the time. Thanks much. What america eats. The new what america eats. The new survey that shows the new foods we love and how many of us follow that fivesecond rule. Im on expert on softball. And tea parties. Ill have more awkward conversations than im equipped for, because im raising two girls on my own. Ill worry about the economy more than a few times before theyre grown. But its for them, so ive found a way. Who matters most to you says the most about you. At massmutual were owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. Ready to plan for your future . Well help you get there. A fascinating study about what the typical american eats. Surprising results what were eating more of to whom we would rather eat with. Parade magazine compiled findings in the article, what america eats or exclusive survey on changing taste. Joining me maggie murphy. Good to see you. Im not the only person who loves hummus. Hummus consumption since 2000 is up 200 . People are loving, hot for hummus. It goes with our savory taste buds. Were also very into yogurt, frozen sandwiches, paninis, mexican food and snack bars. Okay. Lets show more specific on things were eating more of, also things were eating less of. Lets move to that graphic and talk about that. Whats interesting, youre seeing turkey and steak falling out of favor, corn, toast, cake. Not sweets but cake in particular. Soft drinks, losing their fizz as it were. Cupcakes are up . Cup indication have been such a fad, on the go. We certainly this. If you look at crumbs, which basically went from being the hottest thing and now is sort of in bankruptcy and emerging. I think the next great food trend might be pies. Those what people are saying. What about people are more likely to say grace in the east than west. Famous Five Second Rule for food that falls on the floor. Regionally southerners are more likely to say grace than the middle of the country than on the borders either way. Whats interesting is the Five Second Rule, most of us are like pick it up. 21 did respond, what am i, a dog . I think theres a lot of play there. I dont know. Five second rule i think mostly people are like, lets go. Nobody wants to waste food. Which famous person americans would like to have dinner with is interesting. You had Ellen Degeneres beating the pope by 3 , then stephen king, bill clinton, dallas mavs owner mark cuban, beyonce the top six. What do you think it says about all of us . I think it says we really know what people have a certain intimacy, fun. It would be fascinating to have dinner with bill clinton of the pope led with people over 45, so maybe hedging my bets here. Deserts overall, despite our talk about cakes and cupcakes, not as popular as once was. Only 12 mers have a sweet tooth after dinner compared to 24 in 1986. Here is the disconnect. Obesity is still on the rise. Yes. I think the interesting thing is weve seen taste bud change, leaving sweet, the after dinner idea. If you would eat right after dinner. Unfortunately americans snacking more throughout the day, maybe having ice cream earlier in the day versus 7 00. Favorite answer from the survey. What did you find you liked . My favorite answer was in general i think were trying to give our kids lunch boxes more variety, more vegetables, more fruit. Thats great. Less sandwiches. Were trying to give our kids different tastes. I love mexican food is on the rise. Me, too, from this l. A. Girl. Thanks a lot. Thats a wrap on weekends with alex witt. Up next, meet the press. Whats snapshot, you ask . Only a revolutionary tool that can save you bigtime. Just plug it in, and the better you drive, the more cash youll stash. Switching to progressive can already save ye 500. Snapshot could save ye even more. Meat maiden bringeth to me thine spiciest wings of buffalo. vo ours is a world of the redeyes. daughter im really tired. vo the transfers. Well, thats kid number three. vo the copilots. All sitting. Trusting. Waiting. For a safe arrival. 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Tum, tum tum tum tums try great tasting tums chewy delights. Yummy. Looking for one of these . Yoplait. Smooth, creamy, and craved by the whole family. This sunday on meet the press, an exclusive interview with president obama on the isis threat. The next phase. Why hes delaying action on immigration. When i take executive action, i want to make sure its sustainable. On the political fight. Give me a loyal opposition that has some common sense. And struggling with the theatrics of the presidency. If its not something that always comes naturally to me. Plus, who needs washington. Cities around the country are making significant change. Ill ask three mayors what they are doing right and what washington needs to learn. And the battle for the senate. New exclusive poll numbers that remind us just when we think we