bali right now, after wrapping up a two-day visit to australia. although his trip will not take him to china, the u.s. relationship with that country took center stage. the pentagon deploying u.s. marines now to australia as the united states flexes its military and economic muscle in the region. i have therefore made a deliberate andqsñ strategic decision. as a pacific nation, the united states will play a larger and long-term role in shaping this region and its future. our enduring interests in the region demand our enduring presence in the region. the united states is a pacific power and we are here to stay. the troops will be stationed in darwin, australia, beginning next summer. we go live now toç darwin, thas where we find chief white house correspondent, chuck todd, chuck, i was going to say thanks for waking up for us, but this is good for you, this is the only timeky get you on way too early. it is, in fact i come from the future.
is back, despite the fact that he steamed about half the audience last year. the hollywood foreign press association acknowledging that quote, not everybody is happy with the decision to bring him back because his blunt, within-liners targeting big-name celebs caused anger and resentment. he went after mel gibson, bruce willis and robert downey junior last year and he said next year will be ten times as bad. still ahead, why are you awake, your heartfelt tweets texts and emails are coming up. is this a chevy volt? [ stu ] yeah. it s electric. i don t think so. it s got a gas tank right here. electric tank, right over here. an electric tank? really, stu? is that what you pour the electricity in? it s actually both, guys. i can plug in and go 35 miles gas free, or i can fill up and go a whole lot farther. is that my burger? oh. i just got bun. i didn t even bite any burger.
bit. as i was saying to regis, he s been on this show a million times. and i said to regis, how many times have you been on jerry s show? oh, i forgot, jerry doesn t have a show. you think i had something to do with this? i want to know more about your relationship with regis. when did you become friends? i wouldn t say that we were friends. oh. well then no, i, he and i, we ve been out a couple of times to eat. you ve done that. okay. so we re about, you know, the first time i had dinner with him like ten years ago, he said how many years do i have to do this. when is it going to be over. and i told him, never. tough decision to make. well you guys, you and him, these are pope jobs. that s what you have. pope jobs, and regis run as the pope ends tomorrow on live with regis and kelly.