how about we make him pay 9%? warren wouldn t be hit by the vat tax. a lot of working class people would. let s talk about afghanistan. we have news on afghanistan as well, mika. this is something surprisingly enough that i think republicans should seize on. there s a report out, of course, that in afghanistan we have been exaggerating our gains against the taliban. the fact of the matter is it s a much bigger mess than we expected. that s part of it. there s also news on the surge drawdown. nbc news has learned that defense secretary leon panetta and joint chiefs chairman marty dempsy presented president obama with the first round of the afghanistan surge drawdown. the plan which the military is calling a surge recovery includes how the u.s. will bring home 10,000 american forces by the end of this year. this first round will be a combination of troops that are finishing their tour, not being replaced, troops not deploying
stagnant for working people. i classify working people as obviously people who work, but making $100,000 a year or less. they ve been going down, not stagnant, down, down, down. mika, you would think at a time like this a progressive president who came in talking about hope and change would fill the void. i would think this would be a situation custom-made for barack obama. it really is, especially given the fact that senate republicans followed through with a filibuster that led to the defeat of part of the jobs bill proposal. the president says he s going to push that forward. he says that. what i want to show you is the vice president. first of all, you have an nbc news poll that shows there s overwhelming public support for the american jobs ability. there s anger to tap into. at an event in michigan, vice president biden i think used public service workers, firefighters, policemen as the perfect example as to why you
puts it away, a three-run home run puts the rangers up 7-3. that s the final score. game five this afternoon in detroit with texas now up 3-1 in the series. they can wrap it up and head to the world series today in detroit. to the nlcs, game three in st. louis, brewers and cardinals, series tied one game apiece. in the first inning, cardinals on the borderly. jay with a bloop to center. mark kotsay can t get to it. raphael furcal comes from second to score. the next batter, albert pujols has been hitting .646 in the postseason. that was a one-hander. a ground rule double. that brings in another run. st. louis scores four runs in the first inning. that s all they needed. milwaukee came back with three runs, the final score stayed right there, 4-3 st. louis. game four tonight in st. louis. up next, mika s must-read op
in a while. mike barnicle is still with us. sorry. and steve rattner as well, financier. joining the table exactly, you should be sorry. national affairs editor for new york magazine john heilemann. and in washington we have the president of americans for tax reform, grover norquist. with a very ominous capitol behind him. speaking of ominous, you re a little upset about theo leaving, about the boston globe story talking about the red sox. bad stuff, huh? the whole thing is such a nasty, ugly grotesque cota to a grotesque end of the season. mika, let s go to the news. that s what we say when we lose. when we win when you win you go on forever and ever and ever. it doesn t stop. i wish baseball season was still going on. baseball season is going on. is it really? are the phillies winning, the
massachusetts. never once was the issue of his religion raised. never once did it play any part in his governance of the state. not once. the idea that people on the fringe of the republican party try and make this an issue is obscene. it s important to point out, mika, this is the fringe f. you look inside the nbc poll that came out yesterday, 66% of republican primary voters say they re totally comfortable with hills faith. only 12% say they re not comfortable with the fact that he s a mormon. this is a fringe issue and perhaps overplayed in the press. but it will impact the ut come, will it not? i don t know that it will impact the outcome. it certainly colors the primary process in that party right now. i think it makes us potentially even more despondent about our prospects. moving the the new york times, no jobs bill and no ideas. i want to queue up, if we can, alex, eric cantor s sound bite. the senate republicans went through a filibuster that led to