At the top of the show we asked you why are you awake . Producer john tower has the answers, jt . More on the clothing line, ugg boots, made of sheeps skin, not cool. John, in illinois, my wife and i are taking care of our sons triplets. Just park morning and theyll be asleep in no time. Tuned in hoping to see bill karins hosting. Frank thanks so much. Apparently were seeing other people. I like that. Im very busy. Clearly, we appreciate it. Our friend in illinois, appreciate that kind email. Morning joe begins right now. Our president , barack obama, took day or two off to go play golf in florida. I dont care, fine, go play golf, i dont care. Played with a guy named tiger woods. This is our president playing golf this weekend. What do you think . I thought it was funny. Good morning, everyone. It is tuesday, february 19th. Welcome to morning joe. With us on set, we have msnbc and Time Magazine senior political analyst, Mark Halperin. Hey, Mark Halperin, how you doing . National Affair
This is our president playing golf this weekend. Huh . Thats one way to do it. Good day. Andrea mitchell live in washington where president obama is surrounded by uniform police and is now issuing dire warnings about the consequences if automatic budget cuts, the sequester, will create job losses and a setback to the recovery if that goes into effect next week. In response Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell still prefers Campaign Events to joining me now for our daily fix, chris calizza and managing editor of post politics. Com. Well, chris, we saw the performance at the white house. This was a set piece, if you will. The instant response from Mitch Mcconnell. The bottom line is neither side is negotiating. The white house now assumes the sequester is going to go into effect. Is this going to be worked out by continuing resolutions by the end of march . A little bit of shortterm pain, longterm gain . Yep. You know, andrea, i think performance on both sides is the right word. Look
To work this morning. At a special convened gathering in the white house, he addressed the potentially devastating effects of the socalled sequester cuts, which in the words of the president would take a meat cleaver to military and domestic spending. So these cuts are not smart, they are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of americans to the unemployment roles. This is not an abstraction. People will lose their jobs. President used todays appearance with a group of First Responders to explain what these cuts would mean to the life of an average american family. Cuts to airport security. Thousands of teachers laid off. Hundreds of thousands denied primary and preventative medical care. And if these cuts do go into effect, the president made sure that everyone would know it was republicans fanaticism over taxes that will be to blame. And so far at least what they have expressed is a preference where theyd rather have these cuts go into effect than
President obama turns up the heat on republicans. Republicans in Congress Face a simple choice. Are they willing to compromise to protect vital investments in education, in health care, and National Security and all the jobs that depend on it, or would they rather put hundreds of thousands of jobs and our entire economy at risk just to protect a few special interest tax loophole that is benefit only the wealthiest americans and biggest corporations . Thats the choice. Is there another way with only days to go before the automatic spending cuts kick in . Reenter the bipartisan budget cutters, the duo of simpson and bowles. Theres no sfri in the country that makes cuts across the board. You try to cut those things that have the least adverse effect on productivity. Second, we are cutting those areas where we actually need to invest education, infrastructure, research, and, third, they dont make any cuts in those things that are going faster than the economy. Thats stupid, stupid, stupid.
What do you think . I thought it was funny. Good morning, everyone. It is tuesday, february 19th. Welcome to morning joe. With us on set, we have msnbc and Time Magazine senior political analyst, Mark Halperin. Hey, Mark Halperin, how you doing . National Affairs Editor for new York Magazine and msnbc political analyst, John Heilemann. In nashville, we have look at that Pulitzer Prize winning historian and author, jon meach meacham. Its dark down there. It is dark. Shall we get right to the news . Lets do it. Theres a piece on rattner. Sorkin, andrew sorkin. Like aenaen an insider newsletter. None of us are quoted. Im so tired of being an outsider, raging against the news. Can we do news . Yes, we can. Msnbc news morning joe. I ghosted this, man. Lets move in. President obama will be joined by First Responders at the white house this morning to deliver remarks on billions of dollars in automatic budget cuts set to kick in next friday. According to Administration Officials, the presiden