mike barnicle, msnbc political analyst and former democratic congressman from tennessee harold ford junior and in washington, msnbc political analyst pat buchanan. we'll start with an update on the condition of congressman giffords, she remains in critical condition with doctors saying they're cautiously optimistic. the arizona democrat is in a state where swelling can cause as much damage as the bullet. she has responded to similar commands, giving them hope for her recovery. >> we all know the one patient in the icu in right now in serious condition is the congresswoman. we were very happy and month mystic because eventually over the course of the evening she was able to follow simple commands. again, this is very early in her course. we don't know what's going to happen, what her deficits will be in the future or anything like that. things are going very well and we're all very happy at this stage. >> now, among those slain in the shooting in tucson on saturday included a federal judge, a congressional staffer, three retirees, and a little girl, a 9-year-old girl born on september 11, 2001. her mother spoke to msnbc yesterday about the tragedy. >> she was very involved in her community, her church, her faith, her friends. she was very interested in going because she wanted to learn more about her government so she could help out in the future. a neighbor friend of ours, a good friend of ours invited her the night before. she came and picked her up about quarter to 10:00 so they could head up to the shopping center to listen to gabby giffords' speech. never thought this tragedy would happen. >> let's talk about the man accused of severely wounding the congresswoman giffords on saturday. he's expected to make his first court appearance in phoenix. 22-year-old jared lee loughner. yesterday federal agentser gathered evidence, the handwritten words, i planned ahead, my assassination and the name giffords and what appears to be his signature. authorities are looking into whether he joined an antigovernment hate group. federal agents have also located, questioned and cleared a man they initially described as a person of interest in the case. there are also a lot of stories coming forward. "the new york times" has an incredible profile of a classmate of this young man where he went to community college in arizona who was afraid of him and e e-mailed her friends and talked about how she even sat by the door because his behavior so disturbing, she was afraid he would blow someone's head off there. >> the math teacher who reported the first day he was in class about how dangerous they thought he was. and the initial exchange at a town hall meeting that began, authorities believe this two, three-year obsession with gabby giffords where he asked a bizarre question in 2007 about -- along the lines of how can government work when you don't know what the words mean -- we'll get those words. but clearly, mike, an absolutely disturbed -- >> angry. >> angry, mentally ill young man, and unfortunately a very disturbed political culture judging by what followed these very, very real, very human, very unspeakable tragedies on saturday. >> before you get to the political culture, you have a disturbed, angry, mentally ill young man, as you just described him, who is able in the state of arizona to get a gun license to carry a concealed -- to carry a concealed weapon. he was able to walk in, buy a handgun last november, use that handgun on saturday to kill five people. >> and we immediately got on the phone with our families all taking in the news in our different households, just watching this news unfold. and for you, it was beyond the political conversation, it was an attack on a family. >> yeah, like a family member. i didn't know gabby giffords, and congress didn't -- i mean harold was there, and i'm sure, harold, your response was the same as ours. my wife came in with tears in her eyes and her fists were shaking. this hit way too close to home because of the hundreds of town hall meetings, just like this, that we attended that i'm sure you did in tennessee as well. it seems like such an attack on not only this wonderful woman and these americans that just wanted to participate in their government, including this little 9-year-old girl, but also, of course, it's not an overstatement to say it's an attack on democracy itself. this is the very essence of what makes this country great, what makes our form of government great, that citizens can get up and talk to and hold accountable and ask questions of their elected leaders. >> you know, open, free, accessible elections followed by politician whose are open and accessible. i spent many times at grocery stores and shopping centers either campaigning orr providing what you thought was service, making yourself available. you have to think if you're a parent and your child wants to work -- say your child wants to go and work for a member of congress or a state senator or a city councilman, it has to give you -- it has to give you some pause this morning. >> this young 30-year-old man just engaged who was killed. this federal judge who was killed, again, this 9-year-old girl. >> i thought john boehner's point captured what we're trying to say, it's an attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serves. to mike's point about this disturbed young man, i don't always agree with howard dean, but i thought he made some great points on saturday as he raised the same point that mike did about guns. any state legislature in the country that is considering this morning allowing for people to carry weapons, either into restaurants or into legislative chambers as new hampshire is apparently considering, all should have pause this morning. i'm a gun advocate and a second amendment supporter. all of us should have pause this morning. >> willie, i was sickened when i got the news, and i was watching it, literally was sickened. my wife was crying, her fists were shaking. and we thought at the time it was an attack -- and spoke volumes about our political system, these shootings. of course, it may. we don't know what inspired this young disturbed man to do what he did. but what was equally heartbreaking, just as far as looking at the political system was looking at the rabid response, the rab id, sick, demeanted political response from a lot of people trying to bin a political agenda on this event by this clearly -- >> immediately. >> immediately. that's the issue. >> whether or not we won't know, we may never know. >> i certainly have and we all have and we've been saying it for years, very, very strong opinions on the harsh political rhetoric of the past three years and we have warned of consequences to words. but, willie, i cannot believe how quickly both sides leapt in and tried to make political points off of these deaths. >> and the sad part is it's not surprising at all. you knew the minute you picked up your blackberry and got on twitter feed you'd see exactly what we saw, everyone running to their corners. it was such an ugly reflection of where we are right now, picking through things he's written before, oh, he's antigovernment, communist manifestos, he's a leftist, he's from the right. scraping through everything they did to make sure they side wasn't blamed and they could pin it on someone else. that's where we are. >> there were false links saying he was republican. there were quotes trotted out saying, i think in "the times" he was a pot-smoking liberal. i think there are a lot of people who are going to be ashamed -- maybe not because maybe they're without shame -- a week or two when we find out the extent of this man's mental illness to try to have made cheap political points. >> certainly it's an opportunity for all of us, in washington and across the board to look at exactly the language we've used, but that's a conversation that we can have in a responsible way. but pat buchanan, i look -- >> you don't do it five minutes after you find out a 9-year-old girl has been gunned down and killed. >> we didn't really know the story until 10, 12 hours late sgler we still don't completely know the story. >> of course not. >> but there is soul searching being done by political figures who have done some reckless, irresponsible things. and we'll get to that. >> we'll get there. pat, i wanted to ask you first of all to tauch on john boehner's comments. i want to -- also on their families and democracy. the function of this congress on the corner event where this happened is exactly the beauty of what those who serve do, being able to connect with their constituents, hear what they have to say. and a little bit of that freedom, a little bit of that right has been damaged, and i don't know how permanently for members of congress yet. >> i think john boehner is right on the money. as we've seen, look, this is another one of those massacres. you have six dead and you a dozen wounded which is astonishing. and we know in the past when you've had these at schools, for example, columbine, all of the sudden virginia tech, and you get these copy cat people who go out demeantedly. i think that's a fear in john boehner's mind and it's a correct fear. i agree with the point here. there was a real rush to judgment, mainly by talking heads on the east coast about who and what was responsible for this. it wasn't coming out of tucson where you get folks like lydia stevenson who sat by this guy, sat in the back of the room. she said he looked like someone who was going to see on the front page having come to school with a weapon. >> there definitely is a conversation to be had in light of this as we plon tore obviously the basic news with this which would be the arraignment of the suspect and following the condition of congresswoman giffords which still could change, sbu hopeful. >> there is no direct connection right now between any political figure, but there is no doubt, and mike you certainly remember this and i know pat, you remember this as well. there are times when political discourse becomes so over charged and so enraged that sometimes the most disconnected from society act out, and you can go to 1968 after a decade of rage. martin luther king assassinated in april, bobby kennedy assassinated in june. of course, the chicago riots at the convention that center. you can talk about other people, malcolm x, also assassinated. as patted said earlier, copy cats, december, 1980 john lennon killed. in march you had ronald reagan shot, assassination of tippon and the pope. there are times when the political culture unfortunately encourages the demeanted to go out and shoot at political figures. i pray we're not in such a time now. but political rhetoric doesn't help. >> you know, there is a growing disconnect, i mean a growing and widening disconnect between the language you hear in the country and the language you hear on radio and on tv about politics. if you get in your car -- >> and on the internet. >> and on the internet and tweeting, all the tools we have available to us. if you get in your car and drive coast to coast and get out and go to lunch at a diner or whatever, you'll hear a completely different tone in terms of talking to people than what you hear on your car radios or if you're exposed to tweeting and the internet stuff that people pass back and forth, the rhetoric, the political rhetoric in the internet. the claiming credit for things. the blaming people. the escalation of language in politics is more dangerous i think. >> pat, would you agree with that? >> i agree 100% that the rhetoric we use in politics in recent years has been overheated. i was astonished quite frankly. joe, you and i remember down there the inaugural of obama. it seemed like an air of good feeling. then we were up on capitol hill and that day people were already attacking one party and the other. so i agree with that, but the connection has not yet been made i think between the rhetoric and what happens. i tell you what i would be interested in, you watch television joe and movies and things like that. the use of physical violence to solve problems by good guys and bad guys in films, what was being put into the mind off the record this guy to make him think that this was a good thing he was doing? >> pat, i can't even begin to tell you the number of homicidal acts that my children and children across america have seen in movies, on tv shows, on video games, where it's glorified time and time again. i've seen some movies that my teenage sons have watched. i'm horrified. they're desensitized. i want to get to, also, pat -- i want to ask you when we come back, about obviously sarah palin being the focal point of many attacks and, of course, about her -- she will dispute that it was targetsing 22 districts. but i want to talk about that. i want to talk to you about the language that michele bachmann has used in the past, talking about people needing to be armed and dangerous. i want to talk about some things that glenn beck has said and ask if now might not be a good time for people in our party or former party to take a few steps back and guard much more closely the language they make because they're going to win elections on their ideology. i just wonder if this isn't a really good time for them to go back, as some have already done and look at things that they have said and take a few steps back and apologize. >> we'll talk to pat and the rest of our panel about that. also still ahead, we'll talk to politico about how the shooting will impact the congressional agenda and how several lawmakers are already changing their security arrangements. also this hour, dr. nancy snyderman on the condition of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. i take it storms are coming. >> big dangerous storms in the southeast, pour outages. atlanta has picked up a couple inches. they've advised people to stay off the roads so you can get to work and school tomorrow. the blue and the white is where the snow is. the pink is the freezing rain. even areas of southern georgia and southern south carolina are getting thint mess. what's going to happen with this storm? it will track off the coast today and redevelop to a full-fledged nor'easter by the time we get to tuesday and wednesday. southern new england, possibly new york city and philadelphia could be also in the works for a major snow accumulation. here is how it's looking. atlanta, you're just about done with your snow. only a brush, calling for two to four inches in d.c. charlotte will be the worst travel. philly gets hit tuesday night. all day wednesday, boston to providence, possibility of another foot of snow. no problems today, just very cold and windy. all the issues today with the snow are in the midwest from kansas city to denver and also down in atlanta. we'll have updates on the storm in the southeast and the approaching nor'easter all morning long on "morning joe." you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. i think it's time as a country that we do a little soul searching. it's the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the tv business and what we see on tv and how our youngsters are being raised that this has not become the nice united states of america that most of us grew up in. >> that was sort of -- that was a little strange after the shooting -- >> he had a briefing on the investigation and went on a little rant about media. >> well, he said a lot of things. we ought to take a look at that. >> he's got a right. he's an elected official. >> made some really good points. >> an unfortunate time right afterward. >> seen a lot there. morning papers, "usa today" stocks in 2011 are off to a good start, often a strong january reflects a positive year on wall street. >> the financial times, markets on alert of latest bp leak. a small oil leak has shut down the transatlantic -- transalaska pipeline which accounts for about 15% of crude production in united states. >> "new york times," today in new york city the sit at this time council plans to bomb bard the bloomberg administration over its failed response to the blizzard. that's a look at the papers. now to politico. with us the chief white house correspondent for politico with a look at the playbook. good morning. >> good morning, willie. >> a lot to talk with you about. a couple of lawmakers have already said publicly, members of congress, they'll take additional steps to protect themselves, two of them say they're going to frankly pack heat at they're vents. what else are we talking about as far as security measures go? >> talk about taking matters into your own hands. that's congressman heath shuler of north carolina and congressman jason chiefs of utah. they say they're not only going to pack heat at they're vents but also encourage their staff to get concealed carry permits. representative carol mccarthy of new york tells us as soon as today she's going to introduce gun control legislation that would cover those high volume clips like the suspect used in the shooting in arizona. >> it was interesting, joe and harold can speak to this, i was with my wife a few weeks ago into the russell senate building. you walk through the metal detector, my wife was amazed because she's never been that you could breeze in. i could have walked into scott brown's office or mitch mcconnell's office. how is this possible? it's democracy. the people own the building. you have to access. that's a fine line between those two things. isn't it, mike? >> got to be addressed. >> that's right. after 9/11 people think some of the barricades at the federal buildings were overdone. online you're seeing a call from ezra klein among others who has been here on "morning joe" saying we shouldn't over do this. you could have the perception of more security but not really make members safe, that this is a rare eye vent and we shouldn't overreact in this moment. that's why house leaders have cleared the calendar for this week of wednesday, the only event they know of. there's going to be a resolution honoring the people hurt in tucson and a briefing for members about security. they're worried about it and they're asking for both the capitol police and fbi to reassure them. >> we know speaker boehner held a conference call yesterday with members of congress and their families yesterday. what did he say? >> this was an amazing moment. this was speaker boehner's first moment to be a leader, to be not in a ceremonial setting. they held this conference call for members, spouses, aides, more than 800 people got on this call. speaker boehner said it was a time for congress to lock arms, show the country their leadership. nancy pelosi spoke. she praised boehner for how he's handled this. she gave a sad health note. she said don't mistake the fact there's a long road ahead for representative giffords. >> mike allen, thanks so much. we'll talk to you later. still ahead, we'll bring in congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, a friend of congressman giffords. we'll talk with dr. nancy snyderman's fight for survival and how she can possibly survive a shot to the head. keep it here on "morning joe." ♪ ooh, ah la, la, la ♪ ♪ ooh, ah la, la, la ♪ ♪ [ dance beat ] [ male announcer ] join theladders.com. we don't just post the $100k+ jobs. we give you the tools and guidance you need to be irresistible. you know what, tell me, what makes peter, peter ? well, i'm an avid catamaran sailor. i can my own homemade jam, apricot. and i really love my bank's raise your rate cd. i'm sorry, did you say you'd love a pay raise asap ? uh, actually, i said i love my bank's raise your rate cd. you spent 8 days lost at sea ? no, uh... you love watching your neighbors watch tv ? at ally, you'll love our raise your rate cd that offers a one-time rate increase if our current rates go up. ally. do you love your bank ? [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply... ♪ ...unlock the doors, and turn on the hazard lights. or better yet, get a car that automatically does it for you. ♪ ♪ 31 past the hour. a live shot of the white house. the flag at half staff this morning as it is across the capital. welcome back to "morning joe." our top stories, federal agents are still trying to establish a motive for saturday's attack in tucson, arizona. authorities say a note written by jared lee loughner ahead of the shooting appears to show that he made careful preparations to assassinate gabrielle giffords, the congresswoman. newly released e-mails from a fellow college classmate reveal a growing alarm at the suspect's strange and disruptive behavior in class. linda sorenson wrote last year, quote, one day down and 19 to go. we do have one student in the class who was disruptive today. i'm not certain yet if he was on drugs as one person surmised. the teacher tried to throw him out and he refused to government i talked to the teacher afterward. hopefully he'll be out of the class very soon and not come back with an automatic weapon. here is another one. we have a mentally unstable person in the class that scare it is living crap out of me. he's one of those whose picture you see on the news after he's come into class want automatic weapon. everyone interviewed would say, yeah, he was in my class and he was really weird. i sit by the door with my purse handy f. you see it on the news one night, know that i got out fast. another former classmate calls the suspect, quote, left wing and a pot head. she recently tweeted that loughner thought congresswoman giffords was stupid and unintelligent. arizona gun laws are coming under scrutiny after it's merged that loughner attracted the attention of police in the years before the shooting. he was arrested in 2007 for possessing drug paraphernalia. he also posted rambling youtube videos where he was critical of the u.s. government but was still able to buy a semi-automatic gun in tucson following a background check. that's a conversation there. we'll get to the con of the congresswoman with dr. nancy snyderman next. also the latest on the shooting investigation. we'll have a live report from tucson, arizona. we'll be right back. can a trading site help make you a sharper trader? mine can. td ameritrade can. they've got trading specialists i can call for help. and paper trading. free practice trading that helps me hone my technique. complex options. and free tutorials. online or in person. can a trading site really make a difference? if it can't, why are you trading there? number one in online equity trades: td ameritrade. trade commission-free for 30 days, plus get up to $500 when you open an account. too much cred to it ascribe a coherent political philosophy to him. we just have to acknowledge there are mentally unstable people in this country. who knows what motivates them to do what they do? and then they can commit terrible crimes like this. 37 past the hour. obviously we're monitoring the condition of congresswoman giffords which is hour by hour now as they watch whether or not the swelling in the brain proceeds to a level that could add more damage. here to talk about this, nbc chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. the bottom line is there are promising signs, but there's still a long way to go. >> she had some things really going in her favor, the trajectory of the bullet just taking it through and through a quarter of the brain and not across the brain. the fact that this first-class trauma center got her into the o.r., into the emergency room, tube down her throat, into the ct scanner really fast, saw the damage, into the o.r., 38 minutes. that is a class act smart medical center. >> what part of the brain did it go through? >> it looks like it came above the ear, temporal lobe, the speech center and took a cross-angle cut and came out somewhere high through her frontal lobe in the forehead. >> what area of the brain did the bullet pass through? >> two areas of importance, the area of the temporal lobe above the ear has to do with speech, simple recall of simple things. and then the ability to act appropriately to organize thoughts. that's a frontal lobe person. so for a congresswoman to be able to articulate the right words, read the body language and act appropriately. those are going to be the big rehab issues she'll be dealing with for months and years. >> that's the initial sense you have from know wrg the bullet went. what about the potential of swelling and why we are still waiting for more word on her condition because it could change. >> well, the first 48 to 72 hours are the critical hours for any kind of brain trauma. so we know absolutely the brain has swollen, will swell and 48 hours is sort of the magic time. so what they've done is taken off a window of bone. this is standard classic neurosurgical procedure. that allows the brain to bulge a little bit and not get hurt by bulging against the hard, dense surface of the skull. what you don't want to have happen is for the brain to swell and for it to get pushed down into the neck, that's something called herniation and that's what causes people to stop breathing. >> could you explain why they sedate here, bring her out and sedate her again. >> i've seen the word induce coma which is a very different thing. when you do that it's a steady state of unconsciousness. they have her on propofol. when they turn off the juice, they say, mika, squeeze my fingers, mika, open your eyes. they want to make sure those basic neurological commands stay steady state. as soon as they know that's okay, they put her to sleep, they want her brain to sleep, her body to rest. just the ability to follow that simple command tells you there's sort of a high brain function going on. the fact you can take in a command, process it and do it even if it's simple, that's very, very good news. >> those first hours on saturday when we didn't know if she was alive or dead, there were conflicting reports. dr. rhee came out and said i'm optimistic for her recovery. we took a deep breath of relief. but then we started thinking what was a recovery mean for her? >> he was so articulate, very optimistic for her condition. people meant that to think she's talking. not so. she could follow simple commands. she could follow simple commands beforehand and after. that's the good news part of this. as long as she has a tube down her throat, though, the ability for her to converse and to really communicate, we don't know that yet. she's not going to have that tube taken out of her throat and taken off the ventilator until later this week. she'll be in the icu for seven to ten days, but will go hour by hour for the first 72, day by day for the first seven to ten. then we can figure out what the damage is and assess it and the rehab people will come in. >> pat buchanan. >> nancy, given the trajectory of the bullet from what you understand, what is it that is most to be feared as a consequence of that shot? >> it's the long-term issue, pat. it really has to do with speech and the ability to organize thoughts. all the important structures that could have been life ending were really lower. had this gunman really hit her across both hemispheres of her brain, a through and through this way or a through and through this way, or if the bullet had been lowered by an inch, we might be talking about a life-ending catastrophe. but because she either turned her head or he was bum chd and it went through just a quarter section of her brain, we'll talk about life-altering issues, but certainly the kinds of things people can live with. i keep coming back to my friend bob woodruff who had damage to this part of his brain, it tomb him years of intensive rehab to relearn simple words and be able to articulate. he's done it. bob was hit five years ago this month. this is not a very fast process. >> is the brain a mystery to such a degree that we have no idea what the range can be? >> it's interesting, joe. i think we used to think it was a write-off, if someone got shot in the brain, we didn't put much energy into it. what we've learned from our vets in afghanistan and iraq, if you go in fast -- these are vet doctors, people in the trenches, they acted like it was a battlefield. so we know the brain is more elastic than we've given cred it in the past. the fact that she's 40 is really in her favor in this regard. >> why is that? >> she's younger. she'll have a brain more like a child than a 65-year-old whose brain has already shrunk a little bit. because she's more energetic and more pliable, i expect her brain will have a faster recovery. >> watching the press conference yesterday which was conducted with precision, it seems like an unbelievable act of collective organization to make what happened happen for her. >> this was the best possible thing, and i think a reason why we have to really remember in this country as we talk about cutbacks in medicine, that trauma centers have to exist in this country. this is concrete battlefield medicine for the civilian population at its best. >> all right. obviously congresswoman giffords had been talking about potential for violence in politics and concern about some of the rhetoric being used out there, especially pertaining to her own district. we have a sound bite from "the daily rundown" where she talks about this. we'll talk about what exactly she was focused on after you've listened to this. >> i think it's important for all leaders, not just leaders of the republican party or the democratic party. there are certainly a lot of independents out there that it may not resonate towards. community leaders, figures in our community to say, look, we can't stand for this. this is a situation where people don't -- they really need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up and even things, for example, we're on sarah palin's targeted list. the thing is, the way she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun site over our district. when people do that, they've got to realize there's consequences to that action. >> she's talking about slam's hit list, gabrielle giffords was on that list because she was up for re-election and it looked close. and sarah palin and her people, sarah pac put the scope of the gun, cross hairs on her district. that has been focused on by a lot of people, jumped upon. having said that, it's not a good move. it's not a good move. i wouldn't want to be sarah palin this morning. >> they're denying it, despite the fact -- >> well, come on. >> despite the fact that sarah palin also tweeted that supporters needed to, quote, reload and referred people to her facebook page. and that's where she said that. and then, of course, she responded -- >> all this looks different today. >> she responded, also talked about, quote, a bull's eye in responding to these attacks. patted, i'm wondering -- remember months ago bullseye eye con used to target the 20 obamacare-loving seats. is this not a time for people like sarah palin who have used violent imagery? it just has. i know some of my conservative friends and family members won't like that reality. michele bachmann who says she wants min associate tans armed and dangerous. isn't this an opportune time for them to apologize, not saying that it led to anything, but just to say that they were irresponsible in their rhetoric and they're going to be more careful moving forward? >> i certainly think when you talk about moving forward they ought to be more careful. i think it's the effort to draw in sarah palin or michele bachmann into something that is a real tragedy now when what we're hearing out of as as is it had absolutely nothing to do with this individual who for some reason is obsessing -- >> i think, pat, we established earlier that most of us around this table believe he's mentally disturbed. i'm just saying, though, god, you've worked for two presidents. would you not be in there if you were working for sarah palin right now saying go out and say it had nothing to do with this shooting but you understand that it was irresponsible and you're going to be more careful moving forward? wouldn't you give her that advice if you were her aide? >> i certainly would. to tone down the rhetoric and get away from the military and the armed metaphors that a lot of us have used in campaigns, especially at a time like this. i sure would, joe. again, i do think that sarah palin, if you will, was convicted in the minds of certain people as soon as this thing occurred. >> that's wrong, too. >> the effort to prove it, and that bothered me as it bothered a lot of people. >> and i think it even bothered a lot of moderates, independents, that five minutes after gabby giffords had been shot people were taking the the internet to immediately assign blame. i wonder, pat, because you have said, and we've joked about it in the past, new hampshire speech where you said mount your horses and ride to the sound of gunfire. you have used that imagery and our political allies have used that imagery, 1994 and in 2010. we've done it as a connection back to, let's say, the revenues their war and you have it with the tea party. but obviously with any political movement people can take imagery of the founding fathers and distort it and expand it. it sounds like you're saying right now that moving forward, that's something that you would warn people against using, that this has led to some bad things. >> joe, i used to use at the end of the speech or was talking about something, you'd say okay, fellow, lock and load. and everybody would laugh about it. you're talking about the revolution and all the rest of it as you mentioned. the buchanan brigades. in that time in the '90s, no one thought anything of it. everybody used it. people talk about targeted districts. moving forward, i think that's exactly right. people ought to ease up on it and they ought to maybe drop it. but at the same time, i'm a little more bothered right now by the effort to try to draw these connections that really don't exist in order to demonize or damage certain people who i think had nothing to do with this and are as sorry about what happened as everyone else. >> we won't know for a while. the police are still conducting their investigations. it will take a while, pat. i agree with you completely. i got elected in part by very conservative people, libertarians and a lot of my friends and allies used language like that. i think it's the time to bring that to an end. >> not making any distinction or connection, none, there is a conversation, is there not, medically, about images and messages triggering psychotic individuals to behave. >> we have to remember if you have a mentally unstable person, that doesn't mean that person is disassociated from society and he or she may pick up on things f. you think the government is talking to you or your tv is talking to you which is classic skits soid behavior, we can't say he's a nut job. nut jobs somehow know how to lawyer up. >> and i've got to say it and i know there will be a lot of people on the left that get angry. even people on the left have said over the weekend that some have gone too far, and this culture of rage has infected both extremes. so we have sat here and talked about my concerns with sarah palin and michele bachmann because they are members of my party. i feel a responsible to talk about that. i will let the left be responsible and talk about others who have called republican presidents fascists, who have wanted to -- and compared them to nazis and hitler. i think we all have a responsibility to clean up our own house. >> we need to be civil. we need to be civil to each other. >> have a discussion. >> good luck. >> i know. >> good luck. >> dr. nancy snyderman, thank you very, very much. we'll be right back. it pays to discover. 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condition. it is hour by hour in terms of the depth of the damage done to her brain due to the shooting in tucson on saturday. >> it will be. the next couple weeks dr. nancy says we'll be following it. >> we also have harold ford, junior with us standing by on camera offset. >> harold at the end of the last hour, we had talk about -- i had spoken about how my party needs to step back -- some people in my party need to step back with some of their statements, even if there was no connection, to the horror that happened on saturday. and i think all of us should calm down a bit. it creates an environment where bad things are going to happen. >> look, i couldn't agree with you more. i would even say to democrats and certainly those on the left end of the spectrum in the party that this is a message to all of us, that stepping back, understanding that words indeed have consequences, that there are young people out there who listen, who believe, will sometimes take out of context comments that are made, and for those who believe that this just happens on one side of the spectrum, i'm here to tell you that i think that's wrong. i think it's irresponsible of anyone to blame any party right now. i think the public will be able to make that assessment. but for those who have a microphone and those who have views and opinions, be aware, liberals and those on the left and certainly those on the right, be aware that people are listening and what you may be trying to say might be interpreted in a howholly different way by a class of people who take their politics sometimes way too seriously. >> that's what we've been saying here. words have consequences. that's certainly what gabby giffords says. words have consequences. they create an environment, again. nobody around this table have been saying that words in the past have led to the shooting. we don't know and won't know for a long time. a very disturbed young man. >> dr. nancy snyderman said you can't completely disconnect it either. >> it's what nancy pelosi have been warning about. we gave a very specific warrick we gave about six months ago that it is those who are detached from society, those who were the most frail mentally that may grab on to harsh rhetoric. >> we'll be looking into the mind of this suspect for sure. let's go right now to tucson parking lot where this occurred on saturday with msnbc's chris jansing who is going to be hosting her show out there. chris, you learned more about the young man who engaged in this atrocious political act or this atrocious act. >> exactly to your point, joe, that he was a young man, loughner, 22 years old. he had become increasingly isolated and disaffected. he was somebody who had dropped out of high school. his friends say after that, even for the five years he was in and out of community college. he started to break away from them. he had had problems with drugs. he did get arrested once although it was a misdemeanor. had it been a felony, he would not have been able to buy the gun that he used. and he really seemed to have very few friends. back in 2007, police found evidence -- investigators found evidence of this when they raided his house, in his safe they found a letter from congresswoman giffords that was a form letter that gets sent out after someone who has been to one of these forums, and he apparently had asked a question that friends who were with him say was something like, what is government if words have no meaning? he seemed to think that government was brainwashing people through the use of words. so he had saved that letter that she sent. he had expressed to his friends that he was very upset. he felt she didn't answer his question, even though the friends didn't understand the question. he had become increasingly isolated, living at home with his parents. i was in his neighborhood yesterday. people in that area didn't seem to know him very well. he fits classically that sort of profile that you're talking about, somebody who was spending a lot of time on the internet. >> all right, chris. thank you so much, chris jansing, we appreciate it. chris will, of course, be hosting her show from tucson at 10:00 a.m. jon meacham, listen -- i'm being completely transparent here. when this happened, my wife and i were watching. she started crying, she got very angry and her anger was directed at certain political figures who use violent imagery. i was very angry, too. we -- we just sat there and waited and, of course, a few days later you find out that this guy was -- had mental problems. and it wasn't what we initially suspected. but still, i just ask, what are your thoughts and do you think the political environment may have touched off a deranged man. >> did you go there? >> did you go there as well? >> sure, absolutely. and particularly you played speaker pelosi's very emotional statement. i thought it was emotional and affecting at the time. snapt to senator murray, the threats against her. the fact that the congresswoman's office had been vandalized. this is one who was a part of the conversation. it is true this is a deranged and almost a classic gunman in the american tradition, tragic american tradition of violence. still, he didn't go to a restaurant. he didn't go to a baseball game. he went to a congressional event. >> it's out of the movies. it's "taxi driver." john hinckley being obsessed with jody foster. >> you think about where does this fit in the spectrum? >> this is part of the politics and the culture, clearly complicit in this. we had a 12-year period in america from the assassination of medgar ed gars. the murder of evers, the murder of kennedy, the murder of king, and it came about at a time of enormous political and cultural transformation. the first two attempts on the life of a president were in the 1830s when there were fears about immigration, when there were economic problems, when there was a great sense that somehow or another, in america people knew was changing. you heard two people talk about this weekend, over the last week, talk about i want this to be the country i grew up in. one was speaker boehner who did it i think with brian williams and the other was the sheriff on saturday night. i want this to be the country we grew up in. the country where a lot of people grew up in was a place where there are there were lynchings, civil rights leaders were shot. it's something that happens, yet, yet, yet, if we don't -- this is an old phrase in politics, if we don't watch what we say, then it's going to create a climate where you end up with these periodic outbursts. i think to try to separate the two is as pure an enterprise as trying to connect them. it's not an a to b, but it's an a to m. >> you can create a harsh political environment that we've been concerned about here thfor very long time where the fringe elements pick up a gun and do terrible things. >> i agree with everything that john just said. i actually kept thinking the whole weekend about something else which is that the first reaction for a lot of people has been to say, well, let's not use violent imagery. let's not use certain kinds of language. and those are reasonable places to start in a way. but the thing that's more powerful, it seems to me, is the emotions behind those words. there's ways you can use the language of battle that can be used lightly and not have this kind of vitriolic anger behind them. that is -- it seems to me, the force of what your slogan for such a long time has been, this keep calm and carry on, is not that there are certain kinds of words we could banish, although there are is certain kinds of words that create that climate, but we also need to turn the temperature down. that's where this is not a thing about the right or the left. it's about both because the temperature on both sides is running so high now that the words trigger this kind of extremism. in a calmer climate, those words would be just words. we have so much anger now, and that's what's got to get leached out of the process to some extent. >> both sides -- jon brings up both sides. if you dare talk about people on, quote, both sides, you become the target of both sides. the extremes on both sides. >> we live in a country that never learns, that never learns. here you had over the weekend, a young man, mentally disturbed, clearly mentally disturbed, rejected by the army, thrown out of his junior college, can walk in and get a license to carry a concealed weapon, handgun. we never learn about these things. we never learn with the progression of all of these instruments that we have available to us. we tweet. we go online. we send e-mail. words have become weapons. i think, jon, when the sheriff was talking about wanting the country back that he grew up in, or whenever anybody says i want the country back that i grew up in, i think they were aware of the violent aspects of that country during that period of time. but they were also aware of something that has receded rapidly in the past 10 or 15 years. it's an air of civility when people said thank you and please, when people smiled more easily. when the rhetoric of politics was much less flammable than it is today. i am old enough to remember having covered campaigns that were full of fun and joy and the people in politics were characters and a joy to be around. >> let me bring this back to something i talked about last week, mike, which is why i'm hoping this is just a horrible, horrible footnote to this era. i noticed for the first time since i've been going on the house floor for 15 years, and i talked about it last week, no sense of dread that i noted in 1994 when republicans came in and democrats were in the minority for the first 40 years. democrats were calm and at peace. steny hoyer was saying, this happens. we're going to be fine. republican -- young republicans were saying, we saw what you did when you were here and we're not going to repeat the mistake. there was a levelness and even handedness. there seems to be an understanding for everyone around this table that we've gone that the edge. that's why i'm hoping this was an isolated incident. pat buchanan, you wanted to get in. what are your thoughts? >> first, i want to agree with mike barnicle. there were certainly bad things wrong with america in those years, but it was a good country. on a smaller scale, this reminds me of what happened when jack kennedy was assassinated in dallas. the killer came from new orleans. he had been in the soviet union, lee harvey oswald. he murdered john f. kennedy in dallas. and i recall the media at the time said the atmosphere in dallas is responsible for what happened. there were boycotts of the city of dallas and the poisons of american politics. as a consequence of this, i think i know the conservatives in that period never got through the idea that goldwater's movement was somehow being blamed that a communist had killed john f. kennedy. and i think there's a lot of fear on -- this is one of the apprehensions i had on saturday was, uh-oh, here they come to blame so and so and so and so when we don't know exactly what happened. i still don't understand, even though this man got a bad answer or an answer he didn't on the like from the congresswoman four years ago, what in heaven's name could motivate him to do something like this as a result of something as trivial as that. >> mentally disconnected, mentally unstable. i didn't even understand the question. >> i hear what pat is saying and i think there's a lot of truth to it. we can't ignore the fact that people now have a 24-hour cycle in which they can watch, consume and form opinions around politics, on tv and obviously have access to the internet. two, we also can't deny that even though people in this election cycle did not kill one another or shoot one another point-blank as happened in arizona and kill federal judges, in kentucky during the senate race, i don't blame rand paul, but one of his supporters was caught on tape kicking a young woman in the head. after that, he asked her to apologize to him. there is no doubt that we have reached a point, and i think it's exacerbated by the amount of information, most times false information. what this young man was concerned about with representative giffords, his friends didn't understand. we're trying to read some of the things he was asking her, trying to understand. it's incredulous that they would reach that point. we can't decipher or understand what he was talking about. this political culture, i get what meacham is saying, it's real. we can't ig norp it. democrats, republicans, liberals, conserving, those with a microphone, all of us have to stand back and immediately, the most important thing the government can do is what barnicle can do. there's no reason why a guy who couldn't stay in the math class in a community college should be able to get a gun. >> end of story. >> as pat has said this morning, jon meacham, conservatives who would be well served to back away from the revolutionary rhetoric that has framed the base of a lot of our arguments going back to '94 where we talked about getting america back to basics. pat, we talked about it. pat saying lock and load or ride to the sound of gunfire in 1992 -- >> i used to cover pat. there was an air of fun, of joy. >> we actually laughed about it. it's just nothing to laugh anti anymore. >> i'm sorry. history is not an antidepressant. pat buchanan whom i respect was part of a white house that took on and behaved in ways that were reprehensible and ultimately impeachable. that was the end of a tech cade where you began with the assassination of a man in his driveway who was fighting for a basic recognition of civil rights, the murder of two kennedys, the murder of martin luther king, two shots at president ford. let's be careful. >> doctors being shot, abortion doctors. >> let's be careful. i think if we romanticize the past, we cut off the capacity to make something good come out of this. it's not as though if only we can hit rewind and go back. >> hold on a second, jon. we went to the no labels event. evan bayh was talking about how his father was approached by dirk son on the house floor from a different party saying what can i do to help you get re-elected? it's hard to find somebody on the floor of the house or in the senate over 60 years old that doesn't look back and said some of my best friends around here were democrats. i thit it's quite already to romanticize the early to mid 1990s. ity think that's something to yearn for. >> we've been dealing tw communications frenzies since 18th century newspapers which were essentially blog z because they had anonymous items that people picked up and printed all over the place. my only point is, if we don't accept that the past dealt with these issues and moved forward, giving us a place that we are happy with -- happier with, then we are not going to be able to move forward ourselves. there's nothing new under the sun. >> i need to let pat in here. i want to say because you brought up pat in very close proximity to a president being impeached from office by his actions. bob woodward last week on our set said pat was one of the good guys from the beginning, was one of the first people that saw what nixon had done, was disgusted by what happened and told people like william sapphire, don't go out on the limb for this guy, he's done very good things. pat, i'll let you respond. >> let me go back to the dirkson era you're talking about. i divide america differently. i think the truman-mccarthy area was an era of great division in this country. from '53 to '63, eisenhower, kennedy, when kennedy was assassinated. tvs not only martin luther king, the kennedys, medgar evers, malcolm x was shot, bremer shot governor wallace out in laurel, maryland, he was stalking richard nixon we found out in montreal, it was a period of real chaos and turmoil that air america, a lot of folks figured that a lot that was good was lost in that period. quite frankly, johnson was almost destroyed by the same forces that eventually destroyed nixon. this was a profoundly divided country and all the centers weren't on one side. much more still ahead this morning. we'll continue this conversation and bring in former representative john shadegg, mark mckinnon and deep pook choep pro. we'll go to kelly o'donnell live on capitol hill. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. because general mills big g line of cereals is america's number one source of whole grain at breakfast. there's whole grain in every box... ♪ ...from chex... to cheerios... to lucky charms. so you can get the whole grain you want with the taste you love. get started on the whole grain you're missing with your favorite big g cereals. make sure to look for the white check. words have consequences. this is my warning this morning. there is rage on the right. no doubt about it. there is rage on the left. we never know when the next attack is coming from. you never know where the next deranged person comes from. so that's why, if somebody on the right says something hateful, i'm going to call them out. and i would hope political leaders on the left would call out people on the left. >> for people that say we shouldn't be concerned when the president of the united states is called a racist who hates all white people, i say you don't know history. people say things in the heat of the moment for higher ratings, bigger book sales, a bigger splash. they have to understand that there is a connection between all of those words that get into the mind of somebody like tim mcvay an event terror act. i would suggest when a republican congresswoman goes out and accuses this president of being a gangster president or a gangster government, again, i'm not comparing that to anything that led to oklahoma city. i'm saying our democracy will die a death by a thousand little cuts. then you have the responsibility to call her out just like people on the left have the responsibility to call out the hate speech on the left. >> that was joe back in april. joining us from capitol hill, nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell with the latest. i see the flags are at half staff. plans changing this week? >> it really is an entirely different mood here. everyone had been geared for a battle on the health care reform, potential appeal. all that pushed to the side. there's a real concern about gabrielle giffords, her staff, other offices lending personnel to help here team keep things going in the days ahead. a big question about security. i'm told especially the spouses and children of members, that's certainly understandable. and the more than 100 new members are really ttled by this. one member of congress said her daughter has asked her point-blank -- i'm sorry that was a bad use of that phrase -- asked her if you are going to be shot. that kind of real fear among family members. what are they doing? as you know, there is not a regular type of security in districts for members who are not a part of the leadership. when i was out on the campaign trail, you did not see security details unless someone had a leadership position. that is not likely to change. everybody here says because of funding, because of personnel and frankly politicians enjoy that hand and face contact. so part of what they're doing is really working together in a kind of unusual way. there was actually -- this is rare, a conference call with democrats and republicans. that really is rare. and they were talking about steps they might be able to take. they will be assessing it and trying to get to the districts in terms of giving a real sense of what they need to do. that's what we're watching here. >> kelly brings up security. obviously a huge challenge. joe, we were at the swearing in. one of the beautiful things we were able to see and we think is lacking and leads to this problem is people not knowing each other. it was so great just a week ago to see the families, to see people on both sides of the aisle, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and to see the human side. >> it's a real problem. you talk about the human side. i held hundreds of town hall meetings. that's what i did. >> exactly. with your family. >> and i heard some people, well-intentioned people this weekend talking about security and barricades. no. after a hurricane, people want to come up and hug you. they want you to tell them it's okay. >> they want to know you. >> they want to know you. you just can't separate it. this is just a very -- it's a vexing problem. i don't know how we -- >> joe, don't you think even if security was offered, members wouldn't take it? >> i think members wouldn't take it. i think their spouses would force them to take it. that was the first thing my wife said when she was angry and crying when this happened. she said, you're never getting back into politics again. i know for people that are in politics, you go around and every member has oun or two really disconnected disturbed people in their district that send letters. i had ten through the years that would write me letters that would scare the hell out of your family when they read it. it's present in every district, kelly. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell, thanks very much for being on the show this morning. >> you bet. more reaction from capitol hill in a moment. up next, an update on a major storm moving up the east coast. a lot going on. we'll be right back. hey smart, you book your room yet? nope. see, hotels.com has over 20,000 last minute deals every week. so i get a great deal, no matter how long i wait. yeah... i'm not very good at waiting... then we must train you to wait. 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[ male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply... ♪ ...unlock the doors, and turn on the hazard lights. or better yet, get a car that automatically does it for you. ♪ ♪ good monday morning to everyone. a quick update on the weather forecast and our blockbuster storm moving through the south. new york city, all calm now. wednesday morning nightmare commute from new york to boston. first things first, atlanta, we have a state of emergency through much of georgia. telling people to stay off the roads today. snow overnight. now we have freezing rain. going into the atlanta area, you'll see we probably have another at least three or four hours of this light, freezing rain in the region. here is what the storm is going to do. during the day today, it will move off the coast tuesday night into wednesday. another significant snow event to boston, providence, hartford and new york. possibly philly, a couple inches in d.c. also snow today in kansas city. snowfall totals, maybe a foot in southern new england. philly to new york, four to eight, maybe six to ten. a little less in areas around d.c. today, not a lot of problems commutingwise up next, representative debbie wasserman schultz and congressman jeff flake. e ♪ i lost 50, 50 pounds. ♪ and i'm feeling good [ liz ] and weight watchers new pointsplus program gave me the edge to do it. ♪ it's a new day i can't believe i get to live my life in this body. i mean seriously... look what i'm wearing! ♪ and this old world is a new world ♪ ♪ and a bold world i'm feeling good, i'm feeling happy. 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>> in arizona there are a number of issue that we have to work together on, whether republican or democrat just because of the nay ur of the issues. immigration in particular. that's when she finds herself perhaps to the right of her party and i find myself perhaps to the left of mine. we've developed a kinship and friendship particularly on that issue. this is hard for all of us. >> isn't it interesting that she actually -- we certainly have heard a lot of people talking about the targeting of gabby. but she was actually targeted, not as graphically, i'm not drawing any false analogies here. but there were also lists on the democratic side that targeted this woman who voted against nancy pelosi. she got it from both sides politically, didn't she, jeff? >> she did. in fact, my last conversation with her was on the floor of the house on wednesday after she had made that vote. we talked about that. she had supported some of my efforts earlier last year on earmarks, and i don't think her leadership was too happy with either. so she did, from the left and the right. she took some heat and just like we know from her moving about her district, she went about it anyway. so that's what i think everybody loves about her. >> debbie, certainly, even if you didn't agree with her, i'm sure you certainly respected her independence and the fact that she would stand up to both sides. >> let me tell you something, joe. i've been to gabby giffords' district many times and she's been to mine, we've had the conversations that close personal friends have about our professional lives. she was someone that knows her district, knows her constituents and knew where she needed to be philosophically. it didn't matter where our leadership wanted her to be. she knew that she needed to reflect the values of the eighth congressional district in arizona. that is why on the left and the right in her district, republicans an democrats alike embrace her. i tell you, you just look at the results of this election from 2010, not a great climate for democrats by any means. the fact that she was able to be reelected in a climate like that in arizona is indicative of how special people think she is. >> pretty remarkable. >> let me just say debbie is exactly right. that's exactly what she said when we spoke on wednesday. i asked if she would now be punished for the vote she had taken. she just smiled and said perhaps, but i know my district, i know my district. and she did. she does. >> as a democrat and republican, debbie, i want to take the conversation a step further and touch touch on that. both of you pointed to this incident at a wake-up call, a teachable moment. what is the turning point we're taking politically? what is the next step? what is the wake-up call here? debbie first. >> i really think we need to make an effort, a real substantive effort to come together in a meaningful way and bring the parties together. the republicans are going to have their caucus retreat this week. the democrats is next week. i think we need to schedule a separate day-long or however long that our leadership believes it would take for us to come together and find some common ground. we have issues we're going to disagree on and we do disagree vigorously, but we need to be able to treat each other as human beings with respect, as colleagues, and remember that initially we are all on the same team. we're all americans, and we need to be able to work together. i'm really hopeful, i know it's been stride before and it hasn't worked out. if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. it's worth it because we need to set the example. >> i've got to say, too -- jeff, i want to go to you on this. we've torqued together a good bit. there was a lot of heated rhetoric through the '90s and the early part of this decade, i've got to say i really did sense a different feeling on the house floor, the swearing in with democrats and republicans, more at peace with where they were than any time before. do you think there's finally a collective exhaustion has set in from the politics of personal destruction that has affected this political culture for 20 years now? >> i hope so. there are enough things for us to disagree on. those disagreements will come and they should. there should be partisan debate on certain issues. but where we can agree, we should. i have the same feeling you did this week, and certainly on that conference call yesterday, debbie will likely say the same thing, but i sensed a moment that i hadn't for a long time, where neither party was looking to take political advantage, but just to respond to this situation as we should. that was very refreshing. >> representative jeff flake, representative debbie wasserman schultz, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i want to underlined there are two people who disagree ideologically about as much as you k. when we've been talking about keeping calm and carrying on and getting along and being civil, not talking about the absence of differences ideologically. >> or debate. >> bill hunt, for instance, a dear friend who i served with for a long time on the judiciary committee, we'd logically couldn't be further apart. i absolutely love the guy. it's cliche, but we can disagree without being disagreeable. nobody is saying let's find the mushy middle. let's fight like hell for what we believe in, but do it with respect for the other side. >> one thing that congressman wasserman schultz said that's so key, we're all americans. jon meacham was talking about the late '50s, early '60s. that period got kicked off with talking about being being unamerican. the problem with a lot of our rhetoric recently has been, it's very similar. the attacks on barack obama as a communist, the attack ps on the right as fascist. >> george w. bush -- >> yes, from the left saying the republicans are the american taliban. attacks from the left attacking the right in the same way, the right attacking the left in the same way, that kind of conversation is one of the things. in addition to violent imagery, that kind of conversation where we attack people as being somehow fundamentally un-american, delegitimizing, dehumanizing people, that has got to stop. >> so who in public life today is going to play the part to stand up and look in the camera and say to both sides, have you no sense of shame, sir? after all of this, have you no sense of shame? >> there are 535 members of congress, 50 governors, a president and a cabinet, lots of leaders who are not elected, all of whom should be thinking exactly that. jon is exactly right. that's what i mean by let's not romanticize the past, we've had conflict and out of that conflict has come civility. >> the delegitimizing really began in earnest with bill clinton, '92, clinton, george bush in 2000, delegitimized. you could walk up and down the upper west side. by every saturday or sunday morning, could find pictures of george w. bush in hitler's uniform, and then barack obama the same thing. >> we'll be right back. >> we've got to move beyond this. he had everything he needed to be a leader in this company. [ william ] after a couple of months, i was promoted to department manager. like, wow, really? me? a year later, i was promoted again. walmart even gave me a grant for my education. recently, he told me he turned down a job at one of the biggest banks in the country. this is where i want to be. i fully expect william will be my boss one day. my name is william and i work at walmart. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's fastest mobile broadband network is getting faster with 4g. and while it can never be fully answered, it helps to have a financial partner like northern trust. by gaining a keen understanding of your financial needs, we're able to tailor a plan using a full suite... of sophisticated investment strategies and solutions. so whatever's around the corner can be faced with confidence. ♪ northern trust. look ahead with us at northerntrust.com. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. zblncht. we want to talk a little football. joining us for that, michael lombardi, also contributes to "inside the nfl." let's talk jets. keep it here in new york. going back to new england. dramatic game in indianapolis. why will this time bb different than the 45-3 monday night? >> new england is playing lights out and they've been playing lights out. the jets caught the colts. the jets built their team last year to beat the colts. they didn't realize that maybe the patriots might be pretty good. >> give rex ryan all the credit. as chris lick said before. i knew at the end, he's been a jets fan forever. the jets were going to come back. jets fans never had that attitude before and that starts at the top. >> last season. >> mark sanchez kind of got going. when you play in the dome, you rush a lot. the noise makes you really get off balance. peyton manning really is the best player on the team, but there was nothing there for him to throw the ball to. >> let's stick with the jets. jets, patriots coming up this sunday. the casual fan watches football. and i'm a casual fan. and yet the extent of game planning when it comes to bill belichick, it is incredible. >> football is truly a chess game. that's the appeal most people have on the street. it's chess with pieces moving and that's a bunch of pieces moving within the game. two chess moasters playing against one another. it's really kind of indept. >> coming into the playoffs, a lot of people said the team to watch was the packers. >> when you have a great quarterback and a defense that's very opportunistic, that puts you in a playoff, a super bowl mode. i think the packers are, beating philadelphia on the road was a great win. i said this before, i think the winner of that game is going to go to the conference championship. >> you think the packers are going to beat the falcons next week? atlanta? >> i think they can do it. they can keep up with the point production in the falcons. >> they're 13-3, but still nobody including you seem to believe in the falcons. >> they get out of their style like they did against the saints, they struggle to win. >> how about the saints and the sea hawks? >> we mocked the sea hawks. >> so fast. >> of all the road team that is you thought were going to win, you would have thought the saints, everybody thinks winning on the road is hard in the playoffs. since 2004, home teams are only 13-15 in the games. >> is there such parody, we've heard a lot of whining about the seahawks having a losing record, that a 7-9 record doesn't mean a lot? >> i don't think parody as much match-ups. depending on how your team match ups to your opponent is how you play. the saints go into atlanta. match up well, we think parody, but it's more match-up. >> how about next week? ravens, steelers. >> they'll be blood on the field. no question about that. people thought you can't motivate players who get paid to do this for a living, but look at pete carroll's success as usc. >> mika, so interested. lombardi this weekend. >> lots of football players there. i can name one. i don't know, but i'm learning. >> at least you knew tom brady. that's progress. michael lombardi, thanks so much. coming up, former arizona congressman and mark mckinnon join the conversation. for me g i needed to lose weight right in my hands. sophomore year, started weight watchers online, the weight started coming off. ahh! oh my gosh! 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[ male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply... ♪ ...unlock the doors, and turn on the hazard lights. or better yet, get a car that automatically does it for you. ♪ ♪ how are those flat rate boxes working out? fabulous! they gave me this great idea. yea? we mail documents all over the country, so, what if there were priority mail flat rate... envelopes? yes! you could ship to any state... for a low flat rate? yes! a really low flat rate. like $4.95? yes! and it could look like a flat rate box... only flatter? like this? you...me...genius. genius. priority mail flat rate envelopes. just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is 8:00 on the east coast. a live look at capitol hill where the flags are at half-staff. with us onset, mark barnacle, nbc analyst and former democratic common from tennessee, harold ford jr. and pat buchanan. we are going to start with an update on the condition of gabby giffords. she remains in critical condition, but doctors saying they are cautiously optimistic. she is now in a crucial period where swelling from the trauma could cause as much damage from the initial wound, possibly triggering a major deterioration. still, one of her doctors said she has responded repeatedly to commands giving them hope. >> in the icu right now in serious condition is the congresswoman. we are very happy and optimistic because over the course of the evening. she was able to follow simple commands. again, this is very early, we don't know what's going to happen, but things are going well and we are very happy at this stage. >> now, among those slain in the shooting in tucson on saturday including a federal judge, a congressional staffer, three retirees and a little girl. a 9-year-old girl born on september 11th, 2001. her mother spoke to msnbc yesterday about the tragedy. >> you have to find a positive in tragedies and terrible things. christina was a positive. >> she began her life in a tragedy, 9/11. and her life was ended up with a tragedy. >> let's talk about the man accused of severely wounding the congresswoman and severing killing three others. 22-year-old jared lee loughner is facing five federal charges including the attempted assassination of a member of congress and more are expected. yesterday, federal agents gathered evidence from his home including an envelope with the the words, quote, i planned ahead my assassination and the name giffords and what appears to be his signature. authorities will looking into whether he joined a hate group. authorities have also cleared a man who was a person of interest in the case. "the new york times" has an incredible profile of a classmate of this young man who was afraid of him. and e-mailed her friends and talked about -- the behavior was so disturbing there. >> the math teacher who reported the first days in class about how dangerous they thought he was and the initial exchange in a town hall meeting that began authorities believe this two, three-year obsession with gabby giffords, where he asked a bizarre question in 2007 about along the lines of how can -- when you don't know what the words mean. clearly, mike, an absolutely disturbed -- >> angry. >> angry, mentally ill young man and unfortunately, a very disturbed political culture judging by what followed a very, very real, very human, very unspeakable tragedies on saturday. >> before you get to the political culture, you have a disturbed, angry, mentally ill young man, who is able in the state of arizona to get a gun license to carry a concealed weapon. he was able to walk in, buy a handgun last november, use that on saturday to kill five people. >> and we immediately got on the phone with our families all taking in the news and different households, just watching this news unfold and for you, it was beyond the political conversation. it was an attack on -- >> like a family member. i didn't know. gabby giffords in congress, didn't -- but harold was there and i'm sure harold, your response was the same as ours. my wife came in with tears in her eyes and her fists were shaking. this hit way too close to home because of the hundreds of town hall meetings just like this that we attended and i'm sure you did in tennessee as well and it seems like such an attack on not only this wonderful woman and these americans that just wanted to participate in their government including this little 9-year-old girl, but also, it's not an overstatement to say it's an attack on democracy itself. this is the very essence of what makes this country great. what makes our form of government great, that citizens can get up and talk to and hold accountable and ask questions of their elected leaders. >> open, free, accessible elections followed by politicians who are open and accessible, i know you can relate. i spent many time in grocery stores and shopping centers, either campaigning or making yourself available. you have to think if you are a parent and your child wants to work, so your child wants to work for a member of congress or a state senator or city council man, it has to give you some -- >> a 30-year-old man. this young, 30-year-old man who was engaged, was killed. this judge. this 9-year-old girl. >> i thought john boehner's point really captured what we're trying to say. an attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. to mike's point about this disturbed young man, i don't always agree with howard dean, but i thought he raised some great points on saturday. any state legislature considering this morning allowing for people to carry weapons either into restaurants or into legislative chambers as new hampshire is consider, all should have pause this morning. i'm a gun advocate and a second amendment supporter. >> willie, i was sickened when i got the news. my wife was crying, her fists were shaking and we thought at the time it was an attack and spoke volumes about our political system. these shootings. and of course, it may, we don't know what inspired this young disturbed man to do what he did, but what was equally heartbreaking, just as far as looking at the political system was looking at the rabid response, immediately after we thought she was dead, the rabid, sick, demented political response from a lot of people trying to pin a political agenda on this event by -- immediately. >> that's the issue. whether or not -- >> and we certainly -- i certainly have and we all have and we've been saying it for years. very, very strong opinions on the harsh political rhetoric of the past three years. and we have warned of consequences to words. but willie, i cannot believe how quickly both sides leapt in and tried to make political points off of these deaths. >> and the sad part is, it's not surprising at all. you knew the minute you picked up your blackberry and got on twitter feed you were going to see what we saw. everyone defending his or her side. it was such an ugly reflection of where we are right now. picking through things he'd written before. oh, antigovernment. it's your fault, it's your fault and scraping through everything he did to make sure his side wasn't blame. >> there were false links saying he was republican. quoted trotted out that he was a pot smoking liberal. a lot of people will be ashamed, maybe not. a week or two now if we find out the extent of this man's mental illness to have tried to make cheap political points off of. >> and certainly, it's an opportunity for all of us to look at the language, but that's the conversation that we can have in a responsible way, but pat buchanan -- >> you don't do it five minutes after you find out a 9-year-old girl has been gunned down and killed. we still don't know the story. but there is soul searching. >> absolutely. >> by political figures who have done some wreckless ir reresponsible things. >> pat, i wanted to ask you to touch on john boehner's comments, but also on their families and on democracy. because the function of this congress on the corner event where this happened is exactly the beauty of what those who serve do. being able to connect with their constituents. hear what they have to say and a little bit of that freedom, that right, has been damaged and i don't know how permanently for members of congress yet. >> i think john boehner is right on the money because as we've seen, this is one another of those massacres. you have six dead, a dozen wounded, which is astonishing. when you've had these at schools, columbine, virginia tech, and you get these copy cat people who go out and try to replicate or exceed that. i think that's probably mind an fear. there was a real rush to judgment. mainly by talking heads on the east coast about who and what was responsible for this. it wasn't coming out of tucson, where more and more you get folks like lydia stevenson who sat in the back in the room while he disrupted the class. she said he looked like someone you were going to see on the page having come to school with an automatic weapon. i think more and more the evidence coming out of tucson is filling in the real picture of what happened. >> it definitely is a conversation to be had in light of this as we monitor the basic news of this, which would be the arraignment of the suspect and following the condition of congresswoman giffords, which could change, although is hopeful. also those put out during campaigns by politicians themselves. >> there is no direct connection right now -- >> none. >> between any political figure, but there is no doubt and mike, you certainly remember this and i know pat, you remember this as well. there are times when political discourse becomes so overcharged and so enraged that sometimes, the most disconnected from society act out. and you can go to 1968 after a decade of rage, martin luther king assassinated in april. bobby kennedy assassinated in june. of course, the chicago yots at the convention that summer. you can talk about other people. malcolm x also assassinated. and as pat said earlier, copy cats. december 1980, john lennon killed. in march, you had ronald reagan shot and assassination attempt on the pope. there are times when the political culture unfortunately encourages the demented to go out and shoot at political figures. i pray to god we're not in such a time now, but political rhetoric doesn't help. >> you know, there is a growing disconnect, i mean a growing and wide disconnect between the language you hear in the country and language you hear on radio and tv about politics. if you get in your car -- >> and on the internet. >> and tweeting. all of the tools that we have available to us. if you drive coast to coast and go to lunch in a diner or whatever, you're going to hear completely different tone in terms of talking to people than you will when you talk on your car radio and when you stop at a motel overnight or if you are exposed to tweeting or the internet stuff people pass back and forth. the political rhetoric. the claiming credit for things. the blaming of people. the escalation of politics is more dangerous than dynamite. >> pat, do you agree? >> well, i agree 100% that the rhetoric we use in politics in recent years has been overheated. i was astonished quite frankly, joe, you remember the era of obama, seemed like a good feeling. then erp wup on capitol hill and people were already attacking one party or the other. the connection has not yet been made between the rhetoric and what happens. what i'd be interested in, you know, you watch television joe, and movies and things like that. the use of physical violence to solve problems by good guys and bad guys in films, what was being put into the mind of this guy to make him think that this was a good thing he was going? >> i can't even begin to tell you the number of homicidal acts that by children and children across america have seen in movies, tv shows, on video games, where it's glorified time and time again. i've seen some movies that my teenage sons have watched. i'm horrified. >> coming up, we'll talk with former congressman john shaddick in phoenix. also, the impact of the shooting on the congressional agenda. we'll bring in luke russert and mike allen. and later, deepak chopra. but first, bill karins. >> we continuely watch our southern storm. they're telling everyone in georgia not to travel today. they don't have the equipment to deal with the storm. a lot of freezing rain, also, snow. atlanta officially four inches overnight. also snow from wichita, kansas to kansas city. st. louis will end up with two to four inches in the next couple of days. we have two storms. the weaker one is in the midwest. the one in florida will move up and develop into a full blown nor'easter. it looks like the jackpot is going to be around hartford, providence to boston. in some areas of connecticut, this will be the third foot of snow in three weeks. in new york city, not a big blizzard, but a big snow. the times is tuesday night to wednesday morning. the commute is going to be a nightmare. no problems today. sunshine, 33 degrees. it's cold just about everywhere in the country. you're watching "morning joe." brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote. including your skin. [ female announcer ] now aveeno reinvents positively ageless. with shiitake complex, it's shown to visibly transform skin, helping repair the look of past damage and prevent future damage. positively ageless. only from aveeno. a trg site help makedamage. you a sharper trader? mine can. td ameritrade can. they've got trading specialists i can call for help. and paper trading. free practice trading that helps me hone my technique. complex options. and free tutorials. online or in person. can a trading site really make a difference? if it can't, why are you trading there? number one in online equity trades: td ameritrade. trade commission-free for 30 days, plus get up to $500 when you open an account. we're going to remember her for the nine years that we had her. such this beautiful, young, vibrant girl and should not have been in this country or anywhere else, but in a free society, we're going to be subject to people like this. so, i prefer this to the alternative. >> that's the father of christina greene, the 9-year-old killed in tucson on saturday. with us now, chief white house correspondent for politico, mike allen. good morning. as you know after the shooting in arizona, didn't take long for some people to rope sarah palin into the debate over rhetoric here because of that, among other things, the map with the cross hairs on it that included giffords district. politico with a story this morning saying this could be a turning point for palin. what do you mean by that? >> it really is. a chance for former governor palin to decide whether she wants to be a leader or celebrity. she went silent this weekend after she put up an initial facebook posting offering condolences to the giffords family based on the cnn report that turned out not to be accurate. she has been quiet and not responded since this cross hairs graphic got sent widely around. i got that e-mail a lot from nonpolitical people that really broke through in the larger culture, so now, she's in a very delicate moment. she has practiced successfully, confrontational politics. now, she has to decide if she's going to defend, explain the approaches of the past or take a different path. >> what's being suggested? come out in front of cameras and make a statement? >> one of the cases conservatives are making is that the media only focused on this kind of rhetoric when the right is on the spot. they don't do it on the other side. there's an inconsistency. if you look at both congressional campaign committees, democrat and republican, they all use this sort of targeting language. politico's ken vogel talked to one of the tea party this weekend who are very worried about getting out of this box of being associated with this guy. palin's advisers are furious. >> pat, what should sarah palin do? >> i think sarah palin should stay silent. i would disagree with those who say she ought to come out and suggest she made a mistake, because that would enable her enemies to make a quote causal connection between what happened in tucson and what she did last fall when no such causal connections exists. i think she ought to express her condolences. everybody should dial down the rhetoric and the comments, but i think she would wait for this to unfold because i think what we're dealing with is a deranged man who was delusional and obsessed for some reason with this congresswoman and perpetrated this atrocity with which sarah palin has no connection whatsoever. pat, you know, she might go -- governor palin might want to suggest to her staff they stop insulting the public as well because a member of her staff in a statement yesterday said that the cross hair symbol used in the map, the political map, is a commonly used reference point for map readers, surveyor symbol. it is not. it's cross hairs. >> let's go to luke. luke russert. your coverage has been great this weekend by the way. i take it the agenda has changed this week. >> absolutely. this week was shaping up to be a very contentious bipartisan week. on wednesday, there's supposed to be the repeal of the nation's health care bill. that will no longer lo occur. majority leader eric cantor saying yesterday on a conference call, really unprecedented in our nation's history. all 435 members of congress already invited to participate. cantor saying that on wednesday, there will be a resolution honoring gabrielle giffords and the victims who ultimately lost their lives in arizona and that will be a only thing on the house floor this week. they have not asked for a recorded vote. why? some members did not want to come back to washington. they wanted to give them that right if they wanted to stay in their own districts. don't expect to hear any partisan rhetoric this week. there really has been a huge display of unity. it started with john boehner, the first member of congress to issue a press release after the shootings saying that any attack on a member was an attack on the entire institution. nancy pelosi has echoed that as has steny hoyer and eric cantor. the lot of folks who have thrown missiles at each other are unifies. >> let's go to san francisco. tom brokaw is joining us. tom, what are ewe thaugtss about this tragic weekend? >> well, i've had a lot of thoughts especially being here in california where i spent so much of my reporting career. rushed down to the ambassador hotel the night kennedy was assassinated. here in san francisco, mestonia was killed and harvey milk, i was with president ford when he was the subject of two very close calls of assassination attempts. the first big story of my reporting career was the assassination of john f. kennedy, of violence and guns are a part of american politics. tragically. and i would hope that this incident will give us all great pause and prompt us to find a different way to resolve our differences and a different way to talk about them. last fall, we did a documentary for u.s.a. on intolerance in america. 79% of people think the political system is too deeply divided and 50% of people think there's a rising intolerance in this country. if we're going to revolve these problems, which are monumental, we're going to have to find a different way to talk about them and get them resolved. this tragedy aside, i would hope this would be a great opportunity to do it. this is a heartbreaking event in tucson. but if anything good can come out of it, i hope we can temper our comments and find a new climate in which to revolve these acute differences. what we're seeing in the short-term however is rhetoric accelerated again as people are trying to blame one another or being very defensive. so we've got to get beyond that. >> that is -- that was another very depressing element of this weekend. after we got past the human tragedies of gabby and the young 9-year-old girl and other constituents, the 30-year-old young man, then having to deal with the immediate political uglyness of both sides, trying to attach a political label to a deranged young man. >> and taking the story, tom, to the next level, using it as a platform for an irresponsible megaphone, that's what we saw especially on the internet in the hours after the shooting. i think the bigger picture will be is it possible to have elected officials take responsibility and call out those who use irresponsible rhetoric and those running for office or those who have run, who use their megaphone inpreptly instead of trying to a appeal to the base. there are politicians who have come on this show who have not been honest and people they support. i go to sarah palin and the use of the cross hairs. how do you characterize that part of the story? >> i think in part a lot of public officials are timid. the sheriff is not. he is speaking and and two few others have because they're worried about retribution. they're worried about the internet being lit up against them. that's something those of us on this side of the camera have to be thinking about and not just feeding that. sarah palin was a don't retreat, reload, the cross hairs on the map, people also have o remember that the west virginia governor, john mansion had an ad in which he took out a high powered rifle and shot the cap and trade bill as a metaphor for what he would do when he went to washington. i've had guns all my life, i've grown up around them. but in arizona, you can go into a gun store without a background check, buy a clock, semiautomatic with a clip. so there's been a lot of breakdown in the situation that we have to address that goes beyond the political rhetoric. mental health treatment. if this young man had shown up in that classroom dead drunk for three days, he'd be in jail as a public nuisance, but because he demonstrated aberrant mental te behavior, he was turned loose into society and in arizona, he can get what he wants in terms of a lethal weapon. >> there are so many different layers in this story. we have the time here to draw them out responsibly. thank you so much. our thanks to luke russert as well. >> thank you, tom. >> my pleasure. zblmpkts business before the bell is next on "morning joe." that's so dumb. 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[ female announcer ] grab a box of multigrain cheerios. get a code to... ...a 7 day plan to get going on that new years weight loss. get the box. get the code. get started! you can do this... get the ball, girl. hmmm, you can't do that. but you can do this. bengay pain relief + massage with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay. love the nubs! with us now, former republican congressman and adviser to gorge bush, mark mckinnon. let's go to you first, john, congressman who served with gabby, knows her well and also, you've received of course death threats yourself. what are your thoughts today? >> i think the nation is still in shock as they should be. i think the congress has acted responsibly. i think the idea of a memorial on the floor on wednesday is a good one and i think the idea of not having a recorded vote so members don't have to come back this week and stay with their families and absorb this is very good. that's the kind of reaction that gabby would want. she's a wonderful person. could reach across the aisle. very often, always upbeat, also a pleasure to work with. >> talk about the risks, john, i was explaining earlier that every one of us that's ever served in congress, especially in this era, have had two, three, four, five people in our district that sent disturbing letters. i did. you had several death threats. you're just always on edge when you go to town hall meetings and a lot of times, it's not even politically connected. they're just some of your irrational, angry people out there and you've got the congressional pin, so you're the one who's hated. >> that's right. i had at least a couple of different death threats. a had a town hall where a man showed up wearing a gun on his hip, asking where to check his gun. i think the public is not aware that these kinds of things happen all the time. often, you're told by the police, don't make a big deal of it. frankly, our staffs are more at risk more than we are because they're at home with the door unlocked receiving the public while we're in that cocoon. it is the notion in the bakd of your mind that's out there. you have to put that aside. you have to ignore it and focus on the job. that's easier for members than for staffers. i know at times when i've had people get out of line at a town hall, my staff has been quite scared. i've been focused on trying to deal with the situation. i think there are some things we can do, but i hope we don't overreact. >> the staffers obviously concerned and mark, family members. spouses, children, who carry a disporti disportionate share of the burden. they're more scared than the members themselves. >> i've done a lot of soul searching over the past 48 hours because i wanted to make sure i wasn't exploiting the situation. but i'm really encouraged by the conversation we've heard this morning. there are two tragedies here. one is the act of a madman and the other is the political environment that we've created. and i think there are three things specifically that we ought to think about. one is intermediation so we can identify people like this and get them help. we've got to make sure that these kind of people can't get their hands on guns. two, let's be careful about calling her opponents enemies. we may not ever know if this issue is connected to the environment, but it's an opportunity to change the environment. they want to change the tone in washington and there's a lot of upsides that can come from that. certainly, it's not hard to see when you dehumanize people and call your opponents enemies, that creates an environment that's more conducive. he didn't go to a church, a baseball game. he went to a political -- finally, let's be careful not to blame each other. >> no doubt about it. that was john -- we've been talking about that this morning. the sadness, the horror at the shooting, but then the sadness afterward. people immediately trying inin the other side. >> make a direct connection. >> attach a political label to this very deranged kid. >> if you have, if you represent an area where you have both sides, you try to tend to keep your rhetoric down. in arizona, there are many conservative democrats and so, and lots of republicans win with the votes of conservative democrats, so i try to make it a point to never use the word, democrat, when i'm being critical. i just disagree with their views. like mark said, you go back and search your mind and say, are there times i've gone over the top? the media likes to bring that out. i like to think we do it in a good natured way. we've done it on this show, joe. but i think we need to recognize intense rhetoric, over the top rhetoric, demonizing the other side as your enemy doesn't add anything to the debate. indeed, it detracts and feeds people like this, who are deranged and not capable of handling that kind of conversation. >> exactly. and you know, that's what pat was saying earlier, that all of us, including things that pat said in the past and i said in the past, we need to watch what we say moving forward. we need to again, fight like hell for what we believe in, politically, but don't demonize and don't use imagery as john just suggested. could be a dog whistle to the deranged. >> it is possible to criticize your opponents on the substance of their policies, on their arguments, even their hypocrisy at times if it's necessary in very strong times, but not in terms that are inflammatory and ways that have raised all the problems. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, guys. >> thank you. >> great words. >> deepak chopra next on "morning joe." ♪ ooh, ah la, la, la ♪ ♪ ooh, ah la, la, la ♪ ♪ ooh, ah la, la, la ♪ ♪ ooh, ah la, la, la ♪ ♪ ooh, ah la, la, la ♪ ♪ [ dance beat ] [ male announcer ] join theladders.com. we don't just post the $100k+ jobs. we give you the tools and guidance you need to be irresistible. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at restaurants. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. ♪ you know how i feel i feel awesome. i'm a new mom and i lost 22 pounds. ♪ freedom is mine and i know how i feel ♪ weight watchers new pointsplus pro gave me the edge to finally get out of my rut. ♪ it's a new dawn, a new day it's a new day for me because i have my body back. i feel sexy again. [ jennifer ] go on, join for free. weight watchers new pointsplus. because it works. i'm friend, secret-keeper and playmate. do you think i'd let osteoporosis slow me down? so i asked my doctor about reclast because i heard it's the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment. he told me all about it and i said that's the one for nana. he said reclast can help restrengthen my bones to help make them resistant to fracture for twelve months. and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in many places: hip, spine, even other bones. [ male announcer ] you should not take reclast if you're on zometa, have low blood calcium, kidney problems. or you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle, bone or joint pain, of if you have dental problems, as rarely jaw problems have been reported. the most common side effects include flu like symptoms, fever, muscle or joint pain and headache. share the world with the ones you love! and ask your doctor about reclast. or call 1-866-51-reclast. year-long protection for on-the-go women. joining us now, dr. deepak chopra. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> your book is finally and you write we've never needed enlightened leadership as we do now. there's a leadership vacuum in modern society and we can no longer turn to government while provide answers for the great problems of our time. >> joe, we are a wounded nation. there's a deep anger, hostility, conversation going on. we have a sense of entitlement. we have become complacent will other countries include iing ch, india, brazil and even russia and recently, south africa, are going ahead. with education, with technology, with things that we've taken for granted, so we need to heed ourselv ourselves. >> sounds like jack kennedy. ask not what your country can do for you. what you can do for your country. >> we've talked a lot this morning about the difference in times and of course with the times that we live in all of the tools that we have available to us. tweeting, the web, instant communication. cell phones that didn't exist 15 or 20 years ago. to your point, this damaged nation, how did the soul of this country become so scarred so quickly? >> i think first of all, we are a nation at war. at war forever. we've also had this feeling that we're in charge of the world. meanwhile, we've lost touch with ourselves. what are we observing, feeling, what's the real need and how do we go and creatively fulfill these needs. >> we want to bring in pat buchanan who has a question or thought. pat? >> before you went home to indiana, lee hamilton, who joe knows, was somebody who crossed the lines, republican moderate, he said, and i think i quote him directly, the sin trif cal forces are becoming dominant. in other words, the forces pulling society and the nation apart are becoming dominant over the ones pulling us together. do you agri with that? >> well, to some extent, yes, but when there is danger and when there is crisis, there's also opportunity. at this moment, we should be asking ourselves how can we go beyond politics and come together and heed ourselves and bring about the great relationship. we don't really have a lack of leadership, but leadership has to start in the family. in communities. in businesses. we've seen the fall of leadership on wall street. and the scandals in washington. and all this is pointing to a new solution. >> and within that, an entitled country born out of it and in every way, falling apart from within. >> are we spiritually impoverished? have we become so obsessed with terrible goods, professional pursui pursuits? >> we are a society of instant gratification. at the certain point, it is not going to bring us happiness. >> what's the first thing you would tell a child to help reverse this? >> that you must pay attention to love more than anything else. for a child to receive love is the most important thing. we want to heal this nation immediately. we should pay attention to our children. we should hard wire their brains for compassion, love, joy. >> and keep it simple. do unto others as you would have them do unto you. >> the book is the soul of leadership. thank you. >> thank you very much for having me. here's your business travel forecast. in a major winter storm affecting areas from georgia to tennessee now into the carolinas. also snow in the middle of the country. lot of trouble in the deep south. eventually, that will work its way into boston, new york and new england, but atlanta, you're the travel trouble spot today. light snow also in minneapolis and denver. like this one. and this one. and oops, my bad. so, they give expedia ginormous discounts with these: unpublished rates. which means i get an even more rockin' hotel, for less. my brain didn't even break a sweat. where you book matters. expedia. when it comes to investing, no one person has all the answers. so td ameritrade doesn't give me just one person. questions about retirement? i talk to their retirement account specialists. bonds? grab the phone. fixed-income specialist. td ameritrade knows investors sometimes need real, live help. not just one broker... a whole team there to help... to help me decide what's right for me. people with answers at td ameritrade. get up to $500 when you open an account. 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