the palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, reach their full potential in a sovereign and contiguous state. >> welcome to "morning joe." great to have you here, this beautiful friday morning. i say it's beautiful because you can actually see how miserable it is out there from the top of the rock, unlike yesterday, where you could see about two or three feet. breaking news, we may have sun this weekend, we may. it's friday, may 20th. with us on set, msnbc contributor, mike barnicle, also former governor of pennsylvania and msnbc news political analyst, ed rendell and financier and msnbc analyst, steve rattner and richard haass. >> i want to make sure you didn't walk in front of that camera like john mccain in a debate. the sox, can you believe the sox? >> carl crawford, this year's mvp of the american league. look at the governor. >> every hit wins a game. >> they couldn't find it in the fog. >> i know. just miserable. so, richard haass, thank you for coming on set yesterday. we called you obviously after the speech yesterday. and wanted to get you in here because the president -- i'll let you characterize what the president did yesterday regarding israel and pre-1967 borders. >> he used formulations that had never been precisely used before. he said things explicitly that people knew implicitly, so you can either approach this one of two ways, you can do a tectal and look at every word and say what's different, what did he say? what didn't he say? what's slightly new and all that? what's good for israelis and palestinians, one way to approach it. the other is to take a step back and say how much of this reaction to the speech is not about the speech, about what came before the speech and about the relationship. i think that's actually closer to the truth. there were new things the israelis didn't like some of what they heard, probably palestinians didn't like what they didn't here, one of those speeches do much for some and not enough for others. we can go into this if you want. a lot is about a relationship that has never quite gelled between netanyahu and president obama. and netanyahu meets with the president in a couple of hours. they weren't hoping for this, weren't expecting it. found out about it the day before, pushed back, they didn't get what they want, what you have is a relationship that is meant to be built on trust and it's not quite there. that explains some of the vitriol in the statement that came out from the prime minister in his office hours after the speech, which was an angry statement. to put it bluntly, netanyahu had a choice, could have cherry picked those parts of the speech he liked, particularly the parts that challenged fatah and the palestinians, how are you a credible negotiating partner because hamas rejects the existence of the state of israel so israelis raise the question how you're a legitimate partner. he could have emphasized that and in his response chose not to and went through the speech of all the things that gave him heartburn. it's hard to imagine a worse meeting to today's meeting. >> i have to say, governor, when you start at what most people would consider the finishing point and you tell the palestinians we're going to give you back everything you lost in 1967, when israel was attacked, i just don't see the upside for israel here. >> it's not a very good negotiating strategy. what i think the president was trying to do was inject some life into the negotiations and trying to take advantage of the wave of feeling going across the arab world right now. was it a good bargaining strategy, you're right, joe, probably not. >> what else does the president have? what do the israelis have to give up? again, i don't think, as richard said, i don't think this as an end point for middle east negotiations would shock a lot of for ren policy experts, beginning point for u.s. foreign policy, to state it official u.s. foreign policy. i'm sorry, that's shocking me. >> i disagree with you. i think you're slightly overdoing it. we all know at the end of the day, if there's an agreement, there's going to be two states, a jewish state called israel, a palestinian state next to it. the idea it's based on the '67 lines with land swaps for two reason, security reasons, have to be adjustments in this border to take into account legitimate israel security concerns and demographic regions to take into account the three large settlement blocks blown up over the last several decades. the negotiations will before over -- >> you think i'm doing it saying 1967 is not politically feasible, by saying no vouchers, excuse me. >> no. that's not the basis, not saying you go back to the '67 lines no stop, that would be the '67 line with land swaps. that's what negotiations are about. not arguing that, formulations in the middle east and symbolic particularly in the context of a relationship that's not good. he said explicitly what everybody has argued implicitly, which is that you will have a negotiations that's the framing point and the detail and details matter. the details is where you go from there. >> richard, it's a little bit like a labor negotiations. if you're the government, you don't come in and say to the union, this is what we want, and have that as the actual thing that you want, you have to set the stage and leave wiggle room. if this was an eventual negotiated settlement, maybe it's a good place to be. i think your point, joe, if you want to start negotiations, you start in a way that leaves you room to grow. >> what have the palestinians done, steve rattner, over the past eight years to deserve the president of the united states moving this quickly other than elect hamas as their leader? >> i think you just said it, the palestinians have gone in the wrong direction, not the right direction. >> why are we rewarding them for going in the wrong direction? >> i'm a little bit with these guys, what the president said has been implicit, a starting point, not ending point in terms of the '67 borders and land swaps. there's a lot going on in the middle east. i think the president felt the need say something constructive that would help us in a broader way, not just these negotiations but the rests of the arab country around the middle east, the second thing that struck me to bring it home to america, it's remarkable the president got up at this point close to an election year and made a speech which is not going to be well received with the american jewish community with whom he's already not in good favor going back to '08 at a time he's trying to raise a billion, i do give him credit for standing up and saying that. >> it's what he did in 2008. let's look at this 2008 speech the president delivered to aipac. >> our alliance is based on shared interests and shared values. those who threaten israel threaten us. israel has always faced these threats to the front lines. i will bring to the white house an unshakable commitment to israel security. let me be clear, israel security is sacrosanct. it is non-negotiable. the palestinians need a state -- the palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive and that allows them to prosper. but any agreement with the palestinian people must preserve israel's identity as a jewish state with secure recognized defensible borders. and jerusalem will remain the capital of israel and it must remain undivided. >> wait, mark barnicle, he didn't do that when he went to aipa krrkc in 2008. he sounded a bit like mort zuckerman. less like brzezinski and more like mort zuckerman. >> it appears in rereading the speech last night. the speech is the bush doctrine with verbs, not that dissimilar from the bush doctrine set out by president bush years ago. he gives the speech in the context of a new middle east, a new north africa and he's a different president. he's not george w. bush. we've been emphasizing whether he has thrown too much on the table, given too much on the table before he even starts negotiating, but if you again go over the speech again, there's a strong and explicit warning to hamas and fatah. you know, they are n not -- israelis are not going to negotiate with you until and unless you recognize their right to exist, if you don't do that, there's no process. >> right. >> he's trying to jump-start a process that doesn't exist. >> he's not so much trying to jump-start a process, quite honestly, i think there's no pr chance the process will get started now, he's trying to head off a train wreck this september in the u.n. he wants to put down this challenge to hamas and fatah and essentially put something out there, so people don't jam israel in the general assembly this september. the large issue, you're getting at, why did he give this speech now? yes, to do that, i'm not sure this was good idea, not sure it made a lot of sense. in the so-called arab people, israel has not been front and center, why introduce this issue so frontally now, particularly in a context where there's probably not a lot you can do. >> we talked about this on the show repeatedly, one of the striking things about the middle east, if you haven't seen american flags burning, you haven't seen israel flags burning, i don't think this is necessary when the president already has such bad standing with the israeli people and prime minister, i don't know how this moves the peace process forward, i think it strengthens the hard liners hand in israel and netanyahu's hand. he has made a political enemy of netanyahu, and that's not going to change. >> that's the tactic of the speech opposed to the linear analysis. that's a legitimate question, particularly when the arabs read the speech, said, hey, where's the process? george mitchell resigned. >> why did george mitchell resign? because this was coming? >> the word on the street he resigned not because he thought it was too much, too little. the backdrop is for months there was been a battle between the administration how much was put on the record and they wanted the president to put on the record a full flenched middle east plan, a framework agreement. what you got yesterday was the half monty, not the full monty. mitchell reportedly wanted more than this and after the hamas, fatah agreement, this is all the president was willing to do. >> you know, one of the more interesting elements of this, underlying element, there is a hint within the speech of perhaps a martial plan for north africa and the middle east, basically the president saying, we'd like to do this with the europeans and the united states but we don't have a lot of money to do it, kind of interesting subplot. >> to forgive a billion in debt when the country is $25 billion in debt. it's a modest amount, connects to a lot of conversations we have around this table -- >> about our own fiscal situation. >> it's hard to be a great power. >> before we move to break, let's go to another part of the speech, the president called out friend and foe alike, whether it was syria, or yemen, or bahrain, certainly -- stayed away from the saudis but the saudis certainly weren't happy when he started talking about bahrain. i would guess the uae and other countries on the peninsula weren't happy as well. >> i think the president was under a lot of pressure to articulate his vision for this region. i think that is part of the speech. the israeli part got the most attention and most substantive. it was at the end of the speech and a lot of stuff before that he tried to lay out his vision. when you cut through it, his vision was pragmatic, you have to pick your shots, take each country case by case, you can make arguments all you want about syria being this or that but you have to deal in the real world what's possible. i think he was trying to work his way through that as carefully as he could. >> let's talk to politics, attacking the president for what he said if i were on the campaign trail, i would do the same thing and not for political reasons just because there are a lot of people, certainly over the past decade, at least since 2000 that have said what have the palestinians done? what risks have the palestinians taken for peace? why are we pushing the israelis more in the corner? let's talk the political impact of this speech, if you were on the campaign trail in philadelphia, would you be putting your arms around barack obama with this speech? >> no. that's the curious part. if we're close to closure, you can say take the political risk and sometimes you have to do what's right above and beyond politics. i'll never forget in 2008, aipac convention was in philadelphia two days before the primary. i got to speak as governor and brought a guest along with me, hillary clinton, she wasn't allowed to speak and i recognized her. the place went absolutely wild. in part, pro hillary, but in part somewhat -- >> the fear of barack obama. >> i think as we enter an election cycle, it's a ve very -- the president, as you said deserves credit for doing this, but why now when there doesn't appear to be chance for closure. >> i don't see this moving us closer to peace. i see this actually cornering the israelis more and making peace, at least in the short term more unlikely. >> i think it goes back a little bit to what richard said. israelis are under increasing pressure around the world, you have this vote from the general assembly coming up in the fall and the president felt he had to do something to establish a line of last defense. >> can you think of any european ally. maybe any president will be proven right here, he knows and awful lot more than i do right now behind the scenes talking to allies, does this move a european ally to our side if we veto the u.n. resolution this fall? >> the timing of this is also linked to the president's forthcoming trip to europe and g8 meetings and hoping this would strengthen their hand. again, i think it will not be enough for them and obviously too much with the israelis. that's the problem with halfway houses. >> very good. still ahead this morning, former national security advisor, dr. brzezinski. can't wait to hear what he has to say. i will be off the set and let mika take that. moderator of "meet the press." david gregory will be here and senator mark kirk. later, if it's friday, it's willie's weekend in review. first, time for the weather forecast. debbie downer, also known as bill karins for a check of this weekend's forecast. please tell me, i see green on the map. please tell me, we will see the sun this weekend on the east coast. >> we will see it but not all the time. this is the tenth morning in a row we have seen rain. central pennsylvania is not a pretty place right now with rain and cloudy conditions. state college and now some is trying to make its way down and a miss her weather week is now over the top of scranton. we will see sun just like yesterday and later this afternoon, a chance of rain. keep the umbrella and maybe even sunglasses. be prepared for anything. very strong line of thunderstorms rolling through. forecast very stormy today. that continues into your saturday, where all the bad weather will be. it will warm up on the east coast. new york city near 80 on saturday. we are rewarded for a nice weekend after what was painful painful spring week. hopefully we turned the corner and won't be reliving this any time soon. ♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ want you and everything that you do...do ♪ ♪ it's obvious that i like you ♪ i'd go anywhere to be near you ♪ ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do,o, do, do... ♪ i can't sleep ♪ do, do, do, do ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ as recently as five years ago, gingrich carried debt up to $500,000 with tiffany and company in new york, one of the premie premiere jewelers. >> $500,000? a simple explanation. the guy buys jewelry in bulk. >> you have been call the brilliant one of congress. i have also heard you have six-pack abc, is that true, congressman? >> well -- >> it's a simple question. do you or do you not have six-pack abs. >> as soon as i say that, and get out of shape, you will -- >> you are implying i'm so taken with you, i will stay obsessed with your abs, sir, yes, i'm not saying there's no chemistry here. i'm saying i'm keeping this professional, all right, and that you do the same, all right? >> got you. >> let's look at the morning papers, "wall street journal" this week. lincoln inn -- linkedin. >> remember him? the 16th president. >> linkedin, they were having a debate yesterday whether this was a relevant website or not. the largest ipo debut since google in 2004, doubling its shares. experts say this sets the stage for other internet based companies to become public. when people give you irritating requests and you say, leave me alone. >> want to join iron n my busin venture. >> that's where i will find business partners on the internet, linkedin, lincoln logs. >> in the deadliest coal mine disaster in 40 years, they say massey mine was responsible for the explosion that killed 20 men last year and that safety was ignored and it was avoidable. and mcdonald's leader has ronald's back. a shocking story someone was blaming ronald mcdonald for unhealthy eating. the fast chain ceo is supporting ronald and saying people can eat whatever the hell they want, take that, mika. >> yeah, the clown made me fat. an engineer turned biblical scholar, judgment day is this saturday morning, making tomorrow the end of the world! his teaching say those who believed will be absorbed into heaven while unbelievers will be left to perish and there will be no "morning joe" on monday. okay. yeah, we won't be teasing monday's show. let's bring in the chief white house correspondent from "politico," mike allen, here with the morning playbook. happy friday, mike. >> happy friday to you. >> you have your hands on a hot new ad by democrats. tell us about it. >> we do. but i don't know if this is related to the end of the world, i have to congratulate chris licht on creating this amazing morning conversation and alex for picking up the torch and big week for chris next week, this amazing book i read last night, what i learned when i almost died. joe, my favorite scene in there is when chris, apparently the icu doesn't have msnbc there to fix that. so chris was listening in to your white house correspondents association special from the white house lawn on the speakerphone because he couldn't get msnbc. >> good thing his near death experience disconnecting from his work 24-7. he kept going. mike, he claims he put down his blackberry and started living life. i haven't seen that yet. i think he's just -- >> it's a metaphor. >> it's a metaphor. very good. not very -- yeah, congratulations to chris. we will talk about that more later on and condolences to alex, his life will soon be a living and breathing hell. tell us about this democratic ad. >> joe, this is from priority usa, the super pack by democrats to counter american crossroads by karl rove and the one bill burton helped start and paul begala will be out there for them today. their first ad is hitting heavy in south carolina ahead of a mitt romney visit, they say if you watch the news in south carolina this week, you'll see it. here's a little clip. >> newt gingrich says a republican plan that would essentially end medicare is too radical. governor haley thinks the plan is courageous and gingrich shouldn't be cutting conservatives off at the knees. mitt romney says he's on the same page as paul ryan who wrote the plan to end medicare. with mitt romney, you have to wonder, which page is he on today? priorities usa action responsible for the content of this advertisement. >> all right. mike, it looks like democrats have decided they will be running against mitt romney. >> i agree with you. the headline to me was that's where they're fo