Cambridge are celebrating their third anniversary. Really . They returned to the uk on saturday after their 19day tour of new zealand and australia. Okay. Thats it for way too early. Morning joe starts right now. Sterling insists hes not a racist. He says some of his best credit cards are black. I have an idea that would work for everyone. I will buy the team from Donald Sterling for 5,000. I would be proud to take the reins of once was and will again be the worst, nose miserable franchise in all of sports. Let me say this. All of a sudden, not such a bummer to be a lakers fan this month anymore. Good morning. It is tuesday, april 29th. Look at that beautiful shot as the sun comes up over new york city. Its light out. It is light out. That is so amazing. With us on set we have editor for new York Magazine and msnbc analyst john heilemann. But its going to be 48 degrees the high. But its going to be cold, but its going to be raining. Look, you all are here. And msnbc contributor Mike Barnicle is here. And in washington columnist and associate editor to the Washington Post, eugene robinson. Everybodys here. Willie, hi. Hi. Hey, everybody. Hey, everybody. Right. So whats going on . Theres a lot of stuff going on, mika. Yes, there is. Where do you want to begin . We can chat about the clippers owner. We could talk about, i dont know, john kerrys comments . Oh, my gosh. Ukraine. A lot of stuff in ukraine. Theres a lot. So in light of opeds, the New York Times i thought had a great oped on the clippers owner. Yeah. Sure. John, do we have that really quickly . And i think theyre bringing up a good point because everybodys so shocked and stunned and outraged at what this guy said on the tape. But the New York Times Editorial Board writes why did the nba tolerate this for so long . The times writes this morning, the leagues top leadership tolerated and sheltered mr. Sterling for much too long. Adam silver needs to make clear theres no place in the league for owners with plantation attitudes whether or not theyre caught expressing them on tape. I totally agree. Uhhuh. Theyre also the great gene has a fantastic oped on
racism in america. And youve got the Washington Post and wall street journal both really critical of Barack Obamas latest round of sanctions against putin in russia. Its just been woefully inadequate. I think he had an incredible response to that criticism which we will air as well. Im sure it was incredible. I cant wait. Im sure you want to bomb everybody. You complain about war and then bomb everybody. Please. If youre going to put sanctions in place, you would hope that after you put sanctions in place, the russian stock market doesnt go up. And the ruble doesnt go up on news of the tough sanctions. But well talk about that later. Lets talk about the nba right now. Later today the commissioner of the nba will weigh in on the alleged racist rant by l. A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling four days after tmz first released the tapes. Several sponsors already making their judgments. Suspending or reviewing their deals with the clippers. Some of the top brands includes virgin america, kia, state farm, samsung. The tapes capture sterling allegedly scolding his mistress for bringing africanamericans to the games and posting photos of them on her instagram account. Look at those two. Who would know they were having problems . They look like they go together perfectly. That is a love story right there gone woefully wrong. Look at them. She thinks hes so hot. What are they in five years about . Shes like i have a winner here. Shes there for love. And hes there for love too. Both of them. Seriously . Thats a november january romance. Thats a december 31st january 2nd romance. Some old men ought to be ashamed of themselves and some very young women should be ashamed of themselves. Thats what i was going to
say. All right. Mark cuban of the Dallas Mavericks cautioned against the league overreaching. Really . Really, mark cuban . Saying theres no place in re schism in the nba. Thank you for getting that on the record. Any business im associated with and i dont want to be associated with people in that position but at the same time thats the decision i make. You have to be very careful when you make blanket statements about what people say and think opposed to what today do. Its a slippery slope. Thats why the naacp was going to honor him because hes given money and done things until finally they couldnt because he said something so incredibly inappropriate. For the second time. They honored him once again. Hypocrites. Gene robinson, akeem abduljabbar has a fantastic oped in Time Magazine, but elgin baylor sued this guy for racial discrimination. We heard one complaint after another after another. Come on. Are we to believe david stern didnt know this crap was going on for decades . David stern was a really observant guy. He knew everything going on in the league. He knew Donald Sterling for 30 years or Something Like that. So of course he knew that he knew about the guy. You know, its i mean, its interesting because if you think about it, it does make a difference certainly to the players and to the coach doc rivers that this stuff all becomes public. They must have you know, they must have known this is not a guy who was probably going to invite them over for dinner. And that there was some ugliness inside there. But as long as it wasnt expressed every day and it wasnt expressed in this very public way, you know, i think they could feel comfortable. I think those are the people who are really, i think, really
caught in this situation. The people who work and play for him. And so now publicly they have to associate themselves, you know, with this awful racist who thinks theyre inferior and not part of his culture and not worthy of, you know, coming to his games unless hes paying them. Really, the players are in a horrible position. Last night i thought a great moment when the heat joined the silent protest. They did. They did the same thing the clippers did the night before. They revealed their warmups were inside out concealing their logo. Not a statement about their own owner or team but showing solidity with what the clippers are going through. Now these guys and doc rivers in the middle of their playoff series, they had a great season. They worked hard in their lives to get to this point are having to put up with this and answer questions about this around the clock. Hopefully some pressure can come off them. Its amazing when you start at
the beginning. It shows how deep if this tape is in fact Donald Sterling, how deep his racism is that he was upset that this woman brought Magic Johnson to a clippers game. One of the most beloved athle s athletes. Thats like somebody in a restaurant in 1985 in london saying how dare you bring a woman like that to my restaurant pointing at margaret thatcher. Its terrible. But when you go deeper, it was magic he was upset that Magic Johnson was at his game. Theres so much here. Now, if you read which raises the question why was Magic Johnson at a clippers game . I think the picture actually was at they had dodgers gear on. But if you read cubans full quote, he comes down very hard on sterling. We just read part of it there. But there is something to the idea that being reprehensible and being a racist and Everything Else is not grounds for having ownership taken away, but the free market can take care of it. Free agents wont sign. Fans stop coming to the game. And the other 29 owners can start coming down on him. Thats happening already. In the space of 24 hours, thats already happening. Im sorry, but, again, gene, this guy was getting awards from the naacp. I mean, come on. So its just his money talking until his mouth actually finally does the wrong thing in public . You know, i got to think, mika, thats what it was. And i dont know. I dont know why it was the l. A. Chapter of the naacp that voted and then very quickly voted to take away that award. And it wasnt the national naacp. Be that as it may, i got to assume its because of donations he made. Ive read reports he gave some
money, not huge amounts of money, but, you know, its this was not secret. These lawsuits, these discrimination lawsuits are on the books and have been on the books for some time. The housing discrimination lawsuits that he settled for discriminating against black and mexicanamerican tenants. He was quoted as saying in one of the suits that he thought black tenants smelled bad. I mean, so this was out there. Kareem abduljabbar said this. He worked for sterling in 2000 and wrote this about his former employer. Quote, the poor guys girlfriend undoubtedly exgirlfriend now is on tape cajoling him into revealing his racism. Man, what a winding road she led him down to get all of that out. She was like a sexy nanny playing okay. This is not the part of the
thing i wanted to do. What kareem was saying, the part that i thought was fascinating was were shocked and stunned now that weve got this guy on tape. And, you know, whats going to happen. Were going to attack him and then the parade is going to move on. When the bigger question is why didnt they address this a decade ago . A decade ago . How about a couple of decades ago . Theres been seemingly indifference toward what Donald Sterling is for at least two decades among other nba owners. Now, that might be oddly enough it might be the result of the fact that the other nba owners were pleased to have such a layup when theyd play the l. A. Clippers. I mean, he was a loser running a losing team. You cannot discount that. You can also not discount the power of money in Donald Sterlings life. The corruption of cash. Lets have an dinner and another one on me. When the Justice Department has him in court, its shocking. Its worse than indifference. As a lot of people pointed out, the clippers were a joke franchise for a long time. The nba proactively intervened in the chris paul deal. David stern stepped in, squashed that deal and then sent chris paul to the clippers. That was the beginning of them being a series franchise. They took a positive sfep to build that franchise up and i think theres a lot of guilty theres a lot of responsibility and guilt to go around in the situation that allowed him to fester in the way he has. There should be a morals clause or something. Would somebody with a history like that be working here . I dont think so. Why are they allowed to be owners . Turning to politics as we get closer to the midterm elections. New signs that president obama may be politically toxic for
Democratic Candidates according to a new Washington Post abc news poll. The Approval Rating is now at 41 . The lowest in this poll since the start of his presidency. Hes also struggling on the major issues of the day. Only 42 approve of his handling of the economy, 37 of the Affordable Care act, and 34 of his handling of the situation in ukraine. When voters were asked specifically if theyd rather have democrats in control in congress or republican majority to keep him in check, 53 sided with republican majority. Wow. Only 39 want democrats in charge. Willie, do you have vertigo yet . Like three weeks ago everybody wanted republicans out of the senate. Then we got more polls out, democrats going to maintain. Now these numbers are stunning. Not so much the president s numbers because i think thats
more about ukraine right now. I personally think that. But that 53 or whatever that number was . That changes every week. His personal numbers are down to alltime lows. If you look at the Affordable Care act number, its actually down five points from previous to when they announced weve got 8 Million People signed up. Everything has changed on this. All the website stuff is behind us. Democrats are going to start running on this issue, weve heard now. And they have started to in some places. Then you see how the American Public generally feels about it and their feelings are worse than they were a month ago. The numbers are all over the place here. I think a couple of weeks ago i saw something where it was almost close to breaking evening as far as 49 . Again, its just one poll. It may be an outlier, blah blah blah. But i doubt it. Numbers this bad. And by the way, its genes
newspaper so its got to be right. Right k right, gene . Certainly a welldone poll. But the numbers are so different, joe. Theyre all over the map. And so i think, you know, you look at this poll and you take it seriously. You also wait for the next poll and see whether those numbers, you know, are confirmed . John heilemann. The bottom line is the Affordable Care act is going to get a little bit more popular as we go forward by the time we get to november it will probably be more popular than it is today given the depths to which its been. But its not going to be a net winner for democrats. If i may and some democrats will need to run on it for the reasons that you said, running away from it is more politically damaging than running with it. Its not the case its going to be in november that democrats are going to be theyre embracing it because they have to, but the numbers are not going to be suddenly swung in a direction that makes it a big trump card for democrats. Its going to be a state by state by state case which weve talked about for some time now. In some states its going to be very bad. Maybe Mary Landrieu can run on the Affordable Care act and criticize states for not accepting the medicaid money. That may be something that drives some of her constituents out to the polls. Its a state by state basis. But there is no doubt theres a connection between the president and his Approval Rating and how his party does. So obviously democrats are nervous. Right. And given that, you should also look at the other parts of the poll where when asked who they trust to solve the countrys problems, 40 say democrats. 34 say republicans. And breaking it down further the democrats have a commanding lead over the republicans when it comes to womens issues. Helping with the middle class, health care, and immigration. Yesterday republicans are up. Im confused. I have a question for the table. Yes . Yes . What do we think of the increasing reliance of newspapers, major newspapers on running poll story after poll story after poll story kind of a slow time. Rather than explanatory stories about the impact of these policies on specific states and people in this country . I think right now there are a lot of people that are trying to figure out, figure out exactly how this is going to impact the election. The fact theres so much turbulence out there, gene robinson, points to the fact that this electorate is just not sure where it wants to go in the future. And, you know, weve got gridlock in washington and sometimes its almost like americans get the gridlock they deserve. And the gridlock they want. Well, sometimes i think that may be right. You know, you mentioned ukraine, for example. And its possible impact on the president s numbers. I think thats a legitimate
factor probably. Im not sure. Its kind of the atmospherics. And people are not clicking their heels about the general state of affairs and i think thats reflected in this poll too. So, you know, the solution i think for democrats is, you know, i think its good for democrats they make it into a state by state by state midterm and let Mary Landrieu run her way and kay hagen run her way and mark pryor run his way and see if you can, you know, begich is doing it in alaska. Rather than having it be a National Election which i think republicans want. Okay. Other news now. John kerry is on the defensive about comments about americas close ally israel. Yeah. The daily beast reported that during a closed door meeting with World Leaders, kerry reportedly said that without a twostate solution israel risks
becoming an apartheid state. Yesterday kerry issued a lengthy statement that says he never publicly or privately said that israel is an apartheid state or intends to become one. This is technically correct. But in the same statement he said, quote, he knows the powers of words to create a misimpression even when unintentional and if i could rewind the tape, i would chosen a different word. Barbara boxer to ted cruz, not happy with this statement. Ted cruz calling for john kerrys resignation. Yesterday on the floor of the senate. Does anyone think, though, that secretary kerry said that intentionally or do we think that was a gaffe . Do you think he wanted the word out there to put pressure on . Its a word used by jimmy carter and its caused a lot of angst in Foreign Policy circles
after he used it. There are some people that have used it. No secretary of state though has said that publicly or privately. And obviously its not only causing a lot of concern in washington, but obviously in israel. I think the secretary understands the impact of it. I just wonder did he say that intentionally . Did he want to put pressure on people or was it purely a gaffe . John heilemann, what do you think . He was obviously very frustrated that the Peace Process hed been pushing so hard went off track. I wonder if that was just frustration talking to World Leaders. My gut says it was more frustration than a calculated gaffe. To me its the language of opeds rather than the language of diplomacy. That is the kind of thing an oped writer will put out there. Its not actually an unreasonable statement, risks the decline into a situation in wuch a Public School a
minority is governing in a way the majority. There are many people concerned that is a possible thing that could happen. I couldnt disagree with you more. And i couldnt disagree with you more for 20 years just about you saying that its a reasonable statement. I think there are a lot of americans that dont think it is a reasonable statement. That said that there is a risk of that happening . No, theres not ruisk that te government of israel is going to devolve into what johannesburg was like back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I dont think thats the analogy anybody is drawing. Technically speaking what many people are concerned about and some politicians are voiced this in the past that unless you have a twostate solution you will inevitably end up in a situation in which a jewish minority is trying to govern over a nonjewish majority. And that in some sense could lead to an undemocratic
dont let me cut you off. We could debate israel for three hours. I want to go back to your bigger point and that was about john kerry using the language of oped writers instead of the language of diplomats. Thats a dangerous situation for a secretary of state to get into. Id like to think his explanation, he was saying hes not trying to say this. I shouldnt have said it in the way i said it because its kind of inflammatory. Before we go to break, theres been another deadly day in the south. That brings the death toll since sunday to at least 28 people. In tupelo, mississippi, officials are reporting damage to every building in a twoblock span with homes wiped away and power lines littered across the street. The tornado was so strong, the local nbc meteorologist was
forced to seek safety in the basement during live broadcast. Basement now. Go lets go now. What . Dave, now all right. Now lets check in with bill kairns for more on this. And they were okay, by the way. They survived. The tornado jumped over their building. Yesterday afternoon was very frightful for people of alabama, mississippi, and even in portions of georgia for a portion last night. And were going to do it all over again today. Heres the risk area for today. This area of red. Unfortunately its the same people that were just yesterday hunkering down in their basements, their shelters, or closets. We were looking at this area of red. A moderate risk of strong tornadoes once again today. Hattiesburg, birmingham included in this. You may go into high risk later today. We have strong storms that just rolled through pensacola, panama city. These storms will go on throughout the morning. Were probable going see another two dozen tornadoes today. Well also watch a ton of rain on the eastern seaboard. As far as the timing, best chance for tornadoes. Hows this for a number . 76 Million People at risk of severe storms and tornadoes today. Thats a lot of people watching the sky. Thank you. Coming up on morning joe, former met Mookie Wilson. Mookie okay. Senator Rick Santorum will be here. Im so excited about this. Comedian and author lewis black. Lou not saying boo. Lou what a lineup. Up next the New York Times reports a massive drop in income. Well tell you how bad it is. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. [ male announcer ] staples has everything you need to get your clients attention. From brochures to business cards to banners. Everything. Except your clients attention. Thousands of products added every day to staples. Com, even bullhorns. How much . [ male announcer ] staples. Make more happen. Even bullhorns. How much . When salesman alan ames books his room at laquinta. Com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. So he knows exactly when he can check in and power up before his big meeting. And when alan gets all powered up, ya know what happens . I think the numbers speak for themselves. Im sold hes a selling machine put it there. And there, and there, and there. La quinta inns suites is ready for you, so youll be ready for business. The ready for you alert, only a laquinta. Com
welcome back to morning joe. A lot of talk about. First of all, you can see why a young woman would want to date this man. Look at him. Hes beautiful. No, look at the chins. Can we just look at the chin right there . Seriously . If im a young woman, this is theres number one. Which chin are you talking about . That one right there. You know, clooney is, like, number two. Because this guy, number one. By the way, girls, hes available now. Are we allowed to say the true nature of that relationship or am i going to get in trouble . Because hes basically giving her money and shes giving him sex. Thats basically the relationship. Mika, you had a great event last night. I did. And very important issue to you. Yes. The National Eating Disorders Association honored me which was unbelievable. It was their biggest event yet. Diana williams from channel 7 was the emcee. Theres diane smith who cowrote obsessed with me. And dr. Margo main who is an incredible eating disorders specialist, therapist. It was a wonderful evening. Really an epidemic across our country. And that woman, that woman read know your value and went in and got a raise the next day. The next day. This was obviously and we saw that in your new book. This is a critical issue for young men but also young women. Women of all ages. And americas entire relationship with food and the diet that we have is not, you know, healthy. So congratulations. Thank you. Did you figure out what my eating disorder was . You eat too much and it is
not great food. Lets look at the morning papers. You look better lately. Im kind of thing out a little bit. Im just going to be honest. Im always honest. Never do that shot again okay okay . The New York Times profit fell 51 last quarter. The papers projecting a midsingle digit drop in sales next quarter. The sales described the ad market as volatile on a month to month basis. Print ad revenues are at its lowest level since 1950 when the Newspaper Association of america began tracking addai ta. Bad news for the times. Those numbers are really bad. A precipitous drop. The lowest numbers for newspapers as far as ad revenues goes since 1950. Across the board. You think of the things you want to sell as an individual. A home, a car, theyre all online and its all gone. Its a precipitous drop. From our parade of papers, the San Antonio News express. A texas teen is under arrest after bringing several weapons including a loaded ak47 to his high school. The child was mising along with three guns from their home. Hes charged with possession of a weapon making it a terrorist threat. He wanted to read a list of demands over the school intercom. No weapons were fired and no one was hurt and thank god the parents were alert to the fact. And called authorities. Horrible. The Chicago Tribune. A new study says the amount of violence children and teenagers are exposed to has fallen drastically during the past decade. Children reported less exposure to violent behavior between 2003 and 2011. Researchers say violence Prevention Strategies have been on the rise in recent years
especially at school. And the New York Times, the white house is releasing a series of guidelines to pressure colleges to combat Sexual Assault on campus. The recommendations urge them to conduct anonymous surveys. It also asks universities to crack down on cases by adopting successful policies from other schools. The guidelines are from a task force created by the president earlier this year. The Times Picayune. The move comes as deen tries to launch a comeback following a racial slur and scandal that damaged her image nearly a year ago. Paula deen live will feature a mix of cooking, Interactive Games, and personal stories from the chef. You know what . They might want to cut out that part especially if its adl adlibbed. But i cant believe you would think no. You would think somebody
thats this embattled would not be able to get the guests shes going to get at these tours. Unbelievable. The west coast part of the tour yeah . You know who her special guest is going to be . Who . This guy. Stop it. This guy. Stop it. This guy cooks a mean lasagna. A lot of butter in that. A lot of butter. Triple fried lasagna. No disrespect intended, but his chin. I understand the cooking of hers is incredibly unhealthy. Its delicious. Its delicious. Her use of words and attitudes towards people is incredibly decades back. I dont get her. Hes going to clean up. Lets go to willie now. Lets talk to editor in chief
of politico. Lets talk about Michael Grimm here in staten island. He says federal fraud charges will not stop him from winning reelection this fall. Hes now facing 20 criminal counts for allegedly failing to report more than a million bucks in sales and wages at a manhattan restaurant he once managed. What does the future look like for congressman grimm . Well, it is a little grim, if youll let me apologize for overworking that pun which has been used many times with michael grim. But the situation is really bad. And politicians when they get in trouble seem to go through these stages of grief where they feel they can work their way out of their problems. Sometimes they do. Usually they get sick and they die. In Michael Grimms stages of grief, hes setting up meetings with house gop leaders where hes looking for a sign of report. Are you with me . What hes finding a people are
saying ill book you in for two weeks from now, are you free . The phone is not people arent picking up the phone and arent rushing to put him on their schedule. Similar to anthony weiner. Im going to stay and fight thing thing. Whos with me . Looks around and no ones with him. If hes cleared, why would he flee from office . Well, his he says hes not going to flee from office. The question is does he have any support . When you get in situations like this, its hard when your entire caucus is wishing you would disappear. He resigned from the Financial Services committee. Speaker boehner said he supports that move. The question eventually becomes why would you stay . How can you be effective . Every once in awhile the Voters Decide its in the politicians favor. When theyre in this deep, they dont. Grimm says hes the victim of
a political witch hunt. Thanks so much, john. Thanks. Coming up he was a hero for the mets during the 1986 world series run. Had a little hit you might have heard of up along first base. But now he says hes nothing more than a, quote, hood ornament for the organization. What does he mean by that . Well talk to the great Mookie Wilson after this. We need it right away we cannot let the fans down. Dont worry the United States Postal Service will get it there on time with Priority Mail flat rate shipping. Our priority has always been saving the day. Because our priority. Amazing . Is you the amazing spiderman 2 delivered by the United States Postal Service. Little roller up along first. Behind the back. It gets through buckner. And the mets win it do i walk off right now . You dont, joe. Do i walk off right now . You dont, joe. Youre playing that . Of course im playing that. Why dont you play the lady that was doing this all seven games . That was me. Holy cow. Youre done. Kevin blowing two games too. I dont blame buckner. I blame calvin. A lot of things happened in that game. By the way, this is the man
who had that hit, the little roller up along first. Mookie wilson is the author of the new book mookie life, baseball, and the 86 mets. We were just talking about that play. Want to talk about your career and your life, but that play right there. You hit that dribbler. You got to figure youre an out at that point. Pretty much. Or did you think you could beat buckner to the bag given his physical liabilities . Not at first. When i hit the ball, a couple things went through my mind i cant repeat on tv. You thought you were out. I thought i was out, i really did. So did i. But you teach kids from even in little league, run, run, run. Thats something ive always done. For one time it really paid off. That really meant something. So im happy about that. Watching that play in my minds eye, i was there that night. Watching it again, i kind of
believe buckner was a great player. No doubt. He was a great hall of fame baseball player. We shouldnt neglect that. Given his physical infirmities at that stage of his career, i think you would have beaten him to the bag if you went to the bag cleanly. The motion he had to get to the ball and the fact it was back and im running straight in a full head of steam. I think the odds were in my favor. I think no one can really debate that. You can debate it, but not to the point. That 86 people was fun to watch. The cast of characters. Yourself, gary carter, darryl strawberry, ray knight. What was it like in the locker room daytoday . You cant say a lot of that on tv either. This is 1980s new york, so people were having fun after the games as well. But what was it like in the locker room . So much has been written about that team. Some good, some bad, some kpraj rated. Outside the locker room we had what we called the scum bunch. And this other group of guys that were completely reserve. And in the middle we had the guys that kept them all together. It was a great mixture of characters in that ball club. And i think that was part of what people loved about because the guys wasnt afraid to be themselves. They could never do that in todays era with the iphones and the youtube and all that. But you were a team player on with a bunch of guys that were sort of me first, me first guys. No, not a bumpbl nch of guys. Every team has that guy. You have to be a little selfish in sports because the way you perform is how you get paid. We wouldnt understand that. Its more than numbers. There were a couple guys that always at some point i want to do this for me. But as a collective whole, guys just loved each other. Who were the guys in your club who brought the two sides together . Who were leaders of the team . Well, the one guy to me was Keith Hernandez. Keith hernandez, he was very intelligent, by they way. He had a little wild streak in him also. Little. Just a little. But he was all business. And mick jagger likes women some. But he was all buzz. I think i was more reserved. I wasnt as much to go to guys and say you ought to do this, you ought to do this. I wasnt that type of guy. I was the one would answer when asked. Keith would go to you. He was to us the captain of that club before he was even named captain of the club. Because thats what he did. He brought the two sides together. Everyone respected keith. He was very, very intelligent. Mookie, since this book came out you made comments about your role in the history of the mets and the current state of the mets where you called yourself nothing more than a hood ornament for the new york mets. What did you mean by that . I think that what i wanted people to understand is when you take one, you know, part of a book and you have to take it in context with the whole book. Thats the first thing. And when i used the term hood ornament, it was meant that i didnt think that i had the position in the club to really help the club come back to where it was before in terms of baseball. And that i was just a person that people would see me and they would think mets. Its just like when youre
driving a car, you know the car by the symbol on the hood. You know, and when people see me walking the street, its met. Not realizing that although i was there, i wasnt at the capacity that i felt i should be. So would you like to see something more from the Mets Organization . Could they reach out to you more, is that what you mean by that . Well, i guess thats pretty much what i said. But at the time when this was written, all of us go through things you reassess in your lives of what youve done and could have done or hoped you could have done anyway. And i just dont think i have fulfilled the potential that i have in terms of baseball. And as far as the mets reaching out, you know, there is a window that all of us have to play baseball, to coach baseball, or to manage or whatever. When that window is passed, then you move on. You know . And i think the window for me is closing very, very rapidly. Whether someone reaches out and says, hey, we want you to do more, i dont know. That wasnt the purpose of the book. That was the purpose of explaining how Mookie Wilson felt and how i got to where i am now. I think there are a lot of people that say you did a pretty darn good job of fulfilling your potential. You were fun to watch as a i plaer and that people will go down in history books as one of the best of all time. The book is mookie life, baseball, and the 86 mets. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Coming up next, mikas must read pages. More to come on morning joe. So there i was again, explaining my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis to another new stylist. It was a total embarrassment. And not the kind of attention i wanted. So i had a serious talk with my dermatologist about my treatment options. This time, she prescribed humiraadalimumab. Humira helps to clear the surface of my skin by actually working inside my body. In clinical trials, most adults with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis saw 75 skin clearance. And the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Make the most of every moment. Ask your dermatologist about humira, today. Clearer skin is possible. But at xerox weve embraced a new role. Working behind the scenes to provide companies with services. Like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. Reducing document costs by up to 30 . And processing 421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. Helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. Hows that for an encore . With xerox, youre ready for real business. The expedia app helps you save with mobileexclusive deals hows that for an encore . Download the expedia app text expedia to 75309 expedia, find yours
it is time now for the must read opinion pages. Kareem abduljabbar writes on time. Com, welcome to the finger wagging olympics. Make no mistake, Donald Sterling is the villain of the story, but he is a just a hand maiden to the bigger evil. We shouldnt lose sight that racism is the true enemy. Hes just another jerk with more money than brains. So if were all going to be outraged, lets be outraged we werent more outraged when his racism was first evident. Lets be outraged that whoever did the betraying will probably get a book deal. Lets use this tawdry incident to remind ourselves of the old saying, eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Instead of being content to measure sterling and go back to sleep, we need to expose and
eliminate racism at its first signs. I dont know what else you can say about that. Kareem abduljabbar, hes been a victim of racism. He knows what it is. We all ought to be more aware of it. Donald sterlings racism has been a pattern to it for at least a decade and a half. And we remain silent. The nba remains silent. Its not the first time this has occurred and it wont be the last. All right. Coming up at the top of the hour, Sports Illustrated joins us on the controversy. Well be right back. When la quinta. Com sends sales rep Steve Hatfield the ready for you alert, the second his room is ready. You know what he brings . Any questions . Can i get an a, steve . Yes three as he brings his agame the ready for you alert, only at laquinta. Com
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ya know what salesman alan ames becomes . I think the numbers speak for themselves. Im sold a selling machine ready for you alert, only at lq. Com. Were talking about Keith Hernandez again . Keith hernandez, man. That guy was a train wreck in 86 wasnt he . He was a hell of a player. Focus on the ball coming in, you think . I loved Keith Hernandez. And hes a great announcer today. But he likes to have a good tomb. Hes a great american. Thats what i want to know. Stop it. I say hes more of an example coming up tomorrow on
morning joe, tim pawlenty and david miliband. Did you see billy joel admitted to using smack . Whats smack . Up next, should the nba do more to get rid of Donald Sterling . The answer is yes. Sports illustrated jon wertheim is here. How we looking here, charlie . S are looking great. Excellent. Hey, what are you guys doing . Oh, well were double checking the distributed Antenna System. So when all you fans post to instagram, there will be more network to handle it. So, uh you guys hiring . Do you know how to optimize a nine beam, multibeam Antenna System nope, that a deal breaker pretty much. Alright. Enjoy the show at t is building you a better network. Red and seventyseven thousand dollars per minute. Thats what big oil made last year. Now theyre spending it to rig the system against you. Pushing washington to cut americanmade biofuels. Bullying gas stations to use more of their oil. All so they get richer. And you pay more. Truth is, biofuels are cleaner, better for your engine and less expensive. Washington, dont let big oil rig the system any more. Protect the renewable fuel standard. Thats why i got a new windows 2 in 1. It has exactly what i need for half of what i thought id pay. And i dont need to be online for it to work. It runs office, so i can do schedules and budgets and even menu changes. But its fun, too with touch, and tons of great apps for stuff like music, cause a good playlist is good for business. I need the bosss signature for this. Im the boss. Honestly i wanna see you be brave [ banker ] sydney needed some Financial Guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. So we talked about her options. Her valuable assets were staying. And selling her car wouldnt fly. We helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals,
so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today. And tomorrow. So lets see what we can do about that. Remodel. Motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. They take a banker. Make a my financial priorities appointment today. Because when people talk, great things happen. Donald sterling has yet to explain why he is not to blame for this racist statements. But another billionaire donald is more than happy to suggest
wait more than happy to suggest sterling is not the only one at fault here. He got set up by a very, very flippant girlfriend. Lets face it. She was baiting him and shes a terrible human being. Shes called the girlfriend from hell. Thats why i recommend to all my wealthy old friends that they only date trump brand gold digging girlfriends. I promise the highest quality gold digging money can buy. Return policy cant be beat. Its just not right. All right. Welcome back to morning joe. Its starting to look ominous. It was pretty at first. Looking for the bat signal of gotham. Eugene robinson is with us. And joining us from Sports Illustrated jon worertheim. Weve got to ask this. Name the met in 1986 that would only slide in head first because he had drugs in his pocket. Tim rains. Urban legend. Let me ask. Lenny dykstra, the greatest investor youve seen . The prison term, he ripped his mother off. Crazy story. I believe that car wash bit, willie. What happened . Magazine too. Luxury. Who did the most coke on the 86 mets . Anybody . Baseball analytics. There are metrics for that. Which one . It was the final scene in scarface. Bill james. Its a tie. Between hernandez and doc and darryl, right . Lets get to the news. Later today the commissioner of the nba will weigh in on the
alleged racist rapt by l. A. Clippers owner donnell sterling. Several sponsors are already making their judgment suspending or reviewing thundershow ining the clippers. The recordings in question allegedly capture sterling scolding his mistress at the time for bringing africanamerican men to clippers games and posting photos of them on her instagram account. What a lovely couple. Look at them. Whod believe they were having trouble . Really. Jon, a lot of people since the moment this story broke are saying strip his ownership. Lebron james says theres no place for him in the league. All the leading lights of the nba current and past said get rid of the guy. What are the options this morning for adam silver the League Commissioner but also the other owners. What can they do to force this guy out. Can they say you cant own the
team . On a threedays notice, theyre not going to strip the guy of the property. We all hear its repugnant, but what is justice . The guys got a big business. You can tell him he cant go to games which is probably whats going to happen today. But its a big leap to force a sale. Thats not going to happen today. I do think theres a question of were all offended and what can we do this guy . We heard about the lawsuit from elgin baylor. Weve heard of a lot of other stories now. David stern had to hear stories through the years. This guy has been an owner since the early 1980s. He has a clear record of if not out and out racism, racial intolerance, why wasnt something done before now . Youre right. This is the longest tenured nba owner. 30plus years here this guy has been a problem for years and years. 2000 Sports Illustrated did a piece. Saturday i got a text from an executive. You hear these remarks and you think the response was donald went off. People knew about this guy and the fact this ironically exploded weeks after stern gave up his commissionership is an irony here. Gene robinson has a question. Gene . Jon, isnt really the question here Going Forward image . The image of the league which under david stern was so sort of carefully built around these players who are stars, who come into your living rooms not just in games but in commercials and everything. Doesnt this really create a problem for the league and doesnt the league have to do something to get rid of this sort of blot on this carefully constructed image theyve built . Absolutely. The other part of the leagues
image was it was a progressive sports league. This had minority management before anyone else. Jason collins was playing this week. To have an owner make these remarks is really rough on the nba. Again, the question is just what are we going to do here . The guy has been an owner. He has his sports property. Did you make him sell . Which legally is going to be tough. Do you ease him out . I think in the nba from a pr perspective, this is disaster. Its also the first week of the playoffs. And the sad irony, the clippers for the first time finally a good team. Theyve taken over l. A. From the lakers. This is a mess for the nba. Doesnt part of this issue, weve been talking about now nonstop now for four or five days, revolve around youre a member of a club as an owner. And the other members of a club know what you do outside of the confines of the nba. Thats what he does in his private time. Thats the business hes in. Thats how he made his money. As long as it doesnt affect the nba, theyre not going to rattle the teacups here. Weve heard from players, entertainers, athletes in other sports. Everybodys outraged. I havent heard this outcry from the other owners. I think the other thing, too, if the league can strip you of ownership on a morals clause, is that a slupry slope for the other owners . I think it would be nice if the other guys distance themselves a bit more. What about external pressure, jon . The dominos have started to fall. Weve seen sponsors suspend sponsorships. What if free agency comes up, chris paul, griffin, all these guys say im not playing here. No free agent will come here. Nobody wants to be drafted by the clippers. People stop coming to the games. Isnt there a point at which Donald Sterling has to say im not making money anymore. This isnt worth it. Tv is propping up the tower here. And these sponsors leaving is
not good for bliz, but as long as theres a tv contract, thats going to drive it. The other thing significant is l. A. Its a sexy market and staples. If this were happening in milwaukee or indianapolis and players said im not playing for that guy. But the fact its l. A. Complicates it. Jon wertheim, thank you so much. Turning over to other news. The mayor of ukraines second largest city is fighting for his life now after being shot in the back. His supporters say he was targeted because he backs the new government in kiev. There was also violent clashes during the ukrainian unity rally. Prorussian militants carrying baseball bats went after the demonstrators. Several injuries reported. Posted a new series of sanctions yesterday against russia as president obama defended not using force to resolve the crisis. The sanctions target seven
russians and 17 companies. The eu also followed suit sanctioning 15 russian officials including top members of russias military. But there are new reports which iran has been sanctioned is in talks with russia for an energy deal up to 10 billion. Speaking in the philippines, president obama giving forceful response to criticism that his Foreign Policy is seen as weak on the world stage. Why is it everybodys so eager to use military force after weve just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs to our troops and to our budget . For some reason many who were proponents of what i consider to be a disastrous decision to go into iraq havent really learned the lesson of the last decade. And they keep on playing the same note over and other again. Why . I dont know. This job at commander in chief is to look at what is it thats going to advance our security interests over the longterm . To keep our military in reserve for where we absolutely need it. And that may not always be sexy. That may not always attract a lot of attention, and it doesnt make for good argument on sunday morning shows. But, it avoids errors. You know, mika, ive been talking about a lot of opeds coming out against the president. The Washington Post writes this. Sanctions fell short, well short of the step that senior officials threatened when the offensive in ukraine began three weeks ago. They conclude by saying we choose not to use weapons at the
disposal. The wall street journal writes this. Imposed more sanctions on monday and both the ruble and moscow stocks rallied up 1. 5 . The markets didnt take this response seriously and neither will vladimir putin. They make the west look weak and disunited. Thats what putin is counting on. The president of the United States basically stood up yesterday saying we have less than 1 of the population fighting these wars for 13 years. Whenever something occurs in the world, who is with us . Nobodys ever with us. Right. The europeans whats happening in ukraine is more of a security interest to the union europeans than the United States. But were carrying the ball. Nobodys talking about putting troops on the ground. This is talking about leaning in hard economically. I think thats right. And i think, you know, theres no doubt that the countries were weary. At the same time we saw the polls earlier today, im surprised the support for the president s policy is as low as it is. We saw polls earlier that had it around 35 , the mid30s. Which for a country that clearly does not want to see boots on the ground also it seems like theres a broad appreciation of the fact that people feel as though we could be or should be doing more. Gene, dont you think in many ways putin is sort of testing the president , testing this white house, testing the United States how far can i push this. Hes seen limited sanctions once. But going today another round on individuals not on the Banking System or anything like that. I guess the question is how far does putin push it given the response hes seen from the United States each time . Willie, i think what putins doing is not so much about testing the west. I think hes pursue whag what he sees as Russian National interest and his national interest. It involves tremendous possession over ukraine. And i think hes moving forward that goal. Now, you know, the question is how do you stop him and how do you dissuade him . And i think people are underestimating the extent to which the europeans are saying no, we have to take this sort of calibrated stepbystep approach. They really dont want to go to the tougher sanctions. That would be the sort of logical, next step. And nobody wants to go to any sort of military step. Thats just not going to happen. So i think were underestimating the complexity of the dealings between president obama and the european allies. Lets get some other news
here by the way take that up with the Editorial Board wait. Youre on the Editorial Board. Would you let me read the entire Washington Post editorial you put out . Well, they dont always ask me before writing editorials. What . You won a pulitzer prize, for gods sake. Some of them did too. What can i say . All right. Lets been another deadly day of weather in the south. At least 11 people are dead after a second round of tornadoes tore through mississippi, alabama, and tennessee. That brings the death toll since sunday to at least 28 people. In tupelo, mississippi, officials reporting damage to every building in a twoblock span with homes wiped away and power lines littered across the street. The tornado was so strong the local nbc meteorologist was forced to seek safety during a live broadcast. Basement now. Go lets go now. What . Dave, now now lets check in with bill kairns for more on this, because its not over yet. I got to show you this. You ever been to Mississippi State to the university there . The guy was all right. Yes. They were okay. There was one fatality in tupelo, but no one at the station. They all survived. Ive been to starkville, yeah. This door was found by a professor at Mississippi State university in starkville. The tornado that tore apart the building that the door belonged to was 20 miles away. Just trying to picture that door was sucked up into this thunderstorm by this tornado and tossed 20 miles. Thats how crazy these storms were yesterday. Were going to do it again today. Unfortunately the same spots we just did it. Were talking areas from mississippi right along the alabama border. Of course three years ago we know what happened in tuscaloosa and birmingham. These same regions are going to be really just under the threat of strong tornadoes once again this afternoon as we go through the Late Afternoon up to about 10 00 p. M. One of the areas hit hard, we watched southern mississippi yesterday with a horrible storm. And i want to bring in nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer whos in pearl river. That was a frightful storm. Youre seeing the damage first hand. Reporter thats right, bill. Its amazing to see the damage that these tornadoes caused. You know, just 24 hours ago, this was a neighborhood. These were peoples homes. Now you can see they are just pushed off the foundation and totally just knocked over. This is Highlands Mobile Home Park in pearl, mississippi. And the warnings went out around 5 30 local time yesterday. The National Weather service for jackson, mississippi, is only about five miles from here which is kind of ironic that they were on alert themselves for the warnings they were issuing. Now, this storm was a storm that affected a lot of the Jackson Metro area including here in pearl, mississippi. Also in brandon and richland, mississippi, where one woman was killed because her car was tossed in these storms. You can see the damage to these storms here. The National Weather service will come out and assess the damage. Some of the homes were taken off their foundations and reduced to a pile of rubble with their personal things now just a pile of trash at this point. The next neighborhood over, the buildings and homes are more built out of brick structures. So they are standing and were not really seeing all that much damage with those homes. But we are certainly going to have to still assess the damage. The National Weather Service Comes out and surveys all of this to determine how strong the tornado was. Strong or not, relative to standards of other tornadoes, this is certainly one of the situations where people will come back and just say what happened . Wheres my home . Its so heart breaking to see. Dylan, thank you so much. Up next, former u. S. Ambassador of russia and then espn sage steele and comedian lewis black. Youre watching morning joe. Make every day, her day with a full menu of appetizers and entrees crafted with care and designed to delight. Fancy feast. Love served daily. I dont always have timeh to eat like i should. Thats why i like glucerna shakes. They have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [male announcer] glucerna. What is this place . Where are we . This is where we bring together reliably fast internet and the best in entertainment. We call it the x1 entertainment operating system. It looks like the future we must have encountered a temporal vortex. Further analytics are necessary. Beam us up. Thats my phone. Hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system. Only from xfinity. Tv and internet together like never before. Its time to bring in the former u. S. Ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul. Weve been talking about criticism coming from all sides of the president s Foreign Policy towards russia, but what are his options . Whats the best of a lot of bad options for president obama . Well, the best of a lot of bad options is to not allow russia to annex more of eastern ukraine. How do we do that . To threaten serious sanctions. Its not the sanctions theyve already done. The sanctions theyve already done are to punish those people around putin and to show that
theyre credible about sanctions. But the president was very clear that if you go in, were going to go after sectoral sanctions, thats what he said. To me thats the banking section, the oil and gas. It doesnt do good so sanction somebody to change their behavior. Its a standoff. This is designed to stay dont go into eastern ukraine. Jane harman was on last week. She and others, dr. Brzezinski also, came on and were critical of the president saying hes not being tough enough, not going far enough. Why doesnt he . Why arent there sanctions on i think jane talked about one of the Oil Companies would have a Significant Impact on russias economy. What are the negative side effects of doing Something Like that . Because if it were this easy, the president would have already done it. Correct. Their strategy is to deter russia. If they go in, theyre going to sanction. But if they do that, then putins going to dig in. Believe me, i dealt with the guy. Thats going to make him dig in. Did you ever arm wrestle him bare chested . Take your shirts off and arm wrestle . No. The congressman, they have a good relationship. He didnt really like me, frankly. So he looked deep into your eyes and he did like the soul that he saw . Unlike george w. Bush. He thought i was too interested in freedom and liberty, if you want to know the truth. But back to the president. I mean, this talk of toughness if i could add a little historical perspective. Do you know how many russian officials the Bush Administration sanctioned . Zero. Do you know how many Ronald Reagan sanctioned . Zero. General eisenhower on rolling back communism, zero. So, you know. Lets have a little perspective here. Which brings up a good point. Most people would say eisenhower, reagan did well against the russians. I would say the same of george w. Bush. Which tells us we have to wait until the end of the story before we judge the president. History will judge him based on end results, not whats happening in the middle. Correct. Movement at 10 Million People, threat and all kinds of things at the crackdown. They cracked down. December 1981. It took eight years until that was unravelled. What will happen, you know, i think we should judge this by what happens eight years from now. Not what happens eight days from now. People also dont remember this because its convenient to
forget it. But neocons in the early 1980s, eviscerated Ronald Reagan. And they did so because he was more interested in American Farmers than, you know, banning. And they continued attacking Ronald Reagan through the mid to late 80s, the neocons did. Interesting also each president deals with a different counterpart. In this case putin than who reagan was dealing with. Knowing putin, what do you think is his end game . I mean, if he wants eastern ukraine, he can roll the tanks in and its over. What does he want out of this crisis . So i think its really important to understand that, you know, he hasnt been sitting around for 15 years dreaming about bringing crimea into russia. He had a different strategy. It was to dominate the region by economic institutions. He wanted all of ukraine in. The government fell in ukraine and he got pissed. He went into crimea. And so hes in a new strategic environment. How did we lie to him . How did we double cross him . He believes there was a deal cut between the president yanukovych and the opposition. And there was. He believes we undercut that and yanukovych fled to russia. And then it was all bets are off. I dont trust these people anymore. Were we too clever regarding the ukrainian elections . No. I think that deal was, you know, we had to hold our noses. I was still in the government at the time. Yanukovych ckilled innocent demonstrators. And then yanukovych fled. The reason we have this crisis, yanukovych fled and its still
mysterious to me why he did that. Can you understand even though you have no use for vladimir putin, why some people sympathetic to the russian cause would feel like the west was putting putin and the russians in a corner strategically in ukraine . I can understand it, because its my job to explain the russians to my students and before the president. And the people watching morning joe. Explain the russians to the people watching morning joe. Well, for putin, a guy who said one of the greatest tragic situations was the collapse of the soviet union. He never liked it. He always thought the west took advantage of russia. Ironically the last several years, i wouldnt cast it that way. I mean, natos not expanding. But thats his view. And ukraine to him is part of
what he considers to be his sphere of influence. And when the government there fell, his guy, right . Not just the government but his guy fell, he felt like thats the cia, thats the west pushing on russia. Going forward hes wrong, but thats what he thinks. My god. Commi why do you come on this show and perpetrate this . Im joking. Going forward the president has a theoretical range of options across the economic realm. Talk about the constraints that hes under specifically something we talked about today about the europeans. Which way is he limited and how can he work those limits to bring the maximum pressure on poout someone. The debate is between those who want to deter putin and punish him versus those that worry about the global economy. And for instance, if you go
forward with sectoral sanctions on the Banking Sector and oil and gas, thats going to reverberate. Thats going to hurt first and foremost the europeans and maybe our economy. So hes balancing those two objectives. On the one hand, he wants to push back on putin. On the other, he doesnt want to precipitate a global recession. Do you think its right he would like to go further than what the europeans want to do . Thats my sense, yeah. And interestingly, i dont have any inside information, but interestingly yesterday the head was on the list. But the head of gasprom was not on the list. While we have you here, i want to get your take on another story. During a closed door meeting with World Leaders friday, john kerry said without a twostate solution israel risks become. An apartheid state. Kerry issued a long statement saying he has never, quote,
publicly or privately that israel is an apartheid state or intends to become one. But he said he knows the power of words to create a misimpression even when unintentional. What is your take on that . That is such a charged term when it comes to israel in particular. Do you make of the situation . Just as you said, charged term. He made a mistake. He admitted he made a mistake. Ive made mistakes publicly. Usual will i in my bad russian when i was am bars door. Said a few things i would like to roll back the tape on. Does it mean that he somehow is not committed to the diplomacy that hes working hard on . Of course not. All right. Theres some pretty smart Foreign Policy people who said in many ways secretary kerry has worked as hard as some people inside israel for peace on this. So the idea hes not for peace in israel based on that exactly. Doesnt mean hes achieved results. Lets be clear about that. But nobody has leaned in harder to try to make progress on this issue. Former ambassador michael mcfaul, thank you so much. Coming up next, if it turns out the clippers owner Donald Sterling is the voice on the tapes, how should the nba respond . We tried to bring someone in to offer an opinion. Unfortunately he wasnt available, but mike lupica is. Also sage steele joins us. When sales rep Steve Hatfield books at laquinta. Com,
he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. So he knows exactly when he can prep for his presentation. And when steve is perfectly prepped, ya know what he brings . And thats how youll increase market share. Any questions . Can i get an a, steve . Yes three as amazing sales he brings his agame la quinta inns and suites is ready for you, so youll be ready for business. The ready for you alert, only at laquinta. Com la quinta mattel started in a garage. Disney started in a garage. Amazon started in a garage. The ramones started in a garage. My point . Some of the most innovative things in the world come out of american garages. Introducing the lighter, faster cadillac cts. 2014 motor trend car of the year. Aint garages great . Red and seventyseven thousand dollars per minute. Thats what big oil made last year. Now theyre spending it to rig the system against you. Pushing washington to cut americanmade biofuels. Bullying gas stations to use more of their oil. All so they get richer. And you pay more. Truth is, biofuels are cleaner, better for your engine and less expensive. Washington, dont let big oil rig the system any more. Protect the renewable fuel standard. What is this place . Where are we . This is where we bring together reliably fast internet and the best in entertainment. We call it the x1 entertainment operating system. It looks like the future we must have encountered a temporal vortex. Further analytics are necessary. Beam us up. Thats my phone. Hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system. Only from xfinity. Tv and internet together like never before. Theres no room for racism and discrimination. Thats what i would tell you. And unfortunately, theres a man in a powerful position and a man who should be embracing minorities not discriminating against them. And it has no room in our society for it or in sports. All right. That was nba legend Magic Johnson yesterday on the scandal surrounding l. A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Joining us now on set, columnist for the New York Daily News mike lupica and the host of nba countdown on abc and espn sage steele. Good to have you both on the show this morning. Mike, ill start with you since youre here with us. Your first reaction when you saw this, youve covered sport ifs ar long time. Youve known Donald Sterling, known about him. Hes been around for 30 years. People in the sports world know hes not a great guy. So what was your reaction when you heard this . For years hes been like this crazy uncle. Crazy uncle don in the nba. My pal Paul Westphal said hes the best kept secret in the nba. And when you hear these things, alleged this, alleged that. I dont know how the tape was doctored. Maybe well find out. Hes through. Whatever adam silver announces today whether its suspension, fine, or both of those things, this will be the beginning of the machinery to get him out of the National Basketball league. One owner said we no longer want to be partners with him. And the interest of the Players Association and the interests of the owners for one of those rare
times is completely aligned. Whatever they say today if the end game isnt getting him out of he sport, its not going to be enough for kevin johnson. How has this worst kept secret began able to remain as a basketball owner . When david stern had to hear story after story after story. Elgin baylor sues this guy for discrimination. Was it a hear now evil, see no evil, speak no evil on sterns part . You know, to an extent. But i think its really interesting. I saw what one owner said that, yeah, theyd known about this for a long time. But then, you know, they come to the League Meetings and hes really entertaining and hes really funny. And by the way, you could probably pencil in a w every time you play the clippers for the last 30 years aside from the last two or three. Because they know hes going
to i mean, he is the his franchise is the worst of all franchises in north american professional sports. Since he took over the team, since he bought it in 1981, the worst winning percentage of all of them. Keep him there and well ignore the stuff on the side. This is a big day for adam silver today. Hes known certainly david stern knew. And the owners, his peers have known and allowed it up until this point. So all of a sudden lets come together and kick him out now. Mike, you know better than me. Youve been doing it longer. But theyve known gr a long time. Thank goodness for the crazy girlfriend who recorded it allegedly and got the tapes out there. Because finally now i believe the right thing will happen. Off what sage just said, mike, the precedence for this doesnt exist really. There is sort of a precedence. Theres no precedent tr taking a team from someone. Mark cuban said its a slippery slope. No one knows how sweeping sterling is. Bud has never actually used them. Even against mcchord when the sees the team for financial reasons. The closest you can come is George Steinberg was temporarily suspended from baseball for life for paying a dead beat 40,000 to dig up dirt on one of his players. Theyre going to make it as unpleasant as possible except this is a stubborn old man. And he as a friend of mine said yesterday, he will sue them at the drop of a hat because its what he does. Its what hes done apart from basketball. Internally, too, theres the issue of not to be understated you go to the clippers, you win a game. Not anymore though. Thats why this years different. Now they want to kick him out. Theres a weird sort of karma
at work here. Im not saying they would have. Favored to win the championship, but after being this joke clown team for 25 or 26 years, now in a year when they have a chance to do something, this is on these players and coach and they didnt do anything here. Lets ask some uncomfortable questions around this. This reminds me of penn state where nobody said anything until it went too far. But youve got someone out of control but hes powerful bhop are these people, sage, giving him naacp awards and why . And who are these people who protecting the crazy uncle and why . And who are these people dating this guy and why . Same answer, by the way, for every question. Yeah. Theres so many different layers to this. Money. Congratulations for saying were not going to give an award. What happened in 2009 when you
did give him an award when there had been decades at that point as well of discrimination. Hes gone on record. I think its fascinating that now theyre going to say were not going to associate with him when a couple years ago he was giving you 50,000, it was okay. Theres a lot of enabling from several different groups. But we cant enable. Yeah. Sage, id be interested to hear since you were there with imagine you can when he made that first statement sitting next to you on the set the other day. He said he was hurt. He looked like he was hurt by this. This all stemmed from a photograph taken with this young woman and magic at a dodger game that outraged Donald Sterling. If you could take us behind the scenes a bit, what was that day like . Yeah. I have never seen magic truly sad. Thats the word he used and thats the word i believe he truly meant. He was almost nervous talking
about it because it hurt him. He called him a friend. Hes one of the first people he met when he came to los angeles 30plus years ago. So it was devastating for him. And then anger, true anger about what he has done in magics words, he has taken the spotlight away from what in many of our minds is the best first round of playoff in nba history. Taking all the attention away from these players who have gone out there and busted their butts. Ive never seen magic like that. Hes hurt and angry. But i think its a good thing. You dont want Magic Johnson angry and hes going to make sure that this is not ai lowed to continue and Donald Sterling will not be allowed to continue. Its going to take some time. We dont know all the bylaws of these. But the guys going to go down not as quickly as we would like today or should have done years
ago if people hadnt enabled. Mike, one of the stories that unfortunately is not being talked about right now out of the nba playoffs, the Atlanta Hawks pushing the pacers. One game away from elimination, they could have closed out the series. They lost the third or fourth game. They should have won. Whats happening with the hawks pushing the pacers to the wall . Theres something going on in my locker room of the pacer. I turned on the tv to catch the second half. The pacers are losing by 30 points at home and people were walking out of the place like somebody pulled the fire alarm. Sage, your pacers, whats going on . Its killing me. I think in game one mike, was it game one when roy hibbert took a threepoint shot . My 11yearold daughter said, mommy, why is roy hibbert shooting a three from the
corner . This team has completely lost their identity. Its so sad. Its honestly one of the biggest, biggest meltdowns weve seen in professional sports. This is massive. And the Atlanta Hawks, more power to them. Go, guys. But the pacers, my pacers are pathetic. And your 11yearold daughter may take your job in four or five years. Yes. You get asked a lot of tough questions as a parent. But why is roy hibbert shooting . Thats the toughest ive heard. I love that. Mike lupica, sage steele, thank you so much. Thank you. Still ahead, republicans have their eyes on the Senate Takeover and theyre making a push in some unlikely states. Well have a look at some of the surprising races. Youre watching morning joe. So i tri ed depend so i last weekend. Tri and it made the difference between hearing about my daughters gym meet, and being there. Yeah nailed it unlike the bargain brand, depend gives you new fitflex®, our best protection. Its a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. Hi sweetie get your free sample at depend. Com. Add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance. And well replace destroyed or stolen items with brandnew versions. We put members first. Join the nation. Nationwide is on your side peoi go to angies listt for all kinds of reasons. To gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. Angies list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. Youll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. Now that were expecting, i like the fact
i can go onto angies list and look for pediatricians. The Service Providers that ive found on angies list actually have blown me away. Find out why more than two million members count on angies list. Angies list reviews you can trust. Why were going nowhere. And thats because we the people have a. D. D. The lack of a laugh of recognition from many of you scares the [ muted ] out of me. That means you dont think you have a. D. D. Which means you have it worse than anybody in the room. You didnt get through the [ muted ] sentence with me. You stopped and went away. Oh, yes. I know tomorrows sunday im going to have brunch. Up next, the man who made ranting an art form. Author and comedian lewis black standing by. Look how cute he is. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Vo once upon a time
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so she could take her dream to the next level. So we talked about her options. Her valuable assets were staying. And selling her car wouldnt fly. We helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today. And tomorrow. So lets see what we can do about that. Remodel. Motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. They take a banker. Make a my financial priorities appointment today. Because when people talk, great things happen. I work with people who are crazy too. When theyre crazy but you can be crazy here. Then when you walk off here, no, get a grip. Just fyi, were on the air. We did the williamstown
theater festival at different times and i was telling about one of the actors i worked with. One of them he called crazy and i said thats why hes so good. You have to be crazy to get into your business. You have to be crazy to have the you know, because you have an instinct to go do that, which is a certain an mount of madness, but then you get help, people around you care, say stop it. True. A lot of intervention. With that person, did it ever stop . No. Grammy awardwinning comedian lewis black. Lewis, its always great to have you here. How are you . It gets better every morning. Really . Youre not a morning person either. No. This is and i was thinking about this while i was trundling over here, but we can really we dont have to live like this. Why . Because we should shift the clock. Oh, i like that. This show should be starting about 10 00. Can you believe these hours . We wake up at 4 00 every day. Well, it doesnt help. 4 00 . It doesnt help america, it helps no one. I in particular am bad for america so tell us about old yeller. Am i going to cry at the end of this special . No, they dont shoot me. Do they barely miss . They barely miss. My mother is there so theres a moment of side kick shooting. I always heard this story, i would just play 30 minutes of daily show and your mother would call you and go is jon in trouble again . Youd go no, hes just doing it to get ratings. So we did it as pay purview and now its coming out on epix this friday. If you live in new york, its free. Epix if you have time warner, epix is on the air. Weve got a period of
incredible turnover in Late Night Television comedy. Just talk about, you know all these guys, youve been on a lot of these shows. What do you think about this moment when all this new talent, all this new change . Im glad were discussing yet again many of the reasons i dont get a late night show. Why dont you get late night shows . Whats happening . I have no interest in interviewing people. Really . I like people but i really dont care what they have to say. Theres nothing wrong with that. Its just they talk. I think i could do it if you didnt have to like im doing, in part i have to go out and talk about what im doing, but im not on 95 shows. Youre not going to see me in the next hour talking about the same thing again and what was it like working with brad pitt. What was it like working with brad pitt . Who cares . I agree with you, who cares . Really, after the first 20 but apparently they have got these counters in rooms somewhere who go, well, if we get him here, we do that. Oh, i bet you dont do well in focus groups. I bet you do terribly. No, theres certain pockets of the country where theres a certain amount of rage. What pocket is that . I will take you get on the bus. Get on my tour bus. Im going. Theyre there, man. Everybody loves lewis black. Youre doing a good thing. Youre having a huge fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis research. Thats actually really important. What drew you to Cystic Fibrosis. I just ended up doing sadly a selfish thing because they needed someone to do standup at a Golf Tournament that they were having. This is 18 years ago. And i went down and i did it and then i became involved. I didnt know anybody i didnt even know what the disease was about and back then there wasnt google, so who knew. Ive become more and more involved. I return every year and kind of host that tournament. And now i finally said they wanted to do something and i said why dont we do something in new york and ill try to get
all of the people that i can to get on a stage. So ive got on monday night at rose hall, 7 00 in new york city, all the money is going, except for the weve got to pay unions and stuff, but all the money coming in is going to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation. Ive got Robin Williams on tape, ive got will ferrell doing something money on tape, meryl streep on tape so ive got a bunch of video too. You do like people. Yes, i do. He doesnt admit it, though. Look, i couldnt be this angry if i didnt like people. Thats true. So lets finish on politics. Oh, good. I like this. So George Wallace once said theres not a dimes worth of difference between republicans and democrats. You disagree because you say republicans say really stupid things and you say democrats are dumb. And you call yourself a socialist. Yeah. But you say youre one of only seven socialists in america. Maybe nine. Where do you go if you want to find the leader of the socialists . You go to a graveyard. You can see them there. Norman thomas is there. Theres a name, why dont you look that up. What . Norman thomas. There you go. Im serious, they never that was like a name mentioned around my house. You knew who he was and you actually read about him in school. Thats gone. Theres bernie sanders, theres me. And to say that obama is a socialist is well, look, we have weinie roasts every two weeks and he never shows up. Socialist weinie roast. Thats a party i want to go to. Do you watch television . Yeah. What do you think of this show . Im scared to ask. I never watch it. He doesnt wake up. Ive got things to do. At that point im hitting my rem. I tell you what im going to be doing, im going to be
watching lewis black ole yeller on epix. Whats the website. Lewisblackcss. Org. You can also buy tickets to lewis blacks presents big stars, black cure, lewisblackcff. Com. Lewis black, thank you. We love having you. Well be right back. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. She can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. My mom works at ge. My mom works at ge. We cannot let the fans down. Dont worry the United States Postal Service will get it there on time with Priority Mail flat rate shipping. Our priority has always been saving the day. Because our priority. Amazing . Is you the amazing spiderman 2 delivered by the United States Postal Service. When la quinta. Com sends sales rep Steve Hatfield the ready for you alert, the second his room is ready. You know what he brings . Any questions . Can i get an a, steve . Yes three as he brings his agame the ready for you alert, only at laquinta. Com
he says some of his best credit cards are black. I would take the reins of what once was and again will be the most miserable franchise. All of a sudden not such a bummer to be a lakers fan this month anymore. Good morning. Its 8 00 on the east coast. Its a great morning. 5 00 a. M. On the west coast as you take a live look at new york city. It may be raining outside. My football coach said, you know, we may be small, but were slow. Who else is here . Mike barnicle and in washington eugene just be quiet. Lets talk about the nba right now. Later today the commissioner of the nba will weigh in on the alleged racist rant by l. A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling four days after tmz first released the tapes. Several sponsors already making their judgments, suspending or reviewing their deals with the clippers. Some of the top brands include virgin america, kia, samsung. The recordings capture sterling scolding his mistress at the time for bringing africanamerican men to clippers games and posting photos of them on her instagram account. Now several team owners are addressing how the league should
punish sterling if it proves to be his voice. Look at those two. Who would know they were having problems. They look like they go together perfectly. That is a love story right there. Look at them. She thinks hes so sglaut what are they, five years apart . Maybe five years apart. Shes like, wow, i have a winner here. Shes there for love. And hes there for love too. We call that a novemberjanuary right now. Thats a december 31stjanuary 2nd. Really, some old men ought to be ashamed of themselves, seriously, and some very young women should be ashamed of themselves too. Thats what i was going to say. Mark cuban of the Dallas Mavericks cautioned against the league overreaching. Really . Really, mark cuban . Okay, mark. Saying theres no place for racism in the nba. Okay, thank you for getting that out on the record. Any business im associated with, and i dont want to be associated with people that have that position but at the same time thats a decision i make. I think youve got to be very, very careful when you start making blanket statements about what people say and think, as opposed to what they do. Its a very, very slippery slope. Thats why the naacp was going to honor him until finally they couldnt because he said something so incredibly inappropriate. Its disgusting, im sorry. Gene robinson, Kareem Abduljabbar has a fantastic oped in Time Magazine were going to get to in a second. Not as fantastic as yours. But elgin baylor sued this guy for racial discrimination. We heard one complaint after another after another. Come on. Are we to believe that david stern didnt know that crap was going on . David stern was a really observant guy. He knew everything that was going on in the league and he knew Donald Sterling for 30 years or Something Like that, so of course he knew he knew
about the guy. You know, its i mean its interesting because if you think about it, it actually does make a difference. Certainly to the players and to the coach, doc rivers, that this stuff all becomes public. They must have known that this was not a guy who was probably going to invite them over for dinner. And that he had that there was some ugliness inside there. But, you know, as long as it wasnt expressed every day and it wasnt expressed in this very public way, you know, i think they could feel comfortable. Those are the people who are really, i think, caught in this situation, the people who work and play for him. And so now publicly they have to associate themselves, you know, with this awful racist who thinks they are, you know, inferior, not part of his culture and not worthy of coming to his games unless hes paying
them. Willie, the players are in a horrible position. Last night i thought a great moment when the heat joined in silent protest, right . They did the same thing that the clippers did the night before. They took off their shooting jerseys, revealed their warmups were inside out. Not a statement about their owner or their team but just showing solidarity with what the clippers are going through. Now these guys and doc rivers, their head coach, in the middle of a playoff series. They have had a great season, worked very hard, are now having to put up with this and answer questions about this around the clock. Hopefully some pressure can come off them. Theres so much to say about this but when you start at the very beginning it shows how deep if this tape in fact is Donald Sterling, how deep his racism is. That he was upset that this woman brought Magic Johnson to a clippers game, arguably the most beloved athlete in the United States of america. Thats like somebody in a restaurant in london in like 1985 saying how dare you bring a
woman like that to my restaurant, pointing at margaret thatcher. Are you kidding me . Exactly. Its terrible on his face but he was upset that Magic Johnson was at his game. Hes lucky Magic Johnson was at his game. Theres so much here. Now, there is which raises a question. Why was Magic Johnson at a clippers game . I think the picture actually was at they had dodgers gear on. Actually im joking. Anyway, but if you read cubans full quote, he comes down very hard on sterling. We just read part of it there. But there is something to the idea that being reprehensible and being a racist and Everything Else is not grounds for having ownership taken away, but the free market can take care of it. Sponsors run away, players say were not going to play on this team, free agents wont sign, fans stop coming to the game and the other 29 owners start coming down on him. As we get closer to the
critical midterm elections, new signs that president obama may be politically toxic for Democratic Candidates according to a new news poll. The president s Approval Rating is now at 41 among registered voters. The lowest in this poll since the start of his presidency. Hes also struggling on the major issues of the day. Only 42 approve of his handling of the economy, 37 approve of his implementation of the Affordable Care act and 34 approve his handling of the situation in ukraine. And when voters were asked specifically whether they would rather have democrats in control of congress to support president obamas policies or republican majority to keep him in check, 53 sided with republican majority. Wow. Only 39 want democrats in charge. Willie, do you have vertigo yet . Like three weeks ago three weeks ago people want republicans in the senate, a week and a half ago good numbers on obamacare and then we get polls out, oh,
democrats are going to maintain now these numbers are stunning. Not so much the president s numbers because i think its more about ukraine right now, i personally think that. But that 5339, whatever that number, it changes every week. His personal numbers are back to alltime lows but if you look inside that Affordable Care number its actually down five points previous to when they announced weve got eight Million People signed up. Everything has changed. All the website stuff is behind us. Democrats will start running on this issue and they have started to in some places. Then you actually see how the American Public generally feels about it and their feelings are worse than they were a month ago when the tide had supposedly turned for the Affordable Care act. John, numbers are all over the place here. A couple of weeks ago i saw where it was almost close to breaking even, like 48 , 49 . Again, its just one poll. It may be an outlier, blah, blah, blah, but i doubt it. Numbers this bad. And by the way, its genes newspaper so its got to be right. Right, john . Whatever the Washington Post says has to be true. The numbers are so different, joe. Theyre all over the map and so i think, you know, you look at this poll and you take it seriously and you also wait for the next poll and see whether these numbers, you know, are confirmed or if theyre back up or whatever. John. The bottom line is that the Affordable Care act will get a little more popular. By the time we get to november it will probably be more popular than it is today but its not going to be a net winner for democrats in november. Some democrats will need to run on it for the reasons that you said, because running away from it is more politically damaging than running with it. But its not the case thats going to be in november that democrats are going to be theyre going to embrace it because they have to but the numbers are not going to swing in a direction that are going to make the Affordable Care act a
big trump card for democrats in november. So its going to be a state by state by state case, which weve talked about for some time now. In some states its going to be very bad. In louisiana, maybe Mary Landrieu can actually run on the Affordable Care act and criticize states for not accepting the medicaid money. That may be something that drives some of her constituents out to the polls. So its a statebystate basis but there is no doubt theres a connection between the president and his Approval Rating and how his party does in offyear elections so obviously democrats are a little more nervous. Right. Given that, you should also look at the other parts of the poll where when asked who they trust to solve the countrys problems, 40 say democrats, 34 say republicans. Breaking it down further, the democrats have a commanding lead over the republicans when it comes to womens issues. Helping with the middle class, health care and immigration. And yet republicans of up by
12, 13 points. I dont get it, im confused. I have a question for the table. Yes. What do we think of the increasing reliance of newspapers, major newspapers on running poll story after poll story after poll story. Kind of a slow time. Rather than explanatory stories about the impact of these policies on specific states and people in this country. Okay, other news now, john kerry is on the defensive about comments about americas close ally, israel. Yeah. The daily beast first reported during a closed door meeting with World Leaders on friday, the secretary of state admonished israels government. He reportedly said that without a twostate solution, israel risks becoming an apartheid state. Yesterday kerry issued a lengthy statement saying he has never publicly or privately said that israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one. This is technically correct. But in the same statement he went on to say he, quote, knows the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and if i could
rewind the tape, i would have chosen a different word. So, willie, obviously politicians in washington, d. C. , on both sides of the aisle, Barbara Boxer to ted cruz, not really happy with the statement. Ted cruz calling for john kerrys resignation yet on the floor of the senate. Does anyone think, though, that secretary kerry said that intentionally or do we think that was a gaffe . Do you think he wanted that word out there to put pressure on . Its a word thats actually been used before by, you know, jimmy carter has used it. Its caused a lot of angst in Foreign Policy circles after he used it. There are some people that have used it. No secretary of state, though, has said that publicly or privately. And obviously its not only causing a lot of concern in washington, but obviously in israel. I know, i think the secretary understands the impact of it. I just wonder did he say that intentionally . Did he want that to slip out . Did he want to put pressure on people or do you think it was just purely a gaffe . John, what do you think . Hes obviously very frustrated that the Peace Process that hes been pushing so hard went off track. I wonder if that was just frustration talking to World Leaders. My gut says its more frustration than it was a calculated gaffe because it has blown up in this way. But to me its the language of opeds rather than the language of diplomacy. Thats the thing that oped writers will put out there. Its not an unreasonable statement, risks the decline into a situation in which a political a minority, a racial minority is governing in an undemocratic way a racial majority. There are many people who are concerned that that is a possible thing that could happen. I couldnt disagree with you more. I couldnt disagree with you more for 20 years just about you saying that its a reasonable statement. I think there are a lot of americans that dont think it is
a reasonable statement. That there is a risk of that happening . Yes. No, theres not a risk that the government of israel is going to devolve into what johannesburg was like back in the 60s, 70s and 80s. I think there is technically speaking, what many are concerned about and some israeli politicians have voiced this in the past that in a situation unless you have a twostate solution you will inevitably, because of demographic trends, have a jewish minority is trying to govern over a nonjewish majority and that in some sense could lead to an undemocratic dont mean to cut you off, we could debate israel for three hours. I wanted to go back to your bigger point and that was about john kerry using the language of oped writers. And i think thats a dangerous position for a secretary of state to get into. I think his explanation, though its not going to the him out of hot water, hes actually speaking the truth in that he
was trying to say, look, im not saying it is this, im saying this is the dangerous slippery slope and i shouldnt have said it in the way that i said it because its kind of inflammatory. Before we go to break theres been another deadly day of weather in the south. At least 11 people are dead after a second round of tornados tore through mississippi, alabama and tennessee. That brings the death toll since sunday to at least 28 people. In tupelo, mississippi, officials are reporting damage to every building in a twoblock span with homes wiped away and power lines littered across the street. The tornado was so strong the local nbc meteorologist was forced to seek safety in the basement during a live broadcast. Basement now. Go now. What . Now all right. Now lets check in with bill karins for more on this,
apparently not ending. And they were okay, by the way. The tornado kind of jumped right over their building, right near it. Yeah, yesterday afternoon was very frightful for people from alabama, mississippi and even in portions of georgia for a portion last night. Were going to do it all over again today. Heres the risk area for today, this area of red. Unfortunately its the same people that were just yesterday hunkering down in their basements, shelters or closets. This area of red, moderate risk of strong tornados once again today. Hattiesburg, tuscaloosa, birmingham all included in this. You may go up into a high risk later on today. We still have some strong storms that just rolled through pensacola, panama city. Not tornados but these storms will end as we go throughout the morning and weekend. In all, we have seen over 60 tornados in the last two days and were going to probably see another dozen to two dozen today. Were also going to watch a ton of rain on the eastern seaboard. As far as that timing goes, guys, again, late this afternoon, this evening best chance for tornados. Hows this for a number. 76 Million People at risk of severe storms and tornados today. Coming up next on morning joe former senator Rick Santorum is here. Krpt nbcs Tyler Mathisen and jordan roth with a preview of this years tony nominations up next. Coming up next, the top stories in the political playbook. You are watching morning joe. Well be right back, i promise. Vo once upon a time there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants stood tall and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real avo whatever you can imagine, all in one place expedia, find yours
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welcome back to morning joe. A lot to talk about. First of all, you can see why a young woman would want to date
this man. Look at him, hes beautiful. No, look at the chins. Can we just look at the chin . Right there, seriously . That is if im a young woman, this is this is number one. Which chin are you talking about . That one right there. You know, clooney is like number two, right, but this guy, number one. Girls and by the way, girls, hes available now. Are we allowed to say the true nature of that relationship or am i going to get in trouble . I dont think you need to connect the dots. Hes giving her gifts and money and shes giving him sex so thats basically the relationship. Mika, you had a great night last night. I did. A very important issue to you. The National Eating Disorders Association honored me, which was unbelievable. It was their biggest event yet. Diana williams from channel 7 was the emcee for the evening and these are theres diane smith, who cowrote obsessed with me and dr. Margo maine, whos an incredible eating
disorders specialist, a therapist, and it was a wonderful, wonderful evening. Really an epidemic across our country. And that woman went in and got a raise the next day. She didnt get fired. The next day. So this is obviously and we saw it with your book obsessed, this is a critical issue for young men but also women of all ages. Americas entire relationship with food and the diet that we have is not, you know, not healthy. Congratulations. Thank you. Did you figure out what my eating disorder is . Yes, you eat too much and it is not great food, so there you go. Time to take a look but you look better lately. Im kind of thinning out a little bit. Im going to be honest. You know im always honest. T. J. , dont ever do that shot again. Why dont you center in on his chin. The wall street journal, the New York Times, net income fell
a whopping 51 last quarter. Ouch. As higher operating costs overwhelmed revenue growth. The paper is projecting a midsingledigit drop in sales next quarter. They describe the ad market as volatile on a monthtomonth basis. Print ad revenue is at its lowest level since 1950. When the Newspaper Association of america began tracking ad data. Bad news for the times. Mike, those numbers are really bad. A precipitous drop. The lowest numbers for newspaper as far as ad revenue goes since 1950. Across the board. You think of the things you want to sell as an individual, a home, a car, theyre all online. And its all gone. Its a precipitous drop. More parade of papers, the San Antonio News express a texas teen is under arrest after bringing several weapons including a loaded ak47 gun to
their high school. Hes charged with possession of a weapon in a prohibited place making it a terrorist threat. Reports say he wanted to read a list of demands over the school intercom, no weapons were fired and no one was hurt. Thank god the parents were alert to the fact and called authorities. Horrible. The Chicago Tribune says the amount of violence teenagers are exposed to as fallen drastically during the last decade. The university of New Hampshire report says that children reported less exposure to violent behavior between 2003 and 2011. Researchers say violence Prevention Strategies have been on the rise in recent years, especially at school. And the New York Times, the white house is releasing a series of guidelines to pressure colleges to combat Sexual Assault on campus. The recommendations urge them to conduct anonymous surveys and also asks universities to crack down on cases by adopting successful policies from other schools. The guidelines are from a task
force created by the president earlier this year. The Times Picayune embattled celebrity chef paula deen announced plans for a 20city tour this summer. The move comes as deen continues to launch a comeback following a racial slur and scandal that damaged her image nearly a year ago. Paula deen live will feature a mix of cooking, Interactive Games and personal stories from the chef. You know what, they might want to cut out that part, especially if its ad lib. Im just telling you. Shes going to do it again. I cant believe you would think somebody that was you would think, willie, somebody that is this embattled would not get the guests that shes going to get at these tours. Unbelievable. The west coast part of the tour, you know who her special guest is going to be . Who . This guy. Stop it this guy. Stop it this guy cooks a mean
lasagna. Pours a lot of butter in there. And triple fried lasagna. But look at this. No disrespect. Theres no disrespect intended, but his chin has paid for his cooking prowess. I dont really understand the cooking of hers is incredibly unhealthy. Its delicious. Its delicious. And her use of words and attitudes toward people is incredibly like four decades back. I dont get her. Hes going to clean up the act for her. Lets go to willie right now. Lets look at the editor in chief of politico, mr. John harris. Good morning, willie. Lets talk about congressman Michael Grimm from right here in new york city over in staten island. He says federal fraud charges will not stop him from winning reelection this fall. Hes facing 20 criminal counts for allegedly failing to account more than a million bucks in
sales and wages at a manhattan restaurant he once managed. What does the future look like for congressman grimm. Well, it is a little grim if you let me apologize for overworking that pun, which has been used many times for Michael Grimm, but the situation is really bad. Politicians when they get in trouble seem to go through these stages of grief where they feel they can work their way out of their problems. Every once in a while they do. Sometimes somebody gets really sick and they get better. Usually they get sick and they die. In Michael Grimms stages of grief, hes setting up meetings with house gop leaders in which
hes clearly looking for a sign of support. Hey, are you with me . The question eventually becomes why would you stay . How can you be effective . Every once in a while the Voters Decide this in the politicians favor. We have to realize usually when theyre in the soup this deep, they dont. John harris, thanks a lot, john. Still ahead, Rick Santorum has a simple plan for conservatives wanting to retake the white house in 2016. He says dont forget the blue collar vote. He joins us next. More morning joe right after this. When i started weight watchers
i wasnt sure what to expect at the meetings. But i really love going. I do it reminds me we dont have to do this alone. Its so much better to have some backup and to do it together because we all face similar challenges. The meetings keep me focused and motivated. And i have a newfound determination that im really proud of. [ female announcer ] jumpstart your summer and start losing weight right away. Join for free. Hurry. And if you join by may 3rd, get a month free. Try meetings, do it online, or both. Weight watchers. Because it works. Try meetings, do it online, or both. When laquinta. Com sends him a ready for you alert the second his room is ready, ya know what salesman alan ames becomes . I think the numbers speak for themselves. Im sold a selling machine ready for you alert, only at lq. Com. If yand youre talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain. This is humira helping me lay the groundwork. This is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. Doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Take the next step. Talk to your doctor. This is humira at work. To prepare our kids to compete main todays economy . Way woman a wellrounded education that focuses on science, math, and Career Training for students who dont choose college. Man and thats exactly what superintendent of Public Education Tom Torlakson has been working on. Woman because every Student Needs the real world skills for the jobs of tomorrow. Man torlaksons Career Readiness initiative is helping schools expand job and Technical Training across the state because it makes a difference. Woman so tell Tom Torlakson to keep fighting for the career and Technical Training our students need. You know, as we inch closer to this years midterm elections, republicans are starting to get bullish on their chances at the ballot box, especially in the senate where states that were once thought to be solid blue could be turning red. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is looking to expand their political map. A recent memo outlines the case for a republican takeover in some surprising places. In colorado, congressman Cory Gardners entry is shaking up the Rocky Mountain senate race. According to a quinnipiac poll he is trailing mark udall by only one point. In a recent u. S. Chamber of commerce poll gives gardner a twopoint lead amongst likely voters n iowa, president obamas disApproval Ratings are weighing down democratic congressman bruce braleys bid. His negative comments on farmers have hurt his cause. You might have a farmer from iowa who never went to law school serving as the next chair of the Senate Judiciary committee. With polling continuing to show him garnering less than 40 against his gop rivals. And in my home state of oregon, the gop appears to be pinning its hopes on unseating jeff merkley with dr. Monica webbe. She is being praised for her
fundraising prowess and a new ad may play well where the obamacare rollout has been a disaster. Dr. Webby was the first person that gave us hope. She was the first person that said, congratulations, youre having a daughter. The anointing of her may be premature as many polls show her trailing jason conger. Senator america m echt r mer appears vulnerable. If expanding the map allows the gop to travel down the oregon trail, it could prove to be a rough ride for the republicans. Joe, mika, back to you. You know, we were talking in break about this Washington Post abc poll which as a republican, the republican in me would like to believe theres a 13 or 14point gap in the generic ballot test. I dont see that happening in a week and a half. Yeah, it seems a little
you call something an outlier until you see what comes after it but i think its a little it seems a little bit outside the lines of what we would consider normally. These things happen sometimes even with reliable polls. Occasionally you see one way outside. It could be accurate but there is obviously a lot of volatility. With us now former president ial candidate and former republican senator from pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. Hes the author of blue collar conservatives recommitting to an america that works. Ri rick, if republicans are going to do well in 2014, republicans need to reconnect with blue collar voters that elected Ronald Reagan. Joe scarborough. And elected its the blue collar voters that win elections for us. It used to be the base. What happened . Well, weve gone off the rails. You hear this talk about Establishment Republicans versus the tea party. But i think its establishment
republicans versus sort of the working guy. You have all these folks who fund campaigns who are focused just on big businesses and wall street and even small business, all of which are important elements of our society, but we forget that the idea i have a whole chapter in the book on this, where a rising tide lifts all votes. Not if your vote has a hole in it. A lot of americans have holes in their votes. They have issues theyre dealing with, whether its family or personal or financial. So when they hear about this rising tide coming up and new technology and new this, and theyre one of the 70 of the americans who dont have a college education, theyre enthusiasticing, wait a minute, my vote is going to sink, im not going to rise. And in fact in this economy it has been sinking. And average wages for working americans have been going down consistently since 19 since 1973, rick. Theres a debate right now, the intellectuals are having it, over this new book capital in the 21st century. And theres this presumption that republicans automatically
have to side with the 1 . No. We dont. But thats where weve been perceived to side and thats where a lot of our leaders have sided. Look at what Ronald Reagan did. What Ronald Reagan did and im not saying we need to go back to reagan policies, but the principle behind what reagan tried to do with the tax code was try to equalize the tax on labor and capital. If you remember the 1976 tax act, he reduced the top rate to 28 . Oh, its a horrible thing. Remember, when youre taxing income, youre taxing workers. Its a tax on labor, its a tax on work. So he raised the Capital Gains tax was high, it was almost equal to the which is at the center of the book. Of that book, right. Which is when people are making more money on their capital, on passive investments than workers in america, thats when we lose. The whole idea is if you want more of something, subsidize it, if you want less of something, tax it. So the idea of cutting taxes is a good idea. On income, for workers. On income. And im not one of these guys, oh, we need to zero the Capital Gains and all this stuff. I disagree with that. Let me ask the other guys really quickly and see if you agree with me. Warren buffett should not be paying 14 tax rate while his secretary is paying 28 tax rate, true or false . In the book i address the issue that we have to reform the tax code. People are saying why are people not being hired . Because of the Regulatory Environment of this administration. Obamacare putting another tax on labor by saying if you want to hire somebody, youve got to pay them this and pay them that. We keep for helping people, the minimum wage, were going to help people. Were going to make wages more. You do that, you disin sent viez people to hire and incentivize them to buy a machine. When you raise the minimum wage you disincentivize them . Of course, you make labor more expensive. What about rebuilding the American Labor trade union. Ive never been an antiunion guy. Ive always gotten a large share of the union vote. Im a big guy on manufacturing, on energy production. We need to create an economy that works for working people. And this book, if you look at it, theres a big plan on how to get manufacturing up and going, and educational opportunities, vocational training, all the things we need to do to create the skilled workers we need to make sure these jobs can be done. John. 2016, you were the runnerup in 2012. I was. Thank you for reminding me. Can you say that again . A lot of people say that. Rick santorum, runnerup in 2012. 11 states, did you mention i won 11 states. I didnt, but im glad that you did. Most since Ronald Reagan in 1976. I was about to praise you some more. Go ahead, ill back away. As you know being the runn runnerup is a pretty good thing if you want to run again. Why wouldnt you run in 2016 . Really the only reason is family considerations. We have seven children, we have a lot of issues with our youngest daughter and as you know that was a big factor in the last race. Ive got to make sure everybody is healthy and ready to go. Hows bella doing . Shes doing great. I thank everybody for their prayers and their thoughts sending her way, but thats sort of the big issue for me is always family first. If it wasnt for that do you think you could win . Look, i thought i could have won last time. Im convinced, i asked one of the obama minions, why didnt you guys help me . I was up there battling romney and all these folks on msnbc saying wouldnt it be great if santorum was the nominee. Why didnt you help me . Why didnt you hit me as being conservative, help me out a little bit . And the consensus was we didnt want you because of this. You know, there was a survey, when i finished the campaign, two days after the campaign, i met with the Campaign Manager for romney and his pollster. Neil newhouse handed me a poll
from pennsylvania, this is all in the book, and it says we started noticing that the exit polls were always wrong with you. So we started asking this question. Who are you going to vote for and when are you planning to vote . They showed this survey from pennsylvania that if you were going to vote this is three days before i got out. If you were voting before noon, i was up by five. If you vote between noon and 5 00 i was down four. If you vote after five, i was up 21. When working people go to the polls. And thats what the other side is scared to death of. The book is blue collar deserve afterno conservatives. I hope you come back. Id love to come back. Coming up next, cnbc celebrating its anniversary, 25 years on the air. Tyler mathisen joins us next. vo oh. My. Tongue. Finally. announcer allnew friskies saucesations. A taste experience like no other. In cheesy, creamy, homestyle, or garden sauce. Friskies. Feed the senses. Those little Cialis Tadalafil for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30tablet trial. You stand behind what you say. Theres a saying around here, around here you dont make excuses. You make commitments. And when you cant live up to them, you own up, and make it right. Some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where its needed most. But i know youll still find it when you know where to look. Cnbcs Tyler Mathisen, tyler, very exciting cnbc out with its first 25 list. Explain whos on it and why. Well, what we did in connection with our 25th anniversary, folks, is try and develop a list of the 25 rebels, icons and Business Leaders who transformed or left their mark on business, finance, the markets, and consumer culture over the past 25 years. We started with a big list of 200. We whittled it down to 100 and then the very hard cuts got us down to a final 25. So who do we have . In number five, well, lets go backwards, jeff bezos, the guy who made ecommerce flow like a mighty river out at amazon. Com. So he certainly is there. Who doesnt use amazon these days. Number four, the google guys. Can you go a day really without googling . Larry schmidt, the ceo, designated adult in the room. At number three, alan greenspan
and ben bernanke, the only central bankers this country has known over that 25year span until just earlier this year with janet yellen. Bill gates at number two, probably the hottest debate was whether he should be number one or the man who we ultimately decided would be number one, steve jobs. Who should be one, who should be two, both revolutionaries and both game changers. Why did you big jobs . We picked jobs because of the creativity, the ubiquitousness of his products, the fact that he revolutionized not just computing but music, telephony, tablet computing, retailing and movies. Nobody, nobody, not edison, not sam walton, has done anything like that. We all miss him and a lot of apple customers miss steve jobs very much. Absolutely. Cnbcs Tyler Mathisen, thank you. The first 25 airs tonight at 7 00 p. M. That looks great, tyler. Thank you so much. Up next, tony award nominees are just out and jordan roth
standing by with reaction. Oh, my goodness. More morning joe when we return. Why relocating manufacturingpany to upstate new york . I tell people its for the climate. The conditions in new york state are great for business. New york is ranked 2 in the nation for new private sector job creation. And now its even better because theyve introduced startup new york dozens of taxfree zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. Youll get a warm welcome in the new new york. See if your business qualifies at startupny. Com only famous. And older. And gorgeous. And not like ours at all. Go and smell the roses to get your clients attention. From brochures to business cards to banners. Everything. Except your clients attention. Thousands of products added every day to staples. Com, even bullhorns. How much . [ male announcer ] staples. Make more happen. Those are my boots. Joining us now on set to discuss tony award nominations just out like this second, jordan roth. Do i get a tony . This is last years tony for kinky boots. There it is. What have we got . This is literally broadway breaking news. I feel like Election Night watching returns come in. The big winner of the nominations, gentlemans guide to love and murder with ten nominations. Now, it opened in the fall and has struggled to get attention. This will be its big moment. Get your tickets today. What else, what else . Lead actress in a musical, sutton foster, kel owe ohara, Jesse Mueller from beautiful. Mary Bridget Davis and adena menzel. For the first time nominators could go up to five nominees or down to three. They didnt do that in best musical. Better actst actor . Best actor in a musical, both gentlemen from gentlemans
guide as well as the great neil patrick harris. Neil will not be hosting this year because hes starring in the show. Hugh jackman will join as a host. Thats good, right . The other best musical nominees, aladdin, beautiful, after midnight. Best actor dramatic in a play . The great Bryan Cranston playing lbj. Interestingly Denzel Washington not nominated. What . For his really very celebrated performance in raisin in the sun. All of his costars were nominated, so i think a lot of love will be shown to that. Whats that about . Why the omission . I think its really about an Amazing Group of many fabulous performances. This is a great season on broadway. Can i keep this . No. Okay. But it will come to visit you every time i come. All right. And of course on
culturist. Com we are listing the top ten nominees who should win. Log on. We will go on it today. Thank you. And thank you for prizes for knowing your value. Jordan roth, thank you. Up next, what, if anything, did we learn today. Com, gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. So he knows exactly when he can prep for his presentation. And when steve is perfectly prepped, ya know what he brings . And thats how youll increase market share. Any questions . Can i get an a, steve . Yes three as amazing sales he brings his agame la quinta inns and suites is ready for you, so youll be ready for business. The ready for you alert, only at laquinta. Com la quinta
[ banker ] sydney needed some Financial Guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. So we talked about her options. Her valuable assets were staying. And selling her car wouldnt fly. We helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today. And tomorrow. So lets see what we can do about that. Remodel. Motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. They take a banker. Make a my financial priorities appointment today. Because when people talk, great things happen. For 175 dollars a month . So our business can be on at ts network make a my financial priorities appointment today. Yup. All five of you for 175. Our clients need a lot of attention. Theres unlimited talk and text. Were working deals all day. You get 10 gigabytes of data to share. What about expansion potential . Add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. Low dues. Great terms. Lets close. New at t mobile share value plans. Our best value plans ever for business. Welcome back to morning joe. Its time to talk about what we learned. What did you learn . I want to thank the National Eating Disorders Association for honoring me last night. It was a really important event. Their best crowd ever. Great work. Donald sterling has eclipsed a great nba playoff series, sadly. I learned that paula deen when she goes on her west coast swing is taking mr. Sterling with her. And will have as their emcee cliven bundy. I think he has box seats at the clippers games, courtside. I wondered why he always got such good seats there. If its way too early, its morning joe. Stick around, up next, the daily rundown. And we begin with breaking news out of georgia right now where we just learned that the suspect in a shooting this morning at a fedex facility is dead. The shooting happened around 5 45 this morning in kennesaw, georgia. At least six people were shot, one is in critical
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