Connecticut. White House Press Secretary jay carney also said the president will announce comprehensive action including assault weapons ban, a ban on high capacity magazine clips and closing big loopholes in back ground checks. All of as governors of new york, delaware and maryland take action to pass some of the strictest laws on guns in our nation. Let me bring in our political panel. Former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, a nbc news political analyst and molly ball, reporter for the atlantic and Chris Van Hollen will join us here shortly. Governor rendell, the announcement is coming down tomorrow. The president promised that he wanted to act fast. Is he at least timewise living up to what he said . No question. And this is good news for all of us who believe we need sensible gun control laws in the United States of america. The president is putting the full weight and prestige of the white house behind this. This is a big event tomorrow. The 19 things he can do that are executive power, he can do to tighten up the reporting system but the big three are the three you mentioned in your leadin. Getting rid of high capacity magazines, number one. Getting rid of assault rifles, number two. Number three, no one purchases a gun in this country without a thorough background check. They have do go through congress and the only way were going to get them is if the president leads and all of us fighting this fight for decades get rebind him in a big way. Molly, theres new polling out. Two new polls of the Washington Post and abc news and the Pew Research Center shows 60 of americans support a ban on assault weapons. We know that the nra has rejected any idea or notion of a ban on assault weapons and even some congressmen and members of the house of representatives and senate would oppose a ban on assault weapons seeing it as extreme. A few democrats used that language. Nevertheless, if the president did not include a comprehensive plan which addresses this issue of high magazine high capacity magazines and assault weapons, telling the American Public the newtown tragedy is the most difficult day of your presidency, if you dont take big action then those really are just words. I think thats exactly right. And i think that what youre basically saying is that part of what the president is going to announce will be symbolic and not have that great of a chance of passage and part of it will be practical measures that do have at least some slim chance of making it through this congress. You see in those polls that the idea of universal background checks and of closing the gun show loophole, a much more of a gaping exemption than a loophole given that 40 of gun purchases are done that way, that has a lot more public support. You see 80 , 90 of the majority of the public, the activists on this issue tell me that that is the thing they have the most optimism for out of the proposals that do have to make it through congress. You bring up the nra, and 06bly, these are not lawmakers that make up the nra and we are seeing to your point with these new numbers out, a divide with its memberships on what it believes should happen next but we know they poured in millions, some 20 million in the last election cycle. Im curious what you think regarding their strategy from the wayne la pierre and say tomorrow and something that caught the eye of folks here on morning joe and around the country. This new app that the nra has put out on itunes. It is a practice shooting game, if you will. Its recommended for kids as young as 4 years old. Let me play what joe scarborough, a conservative, said about this example. How sick are these people . That are running a great organization. A proud organization. How sick are these people that have commandeered the nra and made them in to an extremism organization for survivalists and gun manufacturers . Joe how many millions of dollars have people made over the slaughter of innocents and now the nra is doing this . When southern conservatives like joe come out and say refer to them as sick people, who have commandeered the nra, does that give the president leverage . Theres no question the entire thing is a Public Relations disaster for the nra. Their strategy in the past has often been to stay out of sight and to hope that these things blow over. I think its a testament to the amount of momentum behind the issue that they have to be out front and be a voice on this issue. At the same time, i cant i dont think its helped them. I think if anything, its further marginalized them and allowed the president and those who favor reforming gun laws to really gain an advantage in this whole debate. Its interesting, governor rendell. Governor of kansas was on earlier saying that the folks in kansas not looblging for new laws out of washington but mother jones, the liberal or progressive website, labeled out 14 ways obama can push gun control without congress. Some of the things on the list, they say actually appoint a fulltime atf director. A lot of people might be surprise there hads not a fulltime director for the alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives bureau. We know the controversy of the past and say prosecute people that try to buy guns illegally. According to the article, in 2009, people legally prohibited from buying guns tried to get them and 0. 1 were pros kutded, governor rendell. Mother jones is right. Those are things we have got to do. Look, its got to be a comprehensive, allout attack on this. I would disagree slightly with molly. I dont think chances of passage of those assault rifles and all thats all that slim because there are republican congressmen of suburban areas in philadelphia, for example, four suburban republican congressmen, they vote against an assault rifles ban. They vote against high capacity magazines ban. They vote against mandatory background checks at their own peril in 2014. People in areas like ours you talk about kansas but suburban philadelphia, 80 to 90 on the issues a enif you ask if the nra asks those four to vote no, theyre asking a lot. Those four might be signing their political death warrants if they do that. Im not sure we want to give up on anything, including the assault weapons ban thats really an assault weapons ban, better than four. Lets go for it right now we have the momentum on our side. The nation is outraged. Go for it. I want to transition to the big topic out of washington, of course. Debt limit. Molly, you had a president yesterday say to republicans or the leadership, if you want to come up with ideas of spending cuts, that are to the standard at least that they have asked from the white house, then feel free. But since the president issued that, i dont know if it was a warning or at least a challenge to the republican leadership, weve heard nothing and there are also no meetings even planned regarding the debt ceiling and the inevitable issue that is are faced by those who need to make the decisions for us. Yeah. We have got this triple deadline coming up. And nobody everybody says they dont want to do it at the last minute the way we did with the fiscal cliff but nobody seems to be talking about it yet. You dont have negotiations started. Granted we are in a bit of a Holding Pattern with the inauguration coming up and maybe things start to happen after that but nobody seems to be jumping in proactively for a solution to these issues that are coming up and thats because theyre tough decisions. Theyre hard. And nobody has something that is universally palatable ready to off offer. With that said, will we see a separation of spending cuts the republicans say they want to desperately and separate it from the debt ceiling . As the president said, you cant run out on a meal you have eaten. This is not new debt. This is bills we have acquired. The government and this country must be obligated to do the same. Well, the president would like to see these negotiated separately. You can color me skeptical of that. Why are you skeptical . Its hard for him to say what will he do, walk out of the room . You have him drawing sort of a fine line where he says i will negotiate a solution to the other fiscal issue that is are almost simultaneous but talking about the debt ceiling, what . Hell stop participating . Given that this is traditionally been a bargaining chip, traditionally been something that the parties negotiate over, i have a hard time hell be able to maintain a hard line. Speaker boehner said he would stop participating in talks directly so i mean the threat is out there. Real quick, governor, i have to bring you to the markets and this agency, a second agency, fitch, now warning that it could, all of this could affect the Credit Rating for the United States when folks start looking at whats happening on wall street, when they hear this threat of credit issues or Credit Rating for this country. Being downgraded. Does that expedite the talks here or get even talks started . Well, i think the president did a great job politically putting the republicans on the spot. If they are the ones who cause us to not meet our debt obligations, i think they risk, again, political retribution and losing the house in 2014. But on the other hand, the president and the house have to get together. Nobody wants to go first on the spending cuts. Yeah. Business as you said, theyre universal pain and theyve got to act in the interest of the country and get together and solve this and do it fast. They ought to not wait until three days before the deadline. A pleasure having you both. Thank you. Is Lance ArmstrongStill Holding on to secrets . He did not come clean in the manner that i expected. It was surprising to me. What does oprah mean that she was surprised and that he didnt come clean . More on lances socalled admission that he was doping and now the Justice Department is considering joining a lawsuit against Lance Armstrong. Plus, why democratic senator Chuck Schumer now says he is ready to support former republican senator chuck hagel for defense secretary and what that means for hagels chances of confirmation. And the first lady teams up with the Worlds Largest retailer to put veterans back to work. Details on what the first lady calls walmarts historic and groundbreaking plan. And you can join our conversation on twitter. My twitter page is tamronhall and you can reach my team. Many hot dogs are within you. Try peptobismol togo, its the power of pepto, but it fits in your pocket. Now tell the world daniel. Of peptobismol togo. Now tell the world daniel. Excuse me, sir im gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. I think your friends will understand. Oh no, its actually my geico app. See . I just uh paid my bill. Did you really . From the plane . Yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24 7. Sounds a little too good to be true sir. 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Try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. Lance armstrongs doping confession to oprah could get him in trouble with the department of justice and cost him millions. Wall street journal reports officials at the Justice Department recommend joining a federal lawsuit against lance. The suit claims armstrong defrauded the federal government when he accepted sponsorship money from the postal service. If they pursue it and win, the team could owe the government as much as 100 million. And today, on cbs this morning oprah confirmed that armstrong opened up to her in an exclusive interview that airs thursday. He did not come clean in the manner that i expected. It was surprising to me. I feel that he answered the questions in a way that he was ready. I didnt get all the questions asked but i think the most important questions and the answers that people around the world have been waiting to hear were answered and certainly answered i can only say i was satisfied with the answers. With me, David Epstein and dave zirin. Thank you for for joining us. Dave, ill start with you here in studio. We were talking last week, you were skeptical about how much information he would actually reveal. An you saw that clip where she says he doesnt come completely clean and she was surprised. Yeah. Well, you know, its no surprise i think from the people that Lance Armstrongs been talking to. I talked to someone, for example, he called to give apology and the person said the tenor very much like, well, we were all kind of doing it and expecting contrition and him above and beyond things we already know, i think this only confirm what is we expected. What does that tell us about his personality . You have written extensively about this man and i heard someone today say he was pathological. Everyones all in the mind of Lance Armstrong and that he held on to this deception for such a long time and destroyed other people in the process. That its all strategic. Look. Hes in talks now about saying, well, we might hear this in oprah, willing to give back some of the postal money. He will lose that money in court anyway and more and willing to say hes willing to give it back is just a move. Hes deny, deny, deny until theres not a penny to be gained anymore and then see what you can gain from confessing. David, you never hold back. People will tune in to hear Lance Armstrongs confession. I think most probably assumed at this point with the evidence and the conversations that have taken place he was guilty of something. Is there any way this guy can save his name or is it gone for good . Can Lance Armstrong save his name . Interesting question because cycling is a nish sport. I could ask 100 people to name a cyclist and say Lance Armstrong and then name two cyclists and 99 people probably look at me like i have no idea but there are reservoirs of people in this country who feel very connected to him because of the fight against cancer, because of of livestrong and the yellow bracelet and whatnot and so im curious to see if he can rebuild his reputation but its very difficult and ill tell you why. Because the next ten years of his life is going to a lot of it spent in court. Yes. There is going to be a macys thanksgiving day parade of lawyers outside of his house for a chunk of his reportedly 100 million fortune. I mean, because hes spent 15 years arguing with people that he didnt use, suing people, threatening to sue people. And all of this together is going to lead to lawyers who not only seek compensatory but punitive damages and with every court case reminded about the Lance Armstrong who cheated, not the Lance Armstrong that did so many years to build the foundation. Let me wrote a little bit of this. Armstrong isnt necessarily a bad guy for doping. Hes a bad guy for the way he used the immense power, fame and fortune to attempt to ruin anyone who dared to speak the truth to his avalanche of lies. There are victims of Lance Armstrong and the only hope is that winfrey didnt let lance brush aside the agrieved parties or the obvious questions. What are the obvious questions at this point, again . One that pops in to my mind is how could you have tried to ruin the lives of people you knew were telling the truth at the time . Give us an example. Last night i was talking to mike anderson, a former Bike Mechanic to lance arm strong and found drugs in his apartment and lance sued him and defamed him and lives in new zealand because he was black balled from cycling in the United States. I said, what could lance say . He said, he ruined me. I dont know what the purpose of me forgiving him would be enit wouldnt be sincere. I think it doesnt matter for people like that what he says. How much of this is about Lance Armstrong . I had a conversation with someone who questioned whether he cares about fans and even that foundation that he wants redemption, be able to walk down the street and maybe how the athletes are adored in our society and have that kind of praise as opposed to being a pariah. Another great question. I mean, look. When this is all done, Lance Armstrong makes fred sanford look like donald trump. If they want him to be brought down a peg or two, hell be brought down a great deal. I have spoken to people surrounding Lance Armstrong right now. They say hes coming forward right now for two reasons and theyre not really about him trying to restore his stature in the public. The first reason is that the guys a competition junkie. He wants to compete in triathlons. Its gompbed by the u. S. Antidoping agency and right now he has a lifetime ban so he sees this confessional trying to show candor as a way to get back on the competition train because he misses it so much. The second thing is this issue of him being presented as if hes joe pesci on a ten speed and governing other peoples drug use. He wants to combat that perception and he feels and people around him feel thats unfair. Unfortunately, there is a long conga line of witnesses saying thats who he was and thats the toughest thing to overcome because if he challenges it, hes challenging the report and th